Yesterday's post about fortune cookies got me thinking about the potential to use fortune cookies as a catalyst for exploration and discovery.
A couple years ago I posted about using tarot cards as a career exploration tool. The idea was not that the cards could foresee the future, rather it was that they would give your mind something to bounce off and look for connections.
You could do the same thing with fortune cookies. Rather than opening a fortune cookie and saying, "OK, what does my future have in store for me," you could open it and say, "OK, what could this mean? How could this apply to my journey? What is this pointing to that I'm ignoring? What does this symbolize? What steps do I need to take to make this happen?"
In my one-on-one work with people helping them find the path to passion (and truthfully, in my own journey as well), it never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge and insights we already have in our own heads and hearts. It's just sitting there, waiting for us to put two and two together and make the connection.
Fortune cookie coaching can be a fun way to spark those insights and make those connections.
Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
Curt, At my previous job, on my monitor I had taped about 5-6 fortunes from fortune cookies on my monitor.
Occasionally my mind wandered into "what am I still doing here?" territory, I would look at the words of advice or encouragement that were there.
I don't have them in front of me now, but they were things along the lines of, "you will take a risk and be rewarded" or "a great opportunity will present itself soon" or "you have earned an important persons respect".
Even on days were I became depressed, they would offer a diversions and make me realize that good stuff was still happening in my life, and I could think about the fact that I should probably make something of the opportunities and not be afraid of taking risks, and I would think about having lunch or being around people who seemed to respect me.
Perhaps they worked like daily affirmations for me, but eventually, I had dinner with somebody who I guess respected me, he told me he wanted to know if I wanted to get involved in starting up a venture with him, and I found it hard to resist. I'd never been a big risk taker previously, and when people would hear me tell them about what I was doing, they'd say, "Wow!", and I'd say, "I can't really explain it. I even surprised myself".
I took the fortunes with me and laminated them into a little card that sits near my desk in my new office.
Posted by: Mark Sicignano | January 19, 2007 at 07:23 PM
Golden Dragon Fortune Cookies in Chicago.
Excellent taste, but much more important, the best fortunes (in both quality and quantity) I have ever encountered. They supply a significant number of Chicago area restaurants; when you're in the area, you're likely to run across them.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=golden+dragon+fortune+cookie&btnG=Google+Search
Posted by: Pas B | January 24, 2007 at 04:07 PM