Day 164: I'm free. --The Genie

 I'm free. --The Genie, Aladdin

This comes to us at the end of the movie after a certain someone uses his 3rd wish.

I realize this particular quote is a massive spoiler in itself. I'm pretty sure there's been very few people who have not seen Aladdin in either form (animated or live-action). Therefore, it's going to be today's quote.

"I'm free." is a simple phrase. Yet it has a lot of diffrent subtle meanings. For some, it means they're free to help you in a store. For others it means they can meet a friend or take another shift at work. Sometimes it means one has finally broken free of the chains a toxic relationship has on them. For many years, these were the main things that tiny sentence meant.  In 2014, it took on a more sentimental meaning when several artists created cartoon pieces featuring Robin Williams and his many characters, because Robin had suddenly passed away.

Have you ever wanted to be free of something? Perhaps you've wanted to change your surroundings. Maybe you've wanted to change jobs because you don't like how your boss/es run your workplace. You could even be stuck in a massive traffic jam and wanted to be free of that nightmare. Have you ever felt like you weren't free to make your own choices, like Jasmine? Were you able to finally become free?

 Aladdin said it best "You should be free to make your own choice". No one should ever feel like they don't have a choice or that they don't matter, because they do. We're lucky that we have more freedom to choose what to do, what to wear, where to go, and who to fall in love with now more than ever. Sure it may not feel like it at times, like when we're being told we have to stay home or wear some form of a facial covering to keep us safer because of COVID-19 running amuck,  but we do. We are still free to choose what we do with our spare time and how we will keep each other safe and healthy until the pandemic is over. While we're free to not listen to the new local laws regarding masks (such as Orange County's current mandatory everyone has to wear a mask law) and free to speak our minds, we're not free from the reaction of others (such as being fined for not wearing a mask or people not agreeing with the way you think). Whatever you choose to do or be, I hope you have the full freedom to be able to do or be it.

So until next time, Keep Cooking with Character!

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Day 163: All joking aside, you really oughta be yourself. --The Genie

All joking aside, you really oughta be yourself. --The Genie, Aladdin

This sage bit of advice comes to us when Aladdin asks for advice on how to win Jasmine's hand.

Have you ever been told this gem? Maybe you've said it to someone else who needed to hear it.

Being yourself is one of the best things in life you can do. It's also one of the hardest things to do because society doesn't always like it when you're yourself. Yet it also says you should be true to who you are.

While society says it matters what you look like, who you fall in love with, what you like to watch or do ect.,  it really doesn't. No matter what you do, who you like, or what you look like, there will always be someone who does not like or approve of whatever you do. Therefore, as long as it is legal, you do you and be the best you can be. If you're meant to do something, or be with someone, life will find a way to bring it to you. Yet you do have to do a bit of work to make it happen.

Being yourself is the most freeing thing. One thing I've learned over the years is to do what makes you the happiest. Sometimes that takes a long time to figure out. Other times it doesn't take that long. I hope you end up in a position that allows you to embrace every aspect of who you are and not where you feel like you have to hide. I also hope you end up in a relationship, be it growing up in a family or creating your own, that allows you to be you and allows you to celebrate your uniqueness. There's no one quite like you and the only one who can do what you do best.  The Genie said it best "Bee yourself!" and it needs no elaboration.

So as always be yourself and Keep Cooking with Character!

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Day 162: Learn to have a little fun --The Sultan

Learn to have a little fun --The Sultan, Aladdin

This gem comes to us when Prince Ali convinces The Sultan to ride the Magic Carpet. The Royal Vizer, Jafar, was against it from the start because he felt like it wasn't safe and he did not want The Sultan to have any fun, except for what he deemed as fun. The Sultan says this zinger back to Jafar before zooming off.

Have you ever been told this particular quote? Perhaps you sent it to someone else. Learning to have fun is the easiest thing to do. Children learn how to have fun from toddler. However, as we grow older, we are constantly taught not to have fun. Sometimes we are told to the point where we forget how to have fun. Yet there are are so many ways to have fun, even in the unlikeliest of places.

You can easily make a game out of anything. You could make a friendly competition out of who sells more drinks or who answers phone calls at work. You could make it a game to beat your best day. You could also do standard wad of paper and play basketball with the trash can. You could also draw on some spare scraps of paper. It's okay for adults to have fun on the job. Sometimes that makes all the difference. Perhaps you know how to have fun off the job but you're not sure exactly how to make it fit into your job. I'm sure you will find a way. I don't know how I cannot say how because your idea of fun might be different than mine. Very few things in life I cannot find fun in. I've had many jobs over the years and I've managed to find fun and every last one. In the wise words of Mary Poppins "you find the fun and snap the jobs a game".

So I hope you will be able to find the fun in any job and until next time Keep Cooking with Character!

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Day 161: Now it still needs something. What does it say to me? --The Genie

Now it still needs something. What does it say to me? --The Genie, Aladdin

This comes to us when the Genie is trying to figure out exactly what Aladdin needs to become Prince Ali. 

Have you ever been in a similar situation where you have had to dress up more fancier than you're used to or been working on a project of sorts? Perhaps you are trying to decorate your room but you're just not quite sure what it needs. Were you able to figure it out or are you still trying to figure it out?

Sometimes it's very easy to figure out what you need. Other times it's not so easy. It could be something as easy as choosing a bow tie or picking the kind of makeup you'll wear. Yet it could also be something even deeper that you're not aware of. It could be something deeper like a new friendship or a relationship. It could be something as simple as a little bit of salt in a recipe or it could be something even more different.

Have you ever made a dish but when you taste tested it it didn't taste right, like it needed something? Perhaps it was something as simple as salt or pepper. It could have been something more substantial like the type of flour or the type of meat. I could go on and on about recipes and subtle tweaks that could elevate the recipe but at the same time it could also be something as different as leaving something out. Perhaps the recipe calls for red bell peppers and you don't like red bell pepper but you really want to try the recipe. You have a few options. You could leave them out or leave them in. If you leave them out, you could try substituting a diffrent veggie or just leave it out. It depends on the recipe though. It would change the flavor profile either way. Yet it's entirely up to you. Though, I do reccomend mastering a recipe before you start to change it and make it your own.

So until next time, I hope you are able to figure out just what you need and as always Keep Cooking with Character!

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Day 160: You're only a fool if you give up, boy.-- The Prisoner

You're only a fool if you give up, boy.-- The Prisoner, Aladdin

This one comes to us when Aladdin is thrown in the Agrabah prison. The two have a conversation that included him trying to convince Aladdin to break out.

Have you ever wanted to do something that seemed impossible? Have you ever wanted to do something in general? Were you able to get started? If you did get it started did you come to a point where are you gave up because you got frustrated or did you keep pushing through your frustrations and finally completed?

I myself can easily answer that last question. There have been many times where I just wanted to give up. Believe it or not even my blog and my channel because I felt like no one was watching my videos no one was reading my blog, reading my DisneyQuotes365 project, not to mention other things. Then one day I realized that, and this was recently too, it's okay that I am nowhere near where I want to be in terms of readers and subscribers. I know that one day I will eventually get to blog and YouTube full time with an extremely loyal fan base. I don't know when it's going to be, but I am not giving up. The drive and the passion are just too great for me to ignore. I would rather have a loyal fan base who is willing to stick with me through the highs and lows than to go viral one moment and lose everything the next.

I was actually very tempted to not put this particular quotes because of who says it. The prisoner is not exactly who he is which we see a little later on. But this quote is too good not to talk about, because it's got so much truth to it. Giving up almost always leads to regret. It will almost always lead to the what ifs: What if I actually finished? What if I change this one little thing? How would it work then? What if I did things differently? How would they turn out? Those are just a few of the many questions that you come across sometimes.

If giving up is the only option, for example, if you are in any form of a relationship where the other person is not treating you as kind or as well as they should, say they always constantly put you down or raise their voice over the smallest things just to do it too keep you under there thumb to make you afraid  that no one else will want you, then, yes it is okay to get give up. In fact run away from those kind of relationships for your life even though it is scary having to move on from that kind of trauma. Times like that are okay to give up and you're not a fool.

For the most part if you give up before seeing something through, then yes, you are a fool, because you don't know what sort of great things could come from you sticking to it. It's always best to give things a chance. No one is great 100% right off the start. Let's take baseball or basketball's Greats Nolan Ryan and Michael Jordan. They had to learn the game from the basics and kept practicing and practicing and practicing until they got to be one of the greats. I'm sure there were probably times were they wanted to give up but they had that passion and that drive keep them going. You could even go so far as to looking at our greatest artists and inventors of the times. Leonardo Da Vinci created so many works of art and he was an inventor as well. He was also a lefty, which made things hard for him because for many many many years being left-handed was a sign of the devil and usually beaten out of people. He did so many great works of art like The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper and created many inventions like the scissors and a flying machine. Yet he did not give up. He found a way to make the colors look just right, which back then was not an easy task because they had to find the right herbs and the right natural pigments to get just the right color. Probably one of the most well-known and greatest inventors of our time was Thomas Edison. It is said that he said (and I'm paraphrasing) he found 10,000 different ways how not to make a working light bulb before he made for working light bulb. He could have given up after the first attend after the first 50. The first hundred attempts. You get the idea but yet he did not. Who knows where we would be if he did not invent the light bulb? I hope I've given you just a few reasons why giving up is not a good idea. It is up to you to find your reason for not giving up I can't tell you to do it your family can't tell you to do it nobody can tell you your reasons but you.

So until next time I hope you don't give up and as always keep cooking with character

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Day 159: Do not be fooled by it's commonplace appearance....--The Peddler

Do not be fooled by it's commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts.--The Peddler

This gem comes to us at the start of the movie when The Peddler is trying to make a sale off of his portable cart. As he says this quote, he is holding  a beaten brass lamp that resembles an old fashioned gravy boat with a lid.

The saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" comes to mind every time I hear this quote. They also say that first impressions are everything. Have you ever judged something or someone by their first appearance? Was that first impression correct or was it wrong?

At first glance, the lamp doesn't look like much. It looks like something you would pass over. Yet the lamp is so much more. Even though it does not look like it is worth much, it still means a lot to certain people which is revealed throughout The Peddler's story and the movie. Have you ever seen or gotten something that doesn't look like much but holds great sentimental value? That sentimental value may be worth more than a king's Ransom in gold.

Have you ever met someone? I'm sure you probably have. What were they like when you first met that? What did they look like? Were they ain't shy were they blouse were they cautious? Did they look like they were trustworthy or not? Did they look rough or mean like someone you wouldn't want to mess with? Did you leave them alone or approached them? Did you pass them by at first then give them a second chance? How did they make you feel? Has anyone ever passed by you then given you another second chance? How did that work out for you? Hopefully it turned out well. If not, I hope you were able to move on from that encounter.

I could go on about why you should or should not dismiss someone or something after the first glance. However I'm pretty sure those are some lessons you've already been taught over the years or have read about elsewhere. I'm just going to let my questions do the talking instead.

So until next time, remember it's what's on the inside that counts and as always Keep Cooking with Character!

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