The Power to Tell The Future: Open Your Eyes to The Blessings In Your Day

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company, I'm espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You too can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life. What's going on, guys? Donnie Rouse here. And today I have a kind of a practice use rather than the traditional episode that I typically come on here and I talk about a topic I want to share, just an experience. And the experience is the ability to tell the future. Listen to this. You're probably, well, what do you mean no one could tell the future. I don't believe in that. And I'm here to tell you that you can tell the future. And you can tell the future by asking specific questions. One of the things I do when I wake up in the morning is I journal. And in that journal, I prime my mind to put my focus on things that will allow me to feel the feelings I want to feel in that day. Granted, it doesn't always happen that way, but it is a good practice because more often than not, it's going to lead you in the direction that you want to go versus habitually allowing your mind and the environment to pull you in the direction that you do not want to go or that is not in line with your goals. So this morning I woke up and I was feeling a little bit frenzied and to kind of give you a little bit backstory. Everything in life is actually really, really good. But sometimes with opportunity, when things are good, problems arise. And all of a sudden now you become stressed about good problems that are in your life. It's kind of silly, but nevertheless, I have been feeling the last few weeks, I've been feeling more stress emotionally than I have in prior, and I noticed that it kind of goes in these circles. So one of the things I do when I wake up in the morning is I prime myself by asking myself some questions. One of those questions are, what are the blessings in my life that I could acknowledge and appreciate? So if I were going to ask you that question, what are the Blessings in your life that you could acknowledge and appreciate. What would you tell me? You might start to tell me things like, oh, my family. I'm so blessed to have a family there that supports me, that loves me. I am so grateful to have work that I enjoy, have a job, because so many people are out of work right now. I am so grateful to have a roof over my head. You might start to rattle off this list, but in rattling off that list, are you really feeling it? Feeling is the entire purpose and the reason why you're asking the questions in the first place. Sharing the experiences from my. From my own experiences. Asking this question, I realized that I would ask these questions and I'd be like, oh, well, I'm grateful for A, B, and C. But I didn't feel it right. So I could say I was grateful for it. I could say there were blessings in my life, but when it came down to actually feeling the emotion, which is what the intention and purpose of the exercise is, I wasn't feeling it. But it was also the question I was asking myself. Isn't it true when you look back at things past that you tend to think of them differently and you tend to wish that you had spent more time in that moment, more time appreciating something that is no longer in your life anymore? As I was sitting there meditating, this thought came into my mind. And as I was, you can't really see to. Off to my right, I have my vision board and I have some questions that I. When I'm looking up at the vision board, I read through the questions and it'll, you know, it'll just kind of subconsciously it'll go into my mind and maybe I'll. Hopefully I will think about those throughout my day. But looking at this time, I was sitting down meditating, and I asked that question, what blessings or what are the blessings in my life that I'm not acknowledging? But I asked a different question this time. I added, if I were to look back at things currently in my life, what blessings are currently in my life that if I were to look back after they were absent, I would appreciate something along those lines. I don't remember the exact terminology or phrase of the question, but it made me think differently and it almost. And it also put me in a different state. So now that that question, it was like, well, wait a minute. It interrupted the mind chatter. And as I was thinking a bit about this, I started thinking about all the experiences that I've had. I started thinking about the trips and people that I've met along the way, I started thinking about the interactions I get to have and still get to experience with my parents because they're both so alive. And I'm extremely grateful for that. And it put me in a very, very different spot because of it. And I think I wrote that question down here. I described it in my notes real quick. So I'll share that with you right now. Something along the lines of, what are the blessings in my life that I'll value even more when they are no longer there and how could I value them now? Powerful question. Extremely powerful question. Because it puts you in the future, looking back at the present moment and say, well, what is it about today that I will appreciate and how do I maximize the benefit or the pleasure of that or the appreciation of that? It brings it all back to gratitude. I'll share one more experience. So in that I was when I woke up to, you know, that was my morning prompt. And when I woke up, I made an espresso cappuccino for my father. And while I only give him one shot because he has like his heart stuff and I just try to take care of his health so I don't try to over caffeinate him. So with the other shot, this is not. This is my second coffee, if you're looking on the video. I had a little bit of espresso in one shot of espresso in an espresso cup and with a little bit of leftover cream or the foamed milk, I made a little espresso macchiato. As I took that sip, I started to. It started to evoke memories, things that I was grateful for. And the first memory that it evoked was the memory of my friend Lucas. Lucas and I met in Rome, Italy back in 2006. And we instantly connected. We became best friends. And to this day, while I haven't seen him in about almost 15 years, I still consider him one of my best friends. And I'm actually going to see him in April when I'm heading to Italy to work on espresso. He's living in Milan now, so I'll go get there to spend catch up with him for a few days. But as I was drinking this macchiato, I started to remember going to the bar with Lucas. We used to take linguistics courses in Rome. And the piazza where our school was was called Piazza or Loggio. It's like the piazza of the watch. And we would go to this bar and one of the things I always remembered him doing, he would always order an espresso macchiato. I always got a straight, I always got a straight espresso. He always ordered macchiato. So I was like, what the hell are you getting a macchiato for? So I tried it and I was like, alright, this is actually pretty good. And then for years I haven't touched a macchiato until today. I made my morning coffee and I was like, you know what? I'm going to have a macchiato. I made one in this glass that I'm holding up here if you're watching the video. And then I went and said, you know what? I'm going to use this time and I'm going to reflect just to appreciate and feel grateful about those moments as a result of looking that it fills my morning with joy and I'm in a very, very different place because I allowed myself to focus and put myself in a state of gratitude and thanks. And as a result of that, I to go back to the Waffle Wednesday, I sent him a two minute video. I said, hey Lucas, kind of telling him everything that's going on in my life as of right now. And the video ended up going to about like two and a half minutes. And it's something that I'm going to practice and do every single week now. Why? Why? What's the point of doing that? I had done it like, you know, little videos, but I didn't feel that connection. And the reason why I was doing it is that most of my really, really good friends are living overseas. They're all married with, you know, or they're doing something different. And so nevertheless I don't get to see them, but I value them and appreciate them and hold them so close to my heart. So I wanted to create a way for me to be able to connect with them even though we were thousands of miles apart from one another. And when a friend of mine, my friend Alex, sent me a video about Waffle Wednesday, I think they call it, and I'd heard it once before, so I'd like to think that everything that comes into my life comes usually in waves. I'll get one message, I'll see it somewhere, I'll get like, oh, well that sounds interesting. And all of a sudden I'll get bombarded with the same message or the same prompt. And I take that as a sign. So I sent him that. And the intention behind that is you start to catch up. Even though life gets busy. Everyone could do a two minute video at some point in their day to catch up. And it allows you to feel that connection allows you to stay close to the thing that matters most to you. Because what happens if you don't? Thankfully, in this case, I mean, I've gone a long time without even speaking to Lucas, maybe some short texts, and I still feel the same emotions towards him. But when you don't. When you. When you don't connect with that person, what you're saying essentially is that they are not a priority. And as a result of that, things start to wane. The relationship starts to lose its emotion, lose its connection. And I'm not saying that's 100% for everyone, because as I was just saying, Lucas and I, we haven't spoken in many years, but I still, probably because I reflect on the memories we had, and because of that reflection, I'm always grateful. And I express that gratitude because I know when someone expresses that gratitude to me, it makes me warm. You know, it softens me up. I'm like, oh, well, maybe, you know, yeah, I should spend more time trying to connect with this person. So that's probably why over the last decade that I still have those emotions. But if I were not to reflect on that, I wouldn't feel distant. I mean, I would feel very distant from. I wouldn't have the same feelings for that friendship. I would. As I do right now. All of this is just me kind of roping it all in and pulling it back in. Ask you what are the things that are important to you? What are the things that you are gonna miss when they are gone in your life? And to pull those into the present moment and appreciate them not after they're gone, but right now, so you can maximize the pleasure of those things in your life and just start to feel good. Life is all about emotion, as I mentioned before. I mean, things can go extremely well in your life and you could still feel stressed out and feel. Feel like life is not working. So it all comes down to focus. And anything you can do to align your focus to focus on the things that you're grateful for, focus on the joyful moments. Your life is going to put you in a better place, and you're going to show up better in your day, and you are going to transform everyone around you. So it is all about maximizing that enjoyment in life, but also realizing that it's part of the journey. Life is not this linear curve where you're aiming for happiness all the time. Life, you know, you have to. There's that cliche of saying you have to. The lows help you appreciate the highs and I'm creating an espresso training. And one of the things that I. This will be my final note. One of the things that I tell the people in the training, they're frustrated with the shots of espresso not coming out right. And I say, well, listen, if you wanted easy shots of espressos that are mediocre, get an espresso machine, put a pot in, press the button, you're done. But you don't want that. You want an exemplary, delicious, amazing espresso experience. And with that, you have to accept that more often than not, probably you're going to be pulling shitty shots of espresso. It's not going to come out right. I've been doing espresso for nearly my entire Life, more than 20 years, and I could tell you that has been my journey, is that when the espresso is great, it is freaking amazing. But then there is all the time in between where I am learning, I'm discovering different variables and it gets very, very frustrating. But that frustration allows me to learn and fine tune my skills. Would I trade that consistent espresso for a delicious, fresh pulled shot of espresso made by myself? Not a chance. It would be nice. Sometimes, I mean, sometimes I just want to wake up, I just want to have a nice, like, okay shot of espresso because I just don't feel like pulling it. Sometimes it takes me 20 shots to get one that I like. But that's part of the journey. And it's the same way with life. Is that all there's life is going to be up, down, up, down, up, down. But you want to really appreciate and acknowledge those highs and allow them to be that rope that pulls you forward and also gives you the perspective for the rest of your life. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. Here, take a notebook and ask yourself that question. If you were to, or if the things in your life were not going to be there anymore, what would you miss? What are those blessings that you could stop and appreciate right now? And as a result of that exercise, I want you to just spend some time. Spend five minutes. You could afford five minutes. Just spend some time feeling gratitude for that. And if you want, if it's a person, call that person. If it's a thing or an activity, go do that activity today. You owe it to yourself. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you did, please share this with five people. It's the only way word gets out. And if you have any questions, comments, or would like to share your experiences as a result of listening to this episode. I would love to hear it. You could reach out to me via my website@www.donnierouse.com. again, d o n n y r a u s com. That is all I've got for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed this episode here. And remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately, and most of all, live now. God bless you guys and I will see you again soon.