Interesting message on this car window:
Imagine all the wonderful things that will never happen if you do not do them.
You’ve got to get up and get out there and try.
Never say never.
Success is within reach.
Rocky, Rocky, Rocky! 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Anger, Faith, and Growth.”
We live in an unpredictable world and I have made more than one bad decision recently. Fortunately, it was nothing too terrible, but I was still angry about it, and my gut reaction was to somehow blame G-d, and to feel angry at Him, because I thought somehow I didn’t deserve what had happened. However, I asked myself how can you be angry at G-d if you believe that everything he does is for your ultimate good? It took me a little time, but I realized that I wasn’t really angry at G-d, but at myself; It was my fault, I did deserve what happened, and my mistakes aren’t G-d’s.
Maybe this is what life is really all about–searching and finding G-d even among all the multitude of mistakes we make in life. We have to own our mistakes, learn from them, and thereby become stronger and better people.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Even when you fall down, you should always rise up again!
(Credit Videos: Andy Blumenthal)
Thought this was a funny title for a book:
“Sh*t Happens So Get Over It.”
There are no perfect lives out there.
I reminded again this week how everyone has something: Mark Herd, Co-CEO of Oracle, died at 62 and and Elijah Cummings, elected to 12 terms in the House of Representatives, died at 68.
All the success int he world on the surface doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of schlimazel (misfortune) under the surface.
Unfortunately, sh*t definitely happens in life and we can get all spun up over it or we can take everything in faith and stride.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
What does kill takes us to the next phase of existence.
All you can do is your best, the rest is in the hands of the Almighty above. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Sometimes the glass is not half full or half empty.
But rather is spills over entirely.
There is nothing, nothing left inside.
Worse even is when the glass completely shatters.
Then there isn’t even a vessel anymore.
All that’s left is to pick up the pieces.
As humans, we try to fill up the water, stop the water inside from spilling out, and to save the glass.
The rest is in G-d’s hands.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So we all know how hard it can be to get ahead.
The long hours, hard work, and grueling repetition to try to reach near-perfection.
Even then, of course, we need G-d’s mercy and blessings and a measure of good luck to succeed.
Also, by definition, not everyone can be “the best” at everything.
I suppose the expectation for most people is that they try at least to excel at the things that they need to do or are most important to them, as well as maintain work-life balance.
In this light, it was interesting to hear a story recently about mediocrity (and not excellence).
When asked to step up on the job, one person responded in the negative saying:
C’s get degrees (too)!
Of course, this must have sounded pretty shocking and off-putting.
In other words, they weren’t going for the “A” or even a “B”. A “C” grade was fine for them–as long as they didn’t completely fail with a big “F”.
Who knows what circumstances may have led this person to settle for mediocrity–just wanting to pass.
Perhaps they had serious personal or family issues–and had good reason to be taking a step back (for a while).
But I think there could also be more tactful ways to say it too–like explaining if there were mitigating or challenging circumstances in their life right now.
If there really wasn’t mitigating circumstances and the person was just “slacking off” or didn’t care, one has to wonder why–are they just “milking the system” or is there something more fundamentally wrong?
C’s get degrees, but to me the real question is: Are you doing your best given your particular life circumstances? 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I was reading Vladimir Jabotinsky’s “Story of My Life.”
And there is this quote that I really like attributed to Kipling in it:
Victory or defeat: learn to accept both with equanimity since both are deceptions.
I just thought this is profound.
We never really fully win or lose.
Everything is on a spectrum.
And where we think we are on that spectrum is often not even nearly correct.
You think you won that one, but guess what someone else has outsmarted you and you don’t even know it yet.
Also, wins can be easily followed by loses and vice versa.
Things can turn on a dime and who’s up becomes who’s down–as the wheel of life turns and turns again.
Recognize that you don’t control everything–actually, the only thing you do control is how you react and behave.
Everything else is a test to teach you and help you grow.
And as I heard from a speaker yesterday, “you can’t make up in space, what you have lost in time.”
Victory or defeat, both are deceptions.
Only how you choose to act is the real win or lose.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see new my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Moses’s Handicap.”
In truth, we are all handicapped in one way or another. One person comes from a meager financial background, another has no education, and yet another has any of a host of physical, mental, or emotional challenges. Essentially, we all have something that rightfully can hold us back. But still G-d chooses us to do His bidding. Whether it’s leading the Jews out of Egypt or standing up and doing what’s right in situations that we are confronted with every day, we are asked to go beyond our handicap.
We can’t let our handicaps prevent us from fulfilling our purpose in life–we need to meet the challenges head on with G-d’s help. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So I’ve been helping some family members with some really big decisions lately.
As we all know, there are pros and cons to every alternative.
I remember how you can diagram decisions out like the branches of a tree with probabilities for each branch to try and get to the highest value decision.
The problem is we don’t know everything that may happen down the road or even know the probabilities for each possibility–or as they say:
We don’t know what we don’t know.
So it’s hard to make a great decision and not second guess yourself.
Well, what if…
You can “what if” yourself to sleepless nights and death and never decide or do anything meaningful.
We have to make the best decisions we can usually with limited information.
Using gut or intuition is not a solution either–those can end up being very wrong especially when we let our raw emotions dictate.
So I do not take decision-making for myself or helping others lightly, especially my family.
I want to protect them and help them make good decisions that will bear fruit and joy down the road.
I definitely don’t want to waste everyones time and efforts and lead them or myself down a dead end or worse off of a cliff.
In the end, we have to turn to G-d and whisper:
Oh G-d, please help us to make the right decisions, because only you know what the results will be from it.
And so, I am definitely whispering!
At the same time, we need to move forward and not let fear and doubt get in our way of living.
Yes, we have to be prudent and take calculated risks (everything worthwhile is a risk), but also, we have to look at the potential rewards and the costs for these (every decision is an investment of time and resources) and then just try our best. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So parenting is not always an easy job.
But it is one full of love and helping your kids.
Sometimes, I remember listening to my kids say that they feel this or that and seeing that it was holding them back from accomplishing their goals.
Often, I would tell them that the only people that really care about how they feel is your mother and father–but generally-speaking, it a tough world out there, and:
“No one [else] cares about how you feel.”
I tried to focus them–not on being cold and unfeeling–but rather on being strong inside and focusing on the tasks that need to get done.
Sure, feelings are important, but if you are getting held back from doing what you need to do–then there are times when you need to put the feelings in abeyance and go forward.
Overall, there is plenty of time to feel what you feel, but don’t let anger, fear, or anxiety get in the way of you accomplishing your dreams.
In a book that I am reading by Amos Oz, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” he writes:
‘I want’ and ‘I don’t want’ aren’t reasons, they can only be defined as self-indulgence.
Yes, it’s a little tough love, but also it is out of true love to help the kids to be willing and determined to try their best and not get held back by anything in the pursuit of the destiny they choose to follow. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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