Beauty Surrounds Us
Beauty is in roadside flowers and roses at the rose garden.
Beauty is in the smile of an infant.
Beauty is in the laughter of children.
Beauty is in the joyful exuberance of young people.
Beauty is the eyes of lovers.
Beauty is stars in the night sky.
Beauty is in the words we hear when someone says, ‘I love you.’
Yes, Beauty Surrounds Us.
What if you’re right and everyone else around you is wrong. Will you cave to the crowd’s pressures? Or will you hold fast to what you believe. What if what you’ve been holding on to is wrong? Will you have the courage to admit it’s wrong and move on? Or, will you dig in your heels and refuse to acknowledge the evidence? Do you dare to ask what if and offer a different way of doing things? Here’s a question for you? What if you let everything else go and went all in chasing your dream? If not now, when?
Joe: “My girlfriend told me I was her drug. I asked her if it was because she can’t get enough of me.”
Pete: “What did she say?”
Joe: “She said, ‘No. It’s because you cost me so much money and you’re ruining my life.'”
There are some things we can toss away that will make our lives instantly better. One of the things to toss away is judgement. We humans have a flash button that allows us to judge everyone and everything we see. We place a value judgement on them whether it’s accurate or not.When we act from our judgements without sufficient evidence, we may lose a friendship, partner, or colleague. For me, most of the times I place an instant judgement on someone, I am wrong. A good friend called them snap judgements. If you have to judge, gather data before judging the actions not the person.
Failure, a Good Word? C’mon, Ray. Failure is a good word if it’s used to motivate, inspire, and transform. It’s not what failure does to you. It’s how failure is used by you to rise above it and take your game to the next level.
Today, it’s all we’ve got. Yesterday is back around the bend, it’s out of sight. Tomorrow is coming at us, but it’s not here yet Today is the building block for tomorrow and the memory for yesterday. When we focus on making today a great one, we leave a trail of good memories and we build the foundation for tomorrow.
We all have our favorite songs. We have playlists for exercising, relaxing, waking up, and working. Have you thought about what song you are singing. It’s the song from deep in your heart that resonates with your destiny. Is your song barely heard? Or, is it playing loudly so everyone can hear it? Don’t let any other song replace it. When you hear your song, love it, put it on every playlist.Play it again and again.
Toughness is the stuff we see on TV when folks snarl at each other and make threats. That’s mot toughness. Toughness measures the amount of grit one has to keep grinding and not give up. Grit takes the small tasks and worksthem to their conclusion. Grit is the stuff one has to stay on task when the others walk away. Two people with grit will outperform and out work a dozen without grit.
Friendship is a lot different than having many digital friends. Friendship represents the strong bond between two people. In this strong bond, the imperfect nature of each is brought to fullness through the friendship. Each sees in the other what the other cannot see. Something beautiful is created by two who become friends and offer friendship to each other with no string attached.
Good advice is a treasure. Never let it pass by when it comes knocking. I recall an experience I had as a department chair in an academic setting. I was having a contentious relationship with a senior colleague in the department. I was sharing my story with another, more experienced, department chair as we walked in the hallway. He put his arm around and said, “Ray, it took me a long time to learn this lesson. I give it to you freely. Never get into a pissing contest with a skunk. You’ll only lose.” I laughed, but instantly knew he was right. That piece of advice has helped me time and again throughout life.
