17May 2018 by CJ
Practice will give you an advantage – increased skills and humility

Practice will give you an advantage – increased skills and humility

Life & Living
“Through practice, gently and gradually we can collect ourselves and learn how to be more fully with what we do.” - Jack Kornfield How does one become a better writer, teacher, programmer, leader? With practice. How does a toddler go from crawling on their hands and knees to walking on their two feet? With practice. How does a parent learn to be a better parent and a spouse learn to be a better spouse? You guessed it – with practice. The list is truly endless but this fact is unavoidable – if you practice anything repetitively (especially when you’re a novice) your goals are more attainable. Arrogance, however, is a roadblock you continue to swerve around, but refuse to acknowledge. I recently identified a video project within my company, and…
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02May 2018 by CJ
Constructive criticism is good as long as you’re willing to hear it

Constructive criticism is good as long as you’re willing to hear it

Life & Living
“Value those who give you constructive criticism, because without them doing so, you will never reach the peak of what you are do.” – Unarine Ramaru Recently, while conducting some research on the art of constructive criticism, it became clear fairly quickly that many experts, leaders, teachers, parents and even me are divided on its benefits. In short, constructive criticism is supposed to help improve a person, a project, an initiative, a circumstance, you name it. And in some cases, I suppose it does. But we’re all human, and when there are people involved you can bet that their emotions will soon follow. Natural emotions that our body triggers as soon as we sense that some part of who we are is being challenged. That brings about a certain level…
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23Apr 2018 by CJ
Waves – providing the perfect soundtrack to life

Waves – providing the perfect soundtrack to life

Life & Living
“When you sit tranquilly, you set a great example to the people who rush around in panic and thus you show the crazy waves the beauty of being a calm lake!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan At the end of tonight’s yoga class, I found myself lost in the waves – the sound of them that is. As a sequence of turquoise-blue lights danced around the studio in front of me, waves continued to crash upon the shoreline – providing the perfect soundtrack to further solidify my tranquility. The always calming and inspiring words of my instructor further lulled me into a state of complete serenity (thanks Courtney). Drifting in and out of consciousness, I felt safe in my surroundings and completely comfortable with the spirit living deep inside of me. How truly…
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28Mar 2018 by CJ

Condescension is a behavior people can see right through

Life & Living
“Of what use is it to be tolerant of others if you are convinced that you are right and everyone who disagrees with you is wrong? That isn’t tolerance but condescension.” - Anthony de Mello The word condescension is familiar to most, but few actually know what it truly means. Condescension is an attitude or behavior exhibited by those who truly believe they are more intelligent or better than other people. Beyond not knowing what the word means, many more fail to realize how often they practice condescension among their peers, their subordinates, their friends and their family. Dr. Frank J. Ninivaggi shared his thoughts on the subject in an article he appropriately titled, “Condescension is Manifest Envy”. In it he writes, “A common phenomenon illustrating the surfacing of envy is…
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25Mar 2018 by CJ

Make it count – how well are you spending your time?

Life & Living
"I have one life and one chance to make it count for something." - Jimmy Carter If there’s one thing humanity continually takes for granted, regardless of circumstance, it’s time. We naively believe there’s an endless reserve of sand in the hourglass, but the reality is time is not infinite – you need to make it count today. So, the one thing humanity takes for granted is time, and the one thing we always say is there never seems to be enough of it. I agree on that point. Between work, household chores, relationships and hobbies, it’s not often easy to find time in one’s schedule for all the things we need to do and want to do during any given week. Something inevitably gets shunned and shortly thereafter we’re left…
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