Pushing and pulling

All light to include laser lights emits force. The force emitted by light has always pushed matter in an opposite direction. We cannot feel it because the push is very small but it’s there. You can ask any physicist and they will explain it to you in a way that makes sense. I cannot because, I am not a physicist and I really feel like I am not a good enough writer too, explain in a post how light works but know this, it does push.

Light pushes everything and now, with some tinkering, physicist David Grier was able to use a laser beam to pull! Ahh that is right he has created a tractor beam, now this beam can only pull very small things but it can pull. That’s a big deal!

See people are kind of like light. We use our presence to either push people away or pull them in. You know what I mean. There are times when we think we want to be alone and we justify pushing people away but often we find ourselves alone when we need to be with loved ones. Let’s all try to reconfigure ourselves into such away that we are like the tractor beam.

peace

john3c

 

Now is when it gets fun…

I have made it a point to, get outside my comfort zone. I have taken on work that I was technically qualified for but not comfortable with. Looking for challenges has truly been exciting and sometimes stressful. Recently there was a situation in which the outcome was not as positive as I would have liked it to be, I experienced a slight bit of anxiety and my boss looked at me and said: “hey, this is when it gets fun”.

A long time ago I read an article about Michael Dell. Dell started DellEMC computing and was at one time the 14th richest man in the world. Dell stepped down as CEO of Dell computers but came back. In an interview highlighted in the article, Dell mentions how he came back because he was bored with sailing. He talked about how running his business was challenging and rewarding and after a year sailing was not.

I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to simply “sail away” but I cannot for many reasons but first and foremost being that I know I need to be challenged and have fun.

Please challenge yourself today. It will be hard and tough and require courage and resolution but the reward is a well-deserved rest instead of just rest. If you want joy, get outside your comfort zone find your limit. If you want perfect joy, get outside your comfort zone, find your limit and crush it. Wash rinse and repeat. You will never be bored or boring.

peace

john 3c

 

Do you care

“Do you really care about it, or him or her? “ This question has been something that has really resonated with me since about Feb. of this year. It matters a lot to me because; when we care about something we do something and it is passionate and great! I find myself creating many goals I am ambitious. When I was a kid I approached a buffet as if it was a challenge and my mom said that my eyes were bigger than my stomach. This is how I approach life. It really makes me sad that, I will not live long enough to read all the books that have been published. Yes, that was and kind of still is a goal of mine, crazy right. I don’t always complete my goals and when I fail it bugs me, a lot.  I hate not completing my goals but I love trying and when I care more about something I try harder and love it even more.

Yesterday in church the minister preached from the book of  Nehemiah. The story of Nehemiah is a tale shared by the Christain and Jewish faith. Nehemiah was a governor of Persian Judea and felt compelled by God to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.  There were many obstacles in Nehemiah’s way internal and external but he continued on and finally did rebuild the city. Why did he do it? He didn’t do it because it was easy or fun but it was rewarding and exciting. He didn’t do it because he would be living in comfort or safety it was quite uncomfortable and extremely dangerous, there was a plot to kill him. He did it because he cared about his countrymen and the city and of course God.

What if someone had to judge what matters to you based on what you do? Oh man, that’s a tough one. Obviously, you care about work because you are probably there. Do you think they would assume that you care about good work or just the minimum? Do you think they would assume you care about family?

When someone tends a garden it is often said that they care for the garden.  What do you care for?  You know we can only learn to love by loving. To care more I encourage you to engage in care. Help out be a hero and an advocate for someone and something today!

peace

john3c

Take stock take stock and then take stock

Anyone, who has worked in the retail profession knows what stock is and how important it is to, take stock. A stock is goods or merchandise kept on premise that can be sold to customers. It is important to not sell an item that one does not have on premise. A customer should not leave a transaction without a product. It seems obvious but, there are moments when a retail profession has taken the money and not had the item promised for the money. How does a business avoid this? A business should take stock or “do inventory”, a business should take stock often.  Taking stock is so important that, many of the new cash registers take stock after every transaction by diminishing a stock count.  So the stock is taken at almost every ring of a register and stock counts are still off. To get a real stock number a physical count must be made. This physical count is called an inventory and it is a pain but it has to happen it is very important. Often board of directors will set up an inventory schedule for a retail chain. That’s how important stock is.

I have heard the term taking stock used in reference to people and the universe. Who are you? What do you have? What do you do? How do you fit into the universe? These are the questions you may find answers to when you take stock. Taking stock requires quieting the mind and meditation. The religious will call it prayer. Taking stock will humble you, why? Because we are very insignificant!

Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we’re still at the mercy of nature.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Those that have lived through hurricanes earthquakes and other disasters may find it easier to understand how small humans are. Humanity is great but it is small. Scientists tell us that Red Sea Urchins live to be over 200 years old. Humans are lucky to make 90 +.  I am not telling you this to bum you out. I am telling you this so that you take stock. Look do not live like you have 1000 years to be significant do something for someone else today. Something kind and nice. Life is short and you are too small to waste time being a jerk and hurting others. Taking stock should make us realize two things. 1. we have a limited time here on earth and 2. we only have each other and earth. I hear people say things like “I only care about me” and I wonder why they don’t realize what native Americans knew for years.

 

Peace john3c

Who are they?

There are people who are, idolized and admired. They are idolized and admired for courage, nobility and outstanding achievements.  These people are our heroes. There are other people who are, idolized and admired, but they are without nobility and courage, they still have some pretty outstanding achievements though and these people are; the Kardashians, Kanye West, basketball wives, and almost all reality tv celebrities.

People should have heroes and aspire to the qualities that build a hero but it is important to keep in mind that outstanding achievements accomplished without courage and nobility are not significant and do not make you a hero.  Outstanding achievements without doing and being good are luck and if you accomplish them through any means other than doing good you are a lucky schmuck.

 

A schmuck is a foolish or contemptible person. We often model the behavior of our heroes. Today let’s find and be better heroes. Let us do the hard work the right thing the courageous thing and admire the ones who work hard and do good.

peace

john3c

 

 

 

You can’t always get what you want.

In 1969 the Rolling Stones treated the world to an amazing song called, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. The song is amazing. Every time I hear the song I think about needs and wants. Every time I think about needs I think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Almost every student of basic psychology has been introduced to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  Maslow basically says we have basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs.  I cannot speak for you but in my life, I have had little friction acquiring basic needs and psychological ones. As a matter of fact, most of my basic and psychological needs have been given to me.

Truly successful people have found ways to satisfy the self-fulfillment needs.  How do we achieve our full potential?

See where you are, know what you can do and then put in hard work to achieve full potential.

 

peace

 

He got back up

I grew up watching the Rocky movies. Sylvester Stalone played the boxer, Rocky Balboa. Rocky would get hit in the ring again and again and again. Rock would fall down and get up, he would fall down and get up…..

Life is cyclic, whatever experience we have now is not here to stay, we will have good experiences and bad ones. We will be knocked down and lifted up. A person who is a champion, a person who others aspire to lift themselves up. I watched the Rocky movies and loved the character of Rocky because he got up. No one reached down and picked him up.  If someone stood up Rocky and pushed him forward the movie would have taken on a different dynamic and I may not have gravitated towards it.

It is against the rules to help a track athlete who has fallen.  Garth Brooks sings a song called standing outside the fire. The song was dedicated to Special Olympics athletes. In the music video for the song a young special Olympics track athlete falls.  He is surrounded by people who want to help him up but the boys’ dad won’t let anyone touch his son. His son has to get up on his own and finish the race. The video brings chills to me everytime I watch it.

http://www.metacafe.com/embed/7892977/garth_brooks_standing_outside_the_fire/

 

I have a really hard time understanding people who do not get up. I don’t understand what that is because I know, you will get back up. The question is how did you get back up.

Get yourself back up,  and help others get up today!

 

What I want and What I want…

Can you say tautology? I know the title is a confusing tautology but life is confusing. I listened to a radio show about happiness. The man on the radio mentioned how, many people when asked the question, what will make you happy answered the same way. I will be happy when I am on a beach sunbathing and drinking.  The man on the radio then went on to explain that many people who were given the chair and the drink on the beach still were not happy.   We think we know what will make us happy but we are often wrong.

A friend of mine asked me something and I answered honestly. “Will running ever stop sucking?” “No, but I love it.” I lied to her. I should have said “No, but I love it because after I complete my run I feel great! Nothing can stop me at the end of my run.” That is why I run in the morning. My days can be long and pretty tough but no matter what happens today, I can handle it.

I was 13 years old and at a summer day camp. There was a lake with a floating dock in the middle of it. I swam far as fast as I could towards the floating dock. I swear this was the hardest I had ever swum. I didn’t stop swimming till I reached the dock. I pulled my self up onto the dock and sun warmed my body as I lay on the dock. The sun I felt on the dock was the same sun I had felt on the shore of the lake but on that dock, the sun brought me so much joy. I was happy because I earned that happiness.

 

Let’s get something straight here, I am grateful for my life. I understand that every day is a gift but I also understand that not living out my life by not earning my happiness is one of the biggest acts of the ungrateful.

In the Christian religious text, the Messiah tells a parable about three servants that were given talents, Matthew 25:14-30.  Some servants used the talent and multiplied them, these servants were rewarded others simply hid the talents, these servants were punished and deemed bad stewards.

A good steward earns their happiness through grateful dedication and hard work and service for others and their self.

Get up say thank you, find out what is needed and go to work!!

peace

john3c

 

Eternal

What do you want that has eternal significance? That was the question asked by the minister in church this Sunday. The minister then read a passage from the book of Isaiah. The passage was a prophetic one concerning the Messiah of the Christian faith. The minister then began to preach about the power and importance of the Messiah. As a believer, I am sold on the power and position of the Messiah.

What do you want that has eternal significance? This question was an odd one for me, and I found myself fixating on the question for the entirety of the sermon. I know that this was not the sermon’s theme but I did seem to find a way around my fixation.  Why the fixation you may ask? I also asked myself the same question, and I guess the reason for the fixation was a matter of personal philosophy. See I believe that everything we do has eternal significance. In Meditations Marcus Aurelius mentions this. In the Christian Bible, this is also mentioned Matthew 9:35-38.  So it seems to me that the question is rhetorical because everything we do has eternal significance.  This philosophy should cause self-reflection. Steve Jobs said in a moving speech that, “Every morning he looked himself in the mirror and asked himself,”If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row. I know I need to change something.” What everyone does matters a lot and forever.

 

 

I challenge you today, to live like what you are doing matters and like today may be the last day of your life. Living this way will be scary but it should also be freeing and empowering.

peace

john3c

 

 

 

What we do now echoes in eternity.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Nothing came that way

Nnamdi Asomugha, played professional football for the Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Sanfransico 49ers. After his football career Nnamdi became a professional actor, he is starring in and producing the film Crown Heights. As part of the Crown Heights build up Nnamdi was on one of my favorite talk shows.

The host of the talk show brought up Nnamdis’ success and his various careers. Nnamdi then mentioned something that really resonated with me.  He mentioned how he worked hard at football and now works hard at acting and producing. Nnamdi is a really good actor and as a football player, he was called a “shutdown corner” (meaning that he was really good). Nnamdi said that he worked hard because nothing ever came easy for him and then he asked if anything was easy? My answer is no.

Nothing is easy, everything takes effort.

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success he takes much effort to point out the importance of purposeful practice. Practice and hard work make you good and keep you good. Practice is hard and not fun and no one wants to do it but that’s why there are very few good people at things.  Practice and hard work paying off are also why anyone can become a success. Anyone willing to sacrifice and work very very hard can be a success.

I am not disillusioned and I understand that many children start life at a much lower rung than others but if you read Nnamdis’ wiki page you should notice how much he participates in philanthropy and I encourage you to do the same.  Helping others realize just how valuable they are is something that makes a huge difference in your life and theirs.  Guess what? Philanthropy is hard to, why? Because everything good is hard.  When you’re ready to quit I encourage you to remind yourself of this fact, everything is hard.  Dig in those heels and push forward my friend.

Peace

john3c