Glimmerick

This weekend was Seafair Weekend! It’s a festival that has become immensely popular with Seattleites and thousands of others that come to see the festivities. There are good reasons why this is such a popular weekend in this area:

• Blue Angel Air Show
• Hydroplane Races (and flips)
• Seafair Fun Run
• Parade
• An entire park filled with vendors, free give away’s, food, etc

It is a tradition that I like to go to these events every year, but I was unable to see them this year. Fortunately, the Blue Angels fly directly over our house during the show, and I was able to snap a pretty cool picture.

I don’t have the best camera in the world, but I took a decently cool picture. I just wanted to show some readers how cool they are. Just imagine them in person, engines roaring so loud that you can’t hear anything at all. It’s just epic!  During some of these formations, the planes are with 18” of each other. That is so close, that if their cockpits were open, the could scootch up and touch the adjacent plane’s wing. Just imagine how much team work this takes to pull off!
If even one of them tried to show off, do something a little fancy, they could all die. This is truly a unit. Sometimes when I am in group, I try to out shine the others, but often times, all I end up doing is making us look bad. Recognizing situations in which you need to genuinely act as a unit is very important in life. I hope your weekend was awesome!

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I know I have been severely lacking on writing new posts, but I have had a lot of finals this weekend, and

working along side of that. Today, while I have a few minutes between assignments, I wanted to give something to my readers (I think I have a couple…) to ponder. I especially like the last quote in this little compilation. When I began blogging, I began to discover many inspiring quotes, and a majority were by Emerson. He is one of my favorites! Enjoy.

♣ To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

♣ Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely.

♣ We are always getting ready to live, but never living.

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In various areas of my life, I feel pressured to please everyone. In my house, I often feel that I must act in a way as to not offend anyone. As you can imagine living with over 20 guys, this can pose a problem.  Or if you work somewhere where there are a large number of employees, it can become increasingly difficult to act in a way in which no one goes home pouting or plotting revenge. TIME talks about this and how it relates to our current president, George Bush.

The problem is this: Our society can wrongly pressure people into believing that gaining the approval everyone is more than desirable, but in fact is a necessity.

You may be under this “spell” if you frequently:

1. Feel uncomfortable because people that you don’t like, don’t like you
2. Act out of character to please people; saying/doing things you normally wouldn’t
3. Take the fall for someone even though it was their bad (Sometimes this can be very courageous, but when one does this too much, it sets that person up to be walked all over by others)
4. Change appearance or dress to please certain people

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A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language. ~Dale Carnegie

When people remember my name, it makes me feel special. It should make most everyone feel special. This person has taken the time to remember my name.  Just recall a time where you have met a person maybe once or twice, you don’t remember their name, but they come right out and say, “Hey Tage, how are you doing?!” This one act is so very important and thoughtful, yet most people don’t think twice about it. “I’m bad with names,” is a common excuse, one that I am very fond of. Re-thinking that mindset, I have realized that it is just an excuse for me to be lazy. I decided to delve into the information super highway to uncover top tips to remember names. Here are a few of them that I found to be especially helpful:

1. Just Pay Attention!- What seems more important at the end of a conversation, the person you are addressing remembers your name or remembers every single detail of the conversation. Seems very logical to me– THE NAME!!!. Focus on their name and make it a priority over what they are talking about at first. They will be more forgiving if you have their name committed to memory. Sure it would be great to remember their name and catch every detail of the conversation, but let’s face it, a lot of us aren’t that good. Sure you may remember their name for those 45-60 seconds, but when you run into that person again in the workplace and are grasping at straws, you may have wanted to make a better effort. Those first moments when you meet someone are key! Focus, focus, focus.
2. Repeat 2-3 times- First say, “Hey nice to meet you Larry!” Then you might throw in a, “So where you work Larry?” This may seem a bit overkill, but many experts swear by it.  Then at the end of the conversation, of course part with their name, “Well it’s been nice talking to you Larry.”

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You hear it all the time. Someone’s going on a diet, starting to workout, wants to be a better communicator/leader, and so on.  Resolutions like these are as frequent as fireworks on the fourth of July, and coincidentally, they appear really cool at first, yet disappear just as fast.  It isn’t easy to significantly change an aspect of one’s life, yet these following steps provide an outline for success.  They aren’t a “magic pill”, but they are basics which are key for transformations of many kinds.

1. Acknowledge a realistic perception of yourself: Problems can arise by either administering too much self credit, or conversely, being too self critical. However, most importantly, one must not be too self-critical.  A good general test is to write out what you believe to be your top ten strengths and weaknesses. Then have friends, family, or acquaintances do the same, then compare.  This will help any subjective evaluations become more objective.
2. Have realistic expectations: When it comes to diets, this is especially important.  So you want to lost weight, good for you.  But if you expect to really lose “30 pounds in 30 days”, and to keep it off, you may be creating unattainable expectations which may put undue stress on your goals. Having more smaller goals is usually best.  Once accomplished, you have satisfaction, and you can move onto the next goal. Or starting to train for a marathon a couple weeks before it is occurs, you are just setting yourself up for failure.
3. Have the will to change: Far too many fall into a cycle of apathy, and this can be a terrible pit. We say we want to change things in our lives, but we don’t want to put in the legwork to do so.
4. Have the right skills: Trying hard enough sometimes isn’t going to cut it. Reading books and talking to experts are ways to learn a “How to”. I like reading books about subjects I want to learn about, and they are a good way to learn!

The Bottom Line: Have realistic expectations when wanting to change your life, be willing to put in the legwork, and do your research!

Sources: Looking Out, Looking In. Ronald Alder and Russell Proctor

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I was recently reading a interpersonal communications book, Looking Out, Looking In, and they wrote about a list of “certain moral duties”, that as human beings, we ought to be obligated to abide by in relation to others around us. I read over the list, and I became very intrigued. Here were just seven principles, yet if everyone followed them a majority of the time, the world would drastically change.  Now these are no Ten Commandments, but these guidelines focus mainly on interactions with people, rather than additionally focusing on religion.

1. Fidelity: Strict observance of promises and duties; loyalty.  Just imagine how much more efficient the world would be if we all just kept our promises.  No second guessing, or backup plans, just staying true to your word. Back in the day, a man’s word meant the world to him.

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