The Power of Words

“A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever.” – Jessalyn West

You can probably remember the words someone said to you at the right time to hurt you.  They are seared into your mind.  When you think of that person, you recall how they made you feel.

Do you think there are people out there that feel the same about you?

Do you think they’d line up in your corner when you need help?

Let’s be careful.  Pause when you are upset.  Don’t speak until you think about the long-term results that your words will have – on them and you.

Time to admit it

We all defend our lives (even if to ourselves) because they are made up of our decisions.  This is our work – we did this.

We made what seemed to be the best decisions we could…..but now we can see the results.

You can’t change what you do not acknowledge.

Looking at how it’s working now, what do you need to acknowledge?

Digital distraction

Had there been Facebook and TikTok, maybe we’d think the world was flat still because Galileo would have been distracted.

What are you missing out on by being distracted with endless online content?

Life Time

Lifetime.

Life-Time

Life=Time

Spend your time wisely, because you won’t be here forever.

What do you want to do/be?

How much time do you have left?

If it’s less than 1000 years, you’d better get to it.

Make space in time to live in

You can only simplify your life to the degree that you stop doing things.  

You can’t do it by becoming more efficient at what you do, so you can do even more things.  Sure you can get more done that way, but if you keep doing that it will lead to limits, “no time” to pause and experience, and burnout.

What can you cut, stop, to make space for something better, more valuable, more fulfilling or more fun?

Awareness

Some people ask me for book recommendations.  There are a few that for me, are truly amazing works.

Here is one  of them – “Awareness – the perils and opportunities of reality” – Anthony de Mello

If you are having trouble in your life, if you are confused, or if you are just human, this book is just amazing.

Here are a few passages – 

Dead Ahead

The way to really live is to die.  The passport to living is to imagine yourself in your grave.  Imagine that you’re lying in your coffin…You’re lying flat and you’re dead.

Now look at your problems from that viewpoint.  Changes everything doesn’t it?  What a lovely meditation….

People mistakenly think that living is keeping the body alive.  

Visiting a graveyard, looking at the stones and thinking ‘he must have had all the problems I had – lots of sleepless nights’.  How crazy, we live for such a short time.

‘We live in a flash of light; evening comes and it’s night forever’ – Italian Poet

It’s only a flash and we waste it.  We waste it with our anxiety, our worries, our concerns, our burdens.”

What we know for sure about ignorance

“Ignorance is a self-generating state of mind; one of its characteristics is that it doesn’t recognize itself as ignorant.” – Jane Smiley

“To be ignorant of one’s ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.” – A. Bronson Alcott

In these quotes we see that if we are ignorant, we don’t know it – and that is often an even bigger problem.  We speak like we know, and we act like we know, but we don’t know.  We may be thinking that we don’t want to admit we don’t know because we will look ignorant, so we fool even ourselves.

“If ignorance could speak it would say ‘I know all that I need to know'”. – Dr. Mardy Grothe

When we admit our ignorance it can look a lot like humility, and that will often fill in for any lack of respect we could suffer from now knowing.

More Ignorance

“Ignorance more frequently begets (brings forth) confidence than does knowledge”. – Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin is telling us that ignorant people can be very confident, and he should know.  Just because someone is confident and even sincere, and even sincere, confident and good-hearted, doesn’t mean they are right.

Have you ever been confidently going around saying something only to find out you were wrong?

“Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action” – Geothe

Here we learn that when misinformed people take action, they can do a lot of damage.  We are simply acting on bad, little or no information which can only make things worse.

Have you ever acted, even for a great cause, and later changed your opinion when you got more information?

On Ignorance

Many people use the word ignorant to mean “stupid”.  Of course, it doesn’t mean stupid, it means “unaware because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge”.    We are all ignorant of something.  In fact, there is so much to know about so many things these days, that we are ignorant of far more things than we are knowledgable of.

Even the most educated people are quite ignorant of many important things.

Here are a few quotes on the subject.

“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is knowledge of our own ignorance” – C.H. Spurgeon

Spurgeon is telling us that we need to be aware we don’t know something to seek knowledge.  I would add we need to care also.

“The further one pursues knowledge, the less one knows.” – Lao Tzu

This quote from long ago sounds like the next one from author Louis L’Amour centuries later – 

“The more one learns the more he understands his ignorance.  I am simply an ignorant man trying to lessen his ignorance.”

Indeed, the more I learn, the more I realize I do not know, and the more hesitant I am to be certain of anything.

More on the subject tomorrow…

Can you admit your ignorance?

Boredom is your fault

It’s not the world’s job to entertain, excite or stimulate you.

Don’t be boring.

Get up and get after it.