Not All Chocolate Is Created Equal

I love a great hot chocolate.  The store-bought package mixes don’t compare to a great little specialty coffee place near here.  Same name – “hot chocolate” – different worlds. 

All Mexican food is not the same.  We are discovering our favorites of favorites and will stick to those.

My writing has its own brand.  I can’t write like James Paterson or any others who might be “greats” but I can write like me.  And so I do.

What we are talking about here is “branding”.  You have a brand as a company, as a restaurant and as a human being.  Your trade mark is what sets you apart.  And people will seek you out simply because of how you look, smell, taste, sound, speak and the services you offer.

All chocolate is not created equal, and neither are we humans.  We each add our distinctive touch to this world and people discover us and like us because of that.

Sip on that for a while.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Next Two or Three Feet

When I started blogging in 2009, I could not have told you then that tonight I would write this blog.  Honestly, I didn't know for how long I could sustain my first blog site – Up-Words Morning Notes.  Six years later I now have four blog sites, and continually find material for them on an on-going basis.  

Even now, I rarely know what will come out of my computer at the beginning of a writing session.  Somehow the ideas gel, the words flow and the blog is written.

This is a great summation of what I want to say today.

Often, on the waters of the Puget Sound in Seattle, we see cargo ships headed out to their next destination.  Perhaps it is Hong Kong, Moscow, San Francisco, Dubai or any of hundreds of other ports in this world.  For 99% of the journey these vessels can’t see their port of call, yet they make it, one foot at a time.

Anne Lamott says this about that:  “You don’t have to see where you are going; you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way.  You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.  This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever read.”

Thank you Anne.  You are spot on.

Where are you going?

What is your diagnosis?

What is your game plan?

You’ll get there, one step, one foot at a time.  Just follow your agenda, your compass, your doctor, your road map or whatever metaphor or guiding system you choose.

Enough said.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Broken Crayons Still Color

Today’s thought is simple.  Actually, the title says it all.

I broke my left arm when I was nine.  It still works.  I still can write and play drums; I play ping pong and racquet ball.

I’m older now.  I think I’m forty, but my body knows better.  My joints, muscles and ligaments have stiffened with age.  However, HOWEVER - they are stretching again thanks to my Monday night Yoga class.  I may be older, yet I’m regaining flexibility. 

Even if we are broken, wrinkled, walk with a limp or use handrails, we still have value.  We can still splash this world with our unique touches.

Broken crayons still color beautiful pictures.

Be encouraged today.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

About Keys

What do you really know and understand about keys?  The obvious surfaces first.

   Keys unlock things.

   Keys reveal things.

   Keys secure things.

   Keys open doors.

   Keys gain entrance.

   Keys break.

   Keys get lost, and found again.

What if you have never had a key to anything in your life for a

very long time?  I heard of a man here in Seattle recently who finally got his own key to his own living space.  He had been living on the streets for years.  Finally the proper paper work got filed and he received his own key to his own place.

What a day that must have been for him.

I hope all the keys in your life fit all the locks you face.

Keys are good things.

I've even found keys in books and magazines. 

Keys are everywhere.  I hope you find the right keys that work in your life.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time