My Riffs

The highest possible aim is to help others. Yes, we need to take care of ourselves in order to help others. Buy our aim has to be higher than just ourself. So aim to better others.  

Every day we get to choose either hate or love. Hate is too heavy of a burden to carry. Release yourself from hate and choose love over and over.

Hard times reveal a lot. Hard times will reveal where you’re weak and where you’re strong. Strong people get going when times are hard. Weak people create hard times. Strong people keep going when things get tough. Weak people bow out. Let hard times flush out where you’re strong and where you’re weak. 

We are inundated with potential irritants. A wise person doesn’t allow irritants though. I wise person lets irritants pass over them like water off a ducks back.  

I've learned that happiness is less of a destination and more of a part of the journey. If happiness is a destination you may never get there. But if you make it part of the journey you will always be accompanied by a good companion.

Lots of people start, not many finish. Finishing takes endurance. Many, maybe even most don't have endurance. Finish strong and you'll stand out.

You can’t win them all. Sometimes you have to lose in order to win. Sometimes losing teaches us what it takes to win. Losses can be lessons. Losses in fact should be lessons. So winning sometimes looks like losing. 

Someone who can’t keep their word will never build trust with others. If your word can’t be trusted you will never remain in places of trust. Thats means you’ll be relegated to instability. Keep your word and you’ll be trusted to do important things. 

Things want to weigh us down. Sometimes the most petty things weigh the most. It’s a superpower to learn to get above small things and small minds. 

Chances are you're more blessed than you realize. What we lack wants to command our attention and filter out all the blessings. But we can train our minds to see the blessings in everything. It may take some work and practice, but it's possible. The more blessings we see the less we find ourself lacking.

You have a day. Tomorrow. What will you do with the time? Will you let it slip away or will you grasp it and wring everything out of it? Don’t waste one single day. 

The number of connections is good, but what's more important is the quality of connections. You can meet someone yet be so far apart. The quality of the connection is what can determine the depth of the impact.

Silence can say a lot. But listening does more. Knowing when to speak requires wisdom. Learning to be a good listener takes wisdom and self control. 

There’s many things in life that are simply unavoidable. The best way to handle them is to bravely face them. Running away from them doesn’t generally fix things. The best way to fix the unavoidable things is to move towards them. 

Nobody has as much time as they think. We waste so much time. We don’t have time to waste. If you want to do something, just do it! Planning is good, but getting stuck in planning isn’t. 

Gentle people are the most effective people. Rough and tumble will get you somewhere, but it has a short shelf life. Gentleness and finesse will is the long game to win.

Relationships require work. If you don’t put anything in, you won’t get anything out. Invest in relationships and they will make you better. The return on the investment is worth it. 

Real wisdom often in practice looks like gentleness, kindness, patience, mercy. The wiser one gets the kinder they will become. 

It’s so easy to focus on differences. We get so frustrated at where people are different from us. If we can learn that’s it okay when people are different from us it will take a big weight off our backs. 

Friends are the ones who are there when things get tough. Friends are the ones who stand by you when others leave. Friends are the ones who are willing to tell you the truth. When you find good friends, keep them! They're one of the best things you can have in this journey called life.

United we stand, divided we fall. Unite with good people and you’ll stand through anything. Divide and you’ll fall. Unity is important in maintaining a healthy community. If division creeps in it can bring down a community. Reject division. 

Trust is the building blocks of relationships. Those who refuse to trust will have trouble building relationships. Trust is earned, but we also have to choose to trust. Everyone has been wronged and we have to learn to trust again. Living life not trusting anybody or anything is no way to live life. You will never build anything.

The best things in life are free, but they take work. You don't get all the good things in life without working for them. For when things are given to people, they're not truly appreciated. So work for things and appreciate what you're worked for.

We fight the wrong things too often. We fight people over politics or their views. But we need to fight hate, we need to fight things that divide us. Fighting should be reserved for things that truly divide. Not for petty things.