A Fond Farewell To Gravy

I wrote about gravy today. I also actually ate some gravy.

What can I say, it's been a gravy kind of day. But now it's just about over. The last thing I need to do concerning gravy after writing this is go wash the dishes. And I'm hoping there's water covering each of the pans, especially the one that had gravy in it. There's something about gravy. It would make a very good glue, if it sticks to paper as well as it sticks to the side of a pan.

That's true about a lot of food though. One day we were heating up some barbecued beef (or pork, I can't remember which) and some of it burnt in the pan. I about pitched the whole pan because it was stuck so firmly to the bottom of the pan it was virtually impossible to get it out. And I'm thinking, I just invented a new kind of barbecued flavor glue! I'm an accidental genius!

Anyway, the thing about gravy, beyond it's being delicious, is that it "teaches" us so much. It doesn't really, but this is like those idiotic investment commercials on TV. Like where they go, "What do two ships passing in the night teach us about investments?" Then they proceed to tell the things they know about investing, likening it to the passing of two ships. But I want to scream at the TV, in a way that they would hear me: "It's not teaching you anything. You already know what you know. The two ships passing in the night are an illustration of what you know, not something that instruct you! You idiots! Who do you think you're fooling!?" I get worked up about it.

So, just to review, what does gravy "teach" us. Lots of things. Things I hadn't even thought of, and of course things I didn't already know until the gravy taught me. Like there's no place like home. You put gravy in the pan. That's it's home. It stays in the pan, because if it strays from home, it will make a mess. We don't want to mess up in life, we stay home. That's a stretch.

What I emphasized today I think is worth repeating. Gravy is synonymous, or is a term for an excess reward. As in the phrase, "The rest is gravy." There was cause and effect, I got the effect after the cause, but then I got more than I was expecting, and that portion is gravy. It's on top.

Meaning, if we step out in life, perhaps with an investment, perhaps for a cause, perhaps for a personal pursuit, that's a cause and there's going to be an effect. But it takes GUTS to step out. That's the first point. The effect of GUTS, when success comes, is GLORY. It's expected that GUTS will lead to GLORY. GUTS could lead to disaster, but no GUTS, no GLORY, I believe the expression says.

But then what if when you step out and you have GUTS and GLORY, you go forth in a bold and very determined way. Perhaps you'll expect an excess effect, perhaps you won't, and in either case regardless you may get it. That's GRAVY.

I would say the key to my whole philosophy, the philosophical tenets of success that I teach (very successfully, of course), is that you should expect more than the typical effect. You should go beyond GLORY to GRAVY as a matter of course.

So that's it. I probably won't say much more about this 3G network -- G, G, G -- because I've said it all. You can link to my articles today and probably blow the competition out of the water. I wouldn't doubt that you could.

The Big Payoff Is Gravy

EVENING:

There's excitement in the air today, and it's all because of something as simple as GRAVY! Thank you for your interest. It's been great!

I've learned some of the secrets and I like to pass them along. Because I also know how it is. We're not always sure what the secrets are.

Then something comes along--a way of comparing, contrasting, or a way of encapsulating a philosophical stance through an image, a parable.

I hadn't seen the cartoon "Chow Time" for a number of years, which has the great line, "This time we didn't forget the gravy."

But today, with gravy being the theme, I searched on You Tube. First, I found a Spanish version, which wouldn't do me much good.

Then I found a high def recording of it in English, a gold mine! It brought back a lot of good memories, and also refreshed my memory.

I'd forgotten the whole set up, to be honest. I hadn't remembered the mouse, just the big huge dog, hungry, famished for another meal.

Then at the end, this is a biggie, I'd forgotten that they didn't hold the scene longer when they were pouring the gravy down his throat.

It mercifully fades out after you get the idea that they, the cat and mouse, have sweet revenge on the dog for being such an oppressor.

The dog got what was coming to him, but it's a very cruel (but wonderful) moment. We used to talk about it and laugh while eating gravy.

Today, though, the secret of the whole thing is this, that gravy stands for more than gravy. It stands for the rewards of diligent effort.

Like when we say, "The rest is gravy." It means there's a surplus that we have wrought or brought about through an effort or an investment.

But how do we get to that level of success, the gravy? My belief is that we have to step out, step away from our safety zone, as it were.

Stepping away from our safety zone takes guts. Then guts leads to efforts that often pay off. That's glory. And the big pay off is gravy.

So the philosophy that we've put forth--a great one for self-esteem, confidence, pride, and success comes down to this: GUTS, GLORY, GRAVY.

The 3G Network -- Guts, Glory, Gravy

AFTERNOON:

Gravy everywhere! I had biscuits and gravy today, just like I said I would. Which proves I'm a truthful person. It pays to be truthful.

A big sizzling skillet of bubbling gravy, working its way around the sausage chunks, looking every inch itself, what gravy looks like.

The biscuits heated at 400-something degrees in the oven, awaiting their true baptism by fire when the sizzling gravy inundated them.

Moments later, breaking the biscuits apart, fingers burning, I scattered them on the plate and ladled them to give them their coating.

To get gravy just right is both an art and a science. It takes someone with a degree from a chef conservatory, or at least a skilled cook.

It was just right, not too runny, not too thick, in that just right category that anyone recognizes, like it was being served to Goldilocks.

To go from the literal, edible gravy to the inner psychic gravy or the payoff for dedicated effort--called gravy--is something on my mind.

But first I savored the actual gravy, knowing it was cooked for me, for my pleasure, my enjoyment, to nourish me when I would be eating it.

Yes, that's what it is when we say gravy. Someone has the guts to step out, leading to the glory of the experience, to the reward: Gravy.

It's a 3G network I understand. If you can work up the confidence, it'll feed on itself. You'll go from Guts to Glory to Gravy every time!

If your experience is more limited than what you see described here, try again. Step out on your dreams and see: Guts, Glory, and Gravy.

Heaping Streams Of Running Gravy

MORNING:

I'm getting ready to have biscuits and gravy for lunch, oodles and oodles of gravy.

Big heaping streams of running gravy, meeting an irresistible force in chunks of sausage.

The biscuits undergirding as a foundation, yet sure to be acted upon as a sop by the pervading gravy.

Gravy! Delicious, runny, chunky, perfect gravy. Among Nature's most perfect foods.

When I think of gravy, I think of the innocent days of childhood. Looking down at my potatoes and the beautiful vistas of Lake Gravy.

It's going to be good! I will learn a lot -- mostly it will simply reinforce what I already know -- about the success teachings of gravy.

You go "From Guts to Glory to Gravy." That's what the teaching is. It's been proven true many times over.

From Guts To Glory To Gravy

MORNING:

Gravy is the good stuff. Whether it's the literal delicacy we pour over potatoes and savor. Or the benefits that come from hard work.

I definitely like both kinds, the literal delicacy that thickens biscuits and accentuates sausage, and the payoff after dedicated work.

Gravy gives unadorned food something to be proud of, exciting the senses. And when we say "The rest is gravy," we know that's good.

But how you get to gravy? That's another matter. You can labor for years over a stove and not get it. And it's the same with gravy rewards.

Do you have the guts to go for gravy? That's where it comes from, with this progression: "From Guts to Glory to Gravy." The Three G's.

The guts is what we need when we step out with a plan, because, think about it, there's always something there that could hold us back.

Sometimes my present circumstances holds me back, because so most of the time I like the security. But what I get isn't the good gravy.

It's not the good gravy but I eat it, and it's nothing but a thin, worthless, watery slop. It's not satisfying, but again it's security.

There's no pride in this thin, worthless, watery slop that's not the true gravy. It doesn't deserve the term, let alone my desire for it.

If you have something you want to go for -- ultimately to get the gravy -- you need to have the guts to step out and go for the glory.

Think of those you know who have the gravy that life gives. They'll be people who had the guts to go for the glory. They stepped out.

That's the good stuff, made the good way, sustaining those who are smart enough to get it. They went for the glory, the rest was gravy.

The gravy is out there, within your reach!

Heavy On The Gravy, Please

Gravy.

The lifeblood of potatoes. A sopping, flooding lake. Whose levies and dikes know no integrity.

The thickness of sausage and gravy keeps biscuits on the same page. There's a coherence that keeps your teeth occupied.

It can be light, thin as tomato juice. Or thick and ponderous. Take the it out of gravity and you've got it.

The greatest cartoon line in history concerns it: "This time we didn't forget the gravy!" Such sarcasm, such revenge against his oppressor, with what? With gallons and gallons of deadly gravy poured down his throat with a giant funnel.

The making of gravy is a mystery known to none but the world's cooks. How you can mix meat drippings and some kind of liquid or powder and come out with gravy is an esoteric truth guarded by a close coterie of tight-lipped devotees. They glide through the hall from the chapel to the kitchen.

I'm sure long years of devotion, prayer, and one vision after another would be all it'd take to open the ultimate revelation. But most of us lack the faith to believe we could be in the know. I personally am resigned to enlisting the services of an infed priesthood whenever I need a fix.

Even dogs have the yearning for it -- Gravy Train. It transforms their crunchy boring food to savory soft chews peeking out of a delicious brown soup. They eat it in big gulps, pulling their head quickly back to make sure they suck up as much of it as possible with each approach.

It's a liquid, it's a food. It's a delicacy. It's practical, allowing you to clean the pan and let nothing go to waste. You dip in it. You mix it with everything else.

Children are fascinated with gravy and learn that it always seeks its own level.

I'd like to have a big bowlful of gravy now. The good stuff.