A dear friend

Life is a combination of different parts.

Yourself. The people you get to build ties with. Your family. The work you do. Your beliefs and principles. Your well-being. The job you do to benefit your community. The partners you choose.

And when something bad happens in one part of our life – we get fired, a relationship ends, we are stuck in our development, etc. – it is very common to magnify that until it becomes the totality and the absolute reality of our entire existence.

To put things back in perspective, we might need help. And perspective is always a dear friend.

Sometimes

Sometimes it’s just too much.

Sometimes even the idea of taking the next step is painful.

Sometimes there’s not even a next step to take.

Sometimes breathing is harder than crying.

Sometimes the hole is deep and you can’t see but down.

Sometimes focus is impossible.

Sometimes that feeling in your guts, that thought in the back of your head, it’s the only feeling, the only thought.

Sometimes it’s like this.

Here’s to make it just “some” times.

Journey over destination

Since early on, they tell us it’s going to be easy.

That most things are natural, that talent is innate, that success is overnight. That relationships are a given. That having kids is just as simple as drinking a cup of coffee. That the way you go into the world, your purpose, your principles, are going to be very clear and eventually magically manifest in front of you. Without any effort.

Instead, it’s tough.

Almost every thing that is worth something requires blood, sweat, and tears.

And that’s probably what makes it worth it.

Journey over destination.

Harmony

Respect.

For some that means being kind to others. For some that means always telling it like it is. For some it is a matter of not wasting anybody’s time. For some it’s about making everyone feel involved.

Professional.

For some that means wearing a suit during workdays. For some that means being calm and in control. For some it is a matter of delivering on the promises. For some it’s about using a given lingo when talking and presenting.

Productive.

For some that means delivering a lot. For some that means delivering well. For some it is a matter of the time it takes to do things. For some it’s about money.

The point being, there is no absolute agreement on what things mean. And just because others have a different definition, it does not mean they are less committed to achieve exactly what you say you also want to achieve.

Your role in all that is to accept this very little fact – that different people have different definitions for the same thing. Not better, not worst. Just different.

Plus, you ought it to yourself and others to set some boundaries for your own definitions, boundaries that people should not overstep if they want to do business with you.

The rest is harmony.

Blow thoughts away

A thought is just a thought.

It comes and goes. It might come back, and certainly it will go away once more.

The challenge is that often we take that thought and build our reality around it. That person is mean to mean. Nobody wants me. I am not good enough. And by doing that, we twist our reality to match the thought. The thought will stay and we become conditioned by it.

Blow thoughts away, particularly the negative, devious, perverse, mean ones. They are just thoughts, until you build them into something bigger.