The Importance Of Mind Management.

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There has been a common theme that I've used via this platform over the years, and that theme would be our mind and how we as people use it. Though I've talked about the mind for years now, as I've looked back at some of the topics I've covered throughout this year, I've come to realize that I've discussed topics that correlate to our minds quite a bit. I can't say definitively that this was done intentionally. I suppose that since I had to think out the topics that I've written about this year, the idea of addressing the mind regularly was done intentionally. Whether it was done intentionally is neither here nor there, but what truly matters to me is that I do what I can to help us open up our minds. Now the word health is a term that can have many different associations that come with it. Often times when we hear people talk about the general aspect of the term "health", it is normally associated with the physical aspect of life. Most of us that think of health initially equate it to looking and feeling physically healthy. Physical health is most definitely an important area of our lives that much be given attention to. However, the mental aspect of health is one that I think many of us tend to forget about. Now most of you know by now that I'm a big sports fan, and there has been a term that has been used to describe the act of resting an athlete to minimize the risk of injury to that athlete. The term has been more frequently used in the NBA, but it appears that it's gaining relevance in other athletic arenas as well. The term that I'm referring to is "load management". Since I'm one that believes both life and sports are similar when it comes to competition, and I also speak on the mind quite a bit, I figure I'd come with my own term to minimizing damage to our minds. I'm talking about mind management.

Hello once again good people! This is Brad H. reporting once again, and I'd like to once again welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here once again to give my perspective on a topic that I feel would help keep us all motivated. Big ups once again to those of you that are joining me once again. Well the end of the year is closely approaching with Christmas just around the corner. This means that this will be the final topic that I address for the year 2019. I've mentioned this before, but I like to reflect a lot on the year when December rolls around. I tend to do a general evaluation on the year as a way to bring to light the highlights of the year, as well as things that I can improve on. Overall the year 2019 has been sort of meh. There were definitely some high points this year that make this year good. One of them was getting to see the Houston Astros play live for the first time. I also had a terrific birthday this year that built off the great birthday I had in 2018. There have also been some lows this year that made this year a difficult one. An example of one of those low was one of my good friend's father passing away unexpectedly. There were some other low moments that I could bring up, but there is no need for me to get all into that since this platform is one that I aim to keep positive. But before I get into this week's topic, I just want to again say thank you to everyone that has read or gave insight on anything that I've talked about on here. It truly means the world to me to know that my thoughts have been beneficial to other people in some capacity. I appreciate all of you, and I hope that the upcoming Christmas holiday brings you all the best. Now that I've reflected via my soapbox for a bit, lets go ahead and talk about the importance of mind management.

I'm sure that a good portion of you are thinking to yourselves; what in the heck is mind management, and why would Brad H. come up with a term like this? As I stated earlier, mind management is just a play on the sports term load management that I'm using to make the my I'm aiming to make. So we've established already what load management means when it comes to professional sports. From my perspective, the same logic applies when it comes the management of our minds. By now most of us know that anything that you care for in this life needs nurture and attention to have proper maintenance. When you think of a professional athlete that engages in a sport for a particular team, that player is an investment for whichever organization he plays for. Keeping that player active and healthy as possible is one of the sole missions the organization is tasked with. Now load management in general is something that has quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. A lot of fans dislike it because it keeps what are deemed healthy players from playing in games that the fans pay money for. All of that is besides the point, but the fact of the matter is that we as people have to treat our minds as if it's one of our valued assets. You have to be willing to view yourself as an organization, and your mind is your star player or head coach that you can't afford to lose. This ultimately means that you have to find ways to manage your mind in ways that are healthy for you.

Now that I've setup what my own perspective of what I believe mind management is, I want to get into why I believe that our minds need to be managed. I'm certain by now that I probably sound like a broken record talking about the excess amount of information that we take in on a daily basis these days. I've gone way more in depth on this in previous topics, so obviously there is no point in covering that aspect once again. For this particular topic, I want to come from more of a perspective of how it is inevitable that we're going to have moments when our minds are going to be overloaded at times. Beyond just taking in unhealthy amounts of information via our minds daily, we often overwork and overuse our minds by thinking too much. Worrying excessively is another unhealthy trait that consumes our minds on a regular basis if we're not careful. When we think of such habits like worrying and overthinking, many of us come from a perspective of just not doing them. While I do feel that these are bad habits, they are also habits that are near impossible to cut out completely. There isn't a single one of us that can say we never worry or stress out at times. We're human beings, not robots. This means that there is always going to be some degree of things that we put into our minds that we probably shouldn't. It all boils down to managing both the good and bad things in which we put into our minds, which ultimately brings me to the theme of this topic.

So why do I feel that it is of importance for us to practice mind management? We've already talked about the load management comparison and how load management helps prevent athletes from being injured due to being overused. Well from my personal perspective, the idea of overuse applies to our mind also. I believe that the mind can always be burnt out if it is overused, moreover, not managing our minds properly causes us to put too much emphasis on one particular thing. I believe that from my own personal perspective that it is never good to be thinking too much about one thing. My main reasoning for this is because I believe that focusing too much on one thing causes us to neglect other things that are important in our lives. I'm sure that many of you can relate to what I'm about to say, but there have been a countless amount of times when I've forgotten something because I was thinking too much about something in particular. We're all guilty of doing this, and it is quite a normal thing for us to do. Though I may be understanding of the normality of this habit, it doesn't excuse the fact that it's something that we can work towards bettering. Also, I want to mention that it is perfectly okay for us to rest our minds at time. We don't have to always be doing or thinking about something. I know that the society we live in kinda forces us to always be actively thinking about something, but that doesn't mean that we always have to engage in it. Ease your mind sometimes if you're able to. The key thing that I want to end this on is that it's all about balance and moderation. Manage your minds people, and you'll gain a level of peace that you probably never imagined you could have.

That pretty much sums up the topic of the week on the importance of mind management. I hope that it was both inspirational and enjoyable for you all to read. It is time for me to depart for now, so I'd like to once again thank you all for tuning into another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As always, if any of you have anything you'd like to contribute to this topic, please feel free to do so in the comment section. You can also connect with me on Twitter if you'd like. I can be reached @BradrickH on there. I'd like to once again thank you all for another year, especially the people that regularly tune in. Enjoy Christmas, and I hope you all have a great rest of 2019. I'll see you all in 2020! God bless you all, and peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Playing To Your Strengths.

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It's been proven throughout time that we as people are constantly seeking to improve upon the things we already have. It's almost mind boggling when you think of how there was once a time where house phones were the only way for people to talk on the phone. Now house phones are pretty much a rarity, and mobile communication is the norm. I bring the point of seeking improvement up because like the upgrades to technology example that I used, we as people in general are often looking to upgrade ourselves. What do I mean by this? Many of us are seeking to make our lives better in various aspects in order for us to live better lives. I'm pretty certain that most of you would agree with this, and I am right there with you in agreeing on this. Now in order for us to expand upon and improve our lives, we have to first acknowledge what areas that we need to improve. These things could be classified as weaknesses right? Strength and weaknesses are characteristics that we all posses. Regardless of how strong or weak you may in certain areas, or how they level out when it comes to the number of each that we posses, the fact remains that there is nobody that is all one or the other. When it comes to our weaknesses, I believe that they are attributes that we should definitely work on improving. However, there are many of us that don't fully use and capitalize on our strengths to the best of our capacity. This is a huge problem from my perspective, and I think it is of great importance for us to play to our strengths in today's society.

YO! What's up once again everybody? This is Brad H. once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! For all the first time readers, this is platform where I give my perspective on a topic that will hopefully serve as inspiration in our lives. Glad to have you all here once again. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, and that you are enjoying the month of December thus far. Man this year has gone by so fast right? So hard to believe that in less than a month that 2020 will be here. So for my soapbox this week, I'm going to address my Dallas Cowboys. So we saw them lose the Thanksgiving Day game to the Buffalo Bills, and this past Thursday we say them drop another to the Chicago Bears. Despite all of that, they are still in first place in the NFC East. Crazy right? Shows how weak that division is, but the biggest topic the last few weeks has been whether their owner Jerry Jones should fire head coach Jason Garrett. Now I personally think back to the year when Jerry fired then head coach Wade Phillips. That was in 2009 or 2010 I believe. Before Phillips was fired, the Cowboys were playing like absolute trash. They looked like a team that had given up on their coach, and it showed because when Phillips was fired and Garrett was promoted, the team started playing better. I bring this up because I see some semblance of that happening now. It looks to me like this team doesn't believe in Garrett anymore. Now I could be wrong, but when I see a team not executing like the Cowboys haven't been doing, I believe that it's a coaching issue. We will see how this all plays out, but I do believe that this will be Garrett's last year at the helm. Wit the lack of success the Cowboys have had in the last couple decades, I would say it's long overdue at this point. Alright, now that I've rambled about my team for a bit, lets talk more about the importance of playing to your strengths.

When it comes to us as individuals having both strength and weaknesses, I believe that it is important to put thing into the right context. This is one of the main reasons why I wanted to bring this topic to fruition, but the other goal with this is to hopefully inspire others to recognize their gifts. Now I mentioned earlier that our weaknesses should never totally be neglected. This especially applies when we're weak at something that has bearing on our lives. For example, if you're weak a speaking publicly and you have to take a public speaking course in college, working on improving that is crucial to how the end result will be for you in that class. Then there are other weaknesses that may not be as relevant to our lives. An example of this could be a person that is weak when it comes to a particular sport. Unless you're someone that plans on making a career out of whatever sport you're bad at, the idea of not being as strong in this area of your life probably won't matter much. Again, I'm of the belief it is better to put more emphasis towards improving in the areas of your life where it affects your livelihood. Our weaknesses definitely should matter in our lives, but as I pointed out earlier in this topic, there are many of us that do not fully maximize our strengths in this life. I believe that many of us don't even fully recognize most of our strengths, but for those of us that may do, we often allow them to take the backseat to the aspects of our lives where were we're weaker.

Now before I go into why I think it is important for us to play to our strengths, I want to try and setup where I am going with this topic. So what do I mean when I say that many of us do not fully maximize our strengths? This is a question that is subjective to whatever context that it is put into. My personal belief of this is that many of us do not fully apply the things that we're good at for the sake of bettering ourselves. Many of us have gifts and talents that we do not fully capitalize on, and because we don't, we find that it is more difficult for us to progress. Now as I alluded to earlier, much of this isn't our fault due to the fact that a lot of us don't fully know or understand our strengths. In order to know what your strengths are in this life, you have to be a self aware individual. That is beside the point, but the fact remains that suppression of our minds, along with focusing on irrelevant things often keep us stagnated. Since we're in the heart of the NFL season, I'm going to use a football example. When you think of a team like the Baltimore Ravens who have a scrambling quarterback in Lamar Jackson, along with a very good running back in Mark Ingram, wouldn't it make the most sense for them to use their running attack to progress their offense? If you watch football, you know that is what their team does, and they have been successful at it so far. When it comes to us as people, we have to identify our strengths and use them to our benefit.

All of this brings us to the main theme of this topic, which is the importance of playing to your strengths. Why do I personally believe it's important for us to play to our strengths? Besides the obvious idea of playing to your strengths gives you a better chance to succeed at whatever you're strong at, focusing too much on your weaknesses can lead to frustration and depression. From my own personal perspective, I believe that when we don't put precedence in our strengths in life, it leaves us too much energy to focus on the things we're not as good at. I'm sure that most of you at some point in your life tried doing something that you had a hard time figuring out, and to be quite honest, you probably become frustrated if you weren't able to do so. Maybe you later figured it out and become good at it, but there are times when that isn't always the case. There are just some things in our lives that you're never going to be good at, and that's okay. You don't have to drive yourself nuts trying to figure out something that isn't meant for you to learn. You have to focus more on the areas of your life that you do excel at. Those are the areas that will lead you towards having a better and more productive life. If something works for you and you're good at doing it, keep on pushing that instead of worrying about the things you're weaker at. We all have strengths in our lives, and those individual strengths are tailored just for us. Exploit those, and don't necessarily neglect your weaknesses, but put less focus into them if they're not benefiting you.

Well we've reached the conclusion of this week's topic, so I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now. Thank you all once again for stopping in for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I'm am truly grateful for everyone that has read, commented, and tweeted anything that I've ever written. If you feel the desire to do any of those things with this topic, please feel free to do so. You can also follow me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. Christmas is right around the corner, and I hope that everyone is in the Christmas spirit. If you happen not to be in the spirit, put on some good Christmas music and see if that helps. Matter of fact, listen to one of my favorites called "This Christmas" by Donnie Hathaway. That is a beautiful Christmas song, but I'm sure most of you have heard it before. Alright, I'm out of here, so I'll see you all in the next topic. Have a good week ahead, and peace!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Attempting To Be Happy.

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I think that the good majority of us can agree that we all would like to experience as much happiness as we possibly can while we're alive. Of course we do have exceptions to that belief with the people that are miserable, and seem to enjoy having it that way. For the people that have unhappiness in their nature, that's their prerogative I suppose. My only quarrel with people like this is that they are often the ones that attempt to steal the joy of others because their unhappy. That's a topic for another day, but I definitely believe that most of us want peace and happiness in our lives for the most part. Happiness is one of those things that is truly a mindset. It is essentially a state of being that varies from person to person. However, I am a firm believer that it is something that rests solely on our shoulders. It is our responsibility to define what happiness means to us personally, and then take the necessary steps to reach that state of bliss. Something that I've noticed in regards to happiness and how the world we live in deems it is the idea that being unhappy comes from having a lack of items. There are many people out there in this world that truly believe that the only way to be happy is to acquire a lot of material things. In essence, this is what I would call social engineering, and it's a trap that many of us fall. In my opinion, this type of agenda causes us to stay in a state of unhappiness, even when we may have much to be happy for. Because of this type of engineering, I believe that many of us give up on the idea of finding and experiencing happiness. This is why I feel that it is of importance for us to attempt to find happiness.

Hello once again good people! This is Brad H. coming at you all once again, and you are now tuned into another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! For those that may be first time viewers, this is a platform I use to express my thoughts on a topic that I come up with as a point of interest. I try and use that topic to provide some inspiration that can hopefully serve us all in our lives. How are you all doing this time around? Good I hope. This section of the topic for the week is the soapbox section where I bring up something that is unrelated to the main topic at hand. So this upcoming week will mark the Thanksgiving holiday for many across the world. This is something that I try and bring up every year on my topics, because I think it is something that gets overlooked a lot during the holidays. I want to remind everyone to be mindful of those that are grieving during this time of the year. Yes I do know that the holidays are special for many of us, but the holidays also makes people think about their loved ones that are no longer here. I've talked about it before on here, but I lost a dear family member of mines six years ago during the week of Thanksgiving. Because of that unfortunate event, I tend to look at Thanksgiving a bit differently than I once did. I'm sure many of you can relate to this. I'll close by encouraging you all to call and check up on someone you know that may have lost someone around this time period in the past. Make sure they are holding up okay, and for those you that are personally affected by this, remember that the spirits of our loved ones live on through us. That's all for my soapbox, so lets go ahead and talk about the importance of attempting to be happy.

Now I talked earlier about how I feel that we as people have been socially engineered by the world we live in when it comes to happiness. My reasoning for bringing this up is because I believe that we can all agree that there are so many of us that just aren't happy in life. I know that sounds depressing and self deprecating, but it is a reality for so many of us. Now there are likely some instances where it is genuinely both reasonable and understandable for a person to not be happy. I will also admit that there are different levels when it comes to being happy, so happiness cannot be viewed as something in a vacuum. However, how many of us complain about not being happy despite having some semblance of things that we should be happy for? Most of us have so much to be happy for; heck even just being among the living is something worth being happy for. Unfortunately due to the societal norms that have placed upon us, many of us are unable to see past the fact that many of us do have reasons to have some level of happiness. We spend too much of our mental space focusing our time and energy towards all the reasons we shouldn't be happy, rather than focusing more on the things that we already have. Again, this isn't entirely our fault because I think it has become habitual for us to view life in this way. Most of have been conditioned to view the glass as being half empty over half full, and if we practice bad habits on a everyday basis, those habits become ingrained in our psyche to the point where it's hard to break free of these habits.

Now I brought up earlier the habits and conditioning by society to set up the next point that I want to make for this topic. Hopefully what I'm about to say doesn't come across as too harsh, but the reality for most of us that experience chronic unhappiness in our live is that we are choosing not to be happy. Yes, I am one of those people that indeed do feel that happiness is a choice, and I'm going to expand on that point by saying this. There are many of us aren't even trying to find happiness in our lives. Now some people may read that and say; "Brad H., what do you mean I'm not trying to be happy?" My response to that question would be this; how can you be attempting to find happiness if you're still under the programming that conditions when it comes to happiness? If you've yet to truly break free of the standard of happiness that society has set upon us, how can you truly attempt to have happiness. See, most of us feel like the only way for us to be happy is if we have all these various material items, etc. Too many of us believe that by chasing after these things is the only way for us to attempt to be happy. I personally believe from my perspective that attempting to find happiness means changing our mindset. The thing with happiness is that it always comes in waves. Even people that are generally happy in their lives will go through patches where they experience a lack of happiness. Again, it comes in waves, but changing our mindset is the only way that we can attempt to achieve happiness.

So ultimately, why do I feel is it of importance for us to attempt to be happy? Besides the obvious benefits that come along with being happy in this life, the idea of breaking our minds free of the societal shackles is the main reason from my own perspective. In my opinion, these shackles that I'm referencing in this topic are the reason for many of us to not even trying have happiness. This is why I believe so many of us would rather complain about how messed up our lives are rather than trying to see a better outlook on our lives. As I brought up earlier on this installment, many of us have a lot of things in this life to be happy for. Unfortunately, we often fail to recognize these things because of what we've been deceived into believing what happiness is by the world we live. The bottom line is that if you're someone that experiences long term periods of being unhappy with life, your life and your mind likely will not change until you attempt to do something about it. I believe the best way for us to do this is to start looking at the little things in our lives that most of us take for granted. If you have people in your life that truly love and care for you, that is definitely something to be happy for. If you woke up today and you're breathing, that is something to be extremely happy for. There are many other reasons as to why we should express happiness, but it ultimately comes down to us as individuals. What I do know for sure is that we'll never be happy if we don't try to be, so lets try and change our thoughts to manifest happiness into our lives. There is always hope, but we have to be willing to try.

That about sums up this topic. I've pretty much said all that I think needs to have been said, so I'm going to go ahead and sign off. Thank you all once again to those of you that have read this far. I really appreciate every single person that does. I hope that this topic served as some inspiration for some of you out there. If you have any comments or feedback to give, please feel free to do so. You can also connect with me on Twitter @BradrickH if you like. For those that celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your family and the week ahead. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' brought to you by Brad H. Take care everyone, and I'll see you all in the month of December.

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Keeping Your Mind Simple.

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I know that I probably sound like a broken record when I bring up the topic of being cautious of the things we take in. This is something that I've talked about very many times on here, and I highly doubt that there will ever come a time where I no longer have a need not to. For those of you that may not know what I mean by being cautious of what we take in, I'm referring to all the information that comes at us on a daily basis. Things such as the news, social media, etc, are examples of what I mean by this. We live in an era where information is always readily available to the point where I feel as if our brains have a hard time taking it all in due to the constant release of it. One of the terms that people in the fitness industry use is "overtraining". Overtraining is described as "a point where a person may have a decrease in performance and plateauing as a result of failure to consistently perform at a certain level or training load; a load which exceeds their recovery capacity." I bring up the term overtraining because I feel that it pretty describes what many of us do to our minds when it comes to taking in information. Now I'm not going to get on here and say that we should never take in any kind of information. I mean if you're reading this, you are more than likely not someone that doesn't use the internet or social media in general. Living in a society where the internet and social media is the norm makes it extremely difficult to avoid. However, just with the overtraining term that I brought up, many of us willingly consume too much information that is quite frankly unnecessary to our lives. I believe there is where the problem lies, and brings me to this week's topic on why I believe it is of importance to keep your mind simple.

What's going on everybody in the land of the internet? This is Brad H. back once again, and you are not tuned into another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is the blog where I give my perspective on a topic that I think could be helpful for us all. Glad to have you all joining me once again for a week of introspection. As usual before we get down to this week's topic breakdown, I'm going to get on my soapbox and talk briefly about something that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Boy, talk about a downward spiral huh? I know that sounds a bit weird being that you all have no idea what I'm talking about. I am talking about the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. After being such a juggernaut for the past several years, they look like a team that won't even be able to sniff the playoffs. Now I know losing Kevin Durant and not having Klay Thompson for this season were big blows to their squad. Now Stephen Curry is down, and Draymond Green is also dealing with injuries. The thing that shocked me just a bit was how bad they were looking even before Curry and Green went down. I knew they weren't going to be what they have been, but I figured they would at least be able to get into the playoffs with Curry still there. I know they have a lot of young players, and their team has pretty much done a total overhaul. But with that being said, it's kinda hard to feel bad for them being that they had such a good run of being at the top. It's still early in the season, so we'll have to see how things unfold. I just know that I'm happy that basketball is back. Now that I've gotten on my soapbox, lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of keeping your mind simple.

Before we get into the heart of the topic on the importance of keeping your mind simple, I thought it would be beneficial to establish that there is a clear cut difference when it comes to the mind and the idea of keeping it simple. I know many of you are aware of this already, however, I figured I would point this out before going further with my main points for this topic. Now for most people that would maybe hear a statement that could describe someone as being a simple minded individual, there will likely be a negative association that goes along with this statement. I will admit that I happen to be one that would agree with anyone that views a simple minded person as something negative. Now in saying that, I'm not attempting to belittle or bash people that could be viewed as being simple minded. The truth is that we all are simple minded at various periods of our lives, and most people that are seen as simple minded often times just don't know any better. Negativity is definitely associated with the idea of being simple minded, but of course that isn't what we're talking about with this week's topic. From my perspective, there is a big difference between being simple minded, and keeping your mind simple. I wanted to address this because I want to make sure that no one confuses this topic as one that encourage us to dumb ourselves down. Now that we've established the difference between being simple minded and keeping your mind simple, what exactly does keeping your mind simple entail exactly?

When I think of a person that aims to keep their mind simple, I pretty much liken it to someone that is a minimalist. People that are viewed as minimalists often keep their lives simple from a standpoint of not having a ton of clutter in their lives. These are people that basically only keep the necessities in their lives because they realize that having too much of anything in your life can weigh you down. I believe that this same logic applies when it comes to our minds from my own personal perspective. We as people have a tendency to bog down and fill our lives, and our minds up with meaningless things that add up to being toxic clutter for our minds. I brought up earlier in this post how we already have so much information that we're taking in daily. Some of what we take in can't be helped, and depending on what it is we're taking in, it can be valuable for us. On the flip side of the coin, there are also things that we needlessly consume in our minds. When I think of this, bad habits such as gossiping and being overly concerned with the affairs of others are examples of this. From my perspective, when you engage in these types of habits, you are essentially corrupting your mind. Doing things like gossiping about others are poison to our spirits in my opinion, and we know that our mind and spirit go hand in hand with one another. Doing things like this excessively not only adds unnecessary clutter to your mind, but it also keeps your mind running consistently. This ultimately brings me to the point of why I feel it is of importance to keep our minds simple.

So we've talked about having too much clutter in your life and how it potentially leads to toxic habits. Well from my perspective, when we unnecessarily bring things that could be deemed as clutter into our minds, we tend to develop the habit of overthinking. It brings us to a point where we potentially make things in our lives more complicated than they need to be. This also includes our relationships with other people as well. A common theme that I've brought up in this subject is the word "over". Just like when I brought up the overtraining example earlier in the topic, overthinking is just as damaging from my perspective. This is why I believe it is importance for us as people to keep our minds simple. Getting to a point where our minds operate in a healthy way is the ideal here. I believe it is difficult to do this when our minds are filled up with so much clutter. It makes it hard for us to think and process things, and that makes our lives even more complicated. Am I saying that we shouldn't be on a path towards knowledge and information? Absolutely not. What I'm saying is that we have to learn to let go of habits that can be corrupting to our minds. I do realize that breaking bad habits isn't easy, and this is something that I've brought up on here before. But I am also a believer that the same way you develop a habit, you can also train yourself to unbreak it. At the end of it all, I just believe in adopting a minimalist approach in all areas of our lives. It's time for us to examine ourselves, and start ridding our minds and our lives of clutter. Make the decision to keep your mind simple today.

That pretty much sums up what I wanted to discuss when it comes to the importance of keeping your mind simple. I hope that you all enjoyed it, and most importantly I hope that it was of some benefit to some of you. 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. You can also follow me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. November is here folks, so the year is quickly coming to an end. However, just because this year is about to go out doesn't mean that we can't make the next couple of months great! This has been another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' brought to you by Brad H. I hope you all have a great weekend, and an even greater week ahead. Take care everyone, and I'll see you all on the next topic. Peace!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

How Staying On Your Purpose Can Be A Remedy For Bad Habits.

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Habits, habits, habits! You have them, I have them, we all have them. I feel like habits are a topic of interest that I have talked about on here plenty of times in the past. That is definitely the case due the fact that I'm a person that feels that habits can be a deterrence towards productivity. In saying that, I'm not saying that habits are all bad. There are a lot of good habits that a person can have, and that's a terrific thing. However, I think that most of us can agree that our bad habits are more of a problem in our lives than our good habits. It is for that reason why I feel that more credence has to be given to our bad habits. The idea is that ridding our lives of bad habits can help in creating more good habits. If you ask me, this is a win/win situation. Ridding ourselves of bad habits isn't always an easy thing to do. If we're being honest here, there are some bad habits that many of us have that we'll never truly be free of. Even if you have a habit that is deemed bad that you're having a hard time getting out of your life, you can always try and cut back on and limit it. From my perspective, progression should always come before perfection. Now depending on what kind of habits a person has, there are all kinds of reasons for these habits. I'm of the belief that the majority of bad habits stem from too much idle time in our lives. We've all heard the saying that goes; "An idle mind is the devil's playground." Whether you believe that to be true or not is on you, but one of the best ways I feel a person can begin the journey towards eliminating bad habits is getting on your purpose. From my perspective, finding and staying on your purpose is one of the best treatment options that we have for remedying bad habits.

What's going on once again people? Y'all know who it is! It's your boy Brad H. back once again, and welcome to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back to bring another topic that can hopefully serve as some inspiration for us all. I hope that all has been good and well for you all as of late. I know I'm one happy guy due to the fact that the NBA is back. If I'm correct about this, this is the only time of the year where the four major sports in America are happening. So we got the MLB World Series happening now between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals. For those of you that may not know, I am definitely an Astros fan, which means that I am pulling for them to win. I actually got to attend a game this season at Minute Maid park, which was a lot of fun also. The Astros are kinda in a hole as of the moment because they are down 2-1 in the series. However, if they are able to win tonight, we will have a series once again. I will admit that I was somewhat worried when they went down 0-2. I will also admit that I was a bit surprised at how great Washington has been in this series. I know they're a good team, but I figured all that time between their last series and this one would have them rusty. I still believe the Astros are the more dominant team, and I do believe that if they even this series up that they will go on to win it all. Two titles in a three year span would be a great accomplishment. Regardless of the outcome, I think most people that follow baseball can say this has been quite a good season. Baseball will be missed when it's over, but we are in the thick of NFL, and like I pointed out earlier NBA is here. I'm especially excited about NBA because there were so many moves made in the off season that has so many teams looking completely different. Should be an exciting season. Well that's my soapbox for the week, so lets go ahead and talk about how staying on your purpose can be a remedy for bad habits.

In order for us to correlate purpose with being a potential remedy for bad habits, we first have to establish exactly what is our purpose. As with pretty much anything that can be viewed in a variety of ways, purpose can mean different things for different people. From my own personal perspective, along with what I've heard others define in regards to their definition of what purpose is, I view purpose as something or someone that a person is intensely passionate about. I view it as one of the first things that you think of when you wake up, and the last thing you think about when you go to sleep. I see it as the primary reason why you want to wake up in the morning. The beautiful thing about purpose from my perspective is that it can be pretty much anything as long as it's something positive in your life. In essence, it is one of your life's meanings. Now another thing that I want to touch on is that your purpose doesn't have to be just limited to one thing. There are a multitude of things that can interest us, and while some may not agree with what I'm about to say, I say the more the better when it comes to having interests. Now why is finding, being, and staying on our purpose something that I wanted to address before getting into how it can be a cure for bad habits? Well from my perspective, many of us do not really put the energy that we could towards our purpose. It's one of those deals where you're either not doing it at all, or if you are doing it, you're probably just doing it in a recreational capacity. I'm not knocking doing something in a recreational manner, but just think about how well you can do something if you take it more seriously. This is where the shift in thought has to come into play when it comes to purpose.

Now that I've touched on how many of us do not properly utilize our purpose to our advantage, I want to talk about purpose and how it relates to time. If you're someone that is serious about staying on your purpose, you have to understand that it is going to take up a lot of your time. Think of it this way; lets say that a person have a passion for trading stock in the stock market. This person is going to have to probably go through some kind of formal training to learn how it works to make money in the stock market. Not only that, they will likely have to read books and watch videos on the subject. They will probably seek out people in that field that are experts as mentors, and their passion for stock will probably stay consistent. Anything that you are passionate about that has fluidity to it is something that will always require your time. Why is that? Because in order for you to stay atop the trends and changes that happen, you have to be knowledgeable about what is going on. Now we often hear about how important time is and how we shouldn't waste it right? Well for a person that is truly on their purpose, their time is going towards something that their passionate about. When you're passionate about something, you enjoy doing it don't you? It doesn't feel like a hassle or a chore does it? You find that you're so occupied and consumed by it that you often lose track of time. This is how people that are on their purpose feel.

Now we all know that the general definition of a remedy is a cure or solution to a problem right? I'm pretty certain by now, if not earlier, that all of you have caught on to why I believe that being on your purpose is a remedy for bad habits. I believe that an individual that is on their purpose utilizes their time and energy towards their purpose in a certain type of way. If done in a manner which serves them properly, this likely leaves little time for that person to engage in a ton of bad habits. This is why I believe that people that are truly on their purpose probably don't partake in a lot of bad habits. They probably don't have a lot of extra time for things that people who aren't on their purpose do. Now that isn't to say that people on their purpose can't or don't have bad habits. As I brought up earlier in the topic, we all have bad habits regardless of how we use our time. However, if you are a person that finds yourself being unmotivated in life, it would probably be helpful towards you to evaluate what you're giving your time to. If you have any habits that dominate your life to the point where you're potentially self-destructing, you probably should try and find something else better to do with your time. Also, you have to remember that this is a win/win scenario if you drop the bad habits for something more meaningful. Like I wrote about several weeks ago about good habits being a battle that you can only win, staying on your purpose is just the same. Lets work on finding our purpose in this life, and curing ourselves of our bad habit. Again, this is only a battle that you can win.

Well that is all that I have for you all this go around. I hope that those of you that read this found it enjoyable and helpful to your life. It is now time for me to sign off for another week, so thank you once again to those of you that tuned into another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As always, if you have any comments or concerns, please leave them below in the comments. You can also link up with me on Twitter at the handle @BradrickH. Man this is the time of the year that I love. Cooler weather and sports all around equals a weekend of probably staying in. I hope that you all are having a great weekend thus far, and I wish you an even better week ahead. I'll see you all on the next go round. Take care everyone, and peace!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Working Daily To Keep Your Mind On An Even Keel.

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I'm not entirely certain if I've brought this up in a previous topic on this platform before, but there's a song off an album titled "Lead Poison" that was released in 2016 by one of my favorite emcees named Elzhi called "The Healing Process." It was one of the best albums that I heard during that year. Not that what I just said had much to do with this week's topic, but I just thought I'd throw that little tidbit in there. However, there is something that Elzhi said in this great song that does have a level of correlation to what I'm addressing this week. There's a lyric in that song that goes; "You gotta keep your thoughts left, your mind right." Now I'm not going to act as if I knew exactly what he meant when he talked about your thoughts being left. Being that Elzhi is one of the most lyrical emcees that I've heard, there could be various meanings to what he meant. What I do believe to have a general understanding of is what he is referring to when he speaks of keeping your mind right. My interpretation of keeping your mind right means being able to keep your thoughts in check. You don't allow your thoughts to drift too far one way or the other, and you don't allow your thoughts to overtake you. Now some would think that this is an easy feat to accomplish right? Though that may be the reality for some, it is definitely not always the case for most people. This is especially true with the world that we're living in now where we have some much coming at us on a daily basis. Just as someone that wants to remain healthy and fit have to work their body on a daily basis, it is also of importance for us to work daily to keep our minds on an even keel.

What's going on everyone? It's Brad H. back on the scene once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here once again to bring my perspective on another topic that will hopefully help serve as some inspiration for us all. Glad to have those of you that are reading here once again. I really don't have a specific topic of interest that I want to address in this week's soapbox section, but I wanted to bring up something that I've been thinking about recently. How often do you express gratitude for all of the people that are in your life? Are you a person that often thinks of how your life would be if the people that you're close to where no longer here? I bring this up because I think many of us have been so accustomed to how life is. We often forget that everything that is happening in our lives is only temporary, and eventually it ends. This means that through the process of life that a good portion of the people that are in our lives will be gone someday. I'm not bringing this up to scare anyone, and I know that thinking about things of this nature can be depressing. However, sometimes topics such as this can serve as a reminder to appreciate the people in your life. Instead of us being comfortable with knowing that they're here, we should give more gratitude for having them in our lives. If you have a friend or relative that you haven't spoken with recently, pick up the phone and give them a call just to tell them you appreciate them. Little things like a phone call can go a long way towards letting people know that you care for and appreciate them. I just wanted to get that out there, because I know we tend to forget about these kinds of things. Also, if you're someone that already expresses gratitude for the people in your life, kudos to you. Alright, now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets go on and talk more about the important of working daily to keep our minds on an even keel.

As with pretty much any topic that has some variance due to the fact that we all process things in different ways, a topic such as keeping your mind right can be viewed in numerous ways. I think this is an important subject of interest because there are many people in this world that are struggling mentally. Being that this world we live in is in the shape that it is in due to so many factors, keeping ours minds on the straight and narrow can be a difficult task. Despite the difficulties that we face in this world, there is always hope for us when it comes to conquering our minds. Now one of the things that I have talked about on many occasions through my posts is how so many consume what I would deem as an unnatural amount of information daily. Most people these days spend a good chunk of their day on their devices engaging social media and watching television. Due to the fact that these forms of entertainment bring so much information, our brains tend to be hyperactive when it comes to processing all these things. I believe this is the main reason why so many of us are so scatterbrain when it comes to remembering things. Our minds are overloaded with so much stimuli that it becomes difficult for us to properly concentrate on one thing. Basically we're doing too much when it comes to taking in information, and we all know that too much of anything can be bad for us. Now from my perspective, this is a big reason as to why our thoughts are all over the place. Also from my perspective, our thoughts being all over the place is the breeding ground for our minds often not being right.

There are a lot of things in this life that we have little to no control over. Some people feel that our thoughts are something that cannot be controlled. Now I will agree that thought in and of itself is something that we can't contain. Thinking is just a natural part of life, and it's something that we are constantly doing. In order for me to even write this I have to be thinking. However, the content of the things we think about is something that I feel we can get a hold on. From my perspective, much of what we give thought to stems from the things we give our attention to. The things that we read, watch and listen to are the very things that we will often find ourselves thinking of. For example, I'll give you a memory from my childhood that had effected me. When I was a kid, I could recall watching a movie that terrified me one night. So after watching this movie, I got in the bed to sleep, and the images from the film I'm referring to were all in my mind. I thought about them so much that I couldn't sleep, and the next thing I know I'm running out of my room to get in the bed with my mom because I was so scared. Truth be told I have no business even watching a film of that nature at my age back then, but that is beside the point. The important point is that watching that film before I went to bed was in my thoughts, which in my opinion ultimately had a negative effect on me. Beyond just that example, there are more sinister ways that we as people can fall victims to our minds. Some of these things can include things such as drug use, sex addiction, and severe mood disorders. There's more that could be mentioned, but I think most of you can agree that failure to keep our minds on an even keel can lead to bad habits.

I think we've pretty much laid out the importance of why it is vitally important to work daily to keep our minds stable. From my perspective, a mind that isn't stable is a vulnerable mind. You don't want to go through this world having a weak mind that subjugates you to toxic habits. Though controlling your thoughts and your mind can be difficult, it is very important to work at this daily. This means filling our lives up with as much positive energy and good vibes that we can. It means limiting or completely cutting out vices that can open the doorway to our minds potentially being corrupted. We all know that life comes at us fast, and coping in the society we're in isn't always easy. We have to aim to be a tempered and even keel as we possibly can be in order to make it through those challenging moments. Finally, I believe that our minds are probably the most important thing that we have. The mind plays a huge factor in not only the way that we think, but also how our bodies operate. You can't have a healthy body and healthy state of being if your mind isn't right. I view it all like it's a link in a chain; if one link goes missing, the entire chain becomes compromised. Because I believe that our minds are the most important thing that we have, I also believe that if you lose your mind, there is often no recovering from it. Think of the hard drive for a computer. If the hard drive goes bad, the entire computer will not work. Please do whatever you must to keep your mind right like Elzhi mentioned in the song I referred to earlier. Work at it daily, and cherish working towards having a sound mind. It's the key to living a more tempered life, and being able to maintain yourself on a daily basis. Stay tempered, and stay even keeled everyone!

That pretty much is all that I got for you all this week. I hope that this was able to serve as inspiration for some of you out there. Thank you once again for those of you that stopped by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! If you have any comments or concerns, feel free to do so in the comment section. You can also connect with me on Twitter @BradrickH. Before I go, man I cannot express how excited I am right now! It's like 53 degrees outside right now. This is the coldest day that we've had here in southeast Texas so far this year. I know those of you that are further up north probably don't feel like I do, but after dealing with crazy hot temps all during the summer, I welcome the colder weather. So yea, I'm all smiles right now, and I hope you all are too regardless of how the weather is where you are. Alright, I'll see you all on the next topic. Have a great weekend, and an even better week ahead. Peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Understanding That Some People Will Never Change Because Of You.

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Most of realize that throughout the course of life that change is going to be inevitable. This is something that I've talked about many times through this blog, and I'm pretty certain that this week's topic won't be the last time that I do. One of the more interesting things about change that makes it unique is that it entails so many things. It can literally be applied to almost anything because nothing stays the same throughout the course of time. The form of change that will be addressed in this week's topic deals with people. We as people and individuals all have unique ways that define who we are and how we do things. Now most of us are likely close to someone that have ways that we may not like. Beyond us just not liking their ways, they may have some characteristics about themselves that may be both harmful to themselves, as well as others. Again, this can isn't limited to just one thing, and includes a variety of ways to be defined. One of the most frustrating things that I think most of us can agree with is dealing with a person that isn't willing to change their ways. Most of you may have people in your life that are commonly referred to as being stubborn and hardheaded. These are the people that regardless of what you may say or do to try and help them, they constantly resist your advances towards helping them to see the error of their ways. If we're going to be honest here, this also applies to us as well, and I'm sure that even I myself have people that think of me in this light. Regardless of whether this describes you or not, the fact remains that some people are never going to change. More importantly, it is wise to remember that they will never do it because of you.

Yo, what's going on everyone? Back in the mix again is your boy Brad H., and welcome once again to another entry of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back to bring another topic of interest that will hopefully serve as some inspiration for us all. Thank you in advance to everyone that are joining me for another week. So for this week's soapbox, I'm going to be addressing the tropical storm that hit the Texas coast last week. Now anyone that frequently reads my topics or follow me on Twitter know that I'm from Texas. Now the area that I live in got a lot of rain from Tropical Storm Imelda, but I don't live in a flood prone area. However, the neighboring areas in the Golden Triangle of southeast Texas got hit very hard due to being flood prone areas. The unsettling thing about all of this is that this was an area that was greatly affected by Hurricane Harvey two years ago. So many people that were affected by Harvey and maybe hadn't fully recovered from that nightmare had to endure it all over again. I even know people personally that have and still are dealing with the aftermath of both of these storms. Now I'm bringing all of this up to say that something isn't quite right when it come to the topic of climate change. I've brought this up before, it seems as if these storms are becoming stronger and weirder to the point where they don't seem to be normal. This personally leads me to believe that climate change is truly something that needs to be addressed. I know it's a topic that is being discussed heavily in the political world, but I think that it's time for the talking to turn into action. Who knows, maybe there isn't anything that can be done to prevent these storms from being at the level they are, but I think most of us can agree that the seasons are becoming hard to distinguish at times. Thoughts to everyone affected by Imelda, and I know Texas will bounce back. We all always do! So now that I've addressed that, lets go ahead and talk about this week's topic of understanding the importance of realizing that some people will never change because of you.

Now in the most recent installment of giving my perspective through this platform, I talked about how everything in starts with the person in the mirror. That particular entry was more about us as individuals and how we view ourselves from an internal aspect. While I'm a firm believer that what you think of yourself should matter more than what other people think of you, I'll concede that there are going to be occasions where what others think will matter more than you can imagine. I want to bring this up because there was a section of the last entry where I talked about how a person has to be willing to change for themselves first before wanting to change for others. I am sticking to that belief, but there is also another side to this that has to be addressed. What happens when you are the person that is wanting someone else to change? Maybe you have someone in your life that you care for, and you see them doing various things that have you concerned to the point where you fear for their well-being. Change tends to take on a different type of perspective when it's not us that is that are trying to change, but rather we're hoping to see someone else change doesn't it? It kinda puts you in the mind frame of being the only one in the classroom that understands what the teacher is teaching with no problem, and you're wondering why everyone else in the class doesn't get it. The innate desire to see someone you care for change their ways when see you see problems can be something that leaves you full of frustration, and it will have you pondering on why they can't just do better. Again, it takes on a different perspective when it is someone else that you can't control doesn't it?

There is another key component that we have to talk about when it comes to wanting to see someone change their ways. What I'm referring to here is the "You" factor. What do I mean by this? There's an extended belief that most people have when it comes to wanting someone to change, and that is the idea that they'll do it for me, ie you. We have this belief that we have a degree of power over others that will force change upon them. How many times have you said or heard someone say something to the effect of; "If you truly care about me, you'll change." Now there are going to be some instances where this more in your face type of approach will work. Though I'm sticking to my belief that a person has to be willing to change for themselves first, some people are willing to conform to changing if it means that much to someone that they truly care for. These are what I would consider to be the more flexible people when it comes to changing. Then we have those that regardless of what you say or do, they are never going to change their ways. You can preach to them till you get tired of talking, they're not going to change. You can actively take steps to get them the help they need, and they won't budge. You can reason with them, and they won't move. You can even go so far as to threaten leaving them, and they still won't adhere to you. See from my perspective, it is important to remember that a person is always going to do whatever they want regardless of what anyone says. This isn't only limited to the people they're close to relationship wise. Some people are going to love you, but that doesn't mean that they're always going to love you enough to do what you say or change their ways. This can be tough to accept, but I think it is a necessary reality from my perspective.

So why is it ultimately important for us to understand that some people will never change because of us? From my perspective, I feel this is important for us to be able to keep our own minds on the right path. I've talked about how some of us deal with frustration and anger cause people aren't willing to change their ways. We all know by now that anger and frustration when not applied in a healthy way can lead to our own set of problems. Now don't get me wrong, if you love and care for someone you shouldn't give up on them. However, what is the exact benefit that comes to us when we're dealing with an individual that isn't responding to us? From my perspective, I don't see any benefit, only potential problems. This is why we have to understand the people that we're dealing with in our lives, as well as the effect that having them in our lives plays on us. Going even deeper on this topic, there is also another darker reason why I feel it is important to understand why some people will never change. We've all heard of the saying "birds of the same feather flock together", right? There are some circumstances where you can find yourself bringing yourself down to another person's level by dealing with them despite their negative tendencies. Some people come to what I would deem as a "dark" realization that in order to get their point across that they have to sink to the same level of the person they're attempting to influence. I personally don't care for this tactic, and I say that because doing that can have even greater consequences. As much as some of us hate to acknowledge it, there are some people in this life that you can only deal with on two levels. You can either accept them for who they are, and realize that they're not going to change because of you. The other option is to leave them alone completely for your own sanity. Tough choices right? Choose wisely everyone!

Well I think I've pretty much summed up what I wanted to get across in this week's edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Thank you to all of you that stopped through. Regardless if you are a first or longtime reader, I appreciate all of you so much. I hope that this has been a discussion that most of you can relate to. Please feel free to add anything in the comment section if your heart so desires. If you are on Twitter and want to connect with me, you can hit me up at the handle @BradrickH. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I hope you all have an even better week ahead. We're coming up on the month of October, which is insane to believe. This year has gone by so fast. 2020 will be here before we know it, so lets make the rest of 2019 the best. See you all in the next topic! Peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Understanding That Everything Starts With The Person In The Mirror.

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There is no denying that this world would not be where it is now had it not had people that wanted to make a positive change inside of it. I'm in no way saying that everything going on in our world is all peaches and cream. There is definitely negativity and strife happening, as that has been happening since the beginning of time. However, for all the negative things that come along with living in this world, there is also positive things taking place as well. I talked in the last installment about self improvement and how it is a battle that you can only win. I bring this up once more because I believe that anybody that is focused on improving themselves will also want to help improve this world. When I say "improve this world", I'm not only referring to something that that will change the world like curing cancer. Though that would be a great contribution to this world, I am more so thinking along the lines of making a difference on a smaller scale. I'm talking making a difference that doesn't come with accolades or financial gains, but the kind of difference that helps those that are near and dear to us. This includes things like trying to be a better person for your family, friends, and your community. We often make it our mission to be there for others, but many of us forget the importance of making ourselves a priority. In order for us to be a light to this world and the people that are in it, we have to work on improving ourselves first. Furthermore, in order to improve ourselves, we have to understand that everything starts with the person that is staring at us in the mirror.

Yes, yes y'all! It is your guy Brad H. back once again, and you are now tuned into another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! We are back for another edition to bring a topic that can hopefully serve as inspiration for us all. How have you all been doing? Great I hope! I know all of you that are NFL fans are doing more than great right about now. This is the time of the year that we all enjoy so much right? So what can we take away from the first week of the NFL? For the most part I can nothing as of right now besides the New England Patriots are going to be very hard to beat like always. That whole Antonio Brown fiasco with Oakland was just weird, but it seems like the Patriots are going to be his team for the time being. I notice people are jumping on the Cleveland Browns for how they looked in the week 1. Though I'm not a Browns fan, I think it is too early to say what teams are going to be like after week 1. We have to be mindful that a good portion of these players didn't even play much, if at all in the preseason. Of course they are going to be rusty, and their timing is going to be off. I am personally happy about how well my Dallas Cowboys done in the week 1. I'm not going to say too much since it was the Giants, but the offense looked pretty good; even better than I expected. Week 2 of the season is here, so we'll see what happens this week that is going to be of noteworthiness. I'll likely be bringing up more NFL topics on my soapbox in the coming weeks, so lets go ahead and transition into the theme of this week's topic. That would be the importance of understanding that everything begins with the person that is starring at you in the mirror.

Now in order for us to get down the importance of understanding that everything starts with the person in the mirror, we have to put into perspective what we're referring to. As with the last topic that was covered a couple of weeks back on self improvement, this week's topic is one that be viewed in many different contexts. It all boils down to how your view your life, as well as what you're trying to achieve with wanting to improve yourself. The bulk of the perspective that I'm going to be coming from with this week's topic blends in more with what I brought up earlier in regards to trying to be a better person for others. Though this is the perspective that I'm referencing in this topic, however you may view it in your own life is totally okay. Now there's a popular song that many of you are familiar with that came out in the year 1988. It was from the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson, and the song was titled "Man In the Mirror". I'm pretty sure that any of you that were alive at that time remembers this song and the chorus to it. However, for those of you that may be younger and not know what song I'm referring to, I would highly suggest going on Youtube or any other platform that has music and give it a listen. So in the song that we're talking about, Jackson is singing about how he wants to change his ways by starting with the person that he is looking at in the mirror. He goes on by saying; "If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change." These are some pretty profound lyrics in my opinion, and though they could be applied in numerous contexts, I believe the general message is one that we can all relate to. We as individuals really have to evaluate ourselves before we try to make a difference. However, there is a potential issue that comes along with taking a look at ourselves in the mirror.

The potential issue that I'm thinking of that I referred to in the last paragraph is the idea that it can be extremely difficult for us to look at ourselves in a critical manner. This is something I've brought this up on several occasions via this blog in various contexts, but it is something that I strongly believe. It is much easier for us to judge and analyze others, rather than taking a look at ourselves. I believe the potential issue with this is that when we look at ourselves with honest eyes and critically, we will often find things about ourselves that we may not want to see. We all have aspects of our personalities that we try to shield and suppress others from knowing, and I feel this is nothing to be ashamed of. However, if you are an individual that actually wants to improve yourself for the benefit of others, you have to first acknowledge that other people can't be your sole reason for wanting to change. Picture this scenario as a example. Imagine that a guy is in a relationship with a woman, and the woman wants him to put more effort towards bettering himself for their relationship. Maybe she wants him to be more attentive to her or something of that nature. Now lets say that the guy adheres to her wishes and tries to show her more attention, but the kicker is that there is a more deep rooted reason for why he may not be as attentive. Now in order for him to change his ways, he must be willing to acknowledge that he has issues first. Also, he has to want to change for himself first, because if he just tries to change for her, there is a high probability that he will fall back into his previous patterns. I believe that change should happen naturally and start within a person first. Then, and only then through their acknowledgement and work towards changing, they will by default be able to help others.

So to sum up this week's topic and bring this post to a close, we have to always be mindful that we have to first be able to help ourselves before we're able to help others. This is why I feel it is of importance as to why we need to understand that everything begins with the person that is staring at us in the mirror. Every day that we're given to wake up and be alive to take a deep look at ourselves in that mirror, we have to be able to be happy and content with the person is starring back at us. There are too many of us that are looking at ourselves everyday in that mirror, and we aren't finding that we're consistently happy with what we see. Also, we try and reconcile the unhappiness we feel from not being happy with what we see by going out of our way to help others. Everything in your life should always start and end with you. If you want to change aspects of your life, that change has to always be one that you want to make for yourself. As with the example I provided earlier, we are always going to have people that will push us to be better. However, until it is a change that we want for ourselves and not only for the sole reason of others, the attempts will often be null and void. Now with all of that being said, I'm in no way saying that you have to be 100 percent happy with yourself in order to help others or contribute to this world. As I mentioned earlier in this post, we all have qualities about ourselves that we may not like, and we have to be willing to work towards fixing those things. It's not a perfect journey, however, I feel that becoming the best version of ourselves is how we truly make a change in the lives of others. Remember that it will always end and begin with you, and you'll find that you'll be able to make an even bigger and better impact on those that you care for.

Well that is pretty much all that I have for this week's topic on the importance of understanding that everything starts with the person in the mirror. I hope that this was a topic that most of you can relate to, and hopefully there was some kind of value that was able to be taken away from it. Thank you once again to all of you that tuned into another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Like always, if you all have anything that you'd like to contribute in regards to this topic, please feel free to do so in the comment box. You can also hit me up on Twitter @BradrickH. I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend, and an even better week ahead. I'll see you all on the next topic. Stay up everybody, and peace out!


©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Why Self Improvement Is A Battle That You Can Only Win.

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There are constant battles that we all have to take on in this thing called life. Battles can take place in many forms, and aren't only limited to squaring off against an outside force. In fact, often times the most important battles that we as individuals will face are the ones that take place within us. I believe that these are the most important battles we face due to the fact that they are the ones that make us face things about ourselves that we may not want. Though facing off against something or someone besides ourselves often deal with external factors that may leave the outcome out of our control, the battles we face within ourselves are the ones that bring the most pressure. We're expected to win these battles because they're viewed as something that we should always conquer. Another what I would call is a misunderstanding of the word battle is the idea that battles always correlate to something negative. Going to war or getting into a confrontation with another person is what most people think of when it comes to battles. These types of battles are understandably viewed as negative due to the outcomes often ending tragically. However, I'm one that believes that not all battles are bad, and there are some that though they may not always be pleasant while they're taking place, lead can lead to something better for us. When I think of battles that involve and solely rely on ourselves, self improvement is the thing that I think of first. Most of us don't put something like improving ourselves in the same sphere as being in a battle, but there are small internal battles that will come when a person makes the choice to improve themselves. It can get discouraging at times, but it's important to remember that battles of this nature are ones that you can only win.

What's up once again to all you good people! This is your guy Brad H. back once again to bring you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Shout out to those of you that are joining me once again for another topic that will hopefully serve as some inspiration for us in our lives. I was just thinking about how fast this year is going by. I say that because during this time next week, the NFL season will be underway. I know all of you football fans out there are super excited. I'll more than likely be getting into more football talk in the coming weeks, but I want to address something more serious in this week's soapbox section. So we have a hurricane in the Atlantic that is heading towards the United States. As of right now, it appears that Hurricane Dorian is headed towards the state of Florida. The landfall is still a day or so away, so there is still so much in the air as to where it will ultimately land. As someone that lives near a coastal area here in Texas, I am familiar with having to get prepared for hurricanes. I know that this is something that I've brought up on here before, but if any of you are in Florida or an area where this storm could hit, please take heed and not take it likely. If you're someone that isn't in the path of this storm, please keep the people that are in your thoughts in hope that they'll be prepared. It just amazes me every year how so many people lose their lives because they don't take these things serious enough. We are dealing with mother nature here everyone, and she isn't prejudiced against any of us. Hopefully Dorian doesn't do too much damage, but with it likely being a category 4 storm if and when it does land, I highly doubt that isn't the case. Just be safe and take precaution everyone. Things like this are way more important than sports, etc. Now that I've gotten on my soapbox, I'm going to talk more about why I believe self improvement is a battle that we can only win.

Before I go deeper into this week's topic of why I believe self improvement being a battle that you can only win, I want to start off by saying that the idea of self improvement as a general statement has variance when it comes to us as individuals. It can mean different things for different people, and it can also include a variety of habits and issues that could be addressed by an individual. Rather than listening to what another person's idea of what self improvement is, I feel that it is more important for us as individuals to look within ourselves and define what it means to us. I wanted to be sure and start off this topic by mentioning that, because I know that this is one of those topics that is subjective to the individual. Now when it comes to the idea of a person making the decision to take steps towards improving themselves in life, it is going to be viewed by most as something that will be beneficial to that person. While this may ultimately turn out to be true depending on what actions are taken by the individual that is seeking to improve themselves, most people do not really give thought to the potential cons that come along with the decision of making changes. Many of us see self improvement as only a good thing, but we don't talk enough about how painful it can be for a person seeking to improve themselves. Taking on the decision to improve yourself as a person is something that will often come with some degree of anguish. Depending on what it is that you're trying to improve, it may be physical, mental, or a combination of both. This is why I liken self improvement to the idea of being in a battle; there will be attrition that comes along the way. But just like any battle that takes place, there is an end to what you're enduring if you continue to persevere.

When it comes to the idea of being in battle, there is often someone that wins and someone that loses. There is also an unknown that comes along with being in a battle. Take two sports teams that are ranked number one and two respectively, and they are facing one another in the championship game. Since both teams are so close when it comes to talent and ranking, no one will know who wins until the battle between the two is over. Now I talked earlier about battles and how the most important battles that we face are the ones that come from within ourselves. This is how I see improvement in the sense that bettering yourself requires work, but the journey of getting to become the person you want to be can be one of wins and losses. For example, lets say that someone is trying to eat healthier to improve their health. Most people cannot just completely go cold turkey and stop eating things that would be considered bad for them all a sudden. It is often a gradual process that comes with successes and failures along the way till that person eventually rids whatever bad foods they've been eating out of their lives. I bring this point up because it is much harder for most of us to cut ourselves some slack when we mess up on the journey towards self improvement. For most of us that are on the path towards wanting to improve ourselves, it can become discouraging when those moments where we slip up happen. Again, it is important to not beat yourself up when this happens, and most importantly, do not completely quit and give up. This is why it is a battle, because there are both wins and losses during battles, but the war is what we should be aiming to win.

All of what has been said throughout this week's topic has brought us to the point of why I believe self improvement is a battle that we can only win. From my perspective, the reason why a person has already won the battle when they make the decision to improve themselves stems from the decision itself; you're making the attempt to make a positive change in your life. This is a win in my eyes because we live in a world that is full of people that abhor bad and toxic habits. This causes so many people to not even have the fortitude and courage to go against the grain and do something different than the majority. Also, self improvement is one of those things that only increases exponentially as you stay on the journey towards it. Once you begin to gain control of and master whatever you're aiming for on your journey, it gives you even more confidence to tackle other habits that may be hindering your in life. Again, this is journey that will not be for the faint of heart at times. There are going to be times on this journey that you're going to fail and be dejected. However, just like the battle comparisons that we've been using throughout this post, those small wins and losses are a small part of something greater. Remember that this is a battle that is totally within yourself and your own mind. Everything on this journey rests within yourself, which means that you can't hold anyone but yourself responsible for your successes and failures. The main thing that I hope anyone that reads this takes away from it is that self improvement isn't always going to be easy, and most people won't acknowledge the potential downsides that come with it. However, if you continue to push yourself and persevere through the failures, I believe that you'll be a better person for it. Remember, this is a battle that you can only win.

Well that's all I got for this week's installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' folks! I hope that some of you found it helpful and beneficial to you. Big thanks once again to those of you that tuned in for another week. If you have any comments or concerns, please feel free to leave those down below in the comments. If you're on Twitter and want to connect, you can reach me at the Twitter handle @BradrickH. I'm going to sign off now, and I hope you all are having a great weekend thus far. Please keep the people of Florida in your thoughts. Take care everyone, and have a great week ahead. I'll see you all on the next topic. Peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Loving Yourself Through The Challenging Times You Will Face.

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There's a popular phrase that most of us have heard in regards to guarantees in life. The phrase was penned by Benjamin Franklin in a 1798 letter that he wrote that stated that; "But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Of course people have put their own spin on this phrase throughout the years, but the belief of the certainty of death and taxes is something that the world tends to hold near and dear. There is another guarantee that most of us can probably attest is a fact when it comes to life. What is the guarantee that I would be referring to here? I'm referring to the idea that we as individuals are always going deal with facing challenges in our lives. Though the individual challenges we will encounter may be different and unique as we are as people, the fact remains that we all are going to have circumstances and obstacles that we're going to have to overcome in our lives. Most of us can probably point to an instance or multiples times in our lives where something that challenged us in some form caused us to get down on ourselves. Maybe whatever we were dealing with was something that didn't think we could be past, or may have been something that questioned our belief in ourselves. In worst case scenarios, we may have dealt with something that we felt was so insurmountable that we began to hate our lives and ourselves. Facing challenge is something that is a part of life, which means that it is quite normal. However, the idea of losing faith in ourselves the point where we began to hate ourselves is far from normal. We have to know and understand the importance of loving ourselves through the challenge times we face.

Yo, yo, yo! What's happening good people? This is Brad H. reporting once again, and you are now tuned into another installment of 'Brad H's Perspective'! I am back once again to bring another topic that will hopefully serve as inspiration for us all. Hopefully all has been good and well in everyone's lives since the last topic. So for this week's soapbox section, I want to get back to some sports related talk. Now I know those of you that are football fans are probably getting super hyped now that we're less than a month away from the start of the NFL season. Now for those of you that may not know already, I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. If you aren't a fan of or follow the Dallas Cowboys, you may not know about this, but Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot is currently holding out for a new contract. Now I'm bringing this up because I had some friendly banter last night with a good friend of mine about this situation. His position was that Elliot should honor his contract and report, which I do agree with. However, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a running back of Elliot's caliber getting more money. He's the focal point of the teams offense, and he has more than exceeded what he was expected to do on the field. All of this begs the question: should we be pro team, or pro athlete? Now as a fan of the Cowboys, I want him on the field. However, I can't help but think that what if he suffers a career altering or worse yet career ending injury, and he never is able to get the money he deserves for what he's done? People need to remember that anything can happen to any athlete playing a physical sport, and nothing is always guaranteed to come to them if they get hurt to the point where they can't play anymore. So for those of you that are sports fans, should players honor their contracts regardless if they feel they're being underpaid for what they've done, or do they have the right to demand more? Would love to see what you all think. Alright, now that I've gotten on my soapbox, lets go ahead and talk about this week's topic of the importance of loving yourself through you challenges that you will face.

I want to preface this week's topic by saying that if anyone that is reading this post is having problems to the point where you feel like you no longer want to live, please try and seek some professional help for what you're dealing with. I'm no doctor or mental health expert, so I hope that if this happens to apply to anyone reading that you would please get the proper help if necessary. Besides giving a disclaimer, I wanted to bring that up because this week's topic will be bringing up the idea of engaging in suicide. Now I realize that the word suicide is a sensitive word that can spark emotions in everyone. However, I think it is important to address it in regards to the topic that I'm covering this week. Furthermore, suicide is unfortunately something that is prevalent in today's society. Now I brought up earlier that we all have challenges within ourselves that will lead to us getting down on ourselves. None of us can go through this life without ever experiencing any sort of failures. It's just something that is feasible to do. I've talked about failure in previous installments that I've written on here, and I think it is important to address it as often as I can. My reasoning for this is due the thought that failure in today's society is often looked down upon so horribly. I'm in no way saying that failure is something that we should celebrate or be happy about. However, what I am trying to say that failure is only a state of mind, and it doesn't have to define the moments in our lives. Also, if put into the proper context in regards to whatever it is that we're seeking to accomplish, failure can be an opportunity to learn from and become better. Failure itself isn't always bad, but unfortunately the world we live in doesn't see it that way.

Now for most of us that find ourselves in those challenges times that we're referring to this week, we often will seek out the counsel of other people. Now depending on who and what type of counsel that you may be seeking in these situations, this is definitely a good thing right? However, many of us fall into the habit of always thinking that people will always be there to assist us in the challenges we face. Most of us have what we call a "go to" person that we call first when we're in trouble. Again, there isn't anything wrong with seeking help, that is until the "go to" doesn't pick up. Now this is something that probably won't happen often, and if you're lucky enough in this life to find someone that will always be there for you, cherish them cause it is rare these days. Regardless of that, there is always a risk that other people won't be able to help you through your issues, as there isn't much in this life that is guaranteed. Now the problem with relying on people to help guide us through our personal issues is that many of us often attach too much of our self worth to others being there for us. It's the same concept as being in love with someone to the point where you begin to love them more than you love yourself. It's that emotional attachment that causes us to do and act in irrational ways that we probably would never do if that attachment wasn't there. This can create a life of toxicity to the point where we're not properly attending to our own well being, and it is in these times where we can find ourselves not caring how our life goes. Now there are all type of ways that a person can self deprecate themselves, but the worse is what I mentioned earlier about the idea of a person taking their own life. Now again I'm no expert, but I think that much of these thoughts and feelings stem from a lack of self love.

So why is it important that we continue to love ourselves through the challenges we face? There are a number of reasons why this is important, but from my perspective, it comes down to what I have mentioned throughout this topic in regards to nothing being guaranteed. As much as I dislike saying what I'm about to say, there is no such thing in this world as a "go to" person. Anything and anyone that we're emotionally attached to can leave or be taken away from us at anytime. No matter what comes in goes in this life, the only true thing that you can count on as long as you're alive is yourself. Furthermore, life can often present challenges in our lives that can bring us to dark places. As I pointed out earlier, those dark places can often cause people to lose hope to continue living; hence why I brought up the act of suicide earlier. Challenges and issues in our personal lives are all parts of this life that we will never fully escape as long as we're breathing. However, what we can do is reinforce ourselves that regardless of what we're dealing with in our lives, we matter and are important. From my perspective, loving yourself doesn't mean that you have to always go around touting how important that you are. I believe it means knowing that regardless of what life throws at you, you know that there is a way to overcome it. Now I'm in no way saying that we should go through life being nomads. It is indeed true that we will always need other people in this life. However, when you love yourself through and through, you're more cautious about who and what you allow into your self. This especially applies when we're facing challenges, so make it a priority to love yourself through whatever you face. Don't allow the hurdles and obstacles of life to bring you to a dark place where there is often no return from.

Well that's all that I got for this week's topic on the importance of loving ourselves. I hope that those of you that read this found it both enjoyable and helpful. I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now, but thank you once again to those of you that came by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! If any of you have any feedback to contribute or feel that I overlooked something in regards to this topic, please don't hesitate to hit up the comment section. Any and all feedback is welcome here. You can also follow and connect with me on Twitter at the handle @BradrickH. Well I hope you all are having a great weekend so far, and I hope that we all have an even greater week ahead. I'll see you all in the next topic. Take care everyone, and peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.