The full collection of explorations.
All great relationships are built from great conversations.
All great conversations are built from great questions.
All great questions are built from a great curiosity and introspection.
Ask some of the people you know some great, open-ended questions.
Reinvest time, energy, and effort into the ones who have great thought-provoking answers and follow up with some of their own great questions.
This is the foundational strategy for building great (better) relationships in your life.
Almost everything is made better when we slow down.
The quality of our work is made better when we slow down.
The comprehension of any learning material is better when we slow down.
The connection made with another person is stronger when we slow down.
The understanding of our inner world becomes more apparent when we slow down.
The presence we might feel when traveling is more pronounced when we slow down.
Which begs the question… why are we rushing all of time?
P.s. ICYMI you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.
Yes, actions are better than words (mostly).
But, that operates under the assumption that you can only pick one.
…Because you know what’s better than just actions?
Actions and words.
A lot happens on earth in a day.
I remember feeling equal parts awe struck as I did mind blown when I watched One Day On Earth.
In one day… somebody is giving birth… somebody is learning how to ride a bike… somebody is shaving with their dad for the first time… somebody is farming crops… somebody is killing a cow… somebody is hugging their mom or dad… somebody is feeling hopelessness… somebody is feeling grace… somebody is traveling to a new part of the world for the first time… somebody is making love… somebody is performing in front of an audience… somebody is closing their eyes into death…
When we have a zooming out experience like this…
And can really absorb the scale of the human experience…
It might help us remember that the things we’re complaining about… overthinking… and hyperfocused on and making into a big deal…
…Maybe isn’t and aren’t.
I can teach you martial arts… but I can’t teach you passion.
I can teach you how to teach… but I can’t teach you humor, warmth, and initiative.
I can teach you what to say when you make a call… but I can’t teach you to care about the person on the other line.
Sure, I might be able to say a few things about passion, humor, warmth, initiative, and care… but the thing about each of those is that they aren’t learned from the outside-in… they’re learned from the inside-out.
Meaning, you have to learn for yourself what ignites your passion, what tickles your humor, what warms your compassionate side, what makes you want to go above and beyond, and what makes you actually give a damn about the work you’re doing…
Because what it is for me isn’t the same as what it’ll be for you.
Martial arts? A block is a block and a strike is a strike—for both me and you.
Teaching? Pedagogy is pedagogy and subject matter is subject matter—for both me and you.
Following scripts? Reading from scripts is reading from scripts—for both me and you.
Learning hard skills is black-and-white. And the thing about black-and-white skills is that it’s black-and-white for everybody.
But soft skills? Soft skills are a giant gray spectrum. And what can really make you stand out in today’s overpopulated, hyper competitive, AI evolving world… is a higher landing on that giant gray spectrum.
…Invest more into building soft skills.
I uploaded a quote today to MoveMe Quotes that read, “Art is a safe place to explore and express all emotions. No feeling is taboo. It’s about being sensitive to what your body is telling you, then using your art to set the emotion free.”
Without some form of an outlet… our emotions continue to pour into a type of static, stale, toxicity-prone pond within.
Art is an incredibly powerful means of creating an outlet for that pond.
And slowly, slowly… as you explore and express your art… your emotions converge into more of a river and flow through your body and out into the medium of that chosen art.
Without this type of outlet, don’t you see how the emotions can swell within? Don’t you see how all of the grief, anger, frustration, loneliness, and sadness can intermix into a type of toxic stew… contaminating the whole vessel carrying it? Don’t you see how most passive entertainment and social media and news outlets only exacerbate that toxic stew…?
…Don’t you see how important it is to have an outlet?
…Don’t you see that’s what this daily blog is for me?
…Don’t you see that it’s about time you create an outlet for the inner pond within you?
Most people are so busy with their own lives that they have no time to imagine the immense potential in others.
And so they simply live their busy life and wait for others to realize their own potential before they notice, hire, invest in, honor, or reward.
And sure, nobody should be more concerned with realizing another’s potential than their own.
But…
And this is a big but…
If you can zoom out from the busy madness of your own life and… notice, hire, invest in, honor, and reward the untapped, unrealized, unharnessed potential in those around you…?
…Not only will you create a sunlight on the buried seed of a plant effect—
…But you’ll start to see the quality and strength of the plants—people—increase around you.
Why? …Because plants (and people) grow only with and towards the sunlight.
…Having a hard time seeing the seeds around you? Of course you are—they’re buried.
Do what the sun does and shine down indiscriminately.
Double down on the ones that respond and peak through.
…Soon you’ll be surrounded by great oaks instead of buried seeds.