Friday, July 22, 2016

The Only Way To Be Rewarded For Your Suffering Is To Endure.

"You're already in pain, get a reward for it." Those are the words from popular motivational speaker Eric Thomas in his viral video on Youtube titled 'The Secret to Success'. I'd highly recommend anyone who has yet to view this particular video to give it a look. Mr. Thomas touched on many important points in that video, but the words he spoke that I quoted earlier have been resonating with me recently. As human beings, we're naturally inclined to give up whenever we're facing any kind of adversity we're not accustomed to. It's almost as if our bodies and minds are programmed to shutdown whenever we're confronted with something out of our levels of comfort. I believe this notion applies to every aspect of our lives regardless of what type of challenges we're facing. I believe the biggest thing with facing obstacles that do not coincide with our level of comfort deals with growth. Having a willingness to endure in times of hardships is how growth happens, and growth is one of the biggest regards that comes from suffering.

Hey, how's it going ladies and gentlemen? It's your guy Brad H. once again, and welcome to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I'm back at it once again to give my perspective on another topic that I feel will not only be beneficial to myself, but hopefully to you all as well. At least that is my hope. I hope that you all have been maintaining since the last time we spoke, and like always if that hasn't been the case for you, keep on holding your head up high. Things can always get better or worse for us, but the better will not come without some effort and a positive state of mind on our part. As for me personally, things have been pretty good since the last installment. Some of you may know that I'm a San Antonio Spurs fan, so you can imagine that I was disappointed to hear about the retiring of longtime Spur Tim Duncan. I've always admired him as a player, and I hate that I never got to see him play in person. However, after such a long and distinguished career in the NBA, I suppose it was about time for him to get out. Thanks for the memories Tim, and I'm certain most fans of the Spurs feel the same way. There are also a few birthdays happening within my family the next few days. Actually, there was one celebrated yesterday. One of my cousin's will be turning 18, and his little brother celebrated his very first birthday yesterday (June, 20). Also, today is my grandmother's youngest brother birthday. It's kind of amazing when you think about how much time seems to pass so quick. I can remember when the 18 year old wasn't even a year old yet, and now he is grown. I can also remember writing last year about the birth of his younger brother whose birthday was yesterday. Kinda hard to believe that it's been a year already. At any rate, although I will be seeing them both, I want to say Happy Birthday to both Biggie and Zay, as well as my great uncle Grover. Now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a bit, it's time to get into this week's topic that deals with being rewarded for your suffering.

Like I always mention in my writings, a person's individual viewpoint on a topic will always vary. My focus here isn't to put too much credence into what may be considered to be right or wrong, but rather to give anyone that reads these posts something to hopefully think on and evaluate further. If that happens to be the case for you personally, then these entries are doing exactly what they're intended to do. The main thing for me here is to use this platform as a way to express my views and opinions. If anyone happens to feel differently or disagree with my views on this or any of the topics I write about, that is totally okay with me. So we're going to be discussing how enduring our struggles is the the only way to be rewarded for your suffering. Besides drawing inspiration from Eric Thomas as I mentioned earlier, I've been dealing with some personal issues as of late that I'm looking to see through to the other side. It's not anything serious or life-threatening, just some habits that I'm trying to cut off that I feel will give me a better clarity of mind, body, and spirit. We're all aware that it isn't always easy to break habits, and sometimes there will be some pain and suffering on the journey towards breaking them. However, I do believe there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, and that's what I keep telling myself on my personal journey.

Now what is suffering? What exactly qualifies as suffering? Everyone is different and have different interpretations of what they consider to be suffering, so it's purely subjective for the most part. The official definition of suffering that I found is; "the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship." When the majority of us think of suffering, we normally liken it to something that deals with the more serious aspects of life. Examples of this could be the loss of a loved one, financial hardships, or dealing with chronic illnesses and diseases. These are only a few examples of suffering, and I think we can agree that they are definitely the most serious examples that I'm going to provide. Unfortunately in most cases, these examples often come with no real rewards or benefits. While all of these examples, as well as any other serious forms of suffering is both unfortunate and sad in many cases, I want to address suffering from a lesser perspective than the examples I mentioned. I'm aiming to view it from the perspective of having to endure the suffering that is required in order to achieve something you may want. I'm talking about the kind of suffering that we sometimes purposefully choose to put ourselves through in hopes to see a greater reward in the end.

So what I am referring to when I talk about the kind of suffering that we intentionally choose to put ourselves through? From my perspective, I'm thinking of various achievements and goals that we may be striving to reach. It doesn't always have to necessarily have a tangible reward at its conclusion, but the completion of it leaves you a sense of joy and accomplishment that can't be bought by any price. I want you to think about this for an example. Imagine someone running in a marathon or any kind of distance related race. Throughout the course of testing your body to the limits and physical rigors required to finish, there is going to be some form of pain and suffering along the way. Now imagine the person running the race quitting at the halfway point because it has become too uncomfortable for them. Think of it like jumping out into the deep end of a swimming pool without a life vest. Now I'm not saying that a person should push themselves to the point of harming their body. However, the point I'm trying to prove that quitting while we're facing any kind of adversity won't leave us with a sense of fulfillment if we know we didn't do our best with whatever task is at hand. You can liken it to one of those feelings we have when something is wrong or missing in your life, even if everything else may be going right for you.

Before I bring this post to a close, I want everyone to realize that regardless of what kind of suffering you may be enduring, whatever you're dealing with is exactly where you're supposed to be at that moment. I'm one of those people that doesn't feel that things happen by accident. Furthermore, I want to stress this point. Anytime you're facing challenges that are causing you pain and suffering, that's probably where all the change and growth is happening in your life. This is the exact reason to keep on enduring when you want to give up. The only way to truly test your character and know what you're made of is if you're willing to go through the pain and suffering that is required. It's kinda like a rights of passage in my opinion. Again, we're always going to have that inkling of doubt that wants to trick us into giving up because it doesn't feel comfortable. However, like I mention in most of my writings, this is where the power of the mind comes into play. We can get through nearly anything with a strong and healthy mind. So to all my friends out there facing challenges, keep on enduring if you're able. There is always a greater payoff for your suffering if you're willing to stay the course, and I truly believe that we'll become better people at the end for our willingness to endure.

Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to go ahead and end this one. I believe that I was able to get my point across in this installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. Thank you once again to everyone that stopped by. My hope is that there was some meaning and understanding gained by this post. Of course if that wasn't the case for you, your visit here is always both welcomed and appreciated. I hope that everyone has a great weekend ahead, and feel free to drop any feedback or comments. Alright I'm out of this joint so until next time, I go by the name of Brad H., and I wish you all peace and positive thoughts. Peace!

©2016 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Friday, July 8, 2016

The Importance Of Not Allowing Other Peoples Negative Vibrations To Affect You.

It is a statement that has been uttered a countless amount of times by many, but "negativity exists everywhere within our world." While many of us try not to put too much energy into the many negative aspects that come along with living life, the fact is that we're always going to encounter negativity in some shape or form. Probably the biggest form of negativity that we will encounter comes in the form of people that we have encounters with. It may come from someone as close to us as a family member, or be as distant to us as a random person that we may encounter out in public. Regardless of how close or distant someone with a negative vibe may be during our encounters with them, people that bring negative energy can have the same damaging impact on our psyche if we allow them to. The key phrase in the previous sentence that I want to stress is "if we allow them to." I stress this phrase because although we encounter others with negative vibrations, we are the ones that often allow their negative vibrations to rub off on us. Allowing other peoples negative vibrations to affect us isn't beneficial nor helpful to our lives, but it's something that we're all going to have to address at sometime or another. Things happen and some circumstances can't be prevented, however, the way we choose to react to others is something we do have control over.

Hey, how's it going ladies and gentlemen? It's your boy Brad H. checking back in with you all once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that you all have been doing great and staying positive since the last entry. Of course if that hasn't been the case for you, keep holding your head up high and continue to strive for better in your life. I know it can be a hard thing to implement during trying times, but have some patience and faith that everything will work itself out in due time. As for me personally, things have been going pretty good since the last installment. This past Sunday (July 3) was a special day for myself and many of my family members. It marked the day that my late Aunt Gloria, who I've mentioned several times in previous posts would have celebrated her 70th birthday. Her daughter and grandchildren gave her a celebration party, so it was great being able to attend that. While she is greatly missed by myself and others who loved her, it was comforting to be able to celebrate her life with those that she was the closest to during her time on this Earth. I know that her spirit was somewhere smiling down on everywhere that attended the event. I just want to say again Happy 70th birthday to you Aunt G. We will always love and miss you. Now that I've talked about what's been going on in my world as of late, lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of the importance of now allowing other peoples negative vibrations affect you.

As I always mention in my writings, I realize that a person's individual viewpoint on a topic will always vary. My focus here isn't to put too much energy into what may be considered to be right or wrong, but rather to give anyone that reads these posts something to hopefully think about and evaluate further. The main thing here is to use this platform as a way to express my views and opinions. If anyone happens to feel differently or disagree with my views on this or any of the topics I write about, that is totally okay with me. So as I've stated, we're going to be discussing the importance of not allowing others negative vibes to affect us. The inspiration for writing about this topic came from a guy that I follow on Youtube. He made s video awhile back that dealt with how other peoples vibrations can have a negative affect us. I've been pondering on several points that he stated in regards to this topic, and much of what he said made a lot of sense to me. The main point that I'm going to touch on in this entry is how energy and vibrations subconsciously play a large part in how we react to others. With that being said, I want to be sure to add that anything that I talk about in this post applies to me as well.

As I've grown wiser and more aware with the understandings of life, I've come to realize how much "energy" plays a factor in nearly every aspect of life. There are all forms of energies flowing through this Earth that we occupy. There are various forms energy flowing through almost everything that we see and encounter, and this isn't only limited to living things. Think of plants, trees, the grass, etc for example. Although these are not considered to be living beings, they still contain and have various energies flowing within that give them a certain form of life. The life force that is carried by the things I mentioned isn't always obvious, but it's there despite us not always being able to see it outright. Most people normally classify the various energies of this Earth as being either positive or negative. While I am a firm believer that the classification of energy goes beyond just being positive or negative, the general gist of life shows us that both positive and negative forms of energy dominate our being. Furthermore, what is considered to be positive or negative energy is left up to each individual to interpret.

Now going back to the point of how energy plays a factor in our lives. Whether we're aware of it or not, we are constantly absorbing energy every second that we live. Think of this as an example; when you're in a closed room with a person or a group of people, you are inhaling the same air that they're taking in and breathing out. The same applies for those people as well when they're around you. They're absorbing your energy as well. Whether you believe it or not, the vibrations of the people that we're around are rubbing off on us also. Again, it may not be something happening intentionally, but it's happening on a subconscious level. It's not the same as when you're outdoors breathing in that natural air from the Earth. I believe that natural energy that comes from the Earth is better for us compared to the kind of enclosed energy we receive from the presence of others. We don't always generate the same energy from people as we do naturally from the Earth. So what does any of this have to do with this week's topic you may ask? Well, it doesn't have a lot to do with it from a technical standpoint, but the mission is to show how other peoples energies and vibrations can factor into how we go about our lives, which can ultimately have either a positive or negative effect on our state of being. As I mentioned, much of this takes place on a subconscious level, but there are ways out there to combat against the negative energies that others may bring our way.

So why is it important to not allow others negative vibrations to affect us? I think the answer to that is pretty self explanatory, but the simple answer is that we don't need the negative vibrations of other people affecting us, because we want to focus on staying as positive as we possibly can. From my perspective, I believe that the biggest way to fight against the negative vibrations of others is to focus on limiting the negative things that society and the media throws at us. I know I'm beginning to sound repetitive here, but there are things that we often give life to inside of our minds. When you watch and listen to the various images that are being shown online and through television, we are subconsciously planting those images within our minds. I think that making an effort to limit these negative images can help in allowing us to develop a certain level of immunity to the negative vibrations that others throw our way. You cannot control who you come across and the vibes they throw off, but you can work towards developing an almost impenetrable like force field to protect you from their negative energies.

Well I hope I was able to get the point that I was trying to make across. I'm going to go ahead and sign off for this time, but thank you again to everyone that stopped through for another entry of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. Like I always mention in my closings, I hope that some meaning and understanding was gained through this. Even if someone didn't find this to be helpful or insightful, I'm still grateful of those that take out the time to read. If you have anything that you want to contribute to this topic, please feel free to leave comments. I'm always open to listening to what others think. Alright I'm out folks, so until next time my name is Brad H., and I wish you all peace and positive thoughts. See you all in the next one.

©2016 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.