Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to write your own fortune. You know
Speaker 1: that in general, I like people to think about and
Speaker 1: plan for their future. But this suggestion is a little
Speaker 1: more fun. I want you to actually write a fortune
Speaker 1: like you'd find in a fortune cookie, and let this
Speaker 1: little bit of self created whimsie bring a smile to
Speaker 1: your day. Anyone who's gone to a Chinese restaurant or
Speaker 1: ordered take out knows that one of the highlights is
Speaker 1: the end of meal fortune cookie. I'm not sure anyone
Speaker 1: actually likes the cookies themselves. My thought is always sweet
Speaker 1: cardboard when I eat them. But we all love opening
Speaker 1: the cookies and seeing how we can tie the cryptic
Speaker 1: fortunes to our lives. We imbue these random typed words
Speaker 1: with meaning and like to convince ourselves that they foretell
Speaker 1: how will achieve our goals and see our wishes come true. Indeed,
Speaker 1: I know plenty of people who, upon finding a fortune
Speaker 1: that seems particularly relevant, tape this auspicious fortune to their
Speaker 1: mirrors or their desks, or tuck it in their wallets.
Speaker 1: These little slips of paper reassure us of good things ahead.
Speaker 1: The universe smiles. But given that I am pretty sure
Speaker 1: most of us don't actually believe that the fates carefully
Speaker 1: placed the crumpled paper in our stale cookie, This suggests
Speaker 1: an obvious activity for getting the same reassurance. You can
Speaker 1: write your own fortune, rather than waiting for a cookie
Speaker 1: to offer up what you want. Contemplate what you're hoping
Speaker 1: will be true for you in the future. Maybe you'd
Speaker 1: like to land a great new job, live in your
Speaker 1: dream home, have a close knit family, get in shape,
Speaker 1: meet a new love interest. Life is full of possibilities.
Speaker 1: What would make you feel like you hit the jackpot
Speaker 1: even if you never actually use those lucky numbers on
Speaker 1: those little fortune slips? Then write a fortune for telling
Speaker 1: that good thing. You know the writing style a little ambiguity,
Speaker 1: some mystery, a captivating and mesmerizing cadence. For instance, your
Speaker 1: home will be a place of beauty and comfort, or
Speaker 1: at your table food and love abound, or you will
Speaker 1: meet a charming, attractive stranger, or even just your future
Speaker 1: is golden and full of delights. You know the sound.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for inspiration, do an Internet search on
Speaker 1: fortune cookie fortunes, and you'll find loads of examples of
Speaker 1: fortunes from actual cookies. Take these and make them your own,
Speaker 1: type them, print the fortunes, cut them out in little
Speaker 1: slips of paper, and then put them wherever you would
Speaker 1: put a fortune you got at a restaurant. If you want,
Speaker 1: you could even turn this into a group activity. I
Speaker 1: know that part of the fun of a fortune is
Speaker 1: that it seems serendipitous, like the universe is giving you
Speaker 1: a gift of something. So you and your friends or
Speaker 1: family can do this for each other. Talk about what
Speaker 1: you dream about, or maybe you already know that's even better,
Speaker 1: write fortunes for each other that promise this wonderful thing.
Speaker 1: Give them to each other in person if that's an option,
Speaker 1: or by mail if you can't. If you and a
Speaker 1: group of friends have a recurring zoom call, this can
Speaker 1: be a zoom gathering activity. Everyone writes a fortune for
Speaker 1: the others, somewhat like you do a secret Santa gift exchange.
Speaker 1: Then you've got some of the magic of having the
Speaker 1: fortune not come from you directly, even if it kind
Speaker 1: of did. Because your friend knows that you want to
Speaker 1: find your dream house, because you keep telling her that
Speaker 1: let's just not second guess the magic. It's fun to
Speaker 1: have a bit of mystery to cheer us on. So
Speaker 1: as we look ahead to the future, as life hopefully
Speaker 1: begins to return to normal, consider writing your own fortune
Speaker 1: or writing one for a friend as she writes one
Speaker 1: for you. Foretell for yourself the future you hope for,
Speaker 1: and treasure the fortune as that future begins to come
Speaker 1: into view. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's b the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.