My Riffs

Control that which is within our control. Release that outside of our control. That simple rule will bring much peace to your life.

The people who find wonderful things are the ones who are looking for them. Nobody walks into wonderful things with a negative outlook.

Do good. In a world where so many are trying to do harm to others, so good. Leave the harm for others to inflict. We don’t need more of that. We need people who are doing good to others. 

I read a post today that bears repeating here. Be the person who breaks the cycle. If you were judged, choose understanding. If you were rejected, choose acceptance. If you were shamed, choose compassion. Be the person you needed when you were hurting, not the person who hurt you. Vow to be better than what broke you—to heal instead of becoming bitter so you can act from your heart, not your pain. Lori Deschene

Healing is rarely a linear journey. It’s a journey and most often is unpredictable. As long as you’re heading in the right direction, be happy with your pace. 

We push for independence but really we need interdependence. We’re all better together. You can stand when you’re united but you fall when you divide. 

Being bigger often means being smaller. What does that mean? Being the bigger person often means having a smaller ego, thinking less of ourselves, not making things about ourself, putting others first. 

Once again I’m reminded that love is the answer. It always is. Love calls for maturity. And love can accomplish so much more than hate. 

You have to do things you enjoy. A lot of life is things we don’t particularly enjoy. Alarms, jobs, chores, errands, jobs, etc, etc. And if thats all our lives are filled with, we get miserable. You have to make time to do things you enjoy.

This is a very simple rule that will do you a lot of good. Listen twice, speak once. In the same proportion of ears to mouth. Two ears, one mouth. Hear and listen twice as much as you speak.

Our minds are busy places. The amount of information, media we take in daily and the amount of decisions being made have never been higher. If we don’t take to declutter our minds, they become very confused and inept. Find ways to declutter your mind. Learn to let go of things, to let things roll off your back. Learn to set priorities of what you will consume energy on. Our current culture demands an unsustainable pace from us. 

The balance of holding on onto some and letting go of some is tough. The balance of just enough new and just enough old has to be found. Maintaining just one side of these equations is hugely self detrimental. To move, learn and grow you have to stretch and reach for new but you can’t let go of it all or you’ll have to foundation. 

What defines you? Surely not your weakest point. How do you define yourself? Make sure you don’t define yourself by your weakness.  Define yourself by what you’ve overcome. By what you’ve come through. 

If our circumstances always changed to what we wanted, we ourselves would never change.

A skill where many are deficient is listening. How many good listeners do you come in contact with? When you find one, you notice it because it’s a rare skill. It’s something we all can and should get better at. A good listener will leave you feeling heard and loved and often uplifted. 

The most important task you can do in a day is touch someone.

A reminder that laughter is the best medicine. Joy is strength. When we lose our joy we lose our strength. Find things in your day to be grateful for, because once you’re grateful you’ll find yourself joyful. 

You don’t reach big goals without doing a lot of thing you don’t really want to do. The bigger the goal, the more hard work required. Show up and do the work! 

When we wish bad on someone or something it shows more about us than the other person or situation. Wishing good on everyone and every situation is a sign of maturity.

Strength is kindness when you don’t feel like being kind.  Strength is gentleness when you could use force.  Strength is smiling when you’re hurting.  Strength is being wise enough to ask for help.  Strength is forgiving when you haven’t received an apology.  Strength is protecting the weak. 

The term drawing a line in the sand is often used. And it’s used in different ways. The most powerful way it can be used is when we draw our own lines in the sand. Things we will stand by and things we won’t allow.  An excellent line in the sand to draw is, at this point I will be content and grateful. If you draw that line, you set yourself up for a better future. 

There's always good to find it. The only catch is we have to train ourselves to find the good. Seems we naturally find the bad but it takes work to find the good. Become someone who by default finds the good in everything.

The only things that pay dividends are things you've invested in. To get a dividend you must invest some resource. The best dividend are paid in relational investments. What we invest in relationships and others pays the longest, best and more profitable dividends.

In some ways we have to, but we make so many assumptions it’s crazy. We assume so much with so little information. The crazy thing is how often we assume our assumptions are 100% correct too. It’s like we don’t even question things we’ve assumed to be correct. It’s a good thing to challenge what you know or what you think you know. And be open to learning whether it’s correct or not. 

There’s a scripture in the Bible that says to rejoice when you encounter hardships. Because hardships are what teach us and make us better, more patient people who can endure. So whatever hard thing you’re going through, rejoice. You’ll be better for it. 

Maybe the best thing you can give someone is your time.

A wasted day is one in which you haven’t spread love. 

I'm sure we've all heard the phase, something like "living but not alive". It indicated that we can be breathing but not truly living. There's times in life where we are all about survival, and just living. But that shouldn't be the default and it shouldn't last too long. Life should be lived to the fullest and enjoyed as much as possible. Stop just being alive and start living!