One morning recently as I sipped on a fine cup of our Brain Brew Coffee, I was flipping through music and clicked on the song, BE THE CHANGE, by Lennie Gallant from his album If We Had a Fire.  

Lennie’s lyrics capture my mindset these days…

So what are you waiting for? What are you going to change? What are you going to be?

-Doug

Hemingway’s quote spoke to me today. “Live the FULL LIFE of the mind, exhilarated by  new IDEAS, intoxicated by the ROMANCE of the UNUSUAL.”

I live my life intoxicated by the romance of the unusual. I believe I may well be genetically wired to reject the same old same old.   

That’s why instead of simply creating our bourbon to our taste preferences that we then sell others to like – we have reversed the process. 

Instead of us “selling” we “enable.”

We enable bourbon lovers to create their bourbon – branded and crafted to their tastes. It’s actually not a new idea – it’s an old one. In fact it goes back to the mid 1800s when Bourbon was born.  Back then – there were very few “bourbon brands” – rather you would visit a barrel blender and create your own to your tastes. 

At Brain Brew we are bringing this back.   

There are three options: 1) attend a live blending event , 2) buy a home kit shown in the photo or 3) use our artificial intelligence Bourbon Wizard – answer 13 questions and VOILA! It crafts your custom bourbon. Then, with a few clicks you can have your own bottles!.

No it’s not usual.  It’s not normal.  Rather, it’s the ROMANCE of the UNUSUAL. 

So what are you waiting for? Get up! Get Out! Get Going! On living the FULL LIFE.

Cheers,

Doug

As an author, I’ve found that when I do something worth writing, I end up with a book that is worth reading. 

As we journey together through the rebirth of the season – of Spring – of Easter – of the hope that comes with vaccines – lets focus on doing something worth writing. 

And frankly – in todays world – after you’ve done it, write it.  

Write it in a social media post – write it in a self published book – write it in a word processor – “write it” by recording a video or audio of you explaining what you did.   

Your family, your friends and your co-workers will thank you. 

So what are you waiting for…

Get Up – Get Out – Get Going

P.S. Amazingly – the photo is from of all places, the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore. 

Cheers,

Doug

For over 20 years, the daffodils on our front lawn have signaled a new beginning. This year the conversation at the Beach Bar is about how this spring is special.

After a year of Covid winter, today is a spring rebirth – a rebirth that is not to be wasted. This spring has given us energy for a deep spring cleaning. We’ve filled one and a half dumpsters of “stuff” that was cluttering our house, the Eureka! Ranch and the Brain Brew Distillery.  

We are also cleaning our mindset. 

We’re cleaning up our home cooking habits – enjoying healthier, fresher foods. We’re cleaning up our exercise habits – enjoying fitness outdoors. We’re cleaning up our work habits – creating smarter work systems. I’m cleaning up my guitar learning habits – making time for it each day.

CONSEQUENCES

I’m tired each night. But it’s a good tired. It’s a tired from having made my world and the world around me a little better each day. 

So what are you waiting for?

Get Up – Get Out – Get Going!

Cheers,

Doug

When STRESS hits you, your mind goes through a chain reaction….handled properly it’s a bit like what happens in the following computer program:

1. PRINT “STRESS”
2. PRINT “ACKNOWLEDGE STRESS”
3. END & MOVE ON

If you ran the above BASIC program, the word STRESS would appear on the screen once – and nothing more would happen. 

Frequently, what occurs is more like this next program:

1. PRINT “STRESS”
2. PRINT “Thoughts that confirm why I should be stressed.”
3. GO TO 1
4. END 

In this example, the STRESS is followed by a little story – by thoughts about why your stress is justified.  The story itself, the imagining, then becomes the cause for deeper frustration. The command in line 3 takes you back to line 1.  

If you ran this second program, the screen would fill with the statement, then scroll indefinitely as the statements repeat over and over again. This scrolling continues until you turn the computer off or reset it. The program never reaches line 4.  It’s a continuous loop of never ending frustration. 

The simple answer – “note” the stress – it is what it is – take action if appropriate – let it go if you can’t or shouldn’t do anything about it. 

This post was inspired by a mentor of mine, Copthorne Macdonald, from his book Toward Wisdom. 

Cheers,

Doug

I SHALL FIND A WAY OR MAKE ONE – Admiral Peary of Maine – the first to successfully reach the North Pole – wrote this in Latin on the  wall of his shelter in Greenland as he recovered from a broken leg. It’s also carved on his tombstone at Arlington Cemetery in Washington. 

The Admiral was one of the most tenacious and innovative explorers in history. His inventions on relays, cooking systems, team management, base camps, etc. are used today by virtually all explorers. 

This week, Admiral Peary’s quote came up at the Beach Bar as I was telling the story of trying to MAKE A WAY to get the COVID Vaccine.  

In Ohio, my wife and I became eligible for the vaccine on Thursday.  Within 4 hours we both had appointments for our first and second shots. 

We got the appointments by innovating or MAKING A WAY. 

The first 3.5 hours were painful as we ran into dead end after dead end.  

Then, we decided to think differently. Ohio is a big state.  Vaccines are distributed to every town. 

On pharmacy websites… we entered zip codes of areas where the population was less likely to be interested in getting the vaccine. These would be counties where the republican candidate won by 3 to 1 (74% to 24%) 

Eureka!  We got the appointments for the next day Friday!

Photo from my book North Pole Tenderfoot.

Cheers,

Doug