My Riffs

GIGO - garbage in, garbage out. If you're following things that are putting garbage in your head, unfollow. If you're subscribed to things that are putting garbage in your head, unsubscribe. Life it too short to accept garbage or toxicity.  When you take in garbage and toxicity, soon you will be outputting garbage and toxicity. Only take things in that you want to output.

Getting out of balance often precedes breaking. If it’s out of balance it needs to be corrected before it breaks.

Trees can go through a process called grafting. In short, the graft is done to make the tree better. It can be assumed that the graft wouldn’t feel good, but it will end up making the tree a better tree.  In life we have things grafted into our life that are unpleasant and unwanted. But these things can ultimately make us better if we take ownership of them and grow from them into something better. 

"Scars come with living"  - Toby Mac There doesn't need to be shame associated with scars, they come with living. They can be beautiful. They can show that you've survived. They can show that you went through a battle being a victor. Scars come with living and we don't have to be ashamed of living.

People who never comes against adversity will become weak. Adversity makes trees strong. Adversity makes metal strong. Adversity similarly makes people strong. We don't need to go looking for adversity, it will come to us. And it's not something we should run from. 

What you’re anchored to will either save or wreck you. And if you have nothing to anchor to, you will at some point wreck.  Identity what you are anchored to and make sure it’s something that will save you.  Money, material and entertainment are things that will fail you when anchored to them. 

Many things come with a good side and bad side. What do I mean by that? You may have a dream job, but it's gonna have some things that you dislike or things that make it difficult. Good things come from difficulty. Wisdom comes from pain. Strength comes from pain.  "Bad" things are part and parcel of good things. Going through the "bad" is necessary to get to the good.

"Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient ". Rule #7 from 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson.

Covid has changed the world but we still don’t know the full extent of how it will change. But opportunities will present themselves as change occurs. What opportunities will open up as commerce and business change? What opportunities will present themselves as communication and relationships change?

From the book of Proverbs: "Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble."  How much less trouble would be caused if this was learned? How many less instances of trouble would I have been in had I heeded this advice? Hopefully we get better with this as we age and mature, but the tongue is truly the most unruly part of humans and the most difficult to tame. If you can tame your tongue you can tame yourself.

People are more similar than they are different. We're all unique and special bound together by similarities. Even those who are a challenge to relate to are more similar than different to us.

It's unlikely somebody can be helped until they first feel understood. People don't generally accept they're wrong until they feel like they have at least been understood.

Everyone needs different amounts of sleep, but the fact is we all need good sleep. Most people need 8 hours of sleep give or take, but some people can get by on less. But they still need good sleep. If you're not sleeping good, you're not going to be living good during the day. There are plenty of good tips a quick Duck Duck Go search will help you discover. Getting good sleep is a must, figure out how to get it :) 

An interesting thought exercise is to think about how I would describe myself to someone I just met.  Now think about if I could try and describe myself from the perspective of someone who knew me well to someone I just met.   How close would those two descriptions like up? There’s probably a lot to learn in that answer.

Emotions are important but they shouldn’t be a driver for us. We should be aware of them but they shouldn’t be our driver. Because for many of us that will be a fairly unstable ride :)

Some people delight themselves in finding the gouge in someone else's armour. I've had to confront that tendency in myself. And it's a horrible way to live and experience life. There's little skill in pointing out a gouge. There's much skill in pointing out a fix for the gouge. There's also much skill in pointing out untapped talents.  If you find a gouge, try and find all the areas where their armour is strong. There may be a gouge because they've been through battles.

So many people live below what they could be. Simply because they don’t even try to make the best of their situation. They let life dictate to them their happiness. Rather they should dictate to life their happiness.  It’s one of the great secrets to life, that you can take control of it.  There is a video of Steve Jobs talking about this that inspired this post :)

Shortcuts don't lead to success. Doing hard things and doing hard work leads to success. Beware of any proposed shortcut to a big goal. 

2020 has brought us many interesting things. One though is the conflict of experts. The experts don't seem to be able to agree on anything, science, medicine, politics. They haven't been able to predict anything with consensus or accuracy. This conflict has led to some credibility and trust erosion in the experts. This year has brought many things to light, and this is something else that has brought to light. Many experts are simply just doing their best, but don't know everything. Information overload has also contributed to this. Filtering data and information has become one of the most critical skills for people to learn.

The quality of your life will never exceed the quality of your thought life. 

In our household, it's already full on Christmas. Christmas is the best way to close out this year of 2020. With gratefulness and generosity. It's been a tough year on the whole world but we should still close it out with gratitude. Hopefully this year is less about merchandise and more about people and gratitude.

The story of the ship the Endurance is one of the most incredible stories of endurance and tenacity. It’s something that humans can endure the amount of hardship and difficulty that those men did. Endurance is an incredible skill and should be worked on. 

Did you know just going for a walk can really improve your health? I was reading about 8 ways walking changes your brain for the better. It lowers your risk of developing depression. It improves your overall cognitive functioning. Walking releases endorphins. It releases the protein BDNF. It helps with mental and physical fatigue. It strengthens your Hippocampus. It improves creativity. It increases blood flow to your brain. Link to article here:  https://www.bustle.com/p/8-ways-walking-changes-your-brain-for-the-better-according-to-science-10077769

I measure the strength of a spirit by how much truth it can take. Nietzsche

The company Apple isn't always the first to market, but often they're the best. Trying to be first is less important than doing your best. 

There’s no perfect system. There’s always weak spots or loopholes. Yes, trust the system to a degree, but also be critical of the system at the same time.  The current election mayhem in the US was the cause of this thought. 

When people lose hope they lose their life. Hope is an important part of life. Always keep hope, never let it go. It's an important ingredient to life.

The US Presidential election campaign had me thinking. What's the best way to fight your opponent. I'm not convinced putting them down is the best way. I submit that if someone would instead paint a better picture than their opponent, that would be far more powerful. Point to something better rather than trying to tear down your opponent.

Not every moment is equal. Tomorrow is a big day in the United States, and because of the power of the US, it's a big day for the whole world. Enjoy every moment and take in the big moments.

Tonight was a beautiful sunset. I don't know what you could have paid to create something that beautiful. What if we're looking at beauty and happiness wrong? Maybe we're guilty of treating those things like a commodity rather than something priceless.