Tip#21: Food For Thought - Stranger Than Fiction

Synchronicity once again surprised me right after I posted my last blog tip entry. Just hours afterwards I finally got to see a movie on my list called Stranger Than Fictionand loved it. I mean really loved it! I had no idea that it celebrated the same 'comfort food for the soul' theme I just wrote about. I knew right away I had to share what inspired me about this insightful and funny film.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

The comedy drama fantasy, Stranger Than Fiction, is about an IRS auditor (Will Ferrell) who begins hearing his life narrated like a book. This leads to him to making changes in his life, career and love life that are funny and moving at the same time.

Comfort food is one of the many themes in the movie and revolves around a baker who shares with Will Ferrell's character the deliciousness of her baked cookies. Much to his resistance for trying something new she convinces him to taste homemade cookies for the first time. The scene is wonderful because you can see the subtle transformation of Ferrell's character as he takes his first bite of that chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven. You see it in his face and body language of the change that occurs. It's a truly tantalizing scene.

The baker, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, later goes on to describe an inspiring story of how she was on a very different career path only to discover her true calling in life with her delicious baking. She was studying to be a lawyer because she wanted to make the world a better place. What ended up happening is she would bring her home baked goodies to her study sessions and everyone loved her cookies. She became more excited about finding new recipes and making people happy. So she dropped out of school.

She decided that if she was going to make the world a better place she'd rather do it with cookies. It's a great scene to help motivate someone who is not happy in their current job and is yearning to spend more time on a hobby or passion they think more about.

Gyllenhaal's character wanted to make a difference in the world and believed she was now doing it with her true passion. Let that be food for thought for you to follow your own passions. Not only could your personal interests be what you were born to do as a career but you could also be making the world a better place. Take a chance and take a bite out of the possibilities!

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Emmanuel Lopez
www.motivatorman.com
© Emmanuel Lopez 2007