Why should I listen? Why do you provide greater value than the next person? You need to be articulate enough to carry on a conversation, to present what it is you do, how you do it, and why you do it if you want to inspire confidence in your ability.
What I Know to Be True
My family and my family name are my most valuable possessions. That’s why I’d never put the Vallorani name on any product I don’t use and enjoy myself.
At this stage in my life and adventures, I want to share the privileges of life with others, to remind them that life is for enjoying, and every moment we have is a gift. Watch the sun rise, and celebrate the new day with a great cup of coffee. Enjoy a relaxing interlude with a great cigar, or better yet, with a good friend and two cigars and a great bottle of wine.
Take the time to listen to the music of the mandolin because even the most beautiful song can’t last forever. Savor the privileges of life, and share them with those around you.
“If wisdom were offered me on the one condition that I should keep it shut away and not divulge it to anyone, I should reject it. There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with.”-Seneca
In Closing . . .
This book began with my family’s story of the wolves and the mandolin. Life is very busy and full of wolves. Every day there is something: A child gets hurt and ends up in the emergency room. An employee struggles to deliver satisfactory results. A boss may be chomping at your heels. The wolves seem to circle around, doing their best to keep you from enjoying the small moments that make it all worthwhile.
Thinking back now about all the wolves my family encountered, and those I have encountered in my life, it’s nothing short of a miracle that I can now enjoy the music of the mandolin over the howls of those wolves.
I know I’m not alone.
There are a lot of people like me out there, meeting for coffee, talking over wine, posting on social media about the good things in life. They’re posting photos of their families, of great meals or trips they’ve enjoyed, sharing the highlights of their lives. The moments that echo the sweet strain of the mandolin keep the wolves of life from taking over and destroying us.
Life is short and full of many wolves, so let’s find the moments to make it as sweet as possible. There’s an old Italian proverb: “If you cannot live longer, live deeper.”
I would like to encourage others to live more deeply by finding the good in life. Don’t let the pack of wolves bring you down. Despite the fact that they’re at the bottom of the tree and snarling at your feet, you can still find the time to enjoy life’s privileges and experience happiness wherever you are.
As Marcus Aurelius pointed out nearly two thousand years ago, the happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, and that hasn’t changed.
I’ve learned that it doesn’t just happen. You have to make an effort to take the time to enjoy life’s small, sweet pleasures, and I like to help others find them. Take the time to savor life’s privileges.
It’s a privilege to pause to enjoy a great cup of high-quality, freshly roasted coffee and not just knock back a caffeine shot of low-grade, stale grinds as you rush to work. It’s a privilege to open a special bottle of wine, crafted with care and with its own history and story to tell, and share it with family and friends. It’s a privilege to smoke a great cigar, whether it’s to celebrate a highlight moment or just to pause and contemplate your good fortune.
The good things take time. For instance, we encourage people to use a French press to make our coffee. It takes a little more time, yes, but it releases the flavor much more fully, and the liturgy of grinding freshly roasted coffee beans and steeping them before pressing and pouring the coffee creates an overarching sense of calm and sensory enjoyment too.
When you actually make the commitment to sit down and experience our products, you’re reaching for that mandolin. Yes, the wolves might be down there in the form of bills piling up in the mailbox, the boss demanding your full attention, or the troubles your kids might be facing in school.
Nobody’s life is without some turmoil or complications. But you can choose to pause, refocus, and enjoy the music of the mandolin. You can make music, and you can share it with others just as I have been able to through Vallorani Estates.
I’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to know more about my products and the lifestyle they celebrate, visit me at brandonvallorani.com. I’d be thrilled to introduce you to the privileges life has brought me and hear how you are enjoying them too.
Follow the Vallorani Estates brand and join Vita Vallorani at www.ValloraniEstates.com.
Brandon Vallorani is available for publicity and media inquiries, as well as in-person business and marketing consulting. You may contact us for scheduling through ValloraniEstates.com.
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1 “Stonewall Jackson,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson.
2 “Zig Ziglar Quotes,” BrainyQuote, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/z/zigziglar617776.html.
3 “Dan Gable,” inspiringquotes, http://www.inspiringquotes.us/quotes/TuSf_S82o0lU1.
4 Fred Gipson, Old Yeller (1956).
5 John Herrman, “Inside Facebook’s (Totally Insane, Unintentionally Gigantic, Hyperpartisan) Political-Media Machine,” The New York Times Magazine, August 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/inside-facebooks-totally-insane-unintentionally-gigantic-hyperpartisan-political-media-machine.html.
6 “Winston Churchill, “Never Give In” (Harrow School, London, England, October, 29, 1941).
The Wolves and the Mandolin: Celebrating Life's Privileges In A Harsh World Page 14