To Stir or Not to Stir

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Today, let’s talk about one of my favorite foods, Stir-Fry.

A cooking technique originating in ancient China, stir-frying involves tossing bite-sized ingredients into a hot Wok or pan to create tender, flavorful dishes.

There’s not a lot that can beat a good stir-fry, at least in my opinion.

Evidence suggests stir-frying dates back to the Eastern Zhou period in China, sometime between 771 and 256 BC.? Researchers found bronze inscriptions of the word “Chao” on pots and cauldrons dating to the period, referring to dry stirring food in a Wok.? It originally referred to a technique to dry grain in a wok, with later references highlighting a method for scrambling eggs.

By the late Ming Dynasty, the cost of wood and charcoal increased, making stir-frying a more efficient way to cook food quickly without wasting fuel. By the Qing Dynasty, most Chinese homes had a Wok range, as stir-frying had become a mainstream method of cooking. This replaced boiling, braising, or steaming, also traditional cooking techniques.

Stir-frying made its debut in America in the 19th Century, as Chinese immigrants established roots in the country.? Stir-frying was a way to bring something familiar to people who were living in a foreign land.? It allowed the Chinese people to stay connected to their ancestral roots and to pass on traditions to the next generation.

The term “Stir-Fry” first appeared in 1945 in Buwei Yang Chao’s, “How to Cook and Eat in Chinese.”? This was an early attempt to create a cookbook of Chinese recipes for an American audience and to introduce Chinese cooking techniques.

A traditional Wok is constructed of thin metal, making it highly conductive to heat. This helps to cook the food faster, a significant time saver in times of scarce or expensive fuel sources. The shape of the Wok not only allows for faster heating, but its depth creates different heat zones. Oils or seasonings were added, once the Wok was heated, not only to add flavor to the dish but to optimize the Wok’s non-stick properties while cooking.

This leads to food that’s not only seared and hot, but also food that’s tender, crisp, and fresh.

Today, millions of people around the world gather together around a table to enjoy what I call “Stir-Fry and a Show” as they frequent many of the Habichi restaurants that have mastered the Art of Entertainment Stir-Fry.? Millions more enjoy the benefits of stir-fry in their own homes, perpetuating a tradition established over 2500 years ago.

The key to a great stir-fry is stirring. The ingredients need to be constantly stirred to ensure even heat distribution, prevent sticking and burning, and help the ingredients cook quickly and maintain their texture and flavor. Stirring ensures the food is exposed to the heat and the sauces, allowing the flavors to meld together.

A failure to adequately stir the ingredients in a Wok leads to a mixture of undercooked and overcooked food and a failure of the sauces to blend with the ingredients. It also allows moisture to accumulate in the plan, leading to a soggy stir-fry.

Nobody wants soggy stir-fry.

So, when it comes to good stir-fry, we need more stirring and less suppressing.

There’s a lesson in stir-fry…several, in fact.

Our lives are comprised of a number of ingredients. The thoughts we think, the beliefs we embrace, the words we speak, and the actions we take are all ingredients that, when stirred and combined together, make us who we are.? Our skills, talents, and abilities, are also key ingredients in the “Making of Us” as we are stirred in the Wok of Life.

Our character, the mental and moral qualities that are distinctive to us, and our morals, our standards of acceptable behavior, add flavor to our thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions.? These are the sauces that can enhance the “Making of Us”, allowing us to stand out as unique, distinctive, and attractional.

When stir-fry is cooking in the kitchen the aroma fills the house stimulating the appetite. Everyone wants some of what’s being stirred up. When we stir up the gifts, talents, and abilities within each of us, savoring them with good character and morals, our lives stimulate the interest of others who want to enjoy what we have to offer as we share our wisdom, insights, and knowledge to improve the lives of others.

The sizzle of the ingredients cooking in the Wok is inviting as well. In the same way, our lives, if properly stirred, can be inviting to others. It lets them know something good is about to be served up.? It attracts other people to us, expanding our reach and influence.

I’m talking about stirring up our potential.

To create a successful stir-fry dish, quality ingredients are needed. The same is true for us. What we cultivate and add to our lives become the ingredients in the “Making of Us.”? It’s important to pay attention to what we’re adding to our lives by what we read, watch, listen to, and who we engage with, as we don’t want to fill our lives with inferior ingredients.

Another essential to creating a quality stir-fry is heat. A Wok is heated to high temperatures so the ingredients can be heated, seared, and cooked.? The heat also allows the ingredients to absorb the flavors and sauces added to the dish to enhance their flavor.? It is in times of stress and pressure that what we’ve added to our lives is tempered and mixed with our character and values to reveal to the world what we’re really made of.

But without stirring, there is no stir-fry.

Stirring mixes the meats, vegetables, and sauces in a Wok or Habichi Grill. It creates a fresh, delicious recipe while preserving the natural flavor and textures of the ingredients while imparting a delightful char and aroma.?? As we go through our daily routine, our gifts, talents, and abilities are being stirred by the thoughts we think, the beliefs we embrace, the words we speak, and the actions we take.

Who’s stirring the Wok of Your Life?

Is it you, or someone else?

When we stir up our gifts, talents, skills, and abilities, we’re stirring up our potential. Rightly stirred, under the right heat, we create the environment for success in our lives. As we go through the stirring process, we expand our potential, build up our capabilities, and open doors of opportunity. A? Coach or a Mentor can also help us stir up our potential, sharing their experience and expertise. It’s like hiring a Master Chef to teach us new, creative ways to cook.

This is a recipe for experiencing abundance and more success.

By the same token, when we fail to stir up our gifts, talents, skills, and abilities, we suppress our potential. We limit our potential, tear down our capabilities, and close the doors of opportunity. We remain where we are, as we are, unchanged. Having negative people in our lives can also suppress our potential, stifling our growth and development.

This is a recipe for experiencing scarcity and failure.

So, here’s an important question you need to answer.

Are you stirring or suppressing?

Are you stirring up your gifts, talents, skills, and abilities, or are you suppressing them? Are you daily growing yourself, adding fresh ingredients to your life, or are you cooking with old, stale ingredients of days gone by?? Are you examining the thoughts you think, the beliefs you embrace, the words you speak, and the actions you take to make sure they are serving you well, or are you content to live an average, mediocre, lackluster, status-quo life?

Remember, successful people do daily what unsuccessful people do sometimes, or not at all. What are you doing daily to build up your capabilities, expand your opportunities, and open the doors for more abundance and success in your life??

What we all need is more stirring.

The right ingredients, stirred in the right Wok, at the right temperature, create an amazing recipe for success. It expands our potential to say, do, and become more than we are right now.

The searing process of stir-fry creates desirable flavors, enhances the appearance of food, and improves its texture and taste. The searing process of the “Making of Us” makes us more resilient even as it enhances the ingredients we’ve added to the Wok of Our Lives – expanding our potential, increasing our attractiveness, and enhancing our capabilities.

Every day, we are stirring and suppressing. It’s important to pay close attention to what we are stirring up in our lives, and what we are suppressing.? As Black Belt Leaders in Life, we need to be stirring up more of the good things in our lives, making us a better version of who we are and what we do in the process.

We should also be suppressing the bad things in our lives, the self-saboteurs that limit our potential, stifle our success, and violate our character, values, and morals.? Fail to do this, and we set ourselves up for scarcity and failure.

Stir up the right things and suppress the wrong things, and we create a recipe for abundance and more success in our lives.

One final question…one you and I need to be intentional about answering each day.

What are you stirring, and what are you suppressing?