Yesterday I tried making Thai Red curry at home for the first time and since we are vegetarians, I couldn’t use any pre-mix and had to make the paste from scratch. It turned out ok… just bland and not fiery hot as I forgot to mix in the chillies. Anyway, for the Thai Red curry, the most important thing is the coconut milk.
I broke open two coconuts and cut up the flesh inside and started making the coconut milk using the Hurom slow juicer. I got about 200 ml and then on a lark I put the ground “waste” into the juicer again and guess what, the waste gave another 100 ml of coconut milk !!! And it was thick and creamy coconut milk not some watery nonsense.
What a great life lesson the juicer delivered to me right there … we rarely take the entire juice out of life. We think we can do only so much, persevere only so much, run just that one extra mile, or sing just one octave higher when there is so much more juice left inside of us, unutilized !
When you feel you have reached the limit of your capacity, take a deep breath and ask again, can you put that one foot forward? then another, then another and soon you probably are doing 100% more than your “full” capacity. The brains of geniuses are supposed to weigh more, so there is possibility to use our brains more than 100% too, but we often use much less. While there is no scientific support for just 10 or 15% of the brain being used by normal human beings, the fact is we underestimate our abilities and potential by a generous margin.
One more personal example – I have been trying to learn swimming since I was in my 3rd standard and have never managed to learn it well. I could float a bit, manage to get my head above water to breathe and with a lot of effort swim a short distance. Krishnan loves to swim and its a great exercise. I decided that this time I will go with him to the pool at the DLF club and definitely learn swimming. Incase any of you are looking for excuses to “NOT” swim, I have several that I can spare. Let me know if I can help :):). I thought I will use one of the many excuses and escape this time too, but guess what, 10 sessions later, I manage 12 full lengths of the pool …. slow, plodding and a somewhat suspect action, but hey, I breathe easy, my legs are straight and I am not curving my back as I come up for air. Huge improvements that wouldn’t have happened, if I thought I had no ability to swim. I am not winning the swimming gold for India anytime soon, but can I become a competent swimmer ? yes, of course.
There is way more juice in us than we think there is and life is about getting the last drop and some more out. I have a feeling the whole “Draupadi” sari incident in the Mahabharata is about this – when we think we have no more juice left, is when we have 100% more of it left. So anytime you think you can’t go further, think of the coconut milk and the innocuous juicer and 100 ml more juice from “waste” 🙂
Ok, you ready? get going then.