Month: November 2019

Blogpost

Room Temperature Butter

Pete Huryk

There was always a butter dish at my house when I was growing up. It was on the kitchen counter most of the time. A stick of butter on a glass plate intended to hold it with a metal cover. It wasn’t something that you paid much attention to until it was empty. The discovery of the empty butter dish usually happened at the exact moment when there was a piece of toast or a bagel that needed buttering. Refrigerated butter is almost useless at that point. It does more damage than it does to enhance the taste of the chosen item. It spreads unevenly, if at all. Microwaving the stick to soften it was an exercise that always ended in disappointment. That’s why the butter dish being empty was such a crime because room temperature butter is ready for action.

If yo’ve read my blog before, then you know that I’m not talking about butter. I’m talking about you! Not your ability to melt evenly on a waffle but rather you ability to be ready for action. The room temperature butter is exactly that. It exists in that sweet spot where it can be anything for anyone at a moment’s notice. While we’d like to believe that we are room temperature butter, most of us are in the refrigerator or even worse we’ve already melted. In most instances we’ve grown cold to the possibility of anything other than what we had planned for our day. We need to be coerced, convinced and prepared for the things that are coming our way. Otherwise it spikes our anxiety, takes us out of our comfort zone or just plain freaks us out. What would the butter say? Nothing!!! It’s butter! But what do you have to say for yourself?

Each of us has to take responsibility for at least one person in this world. Recognize that the ability to respond to the world around you is important: not the way that you wish it was, not the way that it used to be but the way that it is! Plan, yes! Schedule, yes! Dream, yes! But do not expect that life is going to lob you underhand pitches for you to knock out of the park. It is going to go high and inside on you to put your but in the dirt. So be ready! Be nimble! Be flexible! Be room temperature butter! The events of today are going to happen with or without your consent. Be ready to take whatever it gives you!

Have a great day!

Pete

Just for fun! “I Melt with You” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuN6gs0AJls

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You’re the Axle and It’s Your Turn!

Pete Huryk

The axle is where all of the action happens but it is often overlooked. Depending on the situation, the axle could be relatively small compared to the wheel or even completely hidden from view. Regardless of this fact, the axle is the thing that holds it all together. We are all the axle to our own lives. That central piece from which all other aspects fan outward. Unlike a wheel, the axle of our existence is not bolted to anything in a completely permanent or stable fashion. Our axle existence is moving through something more like cookie dough. Some of the things we encounter get stuck to us and stay for a while but others are deflected in an instant. There are also billions of other axles spinning about in the dough we even bump into some of them.

It’s easy to believe that because the dough is all around that it is actually spinning you. Since our influence is less concrete than we’d like, it’s easy to believe that we have no influence at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just easier to believe than what actually true. Every moment of every single day, you are influencing your world both directly and indirectly. There is a veritable web of spokes that you have put out into the dough. Unfortunately since they are difficult to see, most of us assume that they are not there.

The only way to see them is to act. Recognize in every moment that it is your turn and you need to be present enough to see where your web of influence reaches. Not just “on the Web” but in the world. In the beginning, this can be difficult because beyond the ever present and obvious, it’s all very subtle and not straightforward like we’d prefer. We want everything to be as easy as Amazon with one click overnight delivery available. Most of the world doesn’t work like that and building momentum takes time and effort. These two ingredients are often in short supply because we’ve filled our lives with things that we think really matter. The “busyness” of our lives is often a smoke screen that covers up the things that we truly want.

So as you move through your life, it is crucial that you accept the role as the key structural component. It’s your turn and you have more power and influence than you realize. In the end it will be up to you how you choose to move through this doughy world. Will you be the beater or the beaten? Decide now.