My Riffs

Majorities win but that doesn’t mean majorities are always right. Groupthink is real and with the advent of technology groupthink now spreads further and faster. Question your position and be open to new facts and data. You may be subscribing to group think. Maybe the group think is correct, but make yourself sure of it. 

So many situations we don't have control over and often we're left with less than ideal situations. Learning to make the best of situations is often the best way forward. We can spin our wheels being frustrated at situations, but once we decide to make the best of them, we can move forward. 

What does arguing ever accomplish? I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a single argument change someone’s mind.  I’ve seen example and kindness change someone’s mind though. Argument is almost always a waste. 

When I tear you down we both suffer. When I build you up we both benefit. Tearing someone down never builds you up. What helps everyone is building people up.

We all think we're right. But that's simply an impossibility. That means we all have to be wrong somewhere. Do we have the honesty to accept where we're wrong when we learn something new?

We are defining what is normal for the next generation. This is true on a macro level, but on a micro level we are defining in our homes what is normal. Our children's judgements will based off of what was normal in their childhood. What you allow as the normal will be the default behaviour of yourself and everyone in your sphere of influence. Make that normal the best you possibly can. Talk about big things. Let it be filled with love and joy. Be generous. Be hopeful and kind.

We're all just human. We may be as unique as the snowflakes, but we're all human and share a lot of common things. We all hurt, we all feel joy, we all have needs. We let small things divide us but at the end of the day we're all humans and share a lot more in common than what divides us.

Here's a good question, what are people comfortable to say and do around you? Are they comfortable tearing other people down? Are they comfortable speaking in a derogatory manner? Are they comfortable being small minded?

People are often labeled by their weakness or their biggest mistake; all while ignoring all the good. Situations are often labelled by the negative aspects rather than the good. It is a natural human tendency to focus on the bad. It takes work to assume the best. It takes work to see through to the good. It's something that with enough practice it can become a habit.

It's an easy trap to fall into... letting other peoples opinions of us dictate how we live.  Questions that can come to mind are: What will this person say about me? But they said I would fail, can I succeed? I'm afraid I will be critiqued from them? But I failed before, what will they say now? When we live life based on fear of what people think and say, we immediately put ourselves in a sort of handcuffs. This doesn't mean we should show no regard for people. But it means we need to live free of critical people.  Let your life be governed by hope not critical words.

The thing about motives is that if they’re wrong things won’t end up right. Wrong motives will mess up what you’re doing 100% of the time. If your motives don’t line up with the task, don’t do it. 

We truly stop living when we let dreams die.

Fancy doesn’t mean quality.  Sometimes quality is simplicity. Oftentimes that’s the case actually.  Being fancy should never be the goal, doing quality work should be though. 

I wish I knew then what I know now. But I wouldn't know what I know now had I not gone through everything from then till now. And in 20 years I will likely wish I knew right now what I will know then. So the moral of the story is to take advantage of every single day and every single lesson and enjoy the journey. You will make mistakes, but hopefully you don't keep making the same ones over and over.

What's in your control, make it happen. What's out of your control, let it go.

We often think it’s all about money and possessions. But it’s really about meaningful relationship and purpose.

Your goals have to be the right things or they will lead to disappointments.  

Life is truly quick like a vapor. The older I get the more thankful for each day and each moment I get. This means time is truly our most precious resource. Constantly refocus so unimportant things don’t waste it. 

The best way to predict the future is to create it. Doing so is a lot harder than just letting the future come at you though. Predicting the future really just means work. 

If you spend enough time in a donut shop, you’re gonna end up eating a lot of donuts. If you spend enough time in a gym you’re gonna end up doing some exercise. The environments you choose do in fact have tons of bearing on your actions. Your environment consists of who you fellowship, where you physically spend time and what you feed yourself in terms of knowledge and media. 

Feelings aren't always right. What we feel isn't reflective of reality. But our feelings can effect our actions often. What you feel may or may not be reality. 

How many of the things that we worry about happen? It’s such a small percent. Then why don’t we learn to stop worrying? Worry is wasted time. Worry doesn’t help even if the worry comes to pass. Worry robs us of today.

Doing more, getting more, doesn’t equal better. That’s a contradictory notion to our human nature. But it’s true.  More work means less of something else. Doing more means likely quality becomes less or time becomes less.  Getting more doesn’t mean better. It means more management, more upkeep, more anxiety.  So the statement that less is more has a lot of truth to it. 

Always be kind. That should be the rule. There are so few exceptions to the rule that they’re not worth mentioning. Kindness does wonders. 

We've all been told to just trust the process. In the middle of it, that doesn't feel like a very helpful piece of advice. But it's often true. We want to shortcut the process, but shortcutting never gets us to where we want. A shortcut leaves us short. So we're left with going through the process.

It's easy to act like we know what's going on with someone or something else. But we rarely truly do. We make so many assumptions without even realizing it. And that's a huge mistake. Being slow to judge and slow to pronounce judgement is something that can save a whole lot of trouble. Both for ourselves and others. We think we know more than we actually do.

Taking care of yourself is a necessity. But it’s one we can neglect. Sure we eat, shower and clean our clothes. But do we really take care of ourselves? We have to take care of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self to truly care for your selves. Ignoring any one of these areas causes imbalance and eventually will be an area where we fail.  Care for yourself in a balanced and complete way.

It's not worth fighting battles you won't win. There really aren't moral victories. I went for a run today and saw my first brown leaves on the ground. It was a reminder that some things are just out of your control. As much as I don't want cold weather and winter to come, it's coming. Fighting it or letting it bring me down would be a waste of time. This lesson extends to many things in life. 

One of the best ways to feel fulfilled is to learn contentment. The other best way is to help others. The last one I will mention is to have meaningful relations. If you're content, helping others and have meaningful relationships you will live a very fulfilled life. 

What makes life rich? Experiences and relationships. Especially experiences shared with people you care about. 

The real way to lose is to give up. Mistakes don’t equal losing. Giving up equals losing.