#Trust30 Day 10 - Message from a soapbox

[Today we have arrived at 1/3 of the way through the challenge! It's been fun so far, but exhausting too. To find out why I am writing all these #Trust30 posts, click here]

Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote:

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. 

Mr. Eric Handler’s prompt:

What is burning deep inside of you? If you could spread your personal message RIGHT NOW to 1 million people, what would you say?

[Let’s see…a million people….I would tell everyone to click on my ads….Wait, just kidding. . . Dear Google, I was only trying to be funny. . . It was a joke! Don’t banish me! Aaaaagggghhhh!]

The real message: Just because someone tells you it’s true, doesn’t mean it is. Be skeptical when you talk to people who are completely convinced, without any doubts, that they have the right answers—even if you agree with them. There is a lot more gray in this world than many are willing to admit.

Never lose your ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. You might find that your adversary has a good point, if you are willing to actually listen to what he or she is saying.

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Kombucha - a new (and kind of weird) way to drink tea

Once in a while, if you drink enough coffee, you are bound to need a break. At least that’s the case for this coffee drinker. When you hit the ‘coffee wall,’ as I did the other day,  you have lots of other beverage options available, some of which seem stranger than others. For example, I recently posted a picture of cucumber soda that I thought was strange (I still haven’t tried it). Yesterday, I drank something out of the ordinary—kombucha.

Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage that is sometimes sold as a healthy alternative to other drinks. Proponents of kombucha say that the live cultures in it are good for your digestive system. The doctors at WebMD say there is no conclusive evidence that kombucha is that good for you, especially commercial varieties that have been pasteurized and no longer have the live cultures.

Some of the kombuchas have a small amount of alcohol in them (usually less than 0.5%) that give them an extra punch. It is common to add some fruit juice to the mix too, as was the case with the “superberry” kombucha I drank. It was a bit sweet and had a slight vinegar taste—an acidity that exploded on my tongue.

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Naked Trees and New Perspectives

One of the best parts of late fall and winter is that the leaves fall off the trees. Yes, you read that right. I like it when the trees around town lose their leaves. I don’t really like tromping through piles of leaf mush, but that’s a minor inconvenience compared to the enjoyment I get from seeing the trees without their leaves.

This is because when the trees lose their leaves, you see a different side of them—they seem stronger, more graceful and wiry. You can see the skeletal beauty of the trees, their knotted branches twisting upward, stretching toward the sky. They have been hardened by the seasons and are prepared to withstand another winter of rain (or snow) and wind. They have a ruggedness that you just don’t see when all of their branches are hidden behind the leaves.

In addition, I like how the disappearance of the leaves opens things up. If you grew up in a part of the world where you could see for miles (as I did), sometimes you might feel trapped in places where the trees block all the views. When the leaves fall off the trees in late fall, the city opens up and you see things that you haven’t seen before or you see them from a different point of view.

That wasn't there before, was it?

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