Brad H.'s Perspective

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Why Having Principles That You Stand By Is So Important.

One of the common themes that I have talked about at various times throughout the years via this blog is the subject of change. I've brought the idea of change up in sub-contexts, and I've also made it the primary theme of several topics in the past. I feel that the reasoning behind this stems from how prevalent change is within the grand scheme of life. I also believe that change is truly limitless in context and how it is understood by us as people. The context in which I am bringing up change in this topic deals with how much change the world has gone through. The world has and will constantly be changing, but I believe that most of us would agree that the world has changed fairly drastically in the last year and a half. Much of this global change has caused a major shift in how we as people view life. I would dare say that the changes that have occurred have created a more deep seeded division among people. It is almost as if people have been forced to choose one side or the other, and that if you aren't on a particular side that is deemed as being more popular, you are viewed as being an outcast. A popular and one of my favorite quotes is "If you don't stand for something, then you will fall prey to anything!" A good majority of people in today's world don't have principles that we stand by as individuals. Having principles that guide our thinking and way of life is something that we're not only lacking, but something that we have to understand the importance of having.

What's up my folks! This is your boy Brad H. to bring you another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back to give my perspective on a topic that I believe would be helpful towards helping us become better people. I hope you all have been doing great since the last topic! It is so hard to believe that we are already about to be in the month of September. Time just passes by so fast! So for my soapbox this week, I want to address something that some of you that are frequent readers on here may have noticed. I unfortunately have not been able to keep up with the regular schedule of posting every other week as I have maintained for much of the time I've been doing this. I know earlier this said I addressed that I may not always keep my usual schedule, but it has become more frequent where I am not posting when I normally do. There has just been a lot of personal things going on during this summer that has caused me to push the blog to the background. I just wanted to assure you all that I am still here and doing well. I think most of us can agree that the past couple of months have been pretty wild across the world, and that ultimately means that it will affects various aspects of our individual lives as well. I pretty much just wanted to use my soapbox to address that, so now lets go ahead and get into my perspective on why having principles that you stand by is so important.

Before going into the importance of standing by our principles, we have get a couple of things out there. When it comes to the idea of an individual standing by their principles, it is important to remember that this can having a different meaning for different people. I am just coming from a more general perspective on this topic, so it is up to us as individuals to define what having principles mean to us. Also, I'm in no way using this topic to question anyone's principles or what they may believe. Everyone is free to live and think however they feel is best for them. The main goal for this topic is not to focus on individual principles, but rather the importance of us sticking by them. Now what are principles when it comes to our lives? From my own perspective, a generalized definition for principles in the context of this topic is a system of beliefs and truth that we have that guide how we carry ourselves. I wouldn't call that an official definition, but rather how I personally interpret what it means to have principles as I see it. Believe it or not, we all have principles in some form or another. Many of us have certain beliefs that we adhere to and use those beliefs to govern how we live our lives. Some people may refer to it as a "code" on how to live or act when it comes to life. Though we all have principles that we abide by, knowing what value they mean to a person and how they affect a person's life is not addressed enough today.

What does it mean for a person to have principles? What are some qualities that people with principles have? I'll start by giving my perspective on what I believe it means for an individual to have principles. From my perspective, a person with principles means simply standing by what they believe in. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are always right in what they believe. It means that this person doesn't allow society to dictate how they think and feel, and it will often take more than jumping atop a bandwagon to get them to waver in the things they believe. I personally believe that people with solid principles have a bit of wolf mentality when it comes to how they approach life. When I say a wolf mentality, I mean that they probably stand alone in a lot of what they believe. We all know and have heard how wolves have a loner mentality when they are out in the wilderness, right? Now this isn't something that we want to take literally. People with principles are not always loners; I want to be sure and make this clear. I also believe that people that stand by their principles are people that are comfortable in their own skin, and also not afraid to speak what they feel to appease others. I do realize that not everyone can relate to people that are straightforward, but I think we can agree that most people this way are respected, even if they're not always liked by a lot of people.

We've defined what it means for a person to stand by their principles, and we've talked about what I perceive to be qualities that principled people have. So why it is so important for us to stand by our principles? My perspective on this comes down to the society that we're currently in. I believe that too many of us don't always stand by our principles because we want to liked by everyone. Now I don't believe there is anything wrong with wanting to be liked, but there is a line that needs to be drawn. That line is that even if you are liked by many, you will never be liked by everyone. Too many of us sway and waver on things that we're passionate about because we want to accommodate others. There are going to be times when you have to accommodate others, but you should never have to compromise who you are and what you think to do so. It's unfortunate that this society we live in today has forced too many of us to stray from our principles just to fit in. With everything happening in the world today, we cannot afford to not stick by our principles. There are too many entities that are seeking to control how we think, and many of us are going to be manipulated by this in the end. If something that you believe in feels right to you, stick by it. Don't worry about if it aligns with the masses. Like I pointed out earlier, sometimes it is best to have and maintain a wolves mentality in this world.

That's about all I got for this time around everyone! I want to thank you all once again for tuning into another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that you all found this topic helpful, and that you were able to take something positive away from it. As always, feel free to add any comments or feedback in the comment box. You can also find me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like to connect with me on there. I hope you all have an enjoyable rest of the weekend, and please keep the people of Louisiana in your thoughts as there is a major hurricane about to bear down on them. Have a great week ahead, and I'll see you all on the next topic!

Saturday, July 31, 2021

The Importance Of Not Being Distracted And Focusing On What's Important In Life.

I had a conversation a few nights back with a friend of mine about how much simpler life was back during the era we were growing up in. Not to give away our ages, but we both were born in the 80s, which meant that we spent our teenage years in the 90s. Some may say the reason why we believe life was simpler back then by the sheer idea that we were kids. There could be some truth to that statement; I definitely will not deny it. However, when I bring this subject up to people that were young adults during this particular era of time, most of them agree with the sentiment of me and my friend that I was conversing with recently. I personally believe that one of the biggest reasons as to why life was simpler stems from the belief that the distractions back then weren't as relevant as they are in today's society. Many of the things that the youth of today consider to be normal today was definitely not back then. I do realize that life is constantly changing, and that we as people should always be looking to change and adapt with it. However, I believe that distractions have and are currently affecting our world in a multitude of negative ways. I believe that the constant distractions have ulterior motives behind them, which is why I believe that it is pertinent for us to understand the importance of not allowing distractions to deter us from what's important in life.

Hello once again folks! It is I, Brad H. back to present you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to once again bring my perspective on a topic that I feel would be beneficial towards helping us in this life. I know that I have been away for a few weeks, but I hope that you all are doing well. Before we get into this week's topic, I want to briefly talk about the NBA Finals that recently took place. In the last soapbox, I gave my prediction for who I thought would win the finals. I predicted that the Milwaukee Bucks would be victorious, and they indeed were. However, I will admit that after the first two games that I was a bit concerned as to whether they would pull it off or not. One of my buddies texted me and said that whichever team won on the road first would win the entire series. The Bucks were able to win first on the road, so I suppose he was right about that. At any rate I thoroughly enjoyed the finals this year. It felt more like a real finals this year compared to last season where they used the bubble format. I am extremely happy for Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks. I've always liked how he carried himself. I'm also happy for Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday. Those guys definitely deserve all the adoration that they've received. Now that the NBA is done, we can begin to shift our focus to the NFL! It will be here very soon ladies and gents! Well that is all I have to say about that, so lets go ahead and get more into the importance of not being distracted.

There are a couple of questions that we must address before we get more into this week's topic. First off, what are distractions? The official definition that I found is "a thing that prevents someone from giving attention to something else". Now that is an official definition that I happen to agree with, but what could be entailed as a distraction is subjective to whom you ask. That being said, we all have different forms of distractions. It is up to us as individuals to pinpoint what are distractions to our lives. The next question I want to address is what is important in life? As with what could be defined as a distraction, this is also a question that every single person has to find out for themselves. We all have different priorities when it comes to how we view life, and I personally don't want anyone to think that I'm trying to speak for everyone when it comes to my viewpoints on this. Though we may all think and behave differently in our approach to life, we all deal with distractions. We also all have things in life that are important to us. I'm coming from a more general perspective with this, as I try and do with the majority of the topics that are covered here. So find what your distractions are, as well as what are the things that you may consider to be important in life.

I started this topic off by giving my perspective on how much simpler life was in past decades and how we as people have become more distracted over time. The level of distraction is this word is so powerful that it is difficult to get most people to sit still and watch a movie for a couple of hours. Over the course of time, life has changed so much, and we as people have changed and adapted to it. Now I am a firm believer that change and being adaptable is important. However, and I think I may have pointed this out in a previous topic, but changing and adapting isn't always for the best. Again, much of this comes down to personal perspective, but generally speaking, the constant distractions that are being hurled at us daily have caused many of us to lose focus. For example, I believe that the majority of mainstream news outlets push a narrative. Now there is nothing wrong with having a narrative, but shouldn't the main goal be to inform the people and then allow them to form their own conclusions? Many of you may not agree with me on this, but a lot of what is being shown in the media is aimed to keep most of us distracted from the more important things that are going on. I won't get into details with that, but I think that most of you probably get where I am coming from. That being said, these distractions have a purpose to serve, and I don't believe that it's a purpose that benefits us.

Now I stated earlier that it is subjective to an individual deems as being important in their life. However, one thing that I think that nearly everyone can agree with when it comes to life is the relationships we have with the people in our lives. I believe that one of the biggest things that makes up who we are as people is our relationships with others. I believe from my perspective that distractions keep many of us from remembering what really matters in life. I recently watched a popular film that came out a couple of years back called "Us". I'm not going to spoil anything for those that have yet to see this film, but there was a scene from that movie that totally coincides with what is important in life when it comes to family. There is going to come a time in all of our lives where we're going to have to come to face with something that many of us would rather not even talk about. I won't go into that because I know you all know what I'm talking about. Don't allow distractions, whatever they may be to keep you from focusing on what's important. Don't be one of those people that waits until it is too late to express how you feel about those you care for. Remember that there is much more to life than the news, social media and other distractions. We have to develop a mentality of being able to enjoy all that life has to offer, but also being able to keep those things in their proper context in the hierarchy of life.

Well that is all I got for you all this time around. I hope that you all found this topic to be one that you found relevant. Thank you all once again for coming through for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! If any of you would like to leave any comments or feedback, you can do so in the comment section. You can also hit me up on Twitter if you'd like @BradrickH. I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. We are headed into a new month in the next few hours. The year is flying by like they all seem to do now. I'll end by saying don't be distracted, and keep your focus on what's important.

Sunday, July 4, 2021

The Importance Of Accepting The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

Anyone that has lived long enough will truly understand that life can literally be the equivalent of a roller coaster ride. There are going to be an extensive set of highs and lows, as well ups and downs that come along with navigating through life. There will be moments where you feel like you are coasting steadily, and you'll quickly have something happen that causes you to feel as if you've taken a fast curve on a coaster. These are just a few comparisons of how the twist and turns of life can affect us. There are some of us in the world that understand that this is how life operates. However, there are also people that may know that this is how life is, but they're also not always willing to accept it. In saying this, I am referencing people that are able to handle the good that comes along with life, but may not be so capable at coping whenever the bad creeps in. I'm not here to judge anyone, and I myself will definitely admit that I haven't always been the best role model when it comes to handling life. However, what I do know is that while gaining an acceptance of certain things that correlate with life can be a daunting endeavor to partake, we as people will never truly be whole unless we put in the effort toward acceptance. Life is full of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I believe that it is very importance to us to accept all of these phases.

What's going on folks? This is your boy Brad H. back to bring you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here for another topic that will hopefully serve as a bit of inspiration for us all to progress and maintain. I hope that all has been good and well in your life since the last topic. So for my soapbox this week before getting into this week's topic, I want to give my opinion on the NBA Finals that will be coming up soon. After tonight's game six between the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, we have the representatives for each conference. For the West is the Phoenix Suns, and the Milwaukee Bucks closed out the Hawks tonight to represent the East. First off, I think most of us can agree that we probably didn't see this as the match up that would be featured in the NBA Finals. I think most people probably predicted the Brooklyn Nets to come out of the East, and there were a host of teams that were favorites in the West that others may have considered. So we have Milwaukee and Phoenix playing to become the NBA Champions. I really have no stake in this as neither team is one that I root for. However, I will say that I will be pulling for the Milwaukee Bucks to take it all. I just think that after several years of coming up short in making the finals, this will be the year they take it all the way. Of course injuries play a factor, and we've seen enough of that already. I just hope that we get a great NBA Finals that is a memorable one for years to come. I would love to hear those of you that enjoy basketball picks. So with all that being said, lets go ahead and talk about the importance of accepting the aspects of life that are the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good, the bad, and the ugly! Before we get to the main theme of the importance of being able to accept all of these aspects of life, we have to address a few disclaimers first. To begin with, what is deemed as good, bad or ugly is something that we all have to define for ourselves first and foremost. No one can see your life in the same way that you do, so it's important for everyone to define what these things mean to us personally. What I believe to be good for my life may not be viewed in the same way by someone else. The same goes for what some may consider to be the bad and the ugly aspects of life. Secondly, as I pointed out earlier, anything that I bring up here isn't intended to be judgemental or imply that I have it all figured out. Like I stated previously, I will admit that I am someone that doesn't always handle issues the best. The main goal with this particular topic is to identify why it is important for us to make the effort to accept these things. One of the frequent things that I, as well as many of you may notice is that many people accept certain things and choose to ignore others. I think that we're doing ourselves a disservice in the long run by not looking as all areas, and that is what this week's topic will mainly touch upon.

Now begin lets do a virtual raise of hands as a response to the question that I'm about to ask. Of course I'm just kidding; please do not raise your hands. Besides, I'm pretty sure that many of you wouldn't have done it anyway, and I honestly can't blame anyone for not doing so. Now the question that I want to pose here is this: how many of you acknowledge when something good happens for you, but you ignore whenever something bad happens? So lets say that you get a promotion at a job and you put it all over social media, but if you happen to lose a job or take some kind of setback in your life, you'd rather not let that be known? I think that a good majority of us if we're being honest will admit that we're guilty of this. There is absolutely nothing wrong giving credence to the good that happens in your life, but how are we supposed to cope whenever the bad and ugly comes. This is something that I believe many of us struggle with in our lives. I believe that much of this stems from the way we've been conditioned to think and process things in our society. Take the news for example: how often does the news show all aspects of what is happening? There is a narrative that is pushed in order to make people think a certain way. Often times, whatever is good or viewed as something that will increase ratings will be shown, but the bad is often pushed to the back.

There are some things that happen in life that we cannot change regardless of how much we'd like to do so. There are some things in life that you just have to learn how to live with regardless of how good, bad, or downright ugly they may be. This is ultimately what brings me to the main point of this topic: the importance of accepting the good, the bad, and the ugly. As I pointed to earlier, though we may embrace and accept the good things in life, the bad and ugly is also a part of life as well. Though the bad and ugly are the aspects of life that we'd prefer not to embrace, there is no getting around the cold fact. The fact is that there is no way to accept one aspect and leave out the others. We have to teach ourselves to embrace them all regardless of how hard it may be to do so. Now you can be a person that embraces the good and try and tune out the bad. However, when you leave out of a room and turn off the light, everything that is in the room is still going to be there, right? Making the effort to tune out the bad and the ugly may be a short term feel good, but it doesn't change the fact that there are still there. It is important to accept all aspects that come along with life, and I personally believe that in doing so that we mold ourselves into more well-rounded individuals.

Well that is what I got for you all this time! I hope that I was able to bring this topic out in a manner in which was both relatable and understandable. I would like to once again thank everyone that stopped by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I sincerely appreciate all of the support that you all have shown me over the years. If there is any feedback that you all would like to leave, please feel free to do so in the comment box. You can also hit me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like to connect on there. Well I'm going to sign off for this time, so I'll see you all on the next topic. Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend. Take care everyone!

Saturday, June 12, 2021

The Importance Of Working Towards Widening Your Life Vision.

One thing that many of you definitely wouldn't know about me is that I used to be a hardcore gamer when I was younger. As like a good many other kids that grew up in the 80s and the 90s, I had a deep passion for video games. My love for gaming fizzled out in the mid 2000s, but there are so many of them from my past that I can recall playing. One of the games that I played a lot back around 2006-07 was Madden NFL 06. One of the unique things about this game was at the time it was the only football game that had a feature dubbed as QB Vision. This relates to a cone that represented where the quarterback in the game was looking when scanning the field for a receiver to throw to. Now the best quarterbacks in the game had a much wider vision of the field compared to those that didn't. One feature I loved about this game was that there were drills that a quarterback to do to enhance their QB vision. Now you may be wondering why am I going on a spill about a video game. Well much like what was included in the game, I believe that every single one of us has a degree of vision when it comes to the scope of how we process life. Also, I believe much like the game that if you have a much wider vision of life, then you'll be able to process things more better. Keeping with the theme of the game, I believe that keeping a wider vision is important, which also means that I believe that an individual can always widen their life's vision if they have a desire to do so.

What's going on once again good people? It's Brad H. back to bring you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to give my perspective on a topic that I believe would be beneficial to our lives. I hope that you all have been doing great and staying healthy since the last topic. So for this week's soapbox section, I'm going to give my opinion the the NBA Playoffs! During my soapbox in the last topic that was posted, I predicted that Milwaukee, Brooklyn, the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets would win their first round series. Well we also saw the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, and Utah Jazz win their first round series. It's been two weeks and now the only teams left in the Western Conference are the Jazz, Clippers, Suns and Nuggets. In the Eastern Conference we had the 76ers, Hawks, Nets and Bucks. I would love to go more in depth on what's happening, but since there isn't enough time with this topic, I'm just going to say who I think are going to the Conference Finals. I got the Suns and Clippers for the West, and the 76ers and Nets for the East. There have been quite a few surprises during this playoff season, but that's why we pay attention, right? We will continue to see how this unfolds in the coming days. Again, I wish I could go more into this, but the theme of this blog is perspective and motivation. So with that being said, lets go more into the importance of working towards widening your life vision.

Anyone that has frequently read my writings will likely know that I not only have a love for sports, but I have also mentioned in previous topics how I believe that much of sports can be a comparison to life. This definitely does not apply in the literal sense, but more from a sense of what sports in general represent for those that participate in them. Much of what sports represents for athletes is overcoming challenges to achieve a goal. This mindset can also be applied to the everyday person when it comes to life. Now I talked at length earlier about QB Vision from a video game. That doesn't apply to what we're aiming to convey in this week's topic, but I think it could be a good setup as to what we're addressing for this week. It is for that reason why I decided to use that as a backdrop to the main theme of the topic of enhancing our life's vision. There were various drills in that particular game where a quarterback could improve their vision of the field. As with the game that we're using as a backdrop, we have to try and view improvement in this area as drills that we're running towards improvement. Since we are all different and unique in our own respect, defining what "drills" you must run to improve is something that is tailored to individuals. The primary goal with this week's topic is to point out the importance of improving our life vision.

I believe that one of the biggest strengths that a person can have is the ability to maintain a degree of openness when it comes to life. What I mean in saying this is that I believe that there is something to be said about someone that can view life from a three-dimensional viewpoint. From my perspective, having a more thinking three-dimensional viewpoint means that a person has the ability to look deepen into various aspects of life and situations that occur. Now there are varying levels to being a three-dimensional thinker, so we're in no way indicating that this is a world full of people that aren't this way. However, what I do know is that there are many of us in this world that have limiting outlooks when it comes to approaching situations in life. Going back to the video game example that is being used, and this even applies to real life football. Do you think that a quarterback that only stares down one of his options will be effective against a defense compared to a quarterback that looks over the field more? Now I do realize that a quarterback's offensive line plays a role, but I think we can all agree that the quarterback that has a wider viewpoint will be more effective. The same applies to our lives when it comes to the often precarious situations we find ourselves being in.

Quarterbacks, video games and being three-dimensional thinkers have set up what I am ultimately headed towards, which is the importance of why we should aim towards widening our life vision. While I am a believer that being narrow minded can be a good thing when it comes to having to focus on something intently, I believe that widening our vision allows a bigger point of perspective to view things from. For example, a person that is has yet to open up their mind towards having a wider vision will probably be someone that only sees certain things for their face value. On the other hand, a person with a greater life vision can probably look beyond what they see. Much of this comes down to detail, and someone with a wider life vision will probably pay more attention to details. Now this doesn't apply to any one particular thing. This is something that can be included in so many areas of life. It ultimately up to the individual to determine what is deserving of having a wider vision. Before closing, I want to point out that the best way to work towards bettering your life vision requires a person having a desire to do so first and foremost. You can be a person that has no desire to be a more open-minded individual, and that is totally fine. However, I believe from my perspective that for those that are willing to develop that potential of having a better life vision will see changes in their lives that otherwise may not have ever happened. This is why I believe that it is of importance for us to steadily work towards widening that life vision.

That is what I got for you all this time around. I hope that you all enjoyed this, and I also hope that I was able to present this in a way that was both meaningful and understandable. Thank you once again to all of you that stopped through for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I truly appreciate all of the support that you all have given me on this journey that I've been on to help myself and others become better people. If any of you want to add or contribute anything else to this topic, please hit up that comment section and let me know what you think. You can also connect with me on Twitter at the handle @BradrickH if you'd like. Well I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I plan on seeing you all on the next topic. Take care everyone, and be safe out there! Peace out!

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Why Your Intentions Outweigh The Benefits Of What You're Trying To Achieve.

I believe that to be alive is to have ambitions. Living a life without having anything to strive towards is an empty existence from my perspective. Saying that everyone has certain ambitions in life is something that most people can probably agree with. We may all have different types of goals that we're hoping to reach in life, but the fact remains that everybody has ambitions. I believe that every goal has a journey that is included within that goal. A goal often isn't reached in a single day, and there are many that will take an extended length of time to reach. One of my favorite quotes is "It's not the destination, it's the journey." Now that quote can mean different things to different people. However, my personal interpretation of it is that the journey towards what we're aiming for has to be one rooted in truth. All of this boils down to a person's intentions when it comes to what goals they're hoping to obtain. Many people don't take into account how important our reasons for why we do the things we do. I personally think that this is something isn't addressed enough, and I think it is hurtful to us in the long run toward our goals. Intentions matter, and the intentions that are behind what we do can often outweigh the benefits of what we're hoping to gain.

Hey, what's going on everyone? This is Brad H. back once again, and welcome to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back to give my perspective on a topic that I think would be beneficial to our lives. I hope that things are going well for you wherever you are, and thank you for joining me again. So for my soapbox this week, I have to say that I am pretty excited! We have the NBA Playoffs kicking off today! I am currently watching the last game for the night, which is the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trailblazers. There were some pretty good games earlier today. We had the Milwaukee Bucks taking down the Miami Heat in an overtime game. The next game saw the Dallas Mavericks beat the Los Angeles Clippers. Then we had the Boston Celtics lose to the Brooklyn Nets. If you are an NBA fan, you have got to love playoff basketball. I'm not going to give my predictions on all the series because that would take up too much time. I will just say now that I believe Milwaukee, the Clippers, Brooklyn and Denver will probably win their first round series. We have another full day of games on tomorrow as well! If you are a basketball fan, I would love to hear some of your predictions in the comments. Well I don't want to keep this long, so lets go on and get into why I believe intentions outweigh the benefits.

Now before we get into intentions and how they have a correlation to goals and achievements, I want to start off by mentioning that this topic isn't meant to demean and question anyone's motives for what they do. Everybody has to define for themselves what their reasons and motivations are for the decisions they make. It's a personal matter that must be defined by you as an individual. The idea that I have with this topic is that I want to address why I personally feel that intentions are so important. We all have intentions, and I think it is more pertinent to focus on those for the reasons and examples that I will be mentioning throughout this topic. Also, all of what I'm going to bring up is my own personal perspective. I'm in no way trying to imply that what I say is law when it comes to this topic. I just hope that I am able to give a perspective that some, if not all of you that read this can identify with. I have a feeling that most of you will be able to relate to this, so lets go ahead and begin with intentions first and foremost.

Intentions for the most part are the reasons as to why we attempt to do something. You can also view it as a motivation for wanting to do something. As I pointed out earlier, we all have intentions and motives when it comes to why we chose to do certain things. The kicker with intentions is just like much of life in general, there can be both good and bad behind them. Even more of a kicker is that sometimes there is a grey area that is somewhere in the middle between good and bad. It can be confusing to determine, which is why I stated that everyone has to define their reasons and motivations for the choices we make. Now the reason I pointed out both the good and bad that comes with intentions is that there are many people in this world that have bad intentions behind things they do. For example, we are all aware of people that will help someone else, but their reasons for helping may not be entirely pure. They may be doing something for someone else in order to gain something instead of doing it with good intentions. I personally believe that this is something we've all been guilty of at sometime or another. However, this is is something that we have to look towards changing if it applies, and the reasons as to why I think we do is what drove me to bring this topic up in this week's edition.

Now you can be someone that may not always have the best of intentions behind what you do, and you can very well still have things work out for you. That is just the reality of life sometimes. However, from my personal perspective, more times than not, there will often be some sort of retribution in the long run from not having good intentions. This is primarily why I feel that our intentions outweigh any possible benefits that come along with what we're trying to do. I believe that if your heart and your mind isn't in the right place when it comes to making decisions, whatever you may be attempting will not be successful long term. I can say that I would personally rather have something not work out for me if I knew that my intentions behind what I was attempting were good. You can call it karma, the law of attraction, etc, but the reality is that you will likely end up playing yourself when you have bad intentions. I had a conversation with my sister a couple of weeks ago, and I can recall telling her that your intentions are much more important than the benefits a person is hoping to receive. That is ultimately led me to write this topic. I'll end by saying don't play yourself when it comes to your intentions. Make sure they are aligned with whatever you're trying to do. That's the best way to live and be at peace from my perspective.

That is all that I got for this round folks! I would like to thank you once again for joining me for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that I was able to convey the message from this topic in a manner that was easy to relate to. If you have any comments or feedback that you would like to leave, please feel free to do so in the comment box. You can also connect with me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. I truly appreciate you all, and I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend. I'm going to sign off and finish watch this game, so till next time, peace out and take care. See you all on the next topic!

Saturday, May 1, 2021

The Importance Of Addressing Trauma From Our Past.

"Trauma" is a word that many of us are familiar with when it comes to hearing about the way that it affects people lives. We often hear about it on various news platforms, and we sometimes may hear the people that we're close to talk about it. Though trauma is something we often hear about when it comes to people and their lives, the true meaning of trauma is probably unknown to most of us. Trauma is simply defined as an event or experience that is deeply distressing. This basically means that in the grand scheme of life that trauma is something that we will all expedience at various points of our lives. The longer that a person lives, the more there is the opportunity for traumatic events to happen. Also, while trauma is something that we can experience at any point of our lives, I believe that the traumas we endure from the youthful times of our lives have the greatest affect on us. This is just my personal opinion, and I am in no way implying that trauma from later on in our lives isn't valid. My reasoning for stating that previous experiences of trauma play such a role is theme of this week's topic. This is why I will be getting into why I believe it is of importance for us to address the trauma from our pasts.

Peace and blessings everyone! This is your boy Brad H. back again to bring you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to discuss a topic that will hopefully be beneficial towards us both moving forward, as well as staying inspired in our lives. I hope that you all have been doing well since the last topic. So for my soapbox this week, I want to briefly give my opinion on the Mortal Kombat movie that was released last week. Now I am personally a big fan of the Mortal Kombat franchise. I played all the games up until Mortal Kombat 4, and I have watched all of the various series that have aired over the years. I love the movie from 95, and though the second film from 97 wasn't good at all, I still enjoyed it when I was younger. After waiting over 20 years for another Mortal Kombat film, I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with this reboot. The first 10 minutes or so were great, but most of it fell flat for me after that. I won't go into details for anyone that hasn't seen it, but I thought that making a character that wasn't from the game the main character was a mistake. There were a few good moments, and there were a couple of characters that were well done. However, just overall it was a letdown for me. I've seen that most of the reviews have been mixed, so we'll have to see what a sequel will be like if and when it happens. Well that is my soapbox for this week, so lets go ahead and get into the importance of address past trauma.

Now I began this topic by giving a general definition and overview of what the word trauma means from the context in which I will be discussing for this topic. Trauma can mean different things for different people, so it is important for everyone to personally define what trauma means to them. Also, I want to let it be known that all trauma isn't the same when it comes to us being individuals. The trauma or traumas that I have experienced throughout my life may not be the same as another person. It is always wise to recognize the differences that are our life experiences. We have to avoid getting caught up in comparing our experiences to others. The goal that I have here isn't to necessarily focus on any specific type of trauma, but rather why I feel that it is important for us to make an attempt to address these things. Taking the step of addressing trauma is one that isn't always an easy first step. To be quite honest, I believe that most people are not willing to do it. Again, much of this depends on the degree of, as well as what type of trauma that a person has experienced.

One of the main traits that I've noticed from people that even compelled me to bring this topic up is how the avoidance of the darker aspects of ourselves is so prevalent in our society. Of course this doesn't apply to all people, but we as a society have more of a tendency to avoid addressing traumatic things from our pasts. We would rather not bring up or address certain things that could possibly be crippling our growth in not only life, but also within our relationships. Now I believe it is totally understandable to not have to a desire to address certain types of trauma. As I stated earlier, there are different degrees to certain things. However, from my own perspective, not addressing things from your past is a bad idea if it isn't adding to your peace. This also applies when it comes to family affairs that stem from past events. I don't need to go into extensive detail when I speak on these things, but we all have families and our share of experiences from the past that involve family members that we'd like to forget. Now a person can claim that they have moved on from certain traumatic events, but has a person truly moved on if those events are creating tension in our present day life? From my perspective, the answer to that question for me would be a hard no.

We have all seen television shows and movies where people talk about how their past has come back to haunt them. If it's not being heard on television or being read in a book, it is probably an occasion where we ourselves are saying it. Often times we get fortunate enough when certain things that happen in our past are easily put behind us. However, there are going to be occasions when events from our past come back to haunt us. It is for this reason why I believe that it is of importance for us to address the traumas that occur from our pasts. As I brought up earlier, most people nowadays would rather not address things because it forces a person to be vulnerable. This can be very difficult for many in today's society, but what is even more difficult is stunting your growth as a person because you would rather not face the aspects of yourself that could be hindering you. This can entail a variety of things from growing as an individual, or growing in your relationships with others. Now if you're a person that doesn't care about potentially bettering yourself, then by all means you have the option to ignore things from your past that are affecting you know. However, if you are someone that wants to move forward and progress in multiples areas of your life, taking a hard look at yourself and facing your past traumas is the way to go. That's pretty much my perspective on it!

Well that about does it for this round folks! This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' brought to you by Brad H. I hope that I was able to present this post in a way that was easy to relate to. I also hope that those of you that have read this far found some sort of value from this. As always if any of you would like to leave any comments or feedback, please do so in the comment box. If you are on Twitter and would like to connect with me, you can follow me @BradrickH. Thank you to those of you that read and have shown support to me throughout the years. I truly appreciate you all! I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend, and I'll see you all on the next topic! Peace and blessings!

Saturday, April 10, 2021

The Importance Of Not Overwhelming Yourself With Life's Priorities.

There is something that I like to call the "plate of life" that I frequently use as a comparison when it comes to the responsibilities of life. You may remember back when we were kids in school, and our teachers would use a drawing of a plate that includes various food groups. You had your protein, your fruits, grains and vegetables included on the plate. The plate of life that I like to reference to is similar, except instead of various food groups being what the plate entails, our priorities and responsibilities that come with life are the main course. The plate of life is interesting in the sense that while it probably includes obvious things that we can all relate to, everyone's plate will ultimately be different when it comes to life priorities. We will dive more into this later on in the topic. In essence, it really isn't hard to imagine that everyone's priorities in this life are different. Going back to the food example that I have provided, everyone has different tastes and preferences when it comes to food. Though we may all have different responsibilities and priorities on our plate of life, one thing that can easily happen if we're not careful is overloading our plate. Overloading yourself with too many things can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed isn't a good thing, which is why I believe it is of importance for us to not overwhelm ourselves with life's priorities.

What's going on everybody? This is Brad H. reporting once again, and I would like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to once again give my perspective on a topic that has been on my mind as of recently, and hopefully use that topic to help inspire us all to stay motivated on our life's journey. I hope that you all have been doing fairly good since the last topic. So for my soapbox this week, I want to talk about the news and how it can control us if we allow it to. I know that a lot of you out there probably watch the news pretty much everyday. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with watching it daily, but we have to always be mindful of how the news is manufactured to us. Most of the news that we watch comes from people and networks that have an agenda when it comes to what they broadcast to us. This makes me wonder if their mission is to actually inform us, or convince us to adopt their point of view. Again, I'm not saying don't watch the news, but realize that there are a lot of bots out there that are more concerned with narratives than informing the people. One of my favorite things I've heard which oddly came from a rap song goes: "Look on the news there's a little bit of lies mixed with a little bit of truth." Pay attention to what's happening, but don't allow it to consume you. So now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets go ahead and talk about the importance of not overwhelming ourselves with the priorities of life.

Now when it comes to the plate of life that I have used as a reference point to begin this topic, it is very important to remember that everyone's plate is going to be different. Like the food comparison that I used in the opening, you can't go to a buffet and expect everyone to put the same items on their plates. I want to bring this up because priorities in life will differ with everyone. Some people are going to have responsibilities that others may not. A person in their 30s are going to have different life priorities compared to someone that is in their teens and early 20s, etc. In order for us to avoid overwhelming ourselves with life's priorities, it is important for everyone as individuals to recognize what priorities are individually tailored to their life. As with the majority of viewpoints when it comes to life, this is something that has to be defined for you personally. So with that being said, try and assess the priorities that you have in your life before breaking down how not to overwhelm yourself with them. For the purpose of the points that I am aiming to make with this topic, I will be coming from a general perspective of priorities. I want us to recognize that while we do have priorities, it defeats the purpose when you overwhelm yourself with them.

So now that we've been able to establish what our individual priorities are when it comes to life, how and why do we become overwhelmed? To begin with the aspect of how we allow ourselves to become overwhelmed with life, much of this stems from not having restraint when it comes to the things we're aiming to do. Going back to the food comparison that I've been using, a person that doesn't have restrain when it comes to eating will probably overdo it at a buffet. We have to learn how to say no to certain things that aren't at the top of the list when it come to priorities. There are many reasons as to why an individual can be overwhelmed, but the main thing that I've noticed in my own personal life is that I put too much pressure on myself to accomplish certain things. Now while there isn't anything wrong with having some sense of urgency when it comes to your priorities, putting too much pressure on yourself can contribute to living a more overwhelmed life. If you are someone that often finds yourself being overwhelmed with your responsibilities, t is important to define how and why you as a person are feeling this way. It differs for us all, which is why it is important to define this for yourself.

So we've talked about how priorities are different for everyone, as well as how and why we as people become overwhelmed with our priorities. So why is it so important for us to not overwhelm ourselves? From my own perspective, and I'm sure many of you will agree with me on this; nothing good comes from consistently being overwhelmed. There are so many negative things that can happen when a person feels like life has become too much for them to handle. There are all kinds of potential health related issues that can come into our lives when we're overwhelming ourselves, but more importantly, overwhelming ourselves can rob us of life's joys. We all know that there is a lot of bad that can come along with living life, but we also know that there is so many more good things in this world. I believe that it is hard to really enjoy all of life's joys when your constantly feeling overwhelmed. I've talked in previous topics about how truly short life is in the grand scheme of things. I believe that life is way too short to be overwhelmed all the time. Besides, overwhelming ourselves can potentially lead to a shortened life span. It is normal for us to feel overwhelmed at times, but we should always be working to limit this feeling as much as possible.

That pretty much sums up what I got for this week's topic! I hope that those of you that have read this far found this to be inspirational to your life. I'd like thank you all once again for stopping by to check out another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! If you found this to be of help to you, please feel free to let me know in the comment section. You can also reach out to me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. I hope you all have an enjoyable rest of your weekend, and an even better week ahead. I'll see you all next time. Stay safe and stay positive! Peace!