The beauty of darkness

“The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.” – Adrienne Rich

How have dark moments in your life allowed you to see beauty in the world and shaped you into a better person?

Message sent, message received

Your brain is a receiving station.  It takes messages from the world, runs them through various filters you have constructed, interprets them and assigns meaning.

Your brain is a broadcasting station.  It sends constructed messages out to the world about who you are, what you believe and value, and what your intentions are.

You are the station operator.

Use your capacity, and get more.

Yesterday we said, “use it or lose it” about your physical and mental capabilites.

The corollary is also true – when we use them, we get more of them.

When we use a muscle on a repeated basis, it gets stronger and we can do more.

When we use our mind for a given purpose, our ability and capacity grows.

Isn’t that fascinating?  

Use it or lose it

If you don’t use your muscles, they will go away.

If you don’t use your mind, it too will wither.

Use them.  It’s is what they are for.

Head and Heart

If we follow our heart without using our head, we make mistakes.

If we use logic and ignore our heart, we’ll lose that way too.

My friend Dr. Mardy Groethe put it this way – 

“The brain and heart are like the oars of a rowboat.  When you only use one to the exclusion of the other, you end up going in circles.”

In following your path so far, would you say you are using a fairly equal measure of both?

How much you give…

What would make you WANT to perform more and better?

What are the 10 coolest things about you?

Write down the ten coolest things about you or pivotal moments in your life.

Go ahead.  Try it.

What did you learn?

Get your power back

I don’t know about you but there are certain situations where I feel completely disempowered.  Me?  Yes, even me.

When I think of those times, it is usually because I am holding back for some reason.  Often due to fear of rocking someone’s boat I THINK doesn’t want to be rocked or of looking foolish or being inappropriate with my conversation or timing.

Most often it’s a mirage in my own mind and I am just causing the situation by thinking it’s there, and then yielding to it once I’ve created it.

Take your power back by being you.  Get in your strength zone.

Some days are more important

Results don’t appear on a continuous basis.  Certain days/moments/decisions are far more important than others.

You don’t have to be great all the time – just when it counts.

When is that for you?

Children – a uniform product?

Schools are a bit like factories.  They take in the raw material called children and 12 years later they are stamped out as a uniform product.

We teach them the same, grade them the same, and have the same expectations for each.  But children are really not the same any more than a great mechanic or an astronomist or roofer are.  

We are all different, and it is up to us to find our strength; what we were made to be – and be the best version of it we can.