Someone is speaking well of you.

Yeah, I finally fired up the old WordPress back-end and figured I should post something this quarter… Seriously, I didn’t realize until the other day that the last post was way back in early January! Not entirely sure what the heck happened between now and then, however, we’re here now, so on with the show.

At first I really didn’t have much to say about this one other than ‘it’s about time!’, but quickly realized that all though potentially true, it really wasn’t the ideal tone to set when making a comeback… again… My more refined response to someone speaking well of me, was in two parts that kinda landed on top of one another:

• who am I speaking well of?
• who am I not speaking well of, and why?

What?! I’m not speaking well of someone? Reality check here people – we all don’t get along, we all don’t have to get along, and we all have different opions of each other that might escape our face from time to time. But who are we speaking well of right now? I guess ultimately, the ‘why’ part of the second question should be placed up with the first question to draw on the… more positive aspects of things… and it’s true, and it also fits with the second question too. Essentially, the fact that you are speaking well of someone is simply (in it’s simplicity – not it’s importance) an indicator of what we need more of in our lives. Sure it sounds kinda like a cliche, but, um, what’s the alternative?

Where it gets a bit tricky is when we look at who we’re not speaking well of – yeah, put the list away for a second – but more importantly, WHY we’re not speaking well of them. It generally has to do with a certain trait (or lack of one) that sets us down the path. Get us around some like-minded individuals who can all recognize this catastrophic ‘trait issue’, and we all natter along until someone feels too guilty about the situation and we all shut up. Yet the kicker to all of this is that if you are able to recognize a good trait in someone, it is because you also posses that trait – if you didn’t already posses it, you wouldn’t be able to recognize it… and you can see where this is going… But wait, how can I recognize the fact that they are lacking a certain trait? If they’re truly lacking it, that would mean that I’m lacking it, yet if I’m lacking it, I don’t posses it, and therefore I can’t recognize it – and your brain explodes.

Picking up the pieces, we now discover that we are in fact looking at the only mirror in the world that will never show you to your face, but will show you yourself, better than you could ever see in a regular mirror.

Someone speaking well of you? Fantastic – you deserve it. Have a list of people you’re not speaking well of? Do you know why? Great, change – you’ve got 5 minutes.

Be well, and speak well.

Pay attention to your intuition.

But somehow I knew that…

A routine task will turn into an enchanting adventure.

Something special will happen at home soon.

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Like the fact I completely forgot to post this yesterday? I’ve got nothing on this particular one… What does it mean to you?

You do not have to worry about your future.

Wow thanks fortune cookie!

Sadly, I think at some point we all worry a bit too much about our futures.. Recently I have been worrying about my future, knowing that I shouldn’t be, but taking steps to cease the worry and perhaps solidify my future. The reality is that our future is up to ourselves and whatever it is that you are indeed worrying about is completely made up in your brain. It hasn’t happened, you have no solid proof that something will or will not happen, and yet it can take up so much cycle time in our brains…

Plan for the future, but take action now.

Your graceful qualities make difficult things seem easy.

I believe that when we make difficult things seem easy, we’re doing the things we need be doing more of in our lives.

Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.

I hear what the cookie is saying, yet actual practice is completely another story isn’t it? I think depending on the nature of the trouble, it will somewhat dictate just how patient we are vs. how patient we should be..

According to Wiki, “Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.“.

House burning down – likely not that patient while trying to run for your life, yet being able to persevere calmly when faced with difficulty will get you and loved ones out safely.

Paper Cut – yes, being able to endure provocation without becoming upset will get you the right band-aid without making a big spectacle in the office…

Starbuck’s Coffee-Nazi – these people truly test one’s patience.. You know the ones – the high maintenance soccer moms in their Mercedes SUV who spout off a long line of specifications for their coffee which can only be understood by the seasoned veteran barista who has a slight twitch where you’re not sure if he’s tweaked out on caffeine or this might in fact be the day someone dies over a coffee order… There are also no common pleasantries or manners (ie. “please” or heaven forbid a “thank you”), and if there is even a 0.05ml variation in the ratio of bird friendly, shade grown, panda picked, eco friendly, fuzzy happy coffee, and some form of anti-cow, anti-capitalism, anti-communism, anti-whatever-you-got, want milk but have to drink soy because I’ve “got ethics” soy product – they’re back in front of you complaining while you’re in mid-order of a simple bottle of water because the convenience store next door doesn’t open until 9am…. (wow, where did that come from?!) So yes, the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset will see us through our troubles.

Are these words of advice from the world’s favorite cookie quite possibly the most timely and “on the money”? Yes.

Why? Well, have a look at the calendar – tomorrow is Dec. 1, and that leaves only 24 days left for the joys of Christmas shopping – especially if you need to visit a major shopping centre…

Your air of confidence naturally draws others to you.

Confidence, eh? Well, if you believe in the law of attraction or not, whatever we are attracts more of the same. If we ourselves are confident then we attract other confident individuals. If we are suffering from a poor self image, then guess what, we attract like individuals. Really, the whole notion of “opposites attract” works for electrons. If you are dirt poor you do not attract extreme wealth, just the same if you are not confident you don’t attract confidence.

The biggest challenge is that people who feel they lack a certain amount of confidence at some point will likely sit down and “work on” improving their confidence… Um, great intention, yet what isn’t realized is that confidence is a BYPRODUCT and cannot be directly “worked on”… sorry..

Confidence is absolutely key to having a healthy self-image, however it is indeed a byproduct of:

• Purpose – understanding and being congruent with one’s own purpose
• Protection – one’s own protection methods from emotional, mental, and physical harm
• Forgiveness – the ability to forgive others who have done wrong
• Understanding – let’s just simply say “know thy self”, shall we?
• Control – one’s ability to control our thoughts and actions when necessary

Confidence is made up of each component and the stronger each component is, the stronger our confidence is.

Practice is the best of all instructors.

As per usual, I will agree yet somewhat disagree… you knew that was coming, didn’t you?

I will agree that yes, practice is the best instructor, yet only if you realize you are practicing and only if you are in a learning mindset. If you aren’t practicing and if you aren’t learning then really, you’re just performing a function – going through the motions if you will.

Practice takes a conscious effort. The big question is really, what are we actually practicing compared to what we think we’re practicing?

Also, at what point do we stop practicing and actually take action? This doesn’t mean we stop learning – it just means we stop trying and start doing…

A half-truth is a whole lie.

Well for one thing, Wikipedia turned up some interesting stuff with the best part being the claim that the above fortune is essentially a “Yiddish Proverb” (and for the record, I have no idea why there seems to be an ongoing Jewish and Chinese theme here – I’m Irish!).

Ok, so half-truths – good or bad? Well, when you get down to it, it really depends on perspective doesn’t it?

On of the best examples is that of Blind Men and an Elephant. The story goes that three blind men (or women, or politically correct genderless people in the dark) each touch a different part of the elephant then “compare notes” only to discover that they are in complete disagreement as to what the beastie is. The challenge is that they are all individually correct based on what they felt, yet otherwise (and collectively) wrong. They each have a half-truth, but are they actually lying? Well no, it’s not a lie – simply just not the whole truth.

Now a half-truth does become a whole lie when the motives are ulterior with the intent to harm. For example, if I’m selling a car that has been mangled in an accident, somewhat put back together, and it’s advertised “as new” – it’s a half truth and indeed a lie.

So really, it comes down to perspective and the underlying intention of the half-truth itself. If it is meant to deceive then yes, it is a whole lie, however, if the other half isn’t even known, can it be a lie? Deep.

What do you think?

UPDATE: I just found this today over on Futility Closet:

William Howard Taft once found himself stranded at a country railroad station and was told that the express train would not stop for a lone passenger.

He wired the conductor: STOP AT HICKSVILLE. LARGE PARTY WAITING TO CATCH TRAIN.

When the train stopped, Taft got aboard and told the conductor, “You can go ahead. I am the large party.”

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If you’re just joining us, Fortune Cookie Fridays are a new installment here at LOGICal eMOTIONs that all started with a free bag of fortune cookies..