No matter how flat a pancake is, it always has two sides!
Yesterday I found myself listening to David Foster Wallace's legendary "This Is Water" speech again. It's such a powerful way to explain some of the really simple things. As always, it got me thinking.
I started pondering the meaning of this blog. You may think you signed up for this blog for all my tips on how to develop relationships, sell better, sleep better, eat better, but it's more than that.
The meaning of this blog is to teach you different perspectives. It's not about the capacity to think, but to remind you that you have a choice of how you want to look at things.
Here's a great example from Wallace's speech:
There are these two guys sitting together in a bar in the remote Alaskan wilderness. While they’re old friends, they have very different ideas on God—one is a priest and the other is an atheist. They begin arguing about the existence of God.
The atheist says, “Look, it’s not like I haven’t given God a chance. I even tried the prayer thing. It didn’t work.”
The priest asks with some incredulity, “Did you really pray? When did this happen?”
“Just last month,” replies the atheist. “I got caught away from the camp in a terrible blizzard. I was totally lost and I couldn’t see a thing. It was 50 below, and so I prayed. I fell to my knees in the snow and cried out ‘Oh, God, if there is a God, I’m lost in this blizzard, and I’m going to die if you don’t help me’.”
The priest looks at the atheist with a puzzled expression and exclaims, “Well then you must believe in God now. After all, here you are, alive!”
The atheist rolls his eyes and says, “No way, that’s not how it happened. A couple of Eskimos came wandering by and they showed me the way back to camp.”
It's about not letting your ego get in the way and being stuck in your own way. When you get stuck in your way, isn't that being arrogant? You have to let go of that arrogance you naturally carry from the beliefs and feelings you've been conditioned to feel all your life from your surroundings.
It's all about perspective.
Also, I just want to take a moment to recognize the true honor and sacrifice so many brave men and women have endured to keep our country safe this weekend, and frankly all the time. We are all indebted to their incredible courage.
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Quote of the Day: "Blind certainty - a close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even know he's locked up." - David Foster Wallace
Song of the Day: "I Am A Patriot" by Little Steven
*My latest book; "Living on Purpose: Stories about Faith, Fortune and Fitness that will lead you to an Extraordinary Life", is NOW available! Click here!*
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