Brad H.'s Perspective

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Disappointments Happen, But Moving Forward Is A Must.

There are many harsh realities that come along with living life that many of us would prefer not to think of. This is something that I've dedicated an entire topic towards in a past post on this blog. I think that is further evidence of the scope that comes along with life's harsh realities. There are many aspects to the various realities of life that we have to accept. One of those is the aspect of disappointment. Disappointments are something that we all will experience throughout life. It doesn't matter what age you are, or where you are at in your life's journey, disappointments are always lurking around the corner. Though we all may realize and understand that disappointments are going to happen to us, we may not always necessarily have the best way of handling them. Due to the idea that disappointments are often the result of a letdown that happens in our lives, the reality is that many of us look to all the wrong methods in order to cope with them. No one is perfect, and there is no judgement on my end as to how a person deals with letdowns in their life. However, one thing that I know for sure is that regardless of how a person chooses to deal with the setbacks in their life, life must always carry on regardless.

Welcome back everyone! This is your boy Brad H. once again, and I would like to welcome you all to the final edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' of 2020! I am here to hopefully provide some inspiration through a topic that I will be giving my perspective on. Well here we are folks! This year that I think we all can agree has been like no other is coming to an end real soon. Since this will be my last topic of this year, I figured that I would give some insight into why I wanted to address the importance of moving on from disappointments. We all have endured quite a lot this year with the whole Coronavirus pandemic that we're in. I've suffered some personal disappointments this year as well. Some of them I mentioned in topics throughout the year, while others I have kept to myself. I sure that all of you can attest to facing personal disappointments this year as well. It is for this reason that I figured this would be a good topic to close 2020 out on via this blog. I sincerely thank all of you once again that have been on this journey with me and reading my topics. I know the year has been tough, but lets try and end this year on as positive of a note as we can. Thank you all once again! Now lets do this for the final time in 2020!

Now the good majority of us by now know what it means to be disappointed. However, disappointment can come with many emotions depending on the individual that is feeling this way. Frustration and anger are two of the more well known emotions that go along with disappointment, but I would dare say that the biggest emotion that goes along with disappointment is the emotion of sadness. We can all recall instances of being a kid and asking our parents for something we wanted, only to hear that famous word, NO! When you didn't get your way back then, you probably cried or was sad for a little while. The emotions of disappointment tend to evolve as we get older. Think back to your teenage years when you wanted to go to a party or sleepover, and your parents told you no. You more than likely wouldn't cry behind this, but it would probably cause you to feel dejected about the response. During our adult years, we should be handling disappointments much better than we did in our youth days. However, this thought doesn't always apply to everyone. Even as adults, there are some of us that struggle with handling disappointment.

One of the main things that I want to touch on when it comes to disappointments is the many forms that it comes in. There are countless amount of ways for a person to feel the emotion of disappointment, but I have narrowed this topic down to three main ways. We have outside circumstances, other people, and then ourselves. Now what do these three forms of disappointments mean, you may wonder? First off, we have circumstances that are outside of our control that may disappoint us. Secondly, we have other people that disappoint us. Finally, we tend to disappoint ourselves at times. Every single one of us will experience disappointments on all of these scopes at some point or another. When we think of the various forms that disappointment entails, it honestly isn't hard to conceive how disappointment is something we can experience frequently. Now we talked about how many of us do not necessarily handle disappointment in the best manner. Yes, we all will have setbacks in our lives that cause us to cry and wonder why we're having to experience these emotions. However, the worst thing that we can do is wallow during these times. We have to find a way to pick ourselves up and keep on moving forward.

So how does one move forward from disappointments? From my own personal perspective, moving on from disappointments is something that all of us do naturally anyway. Just reference back to the examples that I gave earlier if you need proof of this. We've all had to move on from disappointments, and the fact that we're here now is evidence of this. However, what I would add to this is that we have to learn how to have more grace on ourselves. Many of us tend to be extremely hard on ourselves whenever we're disappointed. Learn how to accept that we're all human, which means we're allowed to deal with disappointments happening in life. More important than disappointments is learning to not allowing ourselves to become defeated by disappointments. Life is always moving regardless of what happens to us. This world won't ever stop spinning for one single person, so always being in a mindset of moving forward is a must. This is just some encouragement for all of us out there to keep progressing despite facing disappointments and setbacks. We have to keep on moving forward folks!

Well that about wraps up this final topic for the year 2020! I hope that you all found some meaning and understanding from this topic! If any of 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. Again, I would like to thank you all for another year of reading 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I truly thank every single one of you that have supported me throughout this year. I hope you all have a wonder and Merry Christmas, and an even better start to 2021! See you all next year! Take care, and peace out!

Saturday, December 5, 2020

The Importance Of Avoiding "Motivational Killers"!

One aspect of life that I believe the majority of most people realize as we age is that you cannot make it through this life all alone. Of course there may be some people that feel otherwise, but those are people that likely have a bit of an ego. That's fine if they feel that way as they're entitled to their opinion. However, I also believe that most people will acknowledge that it is nearly impossible to navigate life without help from others. There are people that are going to be there throughout our lives that will help us out when we're in need. One form of help and encouragement that others bring to our lives comes in the form of motivation. Motivation is defined as "the general desire or willingness of someone to do something." Think back to when you were a child, and if you were someone that didn't always enjoy waking up to go to school like I was, you probably had some motivation from your parents to do so. It's not like we had much of a choice to begin with when you're that age, but I think you get my drift here. Motivation is a very crucial aspect of being able to make it through life, but motivation can also work against us if we're not mindful of how to use it. This equates to the importance of avoiding the motivation killers as much as we possibly can.

Hello once again folks! This is Brad H. back once again, and I would like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space where I share my personal perspective on a topic that can hopefully help towards keeping us motivated and inspired in this life. Last week was my schedule week to put this installment out, but I decided that it would be more beneficial for me to enjoy the week with my family. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We are now in the month of December, which means that we got less than 30 days left to end this year on a high note. It is absolutely mind-boggling right now just thinking of how this year is almost over with. Despite the world at large dealing with all types of issues this year, 2020 has managed to go by very quickly. Before I get into this week's topic, I just want to encourage everyone to remember that this year isn't done yet. There is a lot that can still happen both good and bad. More importantly, we still have the opportunity to work on and improves ourselves. There is no better time than now, so there is no use in waiting for 2021 to start. So now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a sec, lets go ahead and transition to the theme of the week, which is avoiding the motivational killers.

Now before we go more into the aspect of motivational killers, I want to begin by stating that the things that may and may not motivate us are purely subjective. As with the majority of the topics that I bring up via this outlet, I'm coming from my own perspective, as well as a more generalize perspective. We are all unique in our own ways, so there will always be variance when it comes to the things that do, as well as do not motivate us. Now some of you may wonder to yourselves; "Brad H., what exactly is a "motivational killer?" Well it is elementary my dear readers! Okay, I'm kidding with the Sherlock Holmes reference there. However, from my own perspective, a motivational killer is anything that pretty much puts a cap on motivating us to do things. Now this isn't limited only to people, because we do know that some of the biggest motivational killers are going to be people. That said, motivational killers are also things that could be considered as being habits. Now some people may not necessarily look at bad habits as being motivation killers, but I would dare say that they are probably more damaging than people are when it comes to this topic. Why, you may wonder? Because anything that is created by us (which most habits are) are more difficult to break.

Now besides the possibility of being around other individuals that could be deemed as motivational killers, what are the habits that can be classified in this way? Again, this is all subjective, but anything that potentially keeps you from having a desire to do anything is a motivational killer. This can include things like excessive eating, junk foods, television, entertainment, etc. These are just a few examples of things that can kill motivation. Now going back to habits and how they can affect us when it comes to motivation, I mentioned previously how they're the most damaging and difficult to break free from. It's one thing to deal with a negative person that may be detrimental to a degree when it comes to being motivated to do things. Of course this type of negativity isn't ideal, but you can always either tune out a negative person, or remove yourself from around them. However, when it comes to anything that may be a vice and has a hold on you literally, it's not always as easy to break those chains. Breaking these chains can be done, but it's much more of a challenge when it all falls on you to do the necessary work. The main point here is to understand that motivational killers can come in all shapes and forms, and it is always wise to be aware of the things that we're giving energy to.

So all of this brings us to the title of the topic for this week, which is the importance of avoiding motivational killers. It's pretty obvious why we should strive to avoid things that decrease motivation. However, the main reason as to why I believe that it's of importance to avoid motivational killers is due to the fact that these killers blend into other aspects of our lives that may not have anything to do with being motivated. As an example, if there's a person that chooses to lie on the couch all day eat bad and watching television, that person probably doesn't have the motivation to do anything productive with themselves. However, the poor eating and lack of movement can also lead to bad health, which is another downside that comes with a lack of motivation. Again, it isn't enough to just rely on motivating ourselves to do the things we desire. When we allow the things that kill our motivation to control our lives, it trickles down to other aspects of our lives as well. Having one issue going on in our lives is one thing, but motivational killers can multiply the issues that we're facing. This is why it is essential that we must avoid the things that lead to diminished motivation.

Well that's the topic for the week everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed reading this, and if you happened to make it this far, I sincerely appreciate you for coming through. This has once again been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective', brought to you by Brad H. Please feel free to leave any comments and feedback if you would like to do so. You can also find me on Twitter @BradrickH if you would like to connect on there. We are 20 days away from the Christmas holiday as of right now. Lets try to enjoy the rest of these days leading to the end of this year. You all take care, and I'll see you in a couple of weeks with another topic. Peace out everyone!

Saturday, November 14, 2020

The Importance Of Viewing Your Mind As A Muscle.

Strength and muscle! Two words that anyone that may be into health and fitness probably know all too well. These two words go hand-in-hand with one another when it comes to maintaining our health. There are so many muscles that are located throughout various parts of our bodies. We all know that in order for us to maintain those muscles and keep them working at their optimal peak, we have to work them out. You may not have to work them daily, but it is something that you have to do from time to time in order for them to function properly. It's just like that old phrase that goes; "Use it or lose it!" We also are aware of how important our minds are when it comes to an activity such as exercising. Anytime that a person is doing something strenuous, regardless of what it may be, there will come a time when you are going to become fatigued. For most people to want to keep on going when they find themselves becoming tired, what is the main state that they tap into to push on? Yep, you got it, the mind. The mind has so many various affects on our lives and how we live. But just like any other muscle that exists within the body, the mind needs to be worked out as well. It is for this reason that I think that it is of utmost importance for us to view our minds as being a muscle.

Yo! What's going on everybody? Hope all has been good and well with you all as of late. I am Brad H., and I would like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to hopefully bring my perspective on a topic that has been on my mind recently. Through the topic that I will bring, the goal is to hopefully provide some inspiration that can help us stay motivated in our lives. This is the soapbox section of this week's topic where I talk about something that has nothing to do with the topic for the week. I feel that what I'm going to address is something that I have brought up multiple times since the month of March, but I want to do my due diligence and spread the importance of doing all you can to protect yourselves from the Covid-19 virus. I know that the news has been talking about this virus everyday since it started, and I know that many of us have fatigue from it. However, the time that we've been warned about is here, and that is the winter months when the cooler weather sets in. We've been seeing 100,000 plus new cases daily for the last week or so, and it looks like things won't be getting better anytime soon. Please everyone, stay as safe as possible during this time. I know that we're all tired of this, but we really have to crack down and look out for one another during these winter months. Just wanted to put that out there. Believe me, I am tired of it just like everyone else is. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, lets go further into this week's topic on the importance of viewing our minds as a muscle.

I addressed the aspect of the mind in various topics in the past, and I highly doubt that this will be the last time that I do so. I believe that one of the main reasons as to why I give so much focus to developing our minds is due to the fact that the mind is infinite. It basically entails all the mental thoughts and processes that we use in order to process the things that we encounter in our individual realities. There are so many ways of viewing the mind and the uses that it can have within our lives. Also, I'm of the belief that the mind is what governs much of our thoughts when it comes to being able to handle life. Now I spoke in the opening about how muscles have to be maintained in order for them to operate at their peak performance. I believe that the same outlook can apply when it comes to our minds. Now of course the mind isn't an actual muscle, so there is no way possible to physically work it. However, I believe that it can be viewed more as a spiritual muscle when it comes to exercising it. It isn't something that you can see or actually touch like a physical muscle, but you know that it exists within you.

So now that we've established that the mind can be viewed in a similar light as a muscle that can be flexed, how exactly do we workout our minds? What does it mean to work your mind and build it towards becoming stronger? From my own perspective, I believe the best way to put our minds through a workout is to do things that help improve our minds. When you think about it in the grand scheme of things, we all work our minds daily anyway with the various thoughts we have. However, I believe that it is the thoughts that we think, along with the things we do that have the greatest affect on strengthening our minds. I want you to think of this as an example. Say that there are two people that use their minds throughout the day in different ways. One person spends most of their time watching reality television, while the other person does things that challenge themselves. Who do you think is doing the most to improve their mind between the two? I would say that the person that challenges themselves probably does more to workout their mind. This is just a small example, but doing things that force your mind and brain to work is the best way to put your mind through those "mental gymnastics" that we hear about.

We have discussed how the mind is similar to a muscle, as well as gave a few examples on how to workout the mind. So why do I believe that it is of importance for us to view our minds as a muscle that needs to be worked on? Well for the obvious reasons that I have already pointed out, but also because as you go throughout life and age, you're going to have to be able to rely on your mind more than your body. We all know realize that the body deteriorates as we age, and we find ourselves being unable to do things as well as we once did. It kinda makes me think of what I heard a rapper say in a song before. His word were; "Now I'm older, my mind moves fast, my body slower!" I believe that the best way to have a stable mind is to work towards it on a daily basis. Besides, the majority of the battles that we will face in our lives will require the mind to conquer. If we know that this is the case, then why shouldn't we do all we can to improve our minds? I'll close by saying that we often hear the phrase, "He or she has lost their mind." As I pointed out earlier in regards to working out the muscles, we have to use it or lose it.

Well that is the topic for this week everyone! I hope that you all found this enjoyable, as well as something that you are able to take something away from. If anyone has any comments to contribute, please feel free to do so in the comments. You can also hit me up on Twitter @BradrickH if you all like. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective', brought to you by Brad H. I hope you all have a great weekend, and an even better week ahead. Please stay safe out there, and I will see you all on the next topic. Peace out!

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Why Thinking Outside Of The Box Can Be Beneficial In Your Life.

"Thinking outside of the box!" This is a phrase that most of us have heard within various points of our lives. People have a variety of ideas and thoughts when it comes to the idea of thinking outside of the box. I would argue that within itself is what makes thinking outside of the box such an appealing characteristic. It means so many different things to different people, which is why it's one of the ultimate unique concepts that exists within our society. Thinking outside of the box can mean so many things, but for me personally, it means being able to freely outside of the normal social constraints that dominate our world. There are so many various ways that an individual can choose to live their life, but how many of us are truly free and open thinkers when it comes to our outlook on life? Again, this is something that a person has to define for themselves, but one of the positives is that there are always instances that can be used a basis for this type of evaluation. I believe that we as people tend to look for advantages and things that can benefit us in our lives as we go through various phases of growth in our lives. I personally believe that when it comes to gaining knowledge and tools that can benefit us in our lives, developing our own definition of what it means to think outside of the box is one of the top habits that can assist us on this journey.

What's going on everyone? This is your boy Brad H. once again, and I would like to welcome you all again to another topic of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to once again bring my perspective on a topic that has been on my mind as of late. The goal I have with this is to hopefully present my thoughts in a way that can be of some kind of inspiration to us all. I hope that all has been good and well with you all as of late. I know the temperatures are beginning to drop all over the states, so hopefully everyone is staying warm. So for my soapbox on this week's post, I wanted to briefly talk about the importance of having respect for others despite the differences you may have. The reason I bring this up is because we all know the presidential election is happening in a few days here in the states. I know that this isn't anything new, but I've personally been seeing a lot of videos and posts of people taking personal shots at other people because of different political affiliations. It's been rampant on both sides of the isle. The thing that we all need to remember is that just because you happen to disagree with another person doesn't mean that you can't have respect for that person. I saw a picture last week of a supporter of Trump shaking hands with a Biden supporter. I think that type of mutual respect is more of what we need in today's volatile political climate. So with that being said, lets try to agree to disagree, respectfully! No need for all the personal attack, etc. So now that is out of the way, lets get more into why thinking outside of the box can be beneficial to us.

I talked in the opening how thinking outside of the box can mean a variety of things. Before we try and begin to open our minds up to be able to think outside of the box, we have to first be able to define what thinking outside the box means to us personally. I mentioned how I personally feel that thinking out of the box means being able to think freely. Though that may be what it personally means to me, it could mean something completely different to another person. The main thing for us to try and navigate is being able to use this way of thinking towards our benefit. Now when I personally think of how a person that thinks outside of the box carries themselves, I think of someone that basically questions things in an attempt to get to the facts. You know how most people will almost believe anything, even if there aren't any facts that are presented with what they're being told? Someone that is more of an out of the box thinker will likely not be that way. These are probably the kind of people that will see or hear something on the news, and instead of just accepting what they hear, they may end up doing their own research on what they've heard. Now again, this is just my personal opinion and one example of what I think it means to think outside of the box. If you're someone that may be aiming to be more of an outside the box thinker, you have to be able to open up your mind to more than what you just see and hear.

Now why would, or should someone have a desire or strive to become more of an out of the box thinker? Just as with being an open thinker in and of itself, there are so many reasons why this may be something a person strives to become better at. When it applies to my own life, I believe that a good reason to aim towards being more of an outside of the box thinker helps in gaining a more broader outlook of the world. We all know or have been around a person that probably has a limited scope when it comes to various beliefs. Now I'm in no way trying to demean anyone that has a limited scope of view when it comes to life. Frankly speaking, we all in some ways deal with a small viewpoint, and it isn't always because a person is close-minded. Sometimes we just don't know certain things, and that is okay. However, we've all been around people that when you tried to enlighten them on something that you may be aware of or learned at some point in your life, and their responses are one of non-belief. They shoot down what you're saying because they may not know, or they just have a limited outlook in their beliefs. I believe that when someone is more of an outside of the boxer thinker, they will at the very least listen to and entertain what someone else is saying before forming a concrete opinion on the subject at hand.

So I have given my perspective on what I think it means to think outside of the box, as well as why I believe we should strive to be this way. So why does thinking out of the box benefit us in our lives? From my own perspective, thinking outside of the box benefits us because of the added knowledge it brings to our lives. I believe that even if you don't always agree with what someone says or does, you can at the very least learn something from that person. This is a wide world with an infinite amount of knowledge that can be gained. I believe that every bit of knowledge that we learn throughout our lives has the potential to help us during our life's journey. The even crazier thing is that sometimes the jewels that you pick up along the way won't benefit you immediately, and sometimes they may not ever do so. However, they will always be there for you to access if and when you ever need them. I believe that putting a cap on the box when it comes to thinking outside of it limits us from acquiring an abundance of knowledge. This is why I personally believe that thinking outside of the box can be beneficial in our lives. I'll end on this final note. The best part of learning to think outside of the box is something that you can pick up at any point of your life, and there is no better time to start than the present.

Alright everyone, that's all that I got for this week's topic. I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that was able to be taken away from it. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' brought to you by Brad H. Thank you to those of you that stopped by again. Please leave any comments or feedback in the comment box if you'd like. You can also hit me up and follow me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend, and don't forget to set those clocks back tonight. Take care everyone, and I'll see you all on the next topic! Peace out!

Sunday, October 18, 2020

The Importance Of Being Able To Handle The Harsh Realities That Come With Life.

I think that we can all agree that life is truly a wonderful gift that we're all blessed to be a part of. Just think of all the centuries that have passed throughout time that we were not here. The fact that we're here in and of itself is something that should be both treasured and celebrated. I also think that we can all agree that while life is truly a wonderful gift, it can also come with its share of challenges and complications. The challenges that I'm referring to are truly immense in their nature, and are practically limitless when it comes to what they can entail. When being a part of such a wide and expansive world that has so many different people with different personalities existing, the thought of everyone being able to handle life's challenges the same is highly unrealistic. Basically, there are going to be some challenges that we're able to handle relatively easy, while there are also those that can pull us to the depths of ourselves that we'd rather not face. Regardless of how strong of a person you may be, none of us are immune to the hardships that come with life. The harsh realities of life will always exist, and this pandemic that we're currently in has probably forced many of us to ponder on some of those harsh realities. I've talked about adaptability on this blog before, and being able to handle and adapt to the harsh realities that come with life are key in winning in this life.

Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone is doing well! This is Brad H. back once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here to once again to hopefully bring some inspiration on a topic that I think would be helpful to us our lives. Before we get into this week's topic on the harsh realities of life, I'm going to get on my soapbox and talk about something besides the topic of the week. We all know that we have a big election happening here in the states in the next couple of weeks. I just want to encourage everyone to be aware of what is going on politically, but also take time away from it on occasion. The reason I bring this up is because I see so many people on social media these days that are constantly talking and debating others about this election. That is perfectly fine, but I believe that it is wise to not allow that stuff to consume us. Go outside and take a walk, or go and read a book that you've been putting off reading. Maybe you can watch a DVD that you've been meaning to watch. I can't tell anyone else what to do, but I would just suggest people to not allow it to consume a large portion of your day. Be aware, but be controlled with it. Now that I've said that, lets go ahead and talk about the theme of this week, which is handling the harsh realities of life.

Now what are the harsh realities of life that we often hear about as we become older? I believe a topic such as this is one where a person as an individual must define what they consider to be a harsh reality of life. When I personally think of what it means to me as an individual, I think of all the blinders that we tend to put up when it comes to living life. I think of the things that I personally would rather not think about, or things that I would rather no address head on. Now again, this is something that a person must define for themselves in their own life. However, for this week's topic I'm going to try and use a few general examples of challenges that the majority of us will have to face throughout our life's journey. The goal this week is to hopefully use this topic to inspire us to see that the things that happen in life that bring us pain and sorrow can be overcome. Furthermore, the idea is to recognize and understand that the harsh realities of life will always exist for as long as we're alive. I believe that anything that is something that will always exist is also something that we as people have to train ourselves to live with.

So what could be deemed as being reality, and why can it considered to be harsh at times? I spoke earlier about having blinders up as an attempt to see life how we would prefer, rather than for how it truly is. Remember the popular movie back in the late 90's titled 'The Matrix'? For those of you that have seen that film, you can recall how the main character in the film, Neo had been living in a false reality. It was only when he took the red pill in the film that he was able to see the real world for how it truly was. This is how it is for many of us when it comes to life. We all have certain things in this life that we would rather put blinders up on to avoid facing. So what could be an example of a reality that is considered to be harsh? The first harsh reality that I initially think of is something that we will have have to experience at some point. I'm talking about the fact that we're all going to die someday. I know that may not apply to everyone, but I think that the idea of dying creates a deal of anxiety in the majority of people. I mean we know that we all will experience it, yet we still fear it for the obvious reasons. Again, this is just one example of a harsh reality, so it isn't only limited to only death.

Having the ability to be able to handle the harsh realities that come with life can be a daunting task for people. However, from my personal perspective on this subject, the majority of us look at harsh realities in the wrong light. We try to look for ways to handle how to deal with these type of challenges, when we should actually be trying to accept them. I believe that when a person is constantly seeking ways to deal with things that aren't meant to be dealt with because they're evitable, a pattern of bad habits and addictions can develop. Then is when we begin to find ourselves looking for ways to cope. Instead of trying to cope with the hardships that come along with life, I believe that we should try to embrace them as being a part of our life journey. Just as I stated earlier in the post, life can present both its share of good, as well as its set of challenges. None of us can stop the challenges from happening, so I believe that for better or for worse, it is best to just try and embrace them. This is why I believe that it is of importance to be able to handle the harsh realities that come with life. I see this as a very important issue due to the fact that there are so many of us that are vibrating at lower frequencies by implementing bad habits.

Well that's all that I got for you all this time around. I hope that I was able to give you all something to think about with this topic. I also hope that it was able to serve as a bit of inspiration for any of you that read it. Thank you once again to everyone that came by another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback if you would like. You can also hit me up on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. Well I hope you all have a great weekend, and stay safe out there. I'll see you all on the next topic. Take care everyone! Peace!

Saturday, October 3, 2020

The Importance Of Maintaining Boundaries In Your Relationships.

We all have people that are a part of our lives that we consider ourselves to be close to. These relationships can range from anything from a parent to a close friend. There are so many different and unique ways that a relationship can be defined as being. When we feel especially close to another person and vice versa when it comes to another person feeling close to us, there is a level of connection that is deeper than with most. For example, when you have someone in your life that you consider to be your best friend, you are more apt to share with this person things that you likely would not share with your other friends. Because you feel a deeper level of trust with the person that you consider to be your best friend, you are more willing to open more of who you are to this person. Again, this kind of relationship isn't only limited to a best friend. The same may apply to a partner or spouse as well. I personally feel that the relationships that we maintain with others are the backbone of what makes us who we are as individuals, and I truly see it as one of life's wonderful aspects. However, there can also be instances in our lives where despite having a close relationship with another person, there are boundaries that are needed to be put up. From my perspective, knowing and establishing those boundaries are of critical importance as to whether or not a relationship with survive and thrive.

Hello, hello once again folks! This is your man Brad H., and I'd like to welcome everyone to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space that I use to express my thoughts on a topic that I think would be helpful towards us becoming better people in our lives. Thank you in advance to those of you that are joining me for another week. So for my soapbox this week, I'm going to sound like a broken record and give my thoughts on the Coronavirus outbreak that has taken place in the NFL. Those of you that are football fans have probably heard about the Steelers/Titans game that was cancelled due to players from the Titans team testing positive. Then today we found out that Patriots QB Cam Newton has tested positive, which has led to the postponement of their game with the Chiefs that was due to happen tomorrow. Though I'm happy that we are getting to experience sports in the midst of this pandemic that we're in, I was iffy about the NFL coming back for this exact reason. I really hope that the season is able to carry on through this unprecedented time we're in, but if this week's news is any indication of the future, we may see a cancellation of the season happen. Hopefully everyone stays safe, and we are able to continue to enjoy some form of normalcy during this time. Well that is my soapbox for this week, so lets get into this week's theme of maintaining boundaries in our relationships.

So we're going to set this week's topic off by getting into what are boundaries when it comes to the people we're close to? Now this is something that can be purely subjective, and I want you all to keep in mind that I'm only giving my own personal perspective on how I see this. Now what is the definition of the word "boundary"? The definition I found via Google states that it is "a limit of a subject or sphere of activity." Now how does this correlate when it comes to how close we may be to a person? From my own perspective, I view it as a person not being inclined to reveal things to a person regardless of how close you may be. As stated with the definition of what a boundary is, there has to be a limit or cap on how involved a person is in your life. One of the biggest problems that I've noticed in regards to boundaries is that there are many people that feel that because you're close with someone that they're inclined to involve you in what's going on in their life. The thing to always remember is that you have very little ownership over another person, so no one is obligated to involve you if they would rather not. Now of course there are going to be times where they do involve you, but that doesn't mean that they're obligated to do so. I know some people may not like to hear that, but that is just the way it is, and you have to respect it when it comes to other people.

Now that we've established a general sense of what the definition of what boundaries are in the context of our relationships with others, I want to use this section to address the best way to maintain boundaries. I believe that it is pretty straightforward, yet it is something that can be a struggle for many of us. From my perspective, the best way to maintain boundaries in our relationships is to not be overbearing when it comes to the people we're close to. As I touched on in the last paragraph, there are a lot of people that feel entitled when it comes to people they're close with. If you are someone that feels entitled to know everything that is going on with a person, regardless of what your relationship with them is, you have to work on remedying that. You have to be able and willing to give people both the time and space to open up when they're ready to do so. One of the things I've learned throughout my life is that you'll get much farther with a person that you don't constantly press. Again, I know that being overbearing can be tough because when you feel a certain level of closeness with another person, you feel as if they are an extension of you. While there may be some truth to that, both you and the person you're close with are still individuals. This means that there may be aspects of them that you won't always agree with and vice versa.

So we've defined what boundaries are when it comes to relationships with others, and we've talked about the best way to maintain boundaries. Now we're at the point where I give my perspective on the importance of maintaining boundaries within your relationships. The main reason from my perspective why it is important to maintain boundaries in relationships is because having boundaries gives relationships the air they need to survive. I've talked about this in previous topics, but when you push and press other people too hard, you risk pushing that person over the edge. The edge in this instance is potentially fracturing your bond with that person. This is something that we all should understand because we all have things about ourselves that we may not reveal to people; even the ones that we're the closest to. Having someone not involve you in every aspect of their life doesn't mean that they don't care about you and vice versa. We're all human, which means that we do need interaction with other humans. However, we're all individuals as well, which means that we all need space on occasion. Your relationships with others will always thrive more if there are levels of boundaries. The goal is to keep people in your life; not push them away. This is why I feel that it is of importance to maintain boundaries in your relationships.

That's all that I got for you all this week everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed this topic, and I hope that there was something that you all could relate to. Thank you once again to those of you that stopped by for another one of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Like I always end on, if any of you have any feedback or comments to contribute, please feel free to do so. If you're on Twitter and would like to connect with me, you can follow me @BradrickH. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you all in the next one. Stay safe everyone and peace out!

Saturday, September 19, 2020

The Importance Of Accepting People For Who They Are.

I believe that the good majority of us have a person or even a group of people in our lives that we would like to see change from. Maybe it's a family member that has a problem with opening up about their issues, and it frustrates you that they're not willing or able to do so. Maybe you have a friend that consistently makes bad choices when it comes to the type of people that choose to date. These are a couple of examples, but the idea of change can pretty much apply to anyone or anything. Now from my own perspective, there are a couple of ways that the desire to see change in others can be viewed from. You can view it from your own perspective, or you can see it from the perspective of the person that you're hoping to see change from. So what do we mean by this, you may wonder? When you look at it from the perspective the other person, you're hoping that they change for their own good. However, when you see it from your own personal perspective, you're hoping that they change for your own reasons. Now there isn't necessarily anything wrong with either way of viewing this, but when you want people to change for your own personal reasons, you're trying to shape a person to be who you want them to be for your own benefit. This is a form of not accepting people for who they are, and it is important to to aim to not being this type of person.

What's good everybody? This is Brad H. coming through once again to bring you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here for another week of bringing a topic that I have been pondering on as of late. The aim is to use that topic to hopefully bring us all some wisdom and inspiration to help us to progress in our lives. Hope all has been good and well with you all since the last topic that I wrote about. I brought up in the last topic how hectic things has been as of late from Hurricane Laura. Though things are not entirely back to normal as of yet, they are definitely moving in the right direction towards progression. We've had quite a bit of doom and gloom during this year, but I know that all my fellow sports fans out there were extremely happy about the NFL returning. There were quite a few headlines that we could bring up after week 1, but I want to talk about Tom Brady's debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady had a pretty brutal day with a couple of interceptions thrown, which ultimately contributed to the Bucs losing to the Saints. Of course being in his 40's now, people are already wondering if he is washed up. I believe it is something to wonder, but I also think it is too early to question. I mean there wasn't any preseason this year, so it may take all of the teams a few weeks to get their chemistry down. I'm not a Bucs fan or anything, but the Brady potentially being over the hill headline was one of the biggest from the first week. We shall see if Brady is still elite as the the weeks go on. I just know that I'm glad to see football back. Now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a bit, lets go ahead and talk about the theme of the week; the importance of accepting people for who they are.

Since this week's topic deals with why it is important to accept people for the way they are, I think it is important to use what was discussed in the opening as a starting point. I briefly touched on in the opening how much of this topic deals with two different perspectives. Those perspectives being your own perspective vs. the perspective of the person that you may be having a hard time accepting. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to see someone you care for change for the better. That's not where we're going with this week's topic. I believe that there is a difference when it comes to wanting to see someone change for the better vs. wanting to see someone change because you may not like aspects of their personality. For example, if you have a friend that is addicted to drugs and their addiction is hindering their life, you're gonna wanna see them change. However, if you have a friend that is quiet and not much of a peoples person, yet you want to see them open up more for your own reasons, this is what I would consider to be the wrong kind of change to expect from that friend. Now there isn't anything wrong with pushing that friend to go out of their comfort zone more, but if it's not in that friend's nature to be that kind of person, expecting them to be someone they're not is wrong.

Now from my perspective, and I'm sure that most people will agree with me on this, there are a couple of reactions that a person may get from trying to change someone. The first reaction is one of conformity. This is where the person that you want to see change makes an attempt to go along with what you're trying to do. The second reaction is more of a resistance, which is obviously where they don't conform to your whims of change. I want to focus on the conformity aspect. Now lets say you are trying to get a person to change for you, and they happen to try and conform to you. If you're expecting them to be someone that they're not, how long do you think that they'll be able to go along with it before going back to who they truly are? Like it or not, the old saying that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is a fact. Most people are who they truly are at their core, and the only change that will often happen is the one that make for themselves; not others. Either way whether there is conformity or resistance, you likely won't get the end result that you desire when it comes to changing others. Furthermore, both of these can lead to friction in a relationship, which can ultimately derail everything. Then what? You've probably lost someone that you truly care for because you wouldn't allow them to be themselves.

So we've arrived at the the point of this week's topic where we sum it all and bring it to a close. Why exactly is it of importance for us to accept people for who they are? From my perspective and besides the obvious that we've already addressed, overloading yourself with what others can be an added burden to your life. There are people in this world that really become entrenched so much in others lives that it affects their mental health. We should be striving to not be like this, but we should also be striving to be tolerant of others. We all have friends and family members that we may not agree with their lifestyles, and there are people that we're close to that more than likely feel the same way about us. You don't want people dictating you and telling you how to live, right? The same logic applies when it comes to others as well. You don't want to add an extra strain to your life because you can't accept others, and you certainly do not want to fall out with someone because you may have controlling tendencies. Again, there is a difference in wanting to intervene when you see trouble vs. pushing for change in part due to your own personal gain. Accept people for who they are, and you'll come to realize how much more your relationships with others will thrive.

Well that about sums up what I have to say this week, so I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now. Thank you once again to those of you that came by. I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that was able to be taken away from this. If any of you have anything that you'd like to contribute to this topic, please feel free to do so in the comment section. Also, if you're on Twitter and would like to connect with me, you can find me at the handle @BradrickH. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope you all have a great week ahead, and I'll see you all on the next topic. Peace!