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I LOVE feedback. But when it comes to feedback, who gives the best feedback in a given situation? And how do the taste buds of that person matter?

I have an entrepreneur friend who has dedicated a significant amount of time to making the world a better place by helping people to make easy, healthier, food and beverage choices. He's done this once, twice, three times, and the next two ideas are already underway.
After a couple days together and a full day together on Saturday, I came home to what I thought would be a quiet house. Instead, it was full of (mostly) Germans celebrating Carnival. Perhaps the most important celebration of the year in Cologne. And instead of being offered some peace and quiet, I was offered a pina colada. I decided to say, "yes."
I don't really like (or remember liking) pina coladas. But *this* was the most delicious pina colada I've ever had.
And it got me thinking... why or how could I like something so much that I previously didn't like at all?
The answer wasn't hard to come up with -- it was the ingredients.
The PC Mixologist of the evening combined coconut water and coconut milk, fresh pineapple, and rum. Simple, solid ingredients. No added sugar, no added BS.
And that got me thinking... what are the main ingredients in my life? Am I using the best, freshest, simplest, no BS ingredients when it comes to the way I live, what I do, and the people I choose to spend it with?
And how do those ingredients influence the quality of the life I'm living and the experience I'm having?
How about you?

This question was inspired by a stranger I met at a sound healing event who had an interesting perspective on "home." He made a comment that all of us are simply tolerant of our home country, and how those of us who have seen other places are able to see the cracks and the dirt so much clearly from the places we are originally from. At the same time, as foreigners, we also see the beauty more easily in the elsewhere(s). But... we're tied to these places we're from, no matter how intolerable they are. I actually didn't resonate so much with the way he felt about place, but it did make me wonder... what am I tied to? And how? And what do you think you're tied to?

This question was inspired by a conversation last week about relationships. And there isn't much of a story behind this one. I appreciate this question as a good reminder. And it gets me thinking... when we find ourselves in a moment of frustration because of someone else... how much of that is about them? And how much of that is actually about us?

This question was inspired by a story a friend shared about a 10-day silent meditation he went to where aside from no talking, "silent" also meant no reading, no writing, no stimuli. With all this alone time (in the midst of other people) one of the things he got to thinking about was... what are these other people thinking??? And after the meditation was over, he had a chance to actually ask. And realized that he was really bad at guessing what other people are thinking... let alone what they are feeling! It made me wonder... how often do we choose to assume vs. ask? And in what circumstances do we assume vs. ask? How often do we actually know what other people are thinking? And how often do we give ourselves the permission to ask?

This question was inspired by a conversation with a friend who was arguing that, actually, our feelings don't matter. And to be clear, this is when we're feeling like an "impostor" -- when we feel like we're "not good enough" -- when we're not "worthy" or "able" or "capable" specifically. She believes that these feelings don't matter (not that she's immune either). But that they're simply roadblocks between where we are and where we're trying to go. So is that true? How much, in this case, do your feelings (actually) matter?