Only As Good As What You Use

A little while ago, I sent an email to an old friend whom I haven't spoken with in a while. His name came across my radar, so I decided to drop him a line. That may seem to be a bit old fashioned, but in this busy crazy world we live, dropping a little note seems to me a perfect ice breaker to unthaw a cooled relationship. 

 As I was lightly updating him on how things were, at the end I dropped a few lines of hard learned wisdom. I am not sure why I feel the need to do this with younger people I know. It just seems to come out of me, like it's a requirement of getting your AARP card or something. 

 After I finished my masterpiece of a note (at least I thought so), I sent it hoping to find him and his family well. After finishing, I had no real urgency to write a post here, but thinking about my habit of dropping unsolicited advice, I thought, "lets see where this goes". So here we are. 

 So here I am, thinking about some of the advice I received over my lifetime, as compared to some I've given out. Some people may say I've given out way more than I received (especially my kids). But to be honest, at least in my mind, I believe I'm pretty much gotten way more than I have ever given out. 

 Still it's not the quantity of advice you put out, it's the quality of that advice that matters. Another point you can add to that is, how much of your own advice have you taken? Now there is the kicker. Advice to me is something you put out as a warning to others to not do the stupid I have done. Which allows those that know you well to instantly answer the question I mentioned earlier. 

 I guess the whole point here is, giving advice is alright. But living that advice, now that is an example no one can question. So live your truth.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fail-Safe

Image
Through the paper-thin walls of this old house, I can hear my neighbors getting ready for another day. Laying here remember when I used to do that, working at night so I could take care of the kids, while my wife went to work. Yesterday sorta marked a tipping point for me I suppose. I finally got my consultation with the gastroenterologist. So we are working the set-up some tests my primary care physician has been wanting for me to have for months. While I would love nothing more than to tell my PCP, “I told you so”. But I suppose knowing is better than not knowing. Although I do find some comfort in ignorant bliss.  I get the impression some people feel I am an optimist. But I like to think of myself more as a realist. What some may mistake as optimism is actually nothing more than analytics. Where I breakdown a given situation and create a solution. That may sound cold and frankly less romantic. But you must understand, after living so long in a void of no emotion (due to
Read more

Moments You've Lived

Image
It’s 5:15 in the afternoon and my stupid ass is back outside. I just checked the phone and it’s a balmy 90° with a feel like temperature of 99°f. I figured since I was hot in the room with the AC on, I might as well come outside and do same thing. Earlier I read a funny meme from my sibling on Facebook that read, “Can someone send me a hug?” copy and share. Rather sarcastically I replied, “We are not huggers , didn’t we grow up in the same house?” Probably no truer words have ever been spoken about our lives as kids. Oh, we weren’t beaten or overly abused, we were just not raised all “touchy feely”. Not surprisingly most kids of our generation weren’t raised that way either. We were provided for in our working class suburban homes. It’s just that a lot of time wasn’t devoted to things like feelings and emotions. You were expected to tough it out and swallow those tears. I guess one place where we could let our emotions go was church. Raised during the infancy of the “Pentecostal Moveme
Read more

Focus on Living

Image
Me and my bride just got back from the big store chain that doesn’t compensate me for mentioning them, so I won’t. Last night it was stuffy and hot with the temperature hovering around 80° at midnight. So I woke up dizzy with a headache. Even after dropping my morning meds, the headache and lightheadedness still hasn’t gone away. Long story short, after putting the groceries put up, I’m now sitting in the shade of the trees in our backyard. There’s not much to write about at the moment other than I also have an enormous crick in my neck. Which may go a long ways in explaining my dizziness. Still down the street a neighbor is getting their grass mowed. Our lawn was mowed Tuesday by Mr. Brown, with this being the first time I’ve been outside in a couple of weeks. Between the headache and the dizziness, there’s sharp pain is running down my leg again. Reminding me if nothing else most physical and some emotional pain will definitely teach you a little about patience. In bet
Read more