What's Your Cookie?

Iglesia Rancho de Taos
Taos
New Mexico

When we moved from "The" Bronx to Winsted, CT, I was five years old. I spoke very little English but I new a few words to get buy; enough to make friends with neighbors, all it took was bag of Oreo cookies. "Do you want an Oreo cookie?", I would inquire. It didn't take me long to make friends.

My mom told me that my solicitation didn't just stop with the Oreo cookie offer either. In fact, she told me that she would place me in the grocery cart while at the store and I would start to sing: "I like people and people like me". The song was not original it was part of a Lifebuoy soap jingle I had heard. (Apparently, I loved that as much as my Oreo cookies too.) Both worked and I made friends.

It's been years since then, but I've managed to continue my cookie charity and singing my song to myself but not out loud   If you  are in any kind of sales you have to both have and be a cookie. You should genuinely like people. Be real, be you. It's important that you be willing to first give of yourself, before you ask someone for anything. Differentiate yourself from others by offering a cookie. Be interested in their wellbeing first.

So what's the cookie? Why it's you of course! Offer yourself. Be of value. Why should that person wish to speak with you again? What do you have of value to  offer them that they should want to speak with you today?

My blogs and photography have been my cookies for years. Sometimes both photography used and words spoken have been related but separately each was its own cookie for you.

As you knock on a door or get ready to call someone think about the cookie. By the way, my name is Al Hernandez and I am a financial advisor. I like people and people like me because I make the complicated seem simple. I happen to have an Oreo cookie would you like one?

Take It Easy

Chihuahua: Taking It Easy
Taos, NM

It took me 2,200 miles by car and one song to get it, but I think I understand now what I am suppose to do. "Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy."  I don't know how many times I had heard that song Take It Easy by the Eagles but this time, that particular phrase took a hold of me like the spirit in a Pentecostal revival service. 


For much of my trip, my wheels kept turning in my head and they blocked me from just enjoying all of the splendor. My wife, Kim, would nudge me to see where my mind was at. I couldn't stop thinking about all that was happening. The noise of my own wheels were keeping me from enjoying what was in plain view.


Look, I don't portend to know the future or how all of this will work out. I know I need to lighten up and just go with the flow. It's a lot easier than fighting the current all of the time. This is not about giving up but rather its about giving yourself a chance to just be. In time, it will all work out. You just have to learn to Take It Easy sometimes.

Change of Perspective

Ranchos Church
Taos, NM

One of my photography mentors reminds me to focus on perspective. By studying perspective, I can change my version of the image while still viewing the same image that someone else has shot. Perspective becomes a tool that I can use to distort and interpret my particular view of an image. None of us views exactly the same image in the same way.


Our own experiences, past and present, enable us to weave a unique image capture of reality according to our journey. As we study the great art masters like Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Manet, and Matisse; we see how emotion influences the final image. Artists rely on that sense as another color on their palette. They dip into it and mix it readily with color. The brush stroke provides the mood and tempers the image.


We cannot escape emotion nor should we shun it. Emotion good or bad can be a source of fantastic art.  Instead of shunning it, we should embrace it as part of our identity. Our lives can be enriched by what we feel and sense if we learn how to harness its unique energy.