“Ask me to say no.” Alfred Portale Chef/Owner Gotham Bar and Grill 1989.
The incredible chef Alfred Portale used to tell severs “Ask me to say no.” He was teaching the servers that he was willing to go to great lengths to satisfy a guest even if it meant customizing a dish to please a particular person with a special request. If he COULD do it, he WOULD do it! This has stuck with me the last 36 years and has become a cornerstone of my hospitality.
Found this scribbled in an old notebook and it took me right back to reading the inimitable Umberto Eco, and that I absolutely had to keep this quote forever.
“You will tell me what you remember… In saving my life you have given me what little future remains to me and I will repay you by giving you back the past you have lost…”
“Who are you if your story begins to change? Do not be so loyal to your suffering that your healing doesn’t stand a chance.”
— Vienna Pharaon
This simple question always causes people to realize they DO have a choice about healing. If we insist on having what is no longer in our life we will suffer. If we are willing to accept what has transpired, we can heal.
MASTERY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
“When your consciousness can master the body, you can master your life, your health, and your world.”
From Mingjue Awakening by Wei Qifeng
https://substack.com/@evesmyth/note/c-116667567?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=4tu4x
FALLING APART/SELF-TRUST
What if things falling apart actually means things are falling into place?
A little reframe, if your world is feeling upside down at the moment.
Keep going.
https://substack.com/profile/16026514-allison-roman/note/c-116546567
THINKING IN SEVEN GENERATIONS
In the morning I imagine the children seven generations from now.
The great great great grandchildren.
Will they think we were brilliant? Reckless? Lonely?
Then I move my body toward something real.
https://substack.com/@oviyablackerby/note/c-115750237?r=1enw7x&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
PHILOSOPHY/SPIRITUALITY
“What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs?” ~ A Course In Miracles
https://substack.com/profile/45066296-lisa-tannert/note/c-116659901
AI & HUMANITY | AI SOLVING THE WRONG PROBLEM
My favorite quote of all time about AI:
“I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do laundry and dishes.”
~Joanna Maciejewska, Fantasy/SciFi writer
Thank you Rosana Francescato @flowerchild for sharing this with me and the Substack community.
https://substack.com/profile/193573923-celeste-garcia/note/c-116654325
TRULY GREAT SERVICE
“Ask me to say no.” Alfred Portale Chef/Owner Gotham Bar and Grill 1989.
The incredible chef Alfred Portale used to tell severs “Ask me to say no.” He was teaching the servers that he was willing to go to great lengths to satisfy a guest even if it meant customizing a dish to please a particular person with a special request. If he COULD do it, he WOULD do it! This has stuck with me the last 36 years and has become a cornerstone of my hospitality.
https://substack.com/profile/51355750-nick-mautone/note/c-116659528
WRITING AS A WAY OF BEING OR A WAY OF DOING?
https://substack.com/profile/174952279-magdalena-ponurska/note/c-116659887
I grew up in Poland; during the Solidarity movement.
Strength meant throwing Molotov cocktails at tanks, not shedding tears.
That image of resilience seared itself into my DNA.
But last week, lying sick with fever, something shifted inside me.
Not dramatically.
But in a quiet way.
Like winter giving way to spring.
There's a kind of withdrawal that happens when we stop doing.
When our value is no longer measured by output.
When the spreadsheet sits blank.
Now, when I catch myself slipping into productivity mode, I ask:
Am I being a human doing?
Or am I allowing myself to be a human being?
HUMOR - MUSE - CHILD’S CREATION
My 10-year old cracked the code on the muse I’ve been looking for.
Pic of medical glove turned into an elephant over a stapler.
https://substack.com/@leahweissphd/note/c-116649378?r=3wyx8u&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
SLOW DOWN, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the body tries to help us — quietly, constantly, without fanfare.
But what if those little things we brush off — bloating, skipping meals, crashing at 3 p.m. — aren’t just “life” but early messages?
Why do we often miss the body’s whispers — and what can change when we start listening.
It’s not about doing more. It’s about tuning in differently.
https://substack.com/@allthingsfood/note/c-107408184
MINDSET
Remember, you can slow down.
Remove the frenetic pace.
Ban the frenzy to rush through life.
https://substack.com/@marisavictus/note/c-116642954?r=39jkyq&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
LIFE (I keep a commonplace book for quotes or writing that inspires or reminds me of this life I am living. This quote is from that)
The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.
~ Jung
https://substack.com/@carolneilson/note/c-116639591
SPRING // MARGARET ATWOOD
[Pic of a worm in my son's hands] + Atwood quote.
https://substack.com/@blacksheepmom/note/c-112363758?r=54r6zy
THERE ARE NO STORIES WITHOUT A MEANING
Found this scribbled in an old notebook and it took me right back to reading the inimitable Umberto Eco, and that I absolutely had to keep this quote forever.
“You will tell me what you remember… In saving my life you have given me what little future remains to me and I will repay you by giving you back the past you have lost…”
“But maybe my story has no meaning.”
“There are no stories without a meaning.”
https://substack.com/@flaviabrunetti/note/c-108484749
ON WRITING:
Things that will feel wholly unsatisfying, eventually:
• writing for the algorithm
• writing to chase applause
• writing for validation
• writing to sound like your idea of a successful writer
• writing while playing it safe
Ask me how I know. 😉
https://substack.com/@loublaser/note/c-116478976
OPENING TO LOVE
We travel great distances to learn that loving is how we blossom, wherever we are, opened by care until we know who we are.
Just as a wildflower doesn’t choose what it opens to, our blossoming depends on loving everyone and everything.
And opening to everything can dissipate our personal darkness.
Mark Nepo
https://substack.com/@marayaraerodostianos/note/c-116630861?r=91q79&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
L/C
L/C
l/c
All You Need to Know About Healing from Grief
“Who are you if your story begins to change? Do not be so loyal to your suffering that your healing doesn’t stand a chance.”
— Vienna Pharaon
This simple question always causes people to realize they DO have a choice about healing. If we insist on having what is no longer in our life we will suffer. If we are willing to accept what has transpired, we can heal.
https://substack.com/@marlagrant/note/c-116463712
l/c