Blaming is Abdication

The minute you blame, you abdicate.

So if you blame others for your situation, you are saying they are in control of that part of your life, and you are not.  And if that is true, then you have no power to change it.

Don’t blame.

Take responsibility, and take control.

Laughing – when there is nothing else you can do.

“Tragedy is when you cut your finger.  Comedy is when you fall into a sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks

Sometimes something so terrible happens that it’s impossible to feel bad enough relative to the other things you thought were bad.  What can you do? – Laugh.

“Dang.  Oh well.  Lol”

Mel Brooks also said – “Humor is another weapon against the universe.” 

Use it when you need to.

Cheating Death

If Einstein, Rockefeller, and Reagan couldn’t cheat death, what chance do you have?

You are alive now.  

Make the most of it.

Understanding Others

“To love is easy and therefore common – but to understand – how rare it is!” – L.M. Montgomery

“We do know that no one gets wise enough to understand the heart of another, though it is the task of our life to try.” – Louise Erdrich

“Those who understand only what can be explained, understand very little.” – Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

“Capable people do not understand incapacity, and clever people do not understand stupidity.” – Doris Lessing

“The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one’s own.” – Willa Cather

Being authentic

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about who we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Fake it ’till you make it is good advice I think.  We must learn, act, and talk like the person we want to be to become that person.  

But “Fake it ’till you make it” can turn to “I’m fake and not true to myself and I have lost my way”. 

Who are you really?  Does it match with the person you pretend to be?  Is the person you pretend to be the person you still want to be?  Do you fear not being the person you pretend to be?

How to be valuable

Be useful.  Be a person that solves problems, not a person who creates them.

That comes first.

Then you will be valuable.

Ignorance

These days everyone has access to information, yet some remain ignorant.

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

“Ignorance is not a simple lack of knowledge but an active aversion to knowledge, the refusal to know, issuing from cowardice, pride, or laziness of mind.” – Karl Popper

“Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens.” – William Beveridge

Purpose and Drive

Successful people have a purpose strong enough to make them do the (uncomfortable, “difficult”) things they have to do to accomplish the results they want.

Do you?

A new decision

This is happening in your life.

You did this and that happened.  

You tried it and you learned something.

You’re in charge.

What’s the next move?

No risk, no story to tell.

To accomplish anything worthwhile, to live a full, exciting life, and move towards what you are really capable of doing, you need to take some risks.

Sometimes it’s a physical risk.  But most times it’s in your head – risk of embarrassment, loss of time, loss of opportunity, or just “loss”.  But the risk of not trying and arriving at death safely with no losses under your belt will be far worse and irrevocable when you get there. 

Are you taking appropriate risks?