My Riffs

On one hand we're taught to reject labels. People will try and label you but you don't need to accept those labels. Their vision of you is usually uninformed and single dimensional. But the problem is we need to name something in order to do something with it. Both good things and bad things. They have to have a handle that we hold it by and that handle is the name. Maybe one lesson here is in using labels, leave lots of room for a new label as you learn more.

We see icebergs. Only about 10% of icebergs are visible. We see something and assume we know everything about it, but we don't. We've only seen 10%. You can only make few assumptions when you are seeing 10% of a picture. If we dig we can see a bigger part of the picture and make better judgments. In every situation, in every person, it's good to remember you're only seeing 10% of the picture. If you speak and walk with them you may see a larger part. Walk a mile in their shoes and then complete the picture you have of them.

Being misunderstood is very frustrating to deal with. At times there seems to be a disconnect from our intentions to people's understanding of our intentions. But you can never be fully understood because no other person walks in your shoes. So if you spend time trying to be understood, do it knowing that no one person can fully understand you.

We all have seen when narrative's get hijacked by a certain point of view or sometimes by one particular person. Then the whole conversation changes into something it shouldn't be. We start asking the wrong questions and end up getting the wrong answers. The wrong answers inform our actions and wrong actions may be taken. It's important the narrative is clear and honest. That is doesn't take on too much bias. I have seen master's of controlling the narrative. And the thing about the masters of steering narratives is, almost nobody every even realized the narrative has been steered and controlled by the master. I'm not speaking about manipulative actions whatsoever here either. I am talking about truth seekers and wise people who see an off course narrative and steer it back to the centre, usually without the people in the conversation even knowing. That's when you know someone wise has controlled the narrative, when they aren't even noticed.

As long as enough isn’t enough, you will never get ahead.  The key to getting ahead is knowing when enough is enough. 

If you can measure it, chances are it’s not the most important thing(s) you have. How do you measure happiness, health, opportunity, fulfillment, love? Why do we grow flowers? Why does art exist? How can you measure and value your favorite song, place, painting, poem or book? How can you measure your favourite bench next to the river? Or your favourite place for a walk? You’re favourite chair to read in? How do you buy one caring friend who reaches out to you when you really need it? How do you buy a caring pat on the back and knowledge somebody is there for you? How do you measure your child smiling at you and telling you that they love you? How do you measure a spouse or any other close relationship that brings love? How do you measure one tear of joy? Don’t cheapen your existence by reducing it down to the measurable things. Stop quantifying everything. Because the things you can quantify don’t really matter. If  your worth can be reduced to a number, you’re p...

Failure isn't the worst thing you can do. Not trying at all is the worst thing you can do.

Every story is nuanced beyond what you can tell in words, either written or spoken. Life is full of so much nuance. We cannot accurately every portray the full nuance of stories. The depth of the characters and their history and how they all came together is something that cannot be captured by a one person account of the facts they remembered. Remember this when you're hearing "something" about someone. You are only getting the quickest snapshot of one persons viewpoint. There is likely much much more nuance to the story than what you are hearing.

We all have things we are anchored too. They're those things that could cause us to collapse in losing them. We have to face the reality we could lose those things though. As best we can, we have to learn to stand strong when an anchor no longer holds. Secondly though, we have to make sure the things we anchor too are worth it. We need to make sure they're valuable and worth being anchored to. The things we anchor to are the things that can make and break us. Choose the highest form of anchor possible.

As humans, it feels good to climb social or hierarchal ladders. But ladders are literally empty. The people at the top most often are unhappy. Search for purpose and meaning instead of status and position.

In an era of information overload, feedback has basically been reduced to a thumbs up or thumbs down. We need not take either too close to heart. A thumbs down doesn't provide any insight into what was disliked. It only begs more questions... Did they disagree, did something break for them, or were they just having a bad day? Dissproval without feedback isn't much of anything. The feedback to pay attention to is from the ones who are invested in you and what you're doing. Feedback from the ones who have followed your journey and know your story is what's valuable. A random thumbs down from a stranger or someone detached from your situation shouldn't capture your attention any more than what the person ate for breakfast. What people feel and think cannot be condensed to a thumbs up or thumbs down. So don't take either too seriously. And especially the thumbs down. If we allow our self esteem to be tied to the various methods of social approval/disprova...

The amount of publicly available information today is staggering. And it's not slowing down at all. The rate of ignorance hasn't improved with the rate of knowledge. Today it could be argued we have as much or more ignorance than ever. Whether educated or not. Ignorance at so many levels too. The access to knowledge doesn't cure the problem of ignorance. People who have knowledge still often lack wisdom. So today in a world of so much knowledge, we need to teach people how to use the knowledge they have available to them, have to process it and how to put it to good use. If knowledge doesn't lead to wisdom and ultimately to betterment, it's a complete waste. Don't assume having knowledge will make you or anyone less ignorant. Gaining knowledge doesn't push out ignorance, the two can live quite fine together. Wisdom will push out ignorance though. So seek wisdom and understanding to overcome ignorance.

Add an extra second to it. To that text, add a second to see if you could be a bit clearer or kinder. Add an extra second when you greet someone to look them in the eye and inquire how they're doing. Add an extra second when typing your email to review it. Add an extra second when conversing to someone to listen, to really listen. Add an extra second to make sure of things when learning or taking in instructions. Add an extra second to enjoy the sunrise/sunset. Add an extra second to be grateful for what you have. One second can make a big difference.

It's easy for the white water rapids to catch and hold our attention. They're loud and eye catching. But they're shallow. The expression says "still waters run deep". When we want the profound or the deep, it likely won't be found in the loudest place. The loudest voice may not be the place to find depth. The loudest place may not be the place to find depth or ht profound. Try the still, the quiet and the calm. Those waters run deep and are much more still. They don't jump and grab attention like the shallow, fast waters. But there is depth and wisdom in the still.

What does knowledge and understanding cost? Attention. You must pay attention in order to receive knowledge and understanding. This may seem blatantly obvious, but how much do we miss out on because we're not willing to pay the price of attention? Two people can go through the same experience and once gain knowledge simply because they paid attention. It's an interesting phase we seemingly speak without thinking, "pay attention". The phrase implies that attention is currency. When we pay with attention, we receive knowledge and understanding. Which is power. Not power in a ruler or tyrannical way, but power to have vision, clarity and understanding. Pay someone you care for your attention. You will receive what you paid for. Pay for learning by giving your attention. Paying using our attention is a wonderfully simple idea and worthwhile exchange.

There are few things that don't come with an exception. In a world that isn't black and white, there are absolutes, but they generally even come with exceptions. We can let the exceptions rock us or we can learn to incorporate them into our thinking. Incorporating them into our thinking, and at least acknowledging them, allows our framework to understand the world better. It should allow us to live as if there aren't absolutes, but what it should do it allows us to understand the exceptions we see constantly around us.

There's a reason for everything, we just may never find or figure out every reason. If you can figure out the reason something is as it is though, you now have some important data to help shape the future of that thing. Before making changes or getting frustrated, understand the reason. This will help frustration and even proper framing of that something. Then knowing the reason, you can know what to do.

I read something yesterday that hadn't occurred to me before. In short it said if you're journeying toward something, that means you're journeying away from something. In essence if your heading somewhere new, you have to leave something behind. It is important to note what may be left behind when you're heading somewhere new. Heading somewhere new is cool and exciting, just make sure you know what will be left behind.

Everyone has a story. It's their story. Those nearest to them may understand their story. Those further away may not be able to understand their story. When we can't understand someone's story, we so often marginalize them or turn them into something bad. This doesn't validate wrong actions. This means we misunderstand people. Doing wrong is always wrong. But the more we know somebodies story, the more we understand how they did wrong. But this isn't the kind of understand I'm referring to here... The worst is when we do not understand ones story and marginalize them simply because we will not allow ourselves to understand their story. They may be doing good things, but we choose to turn them into something bad, simply because their story is different from ours. And because their story isn't the same as ours, that makes us acutely uncomfortable at times. Understanding is a choice. Start with someones story, understand it. When we understand, we don...

There's probably some super brilliant people in the world who will never make a dent. They have knowledge that could shape our world. But if you don't act on your knowledge, what good is it? If knowledge doesn't become a passion, what good is the knowledge?