Essential, Random and Frivolous Thoughts of a Cabinet Maker

For me and so many others, the past can be a chain that binds us to remain stagnate in a place where we are in our own way and unable to evolve.

Like choosing to carry someone else’s luggage (problems) around with you, we have a choice as to what we bring with us into tomorrow. For whatever reason, instead of starting anew, many of us choose to identify ourselves with our mistakes, blunders and short-comings. We hold on to guilt and shame as we allow these negative emotions to metastasize throughout our entire lives until we feel we’re not worthy of any good.

This is not true. We can ALWAYS start with a clean slate. No matter what yesterday looked like. Or more importantly how we felt about ourselves. We must learn to turn the page and let go of the past as a anchor and let it teach us to propel ourselves forward.

The choice is always ours.

I’m writing today’s blog with a heavy heart. In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that took the lives of too many and many many more properties and homes, I’m doing my best to process and reflect upon what went down.

Unfortunately, in today’s landscape it would seem that every event that transpires – whether it’s a virus or a natural disaster such as a wildfire – can become a pulpit for people to shout their political views to the mountain tops. Yuck! That’s an ugly look my friend.

The problem with this is the victims. They are forgotten in their time of need. We need to empathize, console and mourn with them, without trying to find an angle to spout our bull$#!+ political agenda. And I don’t care what color you are – red, blue or green.

Let’s rise above the fray and lean into Love for those who need it. And believe me, we could ALL use it. This isn’t the time or place for other childish antics.

Lean into Love. We could all use some more of that good stuff.

I’ll be the first one to say that more times than not, I can benefit from hearing the hard truth. The facts. Being blunt. No frills.

Even I’m smart enough to know that I will sugar-coat the truth to myself to save my ego and justify my efforts.

This is where we can all benefit from someone in your inner circle who can give it to you straight. Maybe they’re not in your inner circle. Maybe they’re a business colleague or even a stranger. It really doesn’t matter. The question is: can you take it? I hope it’s in me to do so. I hope it’s in you to do so.

Why? Because we can all benefit from the truth if we want real change for the better.

I find it challenging to summon up the power of ‘why‘ while I’m striving for my goal/s in order to carry my motivation from the first of the year deep into the fiery bowels of late fall into December carrying as much fervor with me as I did on January 2nd.

I understand that we do things for two reasons: the carrot or the stick. Pain or pleasure. In the past, I never wanted to entertain the idea of doing something because of anger or pain. I didn’t want to entertain the thoughts of those low energy emotions. I wanted to choose a higher energy such as Love. But, the truth of the matter is this; We will do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. I have many examples of that in my life. I will do more to avoid pain. And for me, the regret of not doing something is a powerful motivator.

There are past experiences that haunt me to this day where I know deep within me I didn’t give 100% effort and because of that I came up short of reaching my intended goal. But for me, it wasn’t so much about reaching that goal as it was the effort I gave. I knew I could have given more.

That’s enough for me to reassess where my fears are located and square-up to each and every one. I don’t want to live my life with the pain of regret in my heart. That hurts too much.

I’m not really even sure what this means. I believe I do when it comes to facts. As a fact is still a fact – even today. On the other hand, when it comes to our perspective, it becomes a bit more complicated.

The reason is because of our perception of what is true or real. Or even present in the moment. It’s our mind’s way of trying to protect us, but we can miss vital information that will prevent us from evolving. This is called ‘Selective Perception.’ That’s why I want to pull on this thread.

Selective Perception is when our mind filters what we don’t want to hear or see – for whatever reason. So, it leads us to only see a fraction of the truth and not what is actually real. Essentially, it’s choosing to believe what you want to believe is true. Not actually true.

For me, this is no way to go through my day. I would rather see the world in an unbiased way and make my decisions from that truth. Wouldn’t you?