6 Quotes
"Safe is risky"— Seth Godin
"Stop worrying about how long it will take and get started. Time will pass either way." — James Clear
"The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful; it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes." — Annie Dillard
"If you don't step forward, you will always be in the same place." — Nora Roberts
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." — Victor Frankl
"If you don't go after what you want, you will never have it." — Teronie Donaldson (That's me - cool right!)
Links
7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Go to Sleep Each Night
The questions you ask yourself will determine who you become.
What did I learn today? (What did I discover?)
What did I read today?
Did I spend quality time with my loved ones or at least call them?
If I could relive my day again, would I do the same things I did today?
Did I conquer a bit of my fear today?
Did I raise my standards today?
Did I help anyone today?
Thoughts/Observations
My daughter's fear of spiders.
A few days ago, my daughter saw a spider in our bathroom and let out a loud shriek. The spider was a "daddy longlegs" type; it was small and harmless and stayed in its spot in the middle of the bathroom ceiling. However, she was terrified of it. She refused to use that bathroom, insisting we kill it. You would have thought she saw a room full of spiders like the one from Indiana Jones.
It was about time for bed, and my wife was tired of my daughter overreacting to these tiny bugs, so she refused to kill it. In turn, my daughter called me to do it. I sprung into action to be my daughter's hero and conquer this "mythical beast," but my wife stopped me in my tracks and told me not to do it - she said, "She needs to overcome this fear."
I agreed with my wife and went back to my daughter and told her. Don't worry about that spider its not here to harm you. It's not like a tarantula, dragon, or anything like that. Go to sleep. She said, "okay."
We all went to bed.
The next morning I woke up at 6:00 am and went to check on my kids and seen my daughter was up. I am usually the first one up, so I asked her, "Why are you up so early?" she told me she couldn't sleep because the spider was going to get her.
She stayed in her bed under the covers, up the whole night afraid of a tiny creature.
I told her, "there is nothing to fear, and you need to overcome this obstacle."
I took her with me, and I vanquished the spider for her to see - putting her at ease. And in a few minutes, she went to sleep soundly, albeit at a much later time than we wanted.
After that situation I thought to myself;
Was I wrong to eliminate that spider for her? Did I take away the opportunity for her to overcome that fear by herself," or was I a great parent at the expense of that poor spider?
I thought of situations where we let these fears stop us in our tracks.
What were my "spiders?" in my life, and "How did I deal with them?"
Why do we let these fears overcome us and stop us from living our potential?
I will figure this out... I let you know what I come up with.
Watched
Greenleaf Series
Premise.
Greenleaf follows the unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family with scandalous secrets and lies, their palatial family mansion compound, and their sprawling Memphis megachurch with predominantly African-American members.
Actors: Keith David, Lynn Whitfield, Merle Dandridge
Network: Oprah Winfrey Network. Netflix.
Producer: Oprah Winfrey
Interesting Quote I remembered from the show: “Owning land is the closest thing to god”
Binged watched this series only up to season 4. Waiting to finish the last season, season 5. I loved the plot twists and seeing the world from a series about a black church was interesting. This series is well worth the watch.
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/stockton-on-my-mind
The HBO documentary "Stockton on My Mind" tells about the journey of Michael Tubbs Jr., the first Black mayor elected in the city of Stockton and the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city at the age of 26. Fascinating watch of where he came from to where he is going and what he is doing for his city.
I watched this one with my kids and they liked it too.
Book of the week
The 48 Laws of Power
This is my favorite book and in my opinion one of the most important books ever written.
So much to learn from it and unpack. This should be a curriculum taught and learned every year.
I have read it 7 times already and will continue to re-read it throughout my life.
Add it to your library.
Music
Wet Dreamz by J. Cole
I chose this song this week because I was talking to my 12 years old son about the "birds and the bees." when we were driving to the barbershop. He had a lot of questions about sex and had a recent dream about it. I told him about what you call a "wet dream" (an erotic dream that causes involuntary ejaculation of semen.) And how old I was when I had mine and literally as we finished talking this J. Cole song came on the radio.
It made us laugh and was perfect timing after the life lesson.
I loved the story about your daughters fear of the spider. On one hand she knows she can always count on her father to protect her but one the other hand she still has that fear. One thing I’ve learned in life is that fears are sometimes hard to overcome because of the unknown. Try eliminating the aspect of the unknown. Maybe buying a book on spiders or taking her to a local spider farm will help her see that fear in just in her head and poses no real threat.