What do you see when I hold up a brown banana?

Do you see a gross-looking, mushy brown banana that you want to throw in the trash?

I’ll tell you what I see when I look at this banana.

I see…

Banana smoothies,

And fake ice cream where you freeze the banana, mush it up and it is simple and delicious!

I see banana bread.

But, most of all, what I see when I look at these beautiful brown bananas is

BANANA PUDDING!

It’s one of my family’s favorite comfort-food desserts!

 

Now if I want to eat a banana by itself, I don’t want a browning banana.

I want it almost on the green-side.

But for banana pudding, the bananas that have started to brown are the ones I want.

 

So what do brown bananas have to do with life?

How many times do we find ourselves doing something like this in our regular day-to-day life?

 

We look at our life, whether it’s…

a situation we find ourselves in – hmm, 2020 anyone?-

a person in our lives

or something in our own self that we wish was different

and we may have trouble seeing beyond our first impressions.

 

Do we see the brown banana that we just want to toss in the trash and be done with?

Or can we look at the situation/person/ourself and see the possibilities of banana pudding?

 

The potential lives in it and is available

IF we see it and choose to act on it.

It takes one second to change our lives.

That’s how long it takes to change a thought.

 

When we change what we think, we change EVERYTHING!

Let’s take this year of 2020.

With all the difficulties, life adjustments and other things that have happened to us this year,

are you thinking,

“2020- rotten banana!”

Or “2020- let me find some banana pudding!”

 

Yes, a lot of what has happened this year IS out of our control but

we do have control over what we think.

 

Do you focus so much and think so hard on the “yuck” factor

When it comes to the people in your life or what you want to change in yourself

That you forget the possibilities,

The options that there are,

The potential that you can take a few brown bananas and make a beautiful, comforting banana pudding?

Go make some banana pudding in your life!

Recipe for Banana Pudding

Homemade Banana Pudding from Life and Mindset Coach TBrowningLife
  • 4 eggs
  • ¾ c sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • About 40 vanilla wafer cookies
  • 4-5 ripe bananas

Recipe Steps

  1.  Separate the whites from the yolks.
  2. In a pot, whisk ½ cup sugar, the flour and salt. Stir in egg yolks and milk. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring often. Be sure to stir the bottom of the pot so that yummy pudding doesn’t stick there! Once the pudding is thickened (10 minutes or so), remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
  3. Preheat the oven to 325.
  4. In a casserole dish, place a single layer of cookies then slice a layer of banana (cut in ½ inch slices) over them.
  5. Pour ⅓ of the pudding over the bananas and gently spread.
  6. Alternate cookies, bananas and pudding 2 more times.
  7. To make the meringue, beat the egg whites until stiff. Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
  8. Spread the meringue over the pudding.
  9. Bake until meringue is lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Want more life coaching tips from Tracey? You’ll find them at tbrowning