Have you ever eaten at the Queen Mary Sunday brunch? It is, or shall I say was, a sensory overload of food. After all, it’s been a few years since we put on our feeding clothes and fell in for a few hours of decadent indulgence.
They had different stations set up everywhere you looked. Some had breakfast foods, some had lunch foods and of course one whole section was devoted to desserts. Don’t even get me started on the ‘make a crepe’ experience. Lets just say the creamery butter and fresh, real whipped cream still make my mouth water and I haven’t had dairy in years!
The choices were almost too much to take in since the banquet area was extensive with tables spilling out and over the surrounding decks. How can words possibly convey the rich array of platters, the satisfied faces, the bulging stomachs and the tantalizing smells. A true feast of the old school Roman Bacchanalian variety. It is one of my favorite memories, seen through a slight champagne haze that accompanied the brunch with tart fresh-squeezed orange juice balancing the sweet alcohol.
Well that’s how I see life as well. (Not through a champagne haze, though) Trust me, I know there is a whole range of variety in life out there, including the ‘kitchen nightmares’ you wouldn’t be caught dead in – apt metaphor for the salmonella possibility in some places. Not every moment or every place and person can be a Queen Mary Sunday Brunch. So here is my question for you.
I’ve been in a unique position to watch something unfolding to someone very dear and close to me. She is standing in a banquet and for reasons that are important for her right now, she feels like she is starving. Now that’s a metaphor – so please don’t think I’m leaving her standing without a plate at the Queen Mary.
Instead, she is surrounded by people who love her, see her and care about her in truly moving and touching ways. Yet she can’t see it. She has one picture, one idea of what love looks like and if she doesn’t get that, she feels starved. It’s been a revelation to see unfolding. How often do we all do that, hmmm?
When I say the love that is being offered to her is impressive, I can truly speak to sacrifices, respect and an honoring of her that is humbling and inspiring all at once. We have such extraordinary ways of loving each other when you care to look. However the trick is actually seeing it – taking it in!
You may have read where I’ve explained our brain will work on our greatest strengths to ‘game’ us into limiting beliefs as a way of self-protection. After all, our weaknesses rarely cause us to dramatically expand our lives. It’s our strengths that cause expansion and set off the self-protection (read self-limiting) behaviors. And what is more expansive than love? Nothing. So her brain is working overtime to keep her locked into the one view of how love shows up to keep her safely in her known patterns of lack. Wow…
As much as a couple of us have tried to share a bigger view with her, point out the generous hearts and offers, it has fallen on deaf ears and blind eyes. We can get so committed to survival that expansion is a true challenge. There are few rather powerful factors at play that aren’t your average story, so let’s be kind in our review of anyone.
Instead, I’d rather learn from it and share that with you. How many of us walk through a virtual banquet of good information, loving support, wise insights and just plan funny moments without even seeing what is on offer? I’ve reviewed the conversations, events and people in my life and come up with the realization that I replaced the Queen Mary food buffet with a banquet of delicious people, places and experiences that are every bit as sumptuous as the food I gorged on at brunch. With NO cover charge and available in so many different ways.
I’m betting you have more of a banquet than you realized going on if you take a moment and start seeing, really seeing what is around you. And if you take stock and find yourself in a kitchen nightmare instead – take one step toward switching. Call that person that feeds you, go visit a place that delights you. Walk barefoot on real earth or go to a pet store and play with animals they have out. By all means – TAKE A BITE OUT OF LIFE. It’s a banquet and I’m with Auntie Mame, ‘most poor suckers are starving to death!’
For those of you who want more, I am doing a Waffles, Wisdom and Wit – even if it’s halfwit on June 17th at 7pm. It’s in West Hollywood for those in the area. We have a limit on how many it can hold so we will cap enrollment. It’s 90 minutes about you, your hands, your lives and what I can share about you. For the next 24 hours it’s only $29. After that the price is $39 until we reach capacity. Hope to see you there… I’m looking forward to a gourmet evening. And for those of you not familiar with Shaky Alibi, it’s a decadent indulgence for the senses as well. See you there for the Leige Waffles…
