My Riffs

Why do we so often feel the need to let everyone know our criticisms? Most of the times are critiques aren't even given to the right set of ears. And they also aren't given in the right attitude. Holding our criticisms inside is usually the right thing to do.

We can learn to live with great dysfunction. But we shouldn’t. It ends up costing more than longer we live with them. Addressing dysfunction sooner may seem more difficult but it’s much easier than addressing it later. The later you wait the more damage and the less chance of recovery. 

When you use your voice, people will really hear your heart. What's in your heart will come across no matter what words you choose. Align your words with your heart and you will effectively communicate. Have you ever heard words that felt hallow? It's because the heart was louder than the words. People hear our heart much louder than our words. It's our heart that comes across not our vocabulary. 

We're always trying to prove ourselves. But are we trying to prove to the right people and are we even proving the right things? The best person to prove something to is ourselves, because if we can believe in ourself we have all the confidence we need. It sure helps when we have others believe in us, and it's necessary sometimes. But if we can believe in ourself then we aren't reliant on external things to give us confidence. So prove it to yourself first.

One great way to accelerate the positive is to say it out loud. If you have a positive thought about something, say it out loud. Transfer the positive thought into something tangible. Our words are building blocks that build tangible realities. Speak out the good things and put another positive building block in place. 

How many of our opinions, offences and judgments are centered around ourself? We can easily make the unconscious assumption that everything is about us. But it’s not about us. The more we make it about us the less we get along with everyone else. 

When I was young I learned a term (I have no idea where) that stuck with me. It was “GIGO”. Garbage in, garbage out. Meaning you can’t put garbage into something and except something valuable out. We can’t take in garbage entertainment, ideas, thoughts and output good, quality and uplifting contributions. Stop the garbage before it gets to you. Garbage belongs in a landfill, not in your head and life. 

There's a huge difference between being alive and living. The first is no way to live, the second is the only way to truly live.

Louder isn't more right. Louder isn't even most important. It's amazing how much more the quiet can tell us.

It's harder than it sounds. Meaning what you say take careful speech. It's easy to say what people want to hear. Its much harder to mean what you say and say it in a good way.

Maybe the best health check of a person of an organization is how they treat someone not like them or someone they don’t agree with. The healthier the person or organization the better they treat people unlike them. 

Anyone you see who is skilled at something has worked to learn their craft. There's no shortcuts. It's hard work and that's the only way to get skilled. Some may be born with more natural skill but the only way to master a craft is through hard work. That's the different between those who are skilled versus those who aren't, the skilled put the work in.

Our talents and giftings do little or nothing held in. Poured out they can accomplish what they’re intended for. Don’t hold them in, pour them out. 

The mind is stronger than the body. What we tell ourselves is usually what we’re able to do. Often the limits are ones we’ve set on ourselves. 

There’s a way to reverse negative things. You can learn to turn stress into a motivator, anger into positive energy and sadness into joy. You can use negative things as tools or pivots into a more positive space. 

So much of life is problem solving. There are always problems to solve for. Getting good at problem solving (which takes multiple different skillsets) helps us get better at living. At no point in life will we be problem free, so learning to solve problems makes life much more navigable.

It's so easy to get our priories out of order. It's wise to often revisit our priorities and adjust based on priorities. The secondary things of life often seem to be the most important, but they really aren't. They're just the loudest. You miss the higher priorities for very long and there will be very noticeable deficits.

Here is the rule about judgement that should be frightening to people. The measure with which you judge, you will be judged. That makes me want to stop judging. 

Your life is the sum of your small habits. You become what your habits are. It’s unavoidable. We may make mistakes but we will become what our habits are. They don’t need to be big, they should in fact be small. But gets lots of little things right and you’ll accomplish some big things. 

Reminder that life is about the journey and less about the destinations. Enjoy journeying and you’ll enjoy life. 

Say what you mean and mean what you say. Such a simple concept but sometimes so difficult to do. Mastering this concept makes you much a much more effective person. 

Write down your good ideas, good questions and positive thoughts. I don't believe in journaling your bad thoughts. At least not keeping them. If they're gonna be burnt or thrown away then there may be benefit in writing them down. Otherwise, don't write down your negative or bad experiences.  Write down things that will help you, shape you and inspire you.