When are folks gonna realize begging for permission is negotiating from a position of weakness? If you want it, then own it. Claim it!
If only your way is the correct way to live, then you can #ThinkBetter . . .
If everyone needs to echo your opinion to be your neighbor, then you can #BeBetter . . .
When you’re busy being right and making everyone else in your image, then you’ve lost touch with your humanity . . .
Imagine getting two bad choices and just settling on those two bad options as your only options. And you just pick one.
But then imagine you keep being presented two bad options continually.
When are you going to break the cycle of doing the same thing and expecting different results? They have a term for that.
Owning yourself is scary because it means the success and failure are all you.
Owning yourself is great because it means the success and failure are all you.
Your perspective is important.
You can be whatever you want to be. You just have to commit to the change.
You are the only obstacle you need to overcome.
There are folks out there that believe they can make choices for 330 million people.
Maybe those people should focus on making better decisions for the one person to whom their decisions matter. Get yourself right before going next door?
The first step in getting free is getting healthy. You can't be free while poisoning yourself daily.
And that doesn't mean fixing everything today. Your body and mind needs time to adjust after years of neglect. Take it slow and steady.
If you don't have your health, then what are you doing?
You get to choose what influences you. These decisions are not easy when you're running on autopilot through life. That autopilot will allow folks that understand influence to hack your brain easily.
Protect yourself by being conscious and aware as much as possible? Learn about how influence works? Learn that decisions based on emotions are being weaponized against your mind? Learn that there are many options and opportunities in life? Learn that you are sometimes the only person looking out for you?
And that life can be great . . . if you want it to be.
It is your body, your mind, and your choice. So own it and be it.
Courage is choosing to change.
The weekend was mentally taxing but I draw strength from getting outside and putting the work into my garden. When the quarantine hit, I realized that I needed more control over my life. So, the garden expanded.
I am no expert in farming but I am learning and changing. Growth comes when we take the choice to change. Grow your life today.
Courage is choosing to change.
Politicians don't make you free or enslave you. You do that.
Every day you get to choose. You are the one that gets to decide how your life goes. These decisions are difficult and easy. They are monumental and infinitesimal. They are paradigm shifting and mundane. But, they are your decisions.
Start owning your mind, your body, your life. Take back the control you always had. You are the power.
The alternative is a life of mediocrity, complaint, sorrow, negativity, and frustration. I choose the power. I choose life. What's your choice?
Courage is choosing to change.
This year I am choosing to not vote. I may never vote again. And this is not a decision I came to abruptly. I made this decision after thoughtful consideration of life and society.
Government is an external system of rules that are enforced by violence. All forms of government use violence to control individuals and groups. If humanity is ever going to evolve, humans are going to need to move beyond violence as a motivational tool.
We need to embrace governance. Governance is internal. It is ownership of your mind, your body, your choice. It does not inflict violence on itself or others.
It has been said before, and it bears repeating, voting is violence. What we call democracy is imposing the will of the many on the minority. It is not an evolved system. It is a system for times past.
Courage is choosing to change. And, in order for things to change in our lives, we have to choose change. Or we can keep comfortable in the ruts of life we've worn for our minds, our bodies, our lives.
Courage is choosing to change.
I changed myself by controlling my choices. Does this mean I always make the best choice I can? Obviously not. I am human.
However, I do choose to not attack myself, degrade myself, abuse myself for not always making the best choices. Striving for perfection in every action is not a realistic goal. Accepting that your choices aren't always in your best interest and then allowing yourself to move forward is healthy. This choice allows you to love yourself.
"Love your neighbor as yourself." The key to that clause is loving yourself first. You are no good to others unless you are good for yourself first. Once you are good for you, then you can be good for your family, your friends, your community.
Be kind to yourself? Own your choices, the good and bad? And then we can grow?
Courage is choosing to change.
Y'all are in a hurry. And, for what, I know not.
I watch cars fly past me as I drive around in my daily commutes and I wonder: What's the rush? What is so crucial? What is so important?
You see, I have adapted to deliberately driving the limit of speed given for each road I drive and I am finding this isn't fast enough for the majority of people. They even resort to dangerous actions to get around me. I've seen folks drive on the shoulder, pass on turns, pass where visibility is limited, and many other dangerous actions just to get back to speeding down the road. And I ask myself why?
What is the big push to rush that I am missing?
I like being deliberate and doing things with purpose. I like being early. I like being prepared. I like being organized. Are you not doing these things?
Is that your reason for rushing? Is that your reason for risking your life? Is that your reason for not being better?
The nice part is that it is your choice.
Courage is choosing to change.
You don't need anyone else to change you because they can't. You have to change yourself.
Owning your body, your mind, your life empowers you to change anything and everything about your situation and your trajectory. You get to make the choices and you get the credit and the blame.
You don't have to be what your parents want you to be. You don't have to be what your friends want you to be. You don't have to be what your boss wants you to be. You don't have to be what anyone else wants you to be. You can just be.
So, get out there and start being free? Start owning you? Start reclaiming your life? Start being you?
Courage is choosing to change.
Wake up with a purpose. Get out there and win the day.
Today is the day you can make the change.
Courage is choosing to change.
Sometimes I get drawn back into stupidity by lesser humans. It happens and we all have some stumbling blocks in our past that keep returning like bad pennies. It's okay to fail because you will move forward.
My stumbling block is my cousin that lives an empty life and has, as I posted earlier, threatened to kill me. He has it in his mind that he is better than me despite the way things turned out in reality.
I cannot change his mind or his reality. But I can change mine. And that is where peace resides. In my body, my mind, my life.
I cannot fight this battle with you. I cannot make you change. I cannot make you better. Only you can do that.
I will stand with you when you're looking to fight the rut. I will listen and aid when you've decided to change. I will support your choices in becoming better. I can do that. But you are responsible for changing.
That's the great thing about owning your mind, your body, your life. You get to take the blame for all the good and the bad. You get to change your situation. You get to be your boss.
So, if you're struggling with the change, know that we all struggle with becoming better. And the fight isn't against each other . . . It's against our old self. And when you dedicate yourself to change, then cousins, siblings, parents, or friends can distract you from your goal but they can't keep you from your goal.
Courage is choosing to change.
After a rather dismal performance last week, I am back in full stride again without missing a beat on a Monday.
I am focused to tear it up this week and make more steps forward. Just knowing I get to make that choice is awesome. I could have crawled back into a rut. I could have chosen complacency. But persevere. I strive. I change.
And you get to make those choices, those changes each day as well. Will you?
We are all people of color. Stop using your language to divide. Use your language to unify us rather than set one another apart.
There are many things that make people different but we don't need to keep pointing them out. Once we accept our differences and unify, then we can think and grow.
Courage is choosing to change.
Build each other up. Put in the work. Achieve your dreams.
I have to say I see other people putting in the work and getting what they want. I am proud to see things like that here where mostly I find reposted memes and little substance. Congratulations
to all of you that are goal-setting, dream-casting, journaling, manifesting, and building your life through self ownership.
You can build that business. You can own that home. You can find whatever you want because you get to control your life.
I know a lot of you are frustrated. You feel like the world is out of your control. You feel like you can't find a way out. You feel out of control.
But you can take control of the most important thing. You can take control of the only thing you do control. You can take back control of you.
It's your body, your mind, your choice.
Courage is choosing to change.
When people talk about feelings, they mostly use a negative connotation. Feelings are neither positive or negative. Feelings are how your mind reacts to its situation.
Your choice after your brain feels can be positive or negative. You can choose how to handle, deal, and live with those feelings. You get to choose how to proceed.
It's also important to recognize why your mind is responding to your situation this way. We hear the word triggered a lot these days but working through what triggers certain emotional responses is important. Just being triggered and accepting the trigger is a rut.
Another increasingly visible rut today are the people that purport they don't care about emotions. These people are probably the most consumed by feelings. They have no control over their feelings. And they typically project that hurt, that pain, that frustration on the world around them.
Deal with your feelings. Discover their cause. Grow with your discovery.
In all things, consent matters. And it's my body and my choice.
Understanding those two things should make it easy to realize why it's not cool to hurt people and take their things. It's pretty simple?
Courage is choosing to change.
Feeling is where it's at. How you feel about your situation goes a long way toward your physical health, mental health, and world view.
Working on yourself requires understanding your feelings and doing things that are in line with your overall health and growth.
Sure. Some folks need help with those feelings because of trauma they have experienced whether self-inflicted or external. But simply excusing your choices because of that trauma is a rut.
Work on your triggers. Work on your feelings. Work on your trauma.
Life is short so live the best one you can. A life that makes you happy. A life that makes you proud. A life that makes you smile. A life that makes others wonder.
Courage is choosing to change.
You can talk about doing things or you can do things. That is your choice.
I see many people that live their life from the truths of others. Reposting, replying, and regurgitating what someone else has figured out and not finding their truth. People content with activity and not accomplishment.
If you want your life, your community, your world to change it's not going to happen through your keyboard. It's not going to happen through a screen. The change happens in your mind, your body, your life.
So, get off the screen and live. Find your truth.
People are still getting China Virus tests, riding in their cars wearing masks, and think living your life in fear is venerable. Those are the people that crave a leader, those are the people that enslave themselves, those are the people that vote . . .
I don't want anything to do with that noise. Free people own themselves and make it work. They will survive in spite of your legislation. They will thrive.
The others will always settle.
You don't ask to be free.
You don't petition for freedom.
You don't draft a document for freedom.
You don't vote yourself free.
You don't protest for your freedom.
Courage is choosing to change.
I think some people think change is just like trying on different clothes. You get the clothes (ideas), you wear the clothes (ideas), and you think the clothes (ideas) then make you the clothes (ideas).
Well, in pop culture or any culture that lacks depth, that can work.
But, when you get into a culture that makes clothes (ideas) and understands the importance of designing clothes (ideas) . . .
You look at the clothes . . . And you know whether they are the way they dress or the clothes are just a costume for bad fashion . . .
Courage is choosing to change.
We’re at the dentist this morning for a cleaning because even though brushing your teeth makes sense. Good oral health makes sense. Preventing disease makes sense.
Sometimes we fail to make the correct choices. Even when those choices are easy. Even when those choices are in our best interest.
Why? There are many fallacies to explain these choices that I have enumerated over the past months. Understanding that these fallacies exist can help us make better choices.
We can choose to be better when we see the results of our actions. When we experience these failures, then we can grow. But we can’t be forced to internalize this growth.
We can’t be mandated to grow. We have to choose. We are the power.
Courage is choosing to change.
You can get anything that you want. Happy Thanksgiving.
Courage is choosing to change.
Today kicked my butt. I haven't been in the routine since last Tuesday and my body feels that. I gave myself permission to eat foolishly and sleep late, after letting the chickens loose of course. Now it's back to being better.
It's okay to take those breaks from being better. It's fine to fall back for awhile. It's even better to get back to being better.
Macaroni and cheese is okay. It serves a purpose. But it's not every day. Every day is working on your body, your mind, your choice. So even if Thanksgiving kicked your ass last week, you get to choose today. You get to choose every day.
Courage is choosing to change.
You don't have to be defined by your past. That doesn't mean we just chuck out our past for a new future. We have to learn from our past. We can't just throw it off.
However, people don't get to use your past against you. You are choosing to make the steps forward. You are choosing to become something else. You are choosing to move beyond.
So, don't let others use your past against you. It's not their past. It's yours. And you get to choose the narrative going forward.
That may have been you but it does not to define you. You get to choose that definition daily.
Courage is choosing to change.
It is easy to go along to get along. It doesn't make waves. It doesn't leave you alone. It doesn't create change.
I hear parents use these ideas on their children. It's poison. The indoctrination of conformity. The mentality of herd.
Herd mentality is a way your brain is wired against you. Being part of the group was important for survival. The herd offered protection to prehistoric humanity. The herd allowed humanity to evolve.
Today, it is time to evolve past that base survival instinct. It is time to replace the herd with the individual. You get to choose how the process goes. You get to choose to be better. Or not?
Courage is choosing to change.
I have spoken a lot about ruts and ownership. I have focused a lot on change and choice. But, I haven't really talked about their relationship to consent.
It's really difficult to say you believe in consent when you advocate for violent actions against people that hold opinions different from yours. When I talk about consent, I mean you own you. And you get to consent or not to interactions involving your body.
When I talk about violence, I mean threats . . . I mean cuffs . . . I mean cages . . . I mean emotion . . . I mean propaganda . . . I mean fear . . . I mean hurt.
Courage is choosing to change.
Courage is not choosing to blame. We like to make excuses for our actions. We enjoy pointing to external causes for our choices, our actions, our fears. We like to do this because it absolves us from being responsible.
But, we are responsible. We get to choose. We are the power.
And once we take that ownership we can change. We can be better. We can own our body, our mind, our life.
Courage is choosing to change.
We tend to look at everything the government overreach of the past almost year caused and look at the negative aspects. I like to not worry about what those people do or don't do because they have very little impact on my life. But I do like to look at the benefits of their authoritarian policies.
Some of us are now experiencing a freedom. A freedom that derives from not having to commute. A freedom that puts us in touch with our family. A freedom that gets us away from a sterile environment. We get to be productive while in our home.
Now even though the internet in my county is substandard and bordering on prehistoric, I can still work from home because everyone else in the county suffers from the same technological handicap. And we understand that these are problems we can't fix. But they are problems we all accept in order to work and learn from home.
So, rather than focusing on what you can't change. Focus on what you can change. You don't have to be around those negative people you had to see daily. Now you get to see your family that you love. You don't have to eat fast food and hurt your body when you can be at home and cook healthy. You don't have to drive with all the maniacs that drive lawlessly on the roads. Now you get to fill up your car once a week and you can drive with sense.
Sure, we can dwell on what we can't change. But we can always find the benefits of being home. And being home shouldn't be that bad. If ti is, then maybe home needs a change?
Courage is choosing to change.
Words are not inherently positive or negative. Good or bad. Our use of these words make them interpreted in a variety of manners.
I think we're all confused on definition and emotion connected to words because even modern dictionaries are confused. Often I will look up a definition and find both a denotative and connotative definition sitting with each other sipping tea. This often happens in a dictionary when you see the words "commonly referencing", "typically describing", or "used to explain". Those words should sound the alarm that you are no longer inn the realm of denotation.
Connotation is important. It is connotation that causes an emotional response in you and your audience. Connotation is always more powerful than denotation because we walk around with our mental dictionaries that define our language by our emotion. We define our life by these connotations.
So, choose your words well. Wield your language like a powerful tool for good or ill. For positive or negative. But don't think their use is not important. The words you use to communicate define your reality. Choose wisely?
Courage is choosing to change.
Your language you use with yourself is important. We often hear people ridicule themselves and often this strategy is used for humor. But just as your language is important with others it is even more important with yourself.
The words you use to describe yourself become yourself. Each word, each thought paves the way for the next word and the next thought.
Exchanging negative thoughts for positive thoughts builds a healthier relationship with yourself. Talk to yourself like you love yourself not like you're an enemy. Embrace your body, your mind, your self and notice the change in your life by merely changing the conversation you have with yourself.
Courage is choosing to change.
I think some of you believe that when I talk about change I am talking about changing everything at once. That's not the case at all.
Change one thing at a time with the end goal in sight. It only takes a few days to incorporate a small change into your daily routine. After practicing this small change for a month, bring in another small change. Use a gradual process to assimilate the change into your life.
The quickest way to return to your rut is to enact broad and sweeping change all at once. Then, we are too eager and willing to return to the cozy, warm rut that we once held because the approach we chose was too difficult.
Make your life easier. Make the change easy. And you will find the goal you seek.
Courage is choosing to change.
Persevere. You are going to meet resistance from friends, family, acquaintances, and yourself as you move forward with your change. You are going to get questioned, challenged, and ridiculed by others and yourself. But, you will persevere because you are the change.
Focus on the work you're doing. Take the time to celebrate your victories whether they be small or large. Celebrate those victories because they are your victories. You did that with your body, your mind, your choice.
It's easy to find distractions. They are all around. But it's more beneficial to find victory in your change. Pivot from the past and focus on the future.
Courage is choosing to change.
The past has already been written but the future is what you're creating right now. Your choices in the past created a past that will always be there. Your choices now impact your future.
Realize that you have no control over the past but you have total control of your future. Your choices move you into alignment with what you want in the future.
The steps you take today are more important than the steps you took yesterday because the steps you take today are the only steps you can change.
Courage is choosing to change.
Change is not always good. Change can be for the worst. How do you recognize when you're making the wrong choices?
Is your life becoming better from the choice or worse. Simply changing for the sake of change is not beneficial. Change needs be made in the correct direction.
It's easy to get into cycles with change or routine. It's easy to repeat past traumas with change or routine. But it is also just as easy to make the correct change for your body, your mind, your life.
Be that change? Align yourself with what you want? And move forward?
Courage is choosing to change.
My message of change is not for everyone. If you're already reading my updates and following the process, you're predispositioned for change. You're open to what I'm laying down.
I am not worried about the other folks that aren't looking to change. I'm looking at you because you want change, need change, can change. You can change your body, your mind, your life.
There is this Pareto principle that governs human society. You have doubtless seen it in action. It's basically that the majority of the work is done by the few. And the majority do very little.
You're already part of the few, so keep putting in the work? Keep striving for the change? Make yourself great again? You get to choose.
Courage is choosing to change.
When you begin your change, be certain to focus on the positive goals you have for yourself. It is easy as people to dwell on what we don't want. We spend a lot of time focused on getting rid of things rather than focusing on what we do want.
This is a counterproductive strategy. The more you think about those unwanted things. The more time you give to those things in your life. The more you will find those things. It's like the old idea that you never see a snake until you're looking for one, then snakes are everywhere.
The same is true about everything. The more you turn your focus to your positive goals, then the more readily the paths to those goals will appear. The same is true for the opposite.
I see guys and gals across my timeline wondering why their life is the way it is. Why do I attract terrible people? Why do I hate my job? Why is my life so horrible?
It is because you attract that with your negative thoughts and actions. Choosing to change your focus about life can make a profound impact on your body, your mind, your life. The beauty is that you get to make that choice. Give yourself permission to be happy?
Courage is choosing to change.
“I’m ready to change but I just don’t know where to start”, is a prevailing question as we contemplate our journey forward into the future. It can seem scary to look at your life and try to locate all the changes you want to make. But, start small. Find one problem in your life and develop the solution to that one small problem.
Choosing to start small builds your confidence. Confidence is one thing we all need when starting our journey of change. Small victories give us the reassurance and faith that we can achieve even greater victories. And moving forward always needs a small start.
The little victories add up. They are significant in moving you into alignment with your goals. Moving you ever closer to the happiness you deserve.
So, take on the small things and you’ll see massive benefits.
Once you understand how hospitals work, you will then understand how they are not benevolent actors. They get their funding from state coercion and are more worried about that big control than they are your life, your body, your choice.
Government is not the solution to your problems. Government is not the cause of your problems.
Technology is not the solution to your problems. Technology is not the cause to your problems.
People are not the solution to your problems. People are not the cause of your problems.
You are both the solution and cause. You are the power. Own it?
Courage is choosing to change into the warlord you are.
Money is not the solution to your problems. Money is not the cause of your problems.
Religion is not the solution to your problems. Religion is not the cause to your problems.
Violence is not the solution to your problems. Violence is not the cause of your problems.
You are both the solution and cause. You are the power. Own it?
Courage is choosing to change into the warlord you are.
Whether it be sports, politics, religion . . .
They majority hook up a wagon and blindly go along . . . Or, even worse, follow a human. Or maybe they want change so.
They loudly contest the system, person, idea for the sake of being contrary . . .
Leaving the wagon? Never a thought in their minds. Just a fear in their hearts.
Courage is choosing to change.
It's the end of a year for most of us. Endings lead to beginnings. Beginnings give you the opportunity to stay the course or set a new direction but, you don't need a new year to make a change. You can make a change any day, any hour, any moment.
Some of us will be happy to put 2020 in the rear view and embrace the hope of 2021. But what difference, what goal, what change will drive your new year? your new life your new you?
If you go into next year the same as you left the last year, then what really changes besides the digits at the end of the date?
Courage is choosing to change.
Politics are disgusting. It can take people that are relatively well-functioning and make them behave like caged apes throwing their feces on friend and neighbor and stranger.
One of the roots of these problems is the inability of folks to make their own decisions. They pick a color, whether it blue or red or gold or rainbow or green or etc., and then judge everything based upon their team's rules. They need to be consistent with their team and uphold that color value or else face the possibility of hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is important for change. You need to be a hypocrite of things you once knew were a certainty in order to change.
Think about being young. There comes a time when we grow to learn some of the beliefs we held simply aren't true. But, the great power of youth is the ability to change without fear. We're not tied so much into our ego. We can let go. We can grow. We can change.
It is something you need to wake every morning and dedicate your breaths to enacting. It is not inevitable. It is a struggle.
Courage is choosing to change.
There is courage in questioning. Critical thinking is falling beside the road and into the rut in this age of easy knowledge. We can get really bogged down and overloaded with all the information that is out there.
Once we had to actively seek out information in dusty tomes and understood the value of waiting for a book on loan. Today, all the information we could ever ask is at our fingertips or voice command. Information became cheap. Information became easy. Information became a weapon.
This is why the courage to question is even more important today. Critical thinking about all the information is important. Most folks aren’t ready to ask the questions for fear of the knowledge. Knowledge is much different than information. Knowledge takes experience and information and critically evaluates our current conceptions about life. Knowledge demands metacognition and time.
Information is found all around you. Information is external. Knowledge is scarce. Knowledge is internal.
It's quite progressive to believe in #MyBodyMyChoice when it ends the life of the unborn but not so progressive when it comes to personal choice in wearing a mask. It's quite progressive to believe in #MyBodyMyChoice when it steals your wealth to fund ending a life but not so progressive when it comes to allowing folks to live their lives freely.
So, if you're saying that it's #MyBodyMyChoice, then how about fully supporting that people are free? Or is maybe freedom not the goal of your happy, little slogan? Maybe the goal isn't empowering at all? Maybe it's something more sinister?
Hey, but you get to choose if your beliefs are hypocritical. You get to choose if you're disingenuous. You get to choose if you're full of shit.
The great thing about life is you can also choose to stop being misaligned. You can choose to align your thoughts, your actions, your life. You can move forward. You can cast aside those "childish things" and rise. You get to be free.
Courage is choosing to change.
Please change that negative mindset. I see many people wishing, hoping, praying for things to change when they are the power to change.
You can make the change. You don’t have to wish upon a star. You just have to do it.
Freedom is doing what YOU want. And freedom isn’t free. Freedom takes responsibility and ownership. Freedom takes courage. Freedom takes a change in mindset.
Take ownership of your life? You can be the change.
