The difference between a good life and a bad life is how you walk through the fire. 

CARL JUNG

How do you navigate your way through the flames? 

Are you flinching every time you feel the heat and cringing at every bonfire ahead of you… each of which appears to be evermore daunting? 

Or do you bask in the relative warmth around you and recognize that there isn’t a flame in existence that can possibly consume you? 

As you traverse your way through the continuously repressive dynamic of life experiences, are you looking at every variable as being overwhelming, or does each, and every variable hone you into a much stronger being, fully capable of accelerating through the fire, and into the future that awaits you? 

There is no question that the trail we blaze is continuously fraught with unforeseen variables, which at a moment’s notice, are capable of engulfing us in new chapters of distraction and chaos, when our chosen route would be to navigate around all of this and head straight for the destination we are seeking. 

The more we find ourselves embroiled in larger than life variables, through which we must find our footing and thereby grow accordingly, the more we learn about ourselves, and about that from which we are made. 

We are fully capable of traversing any flame that impedes our path. The overwhelming distinction, in my opinion, boils down to the mindset necessary for such a journey to be possible. If the frame of mind sees everything as temporary obstacles, then, without question they are. 

Conversely, if you perceive them as insurmountable, then they are… as the late Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

Finding our frame of reference to empower us to navigate the flames and exit with a positive outcome on the other side, is entirely dependent upon our personal understanding of these truths, and even more importantly, our willingness and desire to embrace all of them with the prerequisite perspectives necessary to emerge victorious when all is said and done. 

Happy Monday!

https://brianweiner.com

The ones who are meant to be a part of your bigger mission are already connected with you through a shared vision for humanity. It won’t require much convincing or explanation. It just is and they already know the purpose surpasses everything finite.

IDIL AHMED

Have you ever met someone and instantly felt the connection?

It is a rare experience, but unquestionably a vital component in the overall structure of our lives.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why both parties are almost instantly feeling kindred to one another?

Would you chalk that up to happenstance, or is it possible that something much larger has transpired?

Various cultures might explain what is taking place through different perspectives, and while none of us can be certain as to what is truly happening, I believe a majority of us would accept that a type of attractive energy is clearly present, operating and generating the feelings that create such a viable bond.

If it is a romantic relationship, we would call it chemistry. A combination of physical, spiritual, intellectual and emotional attraction that both parties would be feeling and from which all of the prerequisite energy would stem.

Other, nonromantic relationships also feel chemistry and that is equally viable in propelling those parties to sharing the types of information and perspectives that will further that bond, and increase the chemical dynamic between them.

We may feel that energy through complementary perspectives on key issues in life, or a shared core interest in a topic that is of vital importance to both parties. 

In other cases, it was a key incident that created such a bond, and as a result of both parties having experienced such an incident and prevailed together at the outset of that event, a strong bond is forged, as might be the case with soldiers who served together or players on the same team in a sporting endeavor.

Digging beneath the surface of such attractive forces reveals the truth about today’s aphorism. Depending upon your perspectives on destiny and fate, you might feel as if there were always a cause and reason for those of you to have found one another and forged such a deep bond. You would explain this, saying it was a relationship that was destine-bound to have been created. And perhaps that is true.

Conversely, if you feel you are completely in control of all variables in your life, you might see this as happenstance bringing opportunity that you and they capitalized upon, given the chance meeting and consequential desire to build such a relationship.

I believe that our ideological perspectives radiate through our actions, behaviors, and expressed perspectives in life. In the course of such energy being expended, we attract similar energy and cumulatively those connections expand exponentially as a direct consequence.

In the end, does it truly matter why and how, so long as it does transpire and that our lives are mutually enriched through the experience?

From that point forward, everything else is solely a benefit from which we all flourish.

Happy Sunday!

If you are not walking the talk, you are just a puppet. Be the puppeteer.

BRIAN WEINER

Are you the puppet or are you the puppeteer?

It’s one thing to espouse a specific philosophy, and it’s another thing to live by it.

If you are genuine, and say what you mean, and mean what you say, your actions should unquestionably match that which you profess to believe in.

In many cases, there are those who are quick to disperse all sorts of information that they would profess to be profound, meaningful or critical, and yet, if you watch their day-to-day behavior, you will see them behaving exactly in opposite fashion. 

Having control over whom you are and what your life, your morality and virtues are all about, is imperative to living up to being the complete human being that you are fully capable of evolving into. 

As we are younger, we are more prone to flirt with both sides of the equation, in the sense that we might say that we believe something, but we might be likely to do exactly the opposite, when it comes to choices that we have to make in our world. Reflecting on these compromised choices as we grow older, paves the pathway for our potential future.

Only through these evolutions, are we ever capable of recognizing the parameters by which a person is fully capable of exemplifying everything that they profess to believe in. 

When a person is able to make a decision that no one else will ever be aware of, they are that much more ready to learn of that which they are truly made. It is only through continuous opportunities to determine how and what we might be willing or capable of doing, that we ultimately learn for certain what our core morality is made of. 

If we are continuously enabling other parties to dictate how we behave, what we say, and what our moral principles are, are we not truly a marionette attached by strings to the controlling arm of whomever is influencing, and thereby, dictating our behavior and morals? 

If we genuinely wish to be masters of our own destiny, would it not make make sense to sever those marionette strings, and allow ourselves to fully discover where our own borders and parameters exist, such that we might continue to evolve ever further in the directions that we profess to believe in. 

Be the puppeteer, not the puppet. 

Happy Saturday!

https://brianweiner.com

The battles you choose to fight are every bit as important as the ones you choose not to.

JONATHAN TROPPER

Which battles have you chosen to fight, and which ones have you left in the rearview mirror without comment?

Some people would make the statement, “that is not a hill that I’m willing to die upon.“ In the course of distilling that statement, it is a clear recognition that certain battles are worth fighting, and others come with casualties that do not warrant the exposure, or the risk of taking on the battle for fear of the potentially negative consequences or outcomes. 

As we make our way through continuous chapters of our lives, we are offered numerous opportunities to choose where we are willing to metaphorically “go to the mat,” in order to defend or support ideas, experiences, or people whom we decide are worthy of our overall support. 

Many of these choices are emotionally-based, whereas others might find their root in logic or necessity. Regardless of the motivation for having made our determination, there is inevitably some repercussion. 

That repercussion is either public, or it is entirely internal as we suck it up and chalk it up to experience and move on, silently. 

In either case, we always have good cause and reason to evaluate each and every circumstance through these kinds of filters, so that we might do our best to make an informed choice as to how we are going to conduct ourselves in each, and every one of the myriad circumstances in which we find ourselves tangled up within. 

Through these life experiences and the ultimate choices they give us cause to make, we are all the more empowered to accelerate our life path forward by either confronting issues which must be confronted or by having a deeper understanding that any type of confrontation of said issue will most likely only yield neutral or negative outcomes that do not warrant the expenditure of time, energy, and the exposure to whomever we are likely to disrupt in the course of making such a determination. 

Some battles are genuinely worth fighting, and others are much more opportune to walk away. Each one carries a significant degree of importance, and each one warrants our full consideration, prior to making a choice to as to whether or not to engage. 

Happy Friday!

https://brianweiner.com

Your imagination gives you access that brings new worlds to life. This birth is sacred. It happens in solitude, in the unseen realms of your mind, in silence, in union with your soul, and through it all, you emerge into the vision you held, and the creation you dreamed up.  

IDIL AHMED

How exactly does your imagination work? 

When you say you “dreamed something up,” what specifically happened? 

When we are leveraging the powers of our imagination, we instantly accelerate to amongst the highest of the species on the planet, by virtue of our ability to leverage abstract thought, paired with communication, utilizing words and symbols in order to fully articulate the ideas that are running rampantly through our brain. 

As these things happen, we are leveraging resources of the congruent data sets from other life experiences or information that we have assimilated and transposing that information into ideas which can be explored, and most importantly, shared with others, so that they might, in turn, appreciate what has sparked inside of our mind. 

If you break your imagination down to its most rudimentary elements, it is unquestionably one of the most fascinating, and certainly the most liberating quality of being a human being… for in our imagination comes our complete and total opportunity to accelerate beyond our existing reality and extrapolate abstract ideas and thoughts into tangible realities that others may share.

From the first scratch illustrations in the dirt, to the cave paintings on the wall, through story telling by the fire, games, dance, rituals, to stone tablets, printed parchment, live theater, books, periodicals, movies, radio, television, augmented reality, virtual reality,  high tech games, metaverse and onwards into all new forms of media, the human being is obsessed with communicating abstract thoughts such that others may learn or be entertained or cautioned by the tales we tell, the ideas we share and the methods through which we choose to communicate them.

If you have ever played the game, Charades, you will know how difficult it is to pantomime the name of something your audience is likely to know. Imagine for a second if there were no language at all. None. No written words. No communication tools other than your body, and perhaps a drawing instrument like a tree branch stick. How abstract could your imagination possibly be? 

Yet, in that primitive space, as we evolved, the wheel, fire, weapons, clothing, shelter were all kindled by imagination. 

Now, add a language that everyone understands. How much more vast is the potential for the imagination to flourish? Now add all the technology and resources that are available to anyone who pursues imaginative pursuits in any field of life. When you strip it all away and add it all back, layer by layer, there is no question that imagination is the cradle of humanity.

Given that ultimate truth, wouldn’t it be wise to harness imagination to enable us to self preserve before our specie extinguishes itself with the very essence that catapulted it to the top of the food chain?

Happy Thursday!

https://brianweiner.com

A thought isn’t just a thought; it has the power to transform your life. 

THE HEALTH SESSIONS

Which single thought changed your life more than any other?

When you distill every important choice that you have ever made, each one ultimately boils down to a single thought. One in which you have evaluated the options at your disposal (presumably) and ultimately made a decision which has launched the variables that are taking you to where you are going.

It is through considered thought that we sort through our options, weigh our potential consequences, evaluate the outcomes, and ultimately make a determination as to what is most important to us. This enables us to pursue the far greater opportunities that we might not have been capable of pursuing at the time of the initial thought.

We are continually evolving as a result of emotions and circumstances that will perpetually weight our options in ways that we may not like, nor appreciate. But, it is because of these options that we are so determined to leverage resources at our disposal to either extricate ourselves from a circumstance which we no longer wish to be a part of, or to ingratiate ourselves to an audience of one or more people with whom we wish to collaborate, or to propel us directly into the future which we have visualized and imagined our position within.

It is only through our continuous consideration of any of these variables that we are ultimately capable of evolving from where we are to where we wish to be.

While we are clearly understanding how important any single thought might ultimately become, may we also take into consideration that perhaps those thoughts have an energy path all of their own. One which dictates a portion of how, where, why, and when we are going to make the necessary next steps to act upon that thought, and accelerate forward, while simultaneously putting the energy of that thought out into the universe, for us to ultimately attract the pre-requisite variables needed for us to achieve those considerations.

Your thoughts are among the most powerful and prolific resources you will ever have in life. Treasure them and nurture them with appropriate respect and love.

Happy Tuesday!

Some things lookin’ better, baby

Just passin’ through

ELTON JOHN

Have you ever been attracted to an opportunity, an experience or a person that proved to be a limited desire?

Perhaps it was a flirtation with a musical instrument that you felt that you wished to learn how to play, a job you wished to perform, an art form that looked appealing or perhaps it was a personal relationship, friendly or romantic, that struck an intense early chord, and awakened something within you that made you feel as if you wanted to continue, only to discover there was cause or reason to let that circumstance go.

Whenever we are working towards something that captures an intense initial impression, we find ourselves gravitating towards making that experience or relationship something that we believe will be lifelong in our world.

And then something happens, and for whatever reason, we are awakened to the fact that perhaps it was not the right choice for us.

At that point in time, we are fairly likely to abandon our pursuit of this endeavor or this relationship and continue to shepherd our own personal world in the directions that are most appropriate for us.

There is no shame in exploring something new, even if it turns out to be short-lived. In that pursuit, we are that much more exposed to variables which enable us to be more in tune with what we ultimately desire and expect out of our lives.

In many cases, it takes exposure to circumstances or individuals that are not within our chosen parameters, to ultimately give us the opportunity to learn from these experiences, and discover that much more about ourselves along the way.

Some may look back at having devoted time to one of these pursuits with remorse, and feel as if the time expended was entirely a waste.

I would argue that it was exactly the opposite. I would share that in the course of exposing yourself to so many experiences, people, opportunities and dynamics, we are ultimately evolving ourselves, even if we are not fully conscious of the impact of such an evolution.

Case in point, I was a victim of violent crime in my home at age 20. At age 47, whether I was conscious of this or not, I started learning karate and earned two black belts. This weekend, I earned my third black belt and I am starting to work on my fourth. I did not choose this path, nor would I ever have gravitated to it. But life exposed me to something that was catalytic and my internal being evolved.

Ultimately our opportunity to do this, yields an ever greater expansion of our internal definitions of what is important to us, and enables us to further our priorities, and expand our horizons in many different and unique ways.

Happy Tuesday!

One day you’ll look back and realize you worried way too much about things that didn’t matter.

How many of the little things that you worry about, truly did not warrant your focus or your attention?

We are all so myopically lost in the myriad variables of our daily lives, as to obfuscate our larger perspective, which brings us a more comprehensive view of the sum total of details that truly matter in our lives.

As we grow older, and reflect back on some of the moments that stressed us out in years gone by, we can see with clarity how and why our expenditure of energy stressing out over these details was ultimately fruitless, and did not warrant our focus, nor our attention.

Learning this perspective from our reflections on the past, should potentially empower us to be that much more guarded about our leveraging valuable time in the present maintaining any degree of angst over things in the past, or concerns for the future, that could potentially devalue any energy spent in the present.

Recognizing that time is unquestionably our most valuable commodity, empowers us to create ever greater resources in our lives to diligently process information that would previously have stressed us out, and instead, fortify ourselves against the emotions that arise from anticipated stress, and compartmentalize them into a category of issues to be dealt with, when the time arises.

Our opportunity to live our lives more completely, grows exponentially with each, and every opportunity we leverage to diminish our frustrations and concerns, and replace them with happiness and internal tranquility.

It is only through our self control and our perseverance of pursuing these principles that we are ever able to live an increasingly satisfied life.

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.

You must enjoy every moment you have, because in life there are no rewinds, only flashbacks. Make sure it is all worth it.

Happy Monday!

The trouble with being a good sport, is that you have to lose to prove it.

When was the last time you were a good sport?

Were you playing a game and lost?

Or applying for an opportunity and lost?

Running for a position and lost?

It is easy to opine on the virtues of being a good sport, and it is an entirely different experience finding yourself in such a position, and acting in accord.

When you are in that moment of knowing that you lost, there is a rush of emotion that can overwhelm you with feelings not in balance with the way you see the world. In that moment, time expands, and you are in a doldrum of knowing you could have done better or you should have done better, or you deserved to do better… but for whatever the reason, it did not work out for you as you had hoped….

So now what?

Do you suck it up, congratulate the victor and move on? Do you pretend it is alright, but secretly harbor negative feelings with expectation that perhaps one day you will settle the score? Do you protest vehemently and decry the outcome as invalid and demand to be vindicated? Or do you fall victim to your own shallow sense of self, deny the results and wage a coup to take over the entity that has just announced your loss?

The purpose of competition is to enable the best of the best to presumably rise above all others. Since the origins of the cultural tribal competitions that escalated those to the top of the pecking order, the ability for humans to compete and prevail, has been a cornerstone in the human evolutionary experience.

We celebrate the greatest in our society through competition, awards, medals and financial rewards. As a global society, we are myopic on these competitions and enable them to become a significant portion of our culture. Our past time is spent watching athletes compete, as well as actors, musicians and creative people generating diversions for our daily escape from our day in/day out rituals.

When we see someone who has given their all, and is one step shy of the top position, lose the prize, but maintain their composure and integrity in the heat of the moment, we brand them a “good sport.” Does this mean that they are not feeing the sting of having lost? Most probably not. But, we witness a person who has grace, self control and dignity, recognize that this competition has just ended and not in their favor. If they have self confidence and poise, they accept this as the truth, and they move forward with their lives…. Many times with the expectation that they will compete again and win the next time.

I believe this comes down to proper parenting. If you are wise, you will enable your children to compete in competitions where they are just as likely to lose as win. In that loss, they will learn the grace and mindset that losing is just a small chapter on the road to great success. Without that parenting, your child may grow up to become the world’s biggest loser and who knows where that could potentially leave them at the end of their journey?

Happy Sunday!

https://brianweiner.com

We often take for granted the very things that deserve our gratitude.

 Cynthia Ozick

What are some of the most valuable things that you take for granted, every day?

Your health? Your loved ones? Your friends? Your ability to make a living? Your ability to pursue the dreams that matter to you?

There are countless variables in our life which are omnipresent, and which receive very little regular attention or gratitude. As we get older, and we have opportunity to watch one of these myriad variables, wane or disappear entirely, it shines a bright spotlight on that which we have so regularly assumed would always be in place.

Have you ever hurt a small part of your body, (like jamming a finger) and every time you go to do something (like reaching into your pocket) there is a pain that reminds you that something in your body is hurt, that wasn’t hurt, and now calls attention to itself with regularity, until it heals (assuming it will heal).

These contrasting experiences give us stimuli to recognize, and therefore appreciate, all that the world of gratitude would encompass, if we were fully awake, and aware of the details.

Even the ability to take a clean breath of air is, in and of itself, a luxury that some people in some parts of the world are not regularly able to avail themselves of.

Our opportunities to perhaps take a step back from the complexities of our daily lives, and pause long enough to express our gratitude for the people we love, the people who care about us, those who are by our side, through thick and thin, and so many other variables, is worthy of a brief moment, every morning.

In doing so, we take an inventory of these things that are so readily available to us, and acknowledge how fortunate we are to have all of that in our world.

Happy Saturday!