My Riffs

It’s not worth doing if you can only half do it. Only do things you can complete. A half baked cake isn’t worth much and neither is anything half done. 

If you’ve given your best, you have to somewhat give up on the result. You’ve given your best you have to release it and allow it to happen how it may. 

Forgiveness is the great releaser. It does as much or more for the forgiver as the forgiven. Sometimes we need to forgive without an apology. That's the hardest type of forgiveness. But it released us from the pain associated with the hurt and allows us to start to heal. Unforgiveness keeps the hurt and wound wide open.

Everyone can be an encourager. The world doesn't need any more downers. But a lifter upper. Encourage people, give hope. Lend an ear and offer encouragement. 

Commitment will take you further and to where you need to go. Often we feel like quitting when we’re on a difficult journey or path. But commitment will be what takes you through those tough times where it feels easier to give up. Stay committed and once you get through the hard times you’ll be so much stronger and happy you stuck it out. 

Love is a lot of things. It’s hard to distill it down to a single thing or description. It’s giving of oneself. It’s putting other people first. It’s being patient. It’s being kind. Love is able to change for the situation because love never fails. It can rise to meet the need in every situation. 

What would happen if we didn’t retaliate? Retaliation is escalation. Hold back. Don’t retaliate. Deescalate. Blessed are the peacemakers. 

The best motivation comes from within. Needing external motivation means that you are alway relying on unpredictable factors for your motivation. It's best to find motivation from within so that it's always there.

If you want it enough, you'll get it. The heart is the steering wheel. If your heart wants something enough, you will eventually get it. People who quit usually don't want what they're going after enough.

Daylight is always coming. Nights can be long, but daylight IS coming. That's why hope is necessary. Giving up hope is always the wrong thing to do. Day is coming and with that a fresh start, a brighter day and opportunities.

Love doesn't fail. Love is powerful. Love does things we can't do on our own, it's a super power. If something isn't working for you, try love. That may be all that's needed to tip the scale.

The Grand Canyon is beautiful because of its size and depth. There are awe inspiring natural wonders that are grand and beautiful. We can easily miss all the smaller beautiful things if we stop paying attention. Our brain stops seeing things we've seen over and over again. And in doing so. we lose appreciation for them. Living intentionally and paying attention helps us stay grateful, helps us stay grounded and helps us see beauty in all the small things in our life.

Life is best lived being hard in some areas but tender in others. Hard in discipline but tender in our hearts. Hard in strength but tender in grace and love. Too hard of objects are brittle and can break easy. Too soft of objects can’t stand. Life is best lived by being both. 

Perseverence is that fine art that is hard to quantify or even describe. But it's a skill that separates the casual from the professional, the average from the great, the ones who finish from the ones who just start. It can't be taught it can only be learned. It can be exampled though. Learn then example it.

Fear holds us back from so much life. If we let fear grow it will choke our lives to a place where we’re barely living. Fear needs to be kept under control and uprooted so it doesn’t grip and choke all the life from us. 

The more hard things you do, the easier hard things become. It's just like lifting weights, the heavier the weight you lift, the more you lift it, the easier it becomes. So carrying heavy weight becomes easier. Doing easy things has little to no benefit. Push yourself to do hard things. Things that literally scare you. You'll be a better, stronger person.

This is a decent description for life. Life has good, bad and some plain old ugly. You will have to go through them and you can choose how you want to do so. You can do it with square shoulders or you can sulk. You can face the music or turn away, but you can't escape it. Face the good, the bad and the ugly, it will make you a better person. 

Encourage the good. Applaud the good. Reward the good. Positive reinforcement is a great motivator.

One of the worst feelings is when you're too late. Procrastination will lead you to that place too often. Time is precious and letting it waste is one of the worst offences we can commit in life. Yes, there's times to wait and for patience, but much of life is you having to get up and go after it. Being too late is usually something you can't fix. Get it done and get it done early.

You are what you consume. Yes food. But also books, songs, social media posts, news media, conversation, etc, etc. If you consume garbage, you won't become something exquisite. Don't allow yourself to consume garbage. Be very picky about what you allow in.

Work is important but it must be mixed with rest and play. Anytime you get one of the three things out of balance (work, rest, play) you start heading for a ditch. Keeping the three in balance keeps you centered on the road for the long haul. 

You will be criticized no matter what. You may as well do good, big things that are worth it.

If someone is trying to intimidate you, they're using force. They could be using love but have resorted to a less effective strategy. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated. It's giving into a cheap and quick expiring tactic.

Love isn’t wasted. It may not go as you expect but it’s never wasted. 

People will remember what you've done to them more than what you said. They will remember how you made them feel not what words you said. So be good to people. Words have serious power, but the power is in what's behind the words. People will pickup on the intentions of the words.

Change is okay. We don’t like change but it’s normal and good. Change is better than a rut. Change for change isn’t necessarily good, but change in a rut is better than a rut.  We either embrace change or get steamrolled by it. 

One of the simplest and best ways to live life is simply seize the moment. It’s probably become a cheesy phrase but it’s so simply profound. To seize the moment is to live in it and take advantage of what’s available to you. To stop stewing over yesterday and stop worrying about tomorrow. To just simply do what you can for that moment, because that’s all you can control. Doing a good job of controlling now will make tomorrow better. 

Trying to impress people is a waste of time. Let’s just say it works and you impress someone, well how does that help your quality of life one bit?  Work on doing good and that on its own will be impressive. 

Be a person of character. Character will take you places skill alone can't.

Life is better with flavour. What brings flavour to life? Adventure, relationships, hobbies, risks and new experiences. 

Faith and fear don't mix well, you will end up with one or the other. Faith will drive out fear and if fear is fed it may swallow faith whole.