Another idea Rod came up with was to create a San Antonio Community Cookbook. TL and I volunteered to talk to the women about collecting their family specialties for the cookbook. We would like to have a picture of the woman and a picture of the dish to go alongside the recipe which means, well, we need to have them cook the dish for us so we can take a picture, right? And then we should probably give it a taste test too, doncha think? Best assignment ever!
We started with the neighbor woman who runs the little shop next door and has her kitchen outside, the one with three walls. She invited us over for Belizean Fried Chicken and tortilla making lessons. Oh my! She chopped and spiced chicken she had raised and plucked herself, then dredged it in flour and breadcrumbs. I swear to you this is the best fried chicken I have ever tasted in my life. Unbelizeable! :) The girls said it was the best in the world. We seriously couldn't get enough. Crispy and greasy on the outside, warm and juicy on the inside, spiced perfectly. Wow.
Then she taught us how to make flour tortillas. No rolling, they pat them out between their hands. Pat, pat, pat, pan. Seems easy enough, right? Nope. We laughed and laughed as I tried to learn this patting-turning-flattening technique from her and her mother. Lets just say my tortillas didn't really resemble tortillas very much! Her mother is pictured here with her son, 7 months. He is the cutest, sweetest little thing.
I have really enjoyed getting to know this woman who lives such a different (yet stunningly similar) life to my own. She runs the shop and cares for her baby and does all the housework. Three jobs, one young woman. She seems happy sometimes and tired and overwhelmed at other times, just like me. She dreams of making changes- building a little house nearby, opening a little restaurant, but has yet another challenge familiar to us all:
Challenge Number Three: Time and If-Then
'If only I had time' we say 'Then I would...' I think everyone faces this challenge on a regular basis. Where do we find the time to change things about our busy lives in the midst of our, well, busy lives? Even if we do know what we would like to change and want to change it where do we find the time? This challenge really goes hand-in-hand with Priorities and Choices. We don't have unlimited time in our day to do everything so we must prioritize and choose what direction we want to go. We must MAKE the time to change, which means we need the motivation from challenge one to back us up. The time is always NOW.
To recap, we need to be aware of what we want to change, be motivated to change it, use that motivation to change our priorities and make choices that support the new direction, and make time to implement these new choices. The challenge at this stage is 'If-Then'
'If-Then' undermines movement towards the direction of change. It stalls us where we are and gives us an excuse not to move forward. 'If I had the money, Then I could get out of debt.' 'If I had time to exercise, Then I could lose weight' The goal is often clear but the perceived need for some outside something stalls movement. The truth is that the time is always NOW and that everyone has resources available to them which will help move them in their chosen direction. In some cases the movement might be small, even miniscule, but a change in mindset, a new view, can open up doors that were unavailable before. Like when a person changes their mind about being poor, saying 'I am not poor! I have my health, I have my family, I have my wits about me! There are choices I CAN make to better my lot and I am determined to find them!' This person goes farther in the world than someone struggling with 'If-Then' who says 'If only I wasn't poor Then I could change my lot. Then I could do something. But I Can't.'
That's the real message behind 'If-Then'- 'But-I-Can't.' This is a cop-out, people! An excuse! Admit it to yourself and try not to fall victim to this illusion! If you are having a hard time go find a copy of 'The Little Engine That Could!' This mindset keeps many people everywhere from changing things they have the power to change! It is no different here in a third world country. In some ways they have MORE options to better their lot than us (disclaimer: in some ways they have less options, like education, than we do. Don't get me wrong.) But for example, there are very few laws about opening and running a business here, many people like our neighbor open a shop in their house and sell basic items. A woman down the street cooks lunch every day and sells plates for $6 without needing a certified kitchen and a business license and a health department certificate and a culinary degree and a commercial building etc etc.
One man here who is illiterate is determined to send his kids to high school and college (which BOTH cost tuition and transportation fees) but needed to find a way to afford it. So he went out to the jungle and chopped down pimienta trees and built a cabana which he rents to visitors to pay for tuition. He could have easily said 'If only I had the money, Then I could send my kids to school.' But he avoided this challenge by having a 'Can-Do' mindset, by setting his children's education as his Number One Priority, and by TAKING ACTION.
This is the remedy to Challenge Three: Taking Action. Taking Action, however small, keeps you from getting stuck in 'If-Then.' Even if the only action you can take is to BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE it will prove to be effective in moving you in the direction of you choose!
So today my goal is to remind myself and others to be grateful and to take steps, no matter how small, towards the goals that matter most.
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