Category: personal

Your Life is Made of Stuff

Post author By Rex
Post date July 20, 2022
No Comments on Your Life is Made of Stuff

We had the opportunity to help a friend pack up his house and move. That is an experience that no one really wants to do.

Why is that?

Because we all have too much stuff. We like our stuff. Stuff tells the story of our life. But when we have to move it all, we begin to realize how much stuff we have, and how much is unnecessary.

And it certainly told the story of my friend’s life. He had an amazing life of building fun things and pranks, and just creating unique items. He is an engineer. So as we pulled something out of his garage shelves, we’d ask him, “What is this?” Then he’d tell a story about that item, why he made it or who gave it to him. His stuff was really the story of his life.

But I was super impressed with how much he threw away. He had a whole truck full of stuff that was headed to the dump.

He gave me the task to throw away a little pile in the corner that he said was just garbage. But I was the wrong guy to do that work. I looked through it and said, “What, you’re throwing this away?” “That’s a perfectly good CD!” Until I realized, we can find all these movies or music somewhere in the cloud. So, eventually, I was able to do it. (Except for the unopened, still in the package, “Star Wars – The Force Awakens” DVD.)

In reality, our life is what happens, what we choose to do, and how we choose to interact with other people. It’s not made of stuff.

You can’t take it with you.

(But I’ll keep it as long as I can 🙂

personal

Back Again

Post author By Rex
Post date April 4, 2022
No Comments on Back Again

I found this again!

Is it wrong when almost every post on this blog is about how I’m not consistent at all in writing in here?

Okay, well, maybe not every post.

But I do it often. Why?

I think I’m getting old. But I’m not. I’m only in my 50’s, which I’m calling my prime now (because I can 🙂

I’m actually not sure of the reason. I truly just totally forgot about this.

I think it might be because this is like a private public space. It’s pretty much private because I know no one reads it, or maybe just a handful of you. But, it’s also public, because anyone could read it. So, I need to write so anyone can. It’s just not something I’m actively trying to expand or increase my reach. I really just write in here for my own therapy.

In fact, I was just writing this morning in my daily writing platform 750words.com and saying how I wouldn’t mind if anyone (well, family, or anyone who would be able to get a hold of them) read my journals or writings on this platform. Sure, it’s personal, but it’s not the deeply crazy personal stuff that a teenage girl might write in her diary that she doesn’t want anyone to read ever. I honestly don’t know why they would do that. If you put something out where it can be accessed, then it should be okay for it to be accessed. I want my kids to sneak into my room and open my journals and read them. They might learn something. Writing should be read.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I do write every day. It’s mostly blather and dumping thoughts out of my mind, but I also record stuff that happens, so it is a history and a thinking machine too. It helps me process stuff.

And, as you can see, I can easily just ramble on with what I’m thinking now. I think that might be a good skill. Not sure.

And maybe it’s time for me to be more public.

To write here on this blog or others, to share something interesting or valuable.

I still have a dream.

Thanks for listening.

personal

My Three Words for 2022

I’ve done this before. Every year in fact, since around 2010. I got the idea from Chris Brogan back then (here’s his post for this year. Read that for a good explanation of the process)

But just because I’ve done it every year doesn’t mean I’ve been super successful with the execution throughout the year (isn’t that with everything?). Still, it is a great exercise to determine what is important to you for that year. I think it works better than resolutions. It sets the intention of goals and resolutions.

And often, after I may have forgotten them for a little a while, in the middle of the year, I will find them posted somewhere, or remember them and they will help me reset and focus on what I wanted to improve that year. It helps distill your favorite principles so your goals have better direction. And they become your own personal code.

So, here are my words for 2022.

MOVE: The idea of moving is always helpful. It helps physically, and also conceptually with regards to tasks or projects. They can sometimes become stagnate or get stuck. So, if I’m focused on moving things along I should get more things done. I’m also focused on starting movements and helping others to start movements so ‘move’ is a reference to that also, along with exercise. It can also mean to move my perception. Maybe I just need to see something from another a ngle.

KINDRED: The definition of kindred is “a group of persons related to another”. So I want to make sure I find my people. Those who are kindred spirits, who believe in the movement I’m leading. Those who I have the pleasure to serve. If I can serve them well, I’ll be successful. Kindred can also remind me that we are all part of the same family of humans, and I believe children of loving Heavenly parents, so I should treat my fellow brothers and sisters with kindness and compassion. This word can also help me focus on my immediate family and think about how I can teach, nurture, uplift, and care for my spouse and children.

STREAMS: I like streams. They are pretty. And mesmerizing. I like to hike in them, stepping on rocks. But that has nothing to do with my word, except maybe I’ll try to find more streams to hike in this year. What I want this word to help me do is to build more streams of income. I have an excellent job, but I think I would have fun doing a side hustle, teaching people things that I’ve learned in my 25 years of corporate experience. So, I will be working on developing content and products that can be sold to those who might be interested. Things like online video courses, ebooks, paperback books, speaking gigs, and maybe consulting. I’ll explore a variety of ways to have additional streams of income. And they don’t have to be big, if there are a lot of them.

So there they are, my three words for 2022, Move Kindred Streams. They form an interesting phrase that doesn’t mean anything now, but might be code for something throughout the year. (Plus, it helps me remember them.) With these words guiding my actions, I plan to have an excellent, successful year.

Bring on 2022!