Flavors of Life

Hi, guys. My name is Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life, Flavors of Life. How do you feel when negative things happen in your life? Do they throw you off? Do they make you feel, like, kind of off kilter? Do they put you in a bad mood and then vice versa? How do you feel when things are going your way, when everything is aligned? How do you feel about life then? Typically, I think many people, we judge the bad experiences, and then we praise the good. But what if it took those bad experiences to actually make us appreciate the good? What if life was more than just this tug of war between good and bad, and it was rather. It was a symphony of all different instruments, all different experiences, all culminating to one masterpiece. I was out to dinner with my friend Fatih, and I was sharing with him. I was telling him, you know, since I've been to Miami, it's been difficult to focus on doing work. One, I feel like I'm. I was. I felt like I was always trying to get sleep. I was always trying to catch up to feeling refreshed and energized. And the other thing was, it was difficult focusing on work. So I'd been staying at hostels, and while staying at these hostels, one in south beach, the hostels are always blasting music. So rather than being at a hostel, you feel like you're at a club 24 7. So I found it really challenging to try to complete work. Aside from that, I was trying to figure out, well, how does all this fit together? So I have this podcast inspiring people to live their one life, to follow their hearts, to pursue their dreams, to live in this moment, and then connecting that with the coffee. I mean, it makes sense to me because the coffee is that one moment. It is that time, your day, you're choosing to take and give to yourself. So while I know this intellectually, sometimes I kind of go through this tug of war, and the path forward seems unclear. So as I was sharing with Fatih my frustrations about my business, some of the frustrations I had with life, and he gets really philosophical. It's funny how you know the things. You know, sometimes you don't always practice, but then you need someone there to remind you. So we were eating at this Peruvian place called Pollos Yares, if I'm pronouncing it correctly. And as we were talking about this, our food came out, and there was this. We had gotten roasted chicken, and there was this plate where we could split. And in that center plate, what we did was we aligned all these sauces like six or six different sauces. And then in the space of that plate, there was a place for scraps, like the chicken bone, the skin, and stuff like that. So we went on talking and, you know, placing our scraps in the center of the bowl. He goes, hey, listen, life is like this. This. This bowl, this. This dish here. He's like, look at all the different flavors around the plate. You know, there were some that were spicy, There were some that were sweet. There were some that had more creaminess, texture to them. And then all the way to, like, the 2 o' clock area was all the scraps that we had put. And he said. He said, this is what life is. You have to appreciate all those moments because that is the full picture of what it means and what it is to be alive. And as I was looking at that plate, I was reminded of the lesson that life is not a linear line. If I look back and I reflect on any specific area of my life, I realize that that was exactly true. So hearing this, I was like, you know what? First of all, I thanked him because it was the perfect reframe, the perfect realignment that I needed to get back in that day. But I share this with you because I want you to reflect on your own life. What are those experiences that you have that maybe are unfavorable right now? Maybe you're in a place of discomfort, but what is that experience giving you? I try not to look at every experience as good and bad, but rather that every experience is giving you and teaching you something new so that you get more clarity. It's telling you, well, what is this experience? First of all, why are you judging it? There is no experience. I mean, nothing means anything other than the meaning you give it. So, one, why are you judging it? And what is that judgment you're putting on there? And if we take away the judgment, what is this experience giving you? Clarity on what is this experience showing you that you want your real desire? What is it fine tuning and giving you more clarity to say, you know what? Yeah, it's. Miami beach is a little bit too. There's too much going on. It's too busy. There's too much energy, too much distractions. I want a place that's a little bit more peaceful. Everything gives us clarity, and by putting our focus there, that's what allows us to attract those new circumstances, those new experiences into our life. So in closing, I want to end it with this. What are the eras in your life that you've been judging? Rather said differently, what are the areas where you're most frustrated right now. Write them down on a sheet of paper. And looking at those things you just wrote, what is the reciprocal? What is each one of those things telling you that you want? What is each one of those things giving you clarity about in terms of what you desire? If you could start looking at the things that rather than say, this is what I don't like, this is what I like, rather than say, okay, this is helping me get more clarity and fine tune into what I really want to create. You start to get excited looking at those things, like, oh, wow, okay, wow. Yeah, this is something that I see this, but this is what I really want. And you start to make that connection. Now, you created a switch in your mind that constantly goes to what you want, what you want, what you want, not what you don't want. Because by focusing on what you don't want, all you're going to get is more of what you don't want. And by not looking at this beautiful tapestry of life, this beautiful symphony, by judging it, you're actually going to take yourself out of the experience and you're cutting off yourself from all the beautiful creation that is. I hope you enjoyed this episode, guys. If you did, please share it on your social media. If you have any questions, you can send me a question via Instagram. O n N Y R A U s And then lastly, if you want to sign up for one of my live your one life workshops, you can do so by going to www.donnyrouse. com. I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. God bless and I will see you next.