Seeing Our Struggles As Tests Of Our Character And Will (Things Can Always Get Worse).

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There is a phrase that my mom once said to me as a child that I highly doubt I'll ever forget. I'm sure that most of you have heard this phrase or one of the many variations of it mentioned as well. "You don't ever wanna test worse" is the phrase that I'm referring to. As I mentioned, there are various ways of saying that things can always get worse, but this particular phrase was the one that my mom used to say to me whenever I would complain about certain things that weren't going well for me at a particular time. As I child I didn't totally grasp what exactly she meant by those words, however, now as a more wiser young adult, I can honestly say now that I understand what she meant. It is indeed true that many of us do not realize that while as bad as things may be going for us at a particular time, things can always get even worse in our lives. Because our judgement and rationale is often clouded whenever things aren't going well, we fail to see that sometimes as bad as things may be at that moment, they're often not as bad as we think. Not speaking for anyone else, but I'm personally beginning to see that a good portion of the struggles that we consistently endure are tests. From my perspective, these are tests of our character and will to keep pushing forward.

Hello once again good people. How has everything been going for you all? It is me Brad H. coming back at you all once again with another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! For anyone out there that reads regularly, thank you for stopping by once again, and I'd like to extend a big welcome to those of you that may be here for the first time. No matter who you are or how often you've visited here, I hope that you all have been doing well and staying positive since the last posting. Don't really have a lot to talk about this week besides the topic at hand. Next week on the 11th of March, I'll be celebrating another birthday. When March arrived a couple of days ago, someone asked me if I was excited for my upcoming birthday. Because I don't really display an overly enthusiastic type of persona when it comes to my birthday, I told them that it is just another day. But the truth is that I subtly always look forward to my birthday, but not for the reasons that most people do. While I do see it as just another day, I truly value what they signify as you get more and more them under your belt. For me personally, the importance of birthdays transcends partying, drinking, etc; but it signifies me being thankful for being here in a time where so many people are dying young. So while I don't get all hyped in ways that others do when it comes to birthdays, you can trust that I'm truly grateful. Alright, lets go ahead and talk a bit about viewing struggles as tests of character and will.

As I normally do before discussing my topics, I want to point out that a person's individual viewpoints and thoughts will always vary. The general concept with these posts isn't to focus on what is considered right or wrong, but rather to encourage others to view various topics in a manner that they may not have before. I never expect everyone to share the same views as I do, however, I do hope that the way I view certain topics can leave others with something to walk away thinking about more. If anyone has any comments or feedback on this or any other topic, please feel free to drop them in the comment box. As for insight on how this topic came to be for this week's installment, there isn't anything in particular that I can point to that made me want to write about this. You know what, scratch that; while I'm sitting here thinking about it, I can definitely say that there is something that I can point to that made this come to fruition. Of course my thoughts were the main factor, but I would say that I have taken notice recently on how some people that I know have been reacting to the various struggles they're facing. I'm in no way judging them, in fact, I would say that their resolve has served as inspiration for me. It is not only been inspiration for this particular post, but also for my life as well.

Now we are all aware that we're all going to face struggles throughout various times in our lives. Similar to death and taxes, struggles are something that none of us can entirely escape. Saying that kinda makes me think of what the late actor Carroll O'Connor said to one of his officers as police chief Bill Gillespie on the classic show 'In The Heat of the Night'. I can't recall it exactly at the moment, but it was something along the lines of; "You tell me how anyone who's above the ground is done with their suffering." We're also aware that some of us will have similar struggles, and there will also be occasions where our struggles differ from others. That said, one thing that is will always be different is how we react to our struggles. I may view a particular challenge that I'm facing one way, and you may view that same challenge in a completely different manner. That the beauty of us being different as individuals and thinking for ourselves. Now as I stated earlier, many of us understandably so find our judgement clouded whenever we're facing challenges. I think this often causes us to forget that while things aren't good at the moment, there is always worse that can happen. For this reason, I believe that those of us that experience this during our struggles must learn to see our struggles tests.

Now as I've stated several times earlier, our rationale is often clouded whenever we're facing a difficult challenge. This often causes us to see whatever challenge that we're enduring as more than what it really is. Think of that phrase that we've all heard that goes "You're making a mountain out of molehill." This is exactly what many of us do by no fault of our own do at times. This way of thinking is reacting not only doesn't help the situation that we're in, but it can be damaging to our psyche when it comes to being able to handle future challenges. I want you to consider this for a second; Imagine that you have suffered a disappointment in your life. Maybe you got rejected by someone that you're interested in, or maybe you didn't excel at a project that you wanted to do well at. Both of these examples can be disappointments right? But, when you think about suffering a medical scare that nearly took your life, or having to find out that someone that you love has just passed, those aforementioned things that I used as examples don't compare right? This is why I'm saying that the struggles we face are often tests. There are always greater struggles that we will have to face, and how can we be able to meet them if we're allowing troubles that don't compare to keep us down? Something to think about isn't it?

Now I'm in no way saying that any of us should perfect being able to handle hardships in our lives. Again, and I want to be sure to make this clear, we all process and see things differently. The point I want to get across is that it is entirely up to us as individuals how we process and handle the struggles in our lives. I frequently talk about the power of our minds on this blog, and a topic such as this one all comes down to changing the way we process things. From my perspective, the reason it is so important to see struggles as tests comes down to knowing that regardless of how bad things may be, they can always get worse. There is no way to fully prepare for certain things that may happen in life, but I do know that if we allow ourselves to be taken down by the challenges of life, we will probably not be able to meet the bigger ones in the future. Like I stated earlier, these struggles we endure are some of the greatest tests of character we will face. Will we pass or fail is the question. I'm going to end this topic with a quote from Thomas Paine. The quote doesn't necessary deal with things getting worse, but rather the sense of accomplishment we can experience with going forward from them. It quotes goes; "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Well that is all for this week folks. Big thanks to everyone that came through for another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As always, my hope is that there was some meaning and understanding that could be gained from this topic, as well as the rest of the topics I've come on here to talk about. I'm just trying to do my part in spreading a little bit of motivation to others. Again, if anyone has any thoughts or feedback to contribute, please feel free to do so below. Well I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead. Got a 5K race tomorrow, so that should be pretty fun. I'll probably talk about that some in the next post. I will have also turned another year older by the next time, so I'll be sure to talk about that some as well. I'm gone folks, so until next time, I wish you all peace, wellness, and positive thoughts. See you all in the next one.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Laughing And Smiling As Often As Possible (Troubles Are Always Lurking).

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Most of us have heard the saying "Laughter is good for soul" at sometime or another. As I have grown older and wiser, that saying has come to impact my life significantly. Smiling and laughter are probably two of the easiest things that we as people are able to do. They don't cost anything to do, and very little effort is required to engage in them. Growing up as kids, we were taught to smile for pictures, as well as laughing whenever we see or hear something that we find funny. Easy right? While I believe that it is important for kids to smile and laugh a lot, I also feel that it is just as important for us as adults to find things that smile us smile daily. Too many of us find ourselves caught up in the daily struggles of life that we often forget the importance of laughing and smiling. Most of us are aware of how smiling and laughing can benefit us mentally and psychologically. I mean we naturally feel good whenever we're able to engage in these acts genuinely. However, I've grown to realize that there is another benefit that these acts can potentially bring us; appreciation. Life is unpredictable, which means that troubles are always lurking. This is one of the main reasons why I've come to realize the importance of laughing and smiling as much as possible.

Hey, how's it going ladies and gentlemen? Brad H. back at it once again with another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Hope everyone has been doing well and staying positive since the last post. It's been nearly two weeks since the Super Bowl has taken place, and I thought I would quickly share my thoughts on the result. In my last post, I had mentioned how I didn't like neither team, but I was pulling for the Falcons since they had several local players. I also mentioned that I thought the Patriots would win, which was ultimately what happened unfortunately. While watching the game, I was very excited thinking that Atlanta was going to win once they took that commanding 28-3 lead. I was texting with several friends about how it was over, etc. Of course that turned out to be wrong in the end. I really have no explanation for why Atlanta basically conked out in the second half of that game. It really looked like an entirely different team that showed up in the second half. I jokingly told a friend that they clearly must have celebrated at halftime and had a few drinks or something. Anyway, although it is disappointing for me to accept, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is now a 5 time Super Bowl champion. I really feel bad for the Atlanta fans out there. Its gotta suck to know that your team blew a lead that big. Anyway, I just wanted to give my thoughts on the game real quick. Now lets go ahead and talk more about the importance of laughing and smiling as often as possible.

As I always point out before discussing topics on here, peoples individual viewpoints and opinions will always vary. The goal here isn't to focus on what is considered right or wrong, but rather to paint a topic in a light that readers may not have looked at before. I don't expect everyone to share in my views, but I do hope that the way I view things can leave others with something to walk away thinking about more. Any comments or views on this or any other topic that anyone may have are always welcome here. There isn't much to get into on how this topic came about. As I stated previously, wisdom and age deserve the biggest credit for why I thought about this particular topic. This topic is one that I often talk about my family members of mine. I mainly discuss it often because I feel that we often don't appreciate how blessed we are whenever things are going fairly well for us. Many of us develop that complacent state of mind and forget that all it takes is a second for things to change. As with the majority of my writings, I hope that this topic can serve as a reality check for those of us that may be in need of it. If you are one of those people that this may apply to, there should be absolutely no shame in needing a reality check. I think it is something that we all need occasionally.

So we all know and hear about how small acts like laughing and smiling help regulate good vibes. For whatever reasons that may be, laughing and smiling just makes us feel happy for that present moment that we're engaging in them. From my perspective, I believe there is no price tag that can be placed upon seeing someone that you haven't seen in a long time that you care for, which fills us up with unspeakable happiness that causes us to grin from ear to ear. I also believe that there is no tangible value on seeing something that causes us to laugh uncontrollably until the point where we're crying tears of joy. All of these things make us feel good and happy right? Now we're all aware that in life, for everything that is good and makes us smile and laugh, there is also bad that comes with frowns and tears of pain. There is no getting around the fact that regardless of how much happiness and joy that life can bring, pain, heartache and sorrows are also a huge part of life as well. A huge chunk of the heartaches of life that we experience are things that happen outside of our control, but there are some people that bring a lot of these things upon themselves. Well bringing it upon themselves may not be the best characterization, but some people allow themselves to mentally remain in a state of depression when things aren't going so well.

So why is it important not to allow ourselves to remain in a negative state of mind constantly? Think about this for a second; one day you keep on living, someone that you know or love is going to die. More likely than not at some point in your life, you're going to know what it is like to fall in love with someone and experience a heartbreak. You're going have the experience of wanting to achieve a goal, only find that you're gonna experience failures occasionally. You probably get the gist of what I'm saying, but the thing that these things have in common is that they are guaranteed to happen eventually, and they also bring heartache and disappointment. So it's fairly plain and simple why it is important to laugh and smile as often as possible. We have to do these things have often as we can because troubles and hardships are always lurking. Death, strife and stress are all guaranteed in this life, so in between those sad moments that are guaranteed to happen in life, we have to be able to smile and enjoy life as best as we possibly can. As I mentioned earlier in the post, smiling and laughing can help give us a sense of appreciation. Since they are feel good acts, they can help teach us to appreciate the good moments in life, because the bad is always waiting in the cut.

Now with all of that said, I'm in no way saying that we should always be laughing and smiling. Life is all about balance, so of course we're going to face moments of sadness. All I'm saying is that we should always find something to smile or laugh about daily. Beyond just being a great act to engage in, smiling also has many benefits to us both physically and mentally. A few of them include the releasing of endorphins, lower stress and anxiety, and the increase of the immune system. So the message in this week's post is pretty clear and straightforward. Lets work on finding more reasons to laugh and smile daily, because troubles will always be lurking. I'm pretty sure that many of you out there don't have a problem laughing and smiling, so hopefully this can serve as a help to those that maybe have had a hard time finding reasons to smile as of late. Just know that no matter how much darkness you're facing, there is always something to smile about. The quote that I'm going to leave you all with today comes from a great song by India Arie called "There's Hope". There's a lyric in the chorus on the song that goes; "There's hope, it don't cost a thing to smile, you don't have to pay to laugh, you better thank God for that."

Well my peeps, we have arrived at the end of another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. I thank everyone that stopped by to check out what I have to say once again. As always, my hope is that there was some meaning and understanding that could be gained from this topic. In the event that isn't the case nor applies to you, your visit here is still appreciated. If anyone has any feedback or thoughts to contribute, feel free to leave those down below. Hope you all have a great and enjoyable weekend ahead. For those of you that are basketball fans, be sure to check out the NBA's All Star Weekend that starts today. Alright I'm out guys, so until next time, I wish you all peace, wellness, and positive thoughts. See you all in the next one.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Deserve Hasn't Got Anything To Do With Life (Bad Things Just Happen Sometimes).

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There was an extremely popular show that aired in the mid 2000's that I'm pretty sure that many of you are familiar with called 'The Wire'. For those of you that maybe aren't as familiar with the show, I would highly suggest giving it a look if you can. Those of you that are fans of the show will probably know where I'm going next based on the title of this week's post. There was a popular character on show named Snoop that said something in one of the episodes that I found memorable. Now I'm not going to go into the details of the scene in which she remarked the statement that I'm referring to. I don't want to spoil anything for those of you that have yet to see the show. The statement she aggressively remarked to another character on the show was "Deserve got nothing do with it." Some of you may wonder why such a short and to the point statement stands out to me so much. The reason I feel this statement carries so much weight deals with the fact that so many of us feel that we deserve the things we desire in life because we're good people, etc. I myself will admit that I've maintained this state of mind for the majority of my life, and I've come to realize how this way of thinking can be a huge hindrance to our lives. It is true that none of us are entitled to anything in life, and it is also true that regardless of how good of a person you may be, bad things just sometimes happen in life.

What's going on everyone? It's ya boy Brad H. back once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Hope everyone has been doing well, staying up, and maintaining since the last time I wrote. We have arrived at the month of February already, which means that it is time for the NFL's Super Bowl this upcoming weekend. I'm pretty sure that many of you are excited for the big game, but I'm personally not all that enthused since my Dallas Cowboys didn't make it. I'm just kidding with the Cowboys part, but in all seriousness I'm not too thrilled this year because of the two teams that are playing. I'm definitely not a Patriots fan, and I've never been a fan of the Atlanta Falcons either. Of course I will be watching the game like the majority of the world will be, but I'm kinda just like "meh" on this one. As for a prediction, I think the Patriots are going to win it. However, although I don't like either team, I will hoping that the Falcons win for a couple of reasons. One, although I'm not a Falcons fan, I do like their wide receiver Julio Jones. He is not only one of my favorite receivers, he is also one of my players in the entire league. Secondly, Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon is from my hometown, and their kicker Matt Bryant along with defensive tackle Jonathon Babineaux are local guys as well. Good luck to all the local guys from the Falcons. Alright, time to get into this week's topic of bad things just happen sometimes.

As with the regular routine here, I always maintain that peoples individual viewpoints and opinions will always vary. The objective here is isn't to focus on what is considered right or wrong, but rather to hopefully encourage readers to view various topics differently than they normally would. I don't expect everyone to share in my views or beliefs, but I hope that something can be taken away from what I talk about here. For some brief insight into how this topic came about, it pretty much comes from a conversation that I recently had with a family member of mine. This particular family member was sharing with me some of their opinions on this topic, and how it applies to their life. That conversation truly struck a chord within me that inspired me to come on here and talk about this topic. As I stated earlier, I believe the belief of feeling that we are deserved certain things because of who we are is something that many of us can relate to. I see this as a pretty straight-forward topic, but I think it is one that can serve as a reminder for some of us, as well as a reality check for those that maybe struggle with this. Again, whatever your thoughts and beliefs may be, I appreciate those of you that read, and whatever thoughts and feedback you may have are welcome here.

So many of us will have moments where we get the feeling that we are owed the things we want in life right? I believe a few of the reasons we often feel this way can be attributed to the hard work that we put towards earning something, or maybe we've attempted to maintain a certain standard of living in hopes that it will pay off down the road. While I believe that no one deserves praise for exemplifying these kind of qualities, I do find them to be admirable. If you happen to be one of the people with these qualities that are of the belief that you get out of life what you put into it, then the way of thinking when it comes to the topic at hand probably applies to you. Probably the biggest thing to keep in mind when it comes to life is that it is extremely unpredictable. Life is something that is constantly changing and evolving, which means that we all are going to deal with our shares of highs and lows. Because of the volatility that life brings, there always exists the possibility that regardless of how hard you work or how good of a person you may be, you may not always get out of life that things you feel you're deserving of. This can be hard reality for many people to accept, especially those that may be accustomed to things happening for them frequently. However, it is a necessary reality that we all must occasionally face.

One thing that I think history has tried to teach us is that bad things sometimes happen to good people. There are countless accounts and stories out there of tragic and unfortunate events happening to people that didn't do anything to deserve those things. Sometimes people just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe they were victims of circumstances that someone else may have been facing. Whatever the case may be, it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done in your life, bad things can happen to anyone at anytime. This is why in my opinion that I feel that it is important to try and throw out that whole "I deserve" mentality. There is nothing wrong with wanting or expecting things to happen your way, but having the mentality of thinking that you deserve or are entitled to certain things will always leave you disappointed. Saying all of that doesn't mean that I'm saying that we should be bad people. Of course we should strive to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. I'm simply saying that we should never rely on being good people as a means of thinking we're deserved things. Focus on trying to be the best person you can be, but never count on that for receiving good fortunes in your life.

So if you're one of those people that feels you're deserving of things, I encourage you to try and see things a little bit differently. Again, I'm not trying to discourage anyone or be negative with this topic; I'm just saying that in reality, bad things can and will always occur in our lives. But for all the bad that is in the world, there is always good that is going to come as well. I think that it's importance to appreciate any breaks that we may receive along this journey of life. However, see them for what they are and enjoy them when they come, because they can be far and few in between. I always try to leave a quote that I feel coincides with these topics before I end these posts. This is the one that I found for this topic that I feel resonates deeply with what I'm trying to express. The quote comes courtesy of Dennis Wholely and goes: "Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the Lion not to attack you because you area vegetarian." We should all know by now that life is not always fair; we just have to learn how to live with that.

Well that's it for this week's topic folks! I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now, but thank you once again for all that stopped by to read another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. As always, I hope that there was some meaning and understanding gained from this, and I really hope that some of you out there can feel where I'm coming from with this. Hope 2017 has been treating you all well so far, and I hope everyone enjoys the big game this weekend. I'll be back soon, so until that time comes, I hope everyone stays safe. Have a great weekend everyone, and I wish you all peace, wellness, and positive thoughts.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

It Is Perfectly Okay To Be Yourself (Not Conforming To Society's Standards).

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There is a trend that I'm sure has been around for ages that I notice happening more and more on a regular basis. I'm sure many of you notice it quite a bit as well. It is something that is discussed and talked about frequently, yet regardless of how many times the downfalls of this practice are mentioned, our society still keeps it relevant. What exactly am I talking about you may wonder? I'm referring to how the world often conveys the illusion that everyone should look and act the same. No matter where you go or what you may read, there are always people putting out information on how we should be. Within our society, it seems that the only kind of male to be is an "alpha male." By society standards, for a woman to be classified as beautiful, she should be a certain size or dress a certain way. These are just a couple of examples, but I think you get where I'm going with this. People everywhere are doing all kinds of extreme things to fit into society's bubble when it comes to what is acceptable. This happens so much so that many people begin to lose themselves in the process of trying to change. Of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve ourselves, but should it not be happening to conform to society standards. I feel that is okay to just be yourself.

Hey, how's it going everyone? It is me Brad H. back at it once again, and welcome to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Hope everyone has been doing well, staying up, and continuing to maintain. I also hope that 2017 has been treating you all well so far, and for those of you that make those resolutions for the new year, I hope you're sticking to them. Not a whole lot to talk about this week besides the disappointment that was the Dallas Cowboys this past weekend. Some of you may already know this, but I'm a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Unlike many other Dallas fans that I know, I was actually a bit nervous about them playing Green Bay. Although Dallas beat Green Bay during the regular season and lost to the New York Giants twice, I just felt like it would have been harder for New York to beat the Cowboys three times. Also, we all know how well Aaron Rodgers had been playing leading up to the game. Of course the Cowboys would go on to lose, and although it was a disappointment, they have a lot to look forward towards in the future. I feel that both Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott are the real deal based on how well they both played for being rookies. I'm not a Packers fan at all, but congrats to them for pulling off the victory. It was a great game overall, period. Alright, lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of not conforming to society's standards.

As I normally do before getting into the topic for the week, a person's individual viewpoints will always differ. The goal here isn't to focus too much on what is considered to be right or wrong, but rather encourage others to think about various topics differently from the norm. Of course I don't expect everyone to agree with me, and that is totally fine. Whatever thoughts and opinions others may have are welcomed here. As for how I arrived at this topic for this week, it's just something that I happen to ponder on quite a bit. I think it's a topic that many of us that probably go against the normal standards of society think about on occasion. Also, I believe regardless of who you may be, I think it is normal for all to us to feel out of place or different from everyone else. We are all indeed and unique in our own ways, but so many of us try to fit in to be accepted. This week's topic's goal is to hopefully serve as inspiration to those that maybe struggle with this to realize that it is perfectly fine to be just how are you. It is okay if you want to change certain aspects of your life in order to better yourself, however, that isn't the same as aiming to impress society.

Now getting into the topic at hand, I feel that there is a distinct difference between an individual wanting to better themselves compared to changing themselves in order to conform to others. When I personally think of a person wanting to better themselves or aiming to become more well versed in certain aspects of their lives, I think of a person that is wanting to improve to feel better about themselves first. This is something that begins from within a person, and starts with something that is emotionally compelling from my perspective. On the other hand, a person that wants to change for the sake of fitting in and impressing others is doing it for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. Now there are certain situations that may require us changing for others. For example, a couple that may have just had a child will likely want to change aspects of their lives for the sake of being the best parents they can for that child. Another example could be a man that maybe lives a reckless lifestyle, but decides he wants to change his ways to accommodate to his family or a woman he may be interested in. It is okay if you want to change for people that inspire you to change, which is something that society won't do for us most of the time.

Something else that we must keep in mind is that regardless of how much a person may want to change certain things about themselves, sometimes it may just not happen, or you may not reach society standards. And you know what? That is perfectly fine. If you are an introverted person that doesn't like to be around a lot of other people, that is a part of your personality that you can probably only change so much. You can go out and pick up books, manuals, hire coaches, etc and no matter how much you work towards becoming more extroverted, you will only improve so much if you're naturally an introvert. It's similar to doing a puzzle and trying to force a piece that doesn't fit. See, our society has created an illusion that there are certain traits and characteristics that we must possess in order to be accepted. I'm sure many of you have have of the term "alpha-male" right? By society's standards, an alpha-male is the only type of man that a man should be. You now see all kinds of guys going to all kinds of extreme measures in order to become one of these kind of men that society talks up so much, and it is honestly ridiculous. Again, if you're not hurting anyone or stepping on anyone else's toes, there is nothing wrong with just being who you are.

So for everyone out there regardless if you're male or female, it's okay to want to improve yourself, but always focus on remaining true to who you really are as a person. Every single one of us for all our flaws and shortcomings are unique in our own way, and the way that you are as a person should already be good enough. You never have to feel pressured into doing anything that you really may not want in order to impress others, nor should you have to. I realize that this is a topic that we hear about all the time, however, it seems to remain relevant despite so many people already knowing the potential pitfalls of conforming to the world. As I stated earlier, the most important thing is staying true to yourself regardless of what others may think. I'm going to end this topic by leaving a great and popular quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I hope that it, along with my message on this topic can serve as inspiration to anyone that battles with this. "Real men don't conform to the beliefs of others, even when society has concluded on what is good and true but maintain the integrity of their own mind."

Alright, we've reached the end of this week's topic, so it is time for me to go ahead and sign off for now. Thank you once again for everyone that tuned in to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. My hope is that it was able to reach someone else out there. As I stated earlier, I hope the new year has been treating everyone good so far, and hopefully you're sticking to those resolutions. It has been extremely warm here in Texas as of late, so if it is warmer in your area, try to get outdoors this weekend. Alright folks that is it for me this week, so have a great weekend everyone. Till next time, I wish you all peace, wellness, and positive thoughts.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Biggest Battles We Face Often Come From Within (In A Battle With Your Own Mind).

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Everyone has enemies right? Growing up during our youth, we would often hear people categorize people as either friends or enemies. We've been taught to believe that an enemy can come in the form of a friend, family member, or someone else that we may have close ties with. We've also been taught that society in general can be our biggest enemy. Everything from money to the government, food, etc have all been deemed as potential enemies to us. While the list of things I mentioned can all be potentially harmful to our lives, there is often a potentially enemy to our lives that we either overlook, or choose not to face at all; ourselves. Yes I did say ourselves, and it's true that we can often be our own worst enemies. If anyone is surprised to hear me say this, please don't be. If we really think about it for a second, we as a society in general have been our own worst enemies for centuries. However, I don't want to focus too much on society, but rather the internal battles that we all face from within. Yes it is indeed true that we will face many forms of battles throughout our lives, but the biggest battles will likely come from within ourselves.

Happy 2017 party people! It is I Brad H. once again, and I'd like to welcome everyone to the first 2017 edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Yes we have arrived at 2017, and I hope that this brand new year has been treating you all great thus far. I'm sure many of you have made resolutions for the new year, and while I personally stopped making them years ago, I don't knock anyone that still does. However, as a reminder, I just want everyone to keep in mind that the changing of a date isn't going to instantly change you as a person. Any changes that you plan on making towards bettering any aspect of your life for this new year won't work unless you commit to it. This means that despite facing any setbacks that may occur in whatever you're hoping to become better towards, you have to remain steadfast and consistent throughout a daily basis. This is something that we all may be aware of, but it never hurts to rehash it again from time to time. Again, I hope 2017 has been going well for you all so far. With that said, lets go ahead and tackle the topic of how the biggest battles that we will face will often come from within.

Normally, I would only use this portion to talk a bit about how this week's topic came to be. However, I want to use it for this moment to address a change that I plan on making to this blog going forward. I still will be updating on an every other week basis, however, I plan to keep the posts a bit shorter going forward. One thing that I've come to realize in the past view years is that many of our attention spans are pretty low, and many people often go the the other direction whenever they encounter something that they see as being too long. I don't feel that my topics were long in general, but I do plan to compact them down a bit more to get straight to the point. I think that would probably work out a little more better for not only potential readers, but also for myself. I feel that I will be able to put out better quality write-ups implementing this tactic going further. Besides that, I plan on keeping the same formula when it comes to any topic that I write on. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I want to say that individual viewpoints will always vary. The mission for me here isn't to focus on what is right or wrong, but rather to encourage more in depth thinking on various subject matters.

Now as I referenced to earlier in the post, a good many of us put a lot of energy into the external battles that we face on a regular basis, but we often fail to give enough energy to the battles we're up against internally. I believe that much of this has to do with so many people being in denial about issues that may be happening in their lives. However, regardless of who you are or where you're at in life, every single one of us are battling something internally. An internal battle can be anything that may be troubling us or hindering us from finding that peace within that we're constantly striving for, and I feel that there is no shame in admitting to having an issue or issues in life. Think about all the celebrities, athletes, and people with a certain degree of status that have struggled with addiction. These are individuals that many people deem as having everything that life has to offer, but they still had internal battles that they tried masking with their addictions. Masking our issues isn't only limited to people of status, but it is something that so many of us choose to do rather than addressing whatever issues we're facing. It's similar to putting a band-aid on a wound; it only hides the bigger issue at hand.

Life in general is probably the toughest test that we will ever face, however from my perspective on this topic, the finding of the necessary motivation and willpower from within to pass on daily basis can be even harder. There is so much temptation and negative forces in the world that are constantly working against us daily. However, from my perspective, the reason many of us struggle with these things is due to not properly training our minds to overcome these things. Too much emphasis on being entertained and engaging in activities that don't really help in bettering us as people often takes precedent over the addressing of our internal issues. Just like anything else in life, it is important to prioritize things, and there are so many of us don't make ourselves a priority when it comes to facing the battles that are happening within. This is something that we have to work on changing right? Nobody is perfect, and it is indeed true that we will all fall short every so often. But, the idea of potentially falling short doesn't mean that we shouldn't address the issues that we may be internally facing.

So with everything being said, I think we as people should address and focus on the battles that we're dealing with internally. I'm not saying that we should ignore the outside factors that may be enemies to us, but what I am saying is that everything starts within you first. Being able to equip our minds first to handle the things that life may throw at us should be the first priority. I was watching a video on Youtube by actor Terry Crews yesterday, and he said something in the video that I wanted to make sure and put in this post. He said; "We don't battle people, we battle mindsets. You battle mindsets that attempt to hold people back, that's what I'm battling. I don't battle people, I battle the way people think." I'm glad that I happened to come across those words, because they speak to the idea that while other people and outside forces may be an enemy, it's not them that you're battling. The real battle comes from the ability to adapt to whatever comes at us. It's all about training and strengthening the mind, and then being able to change that mindset for the better.

Well we've come to the end of this particular topic, so I'd like to once again thank everyone that came through for another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. Whether you made any resolutions for the new year or not, lets try to make 2017 a great year everyone. I'm sure some of you out there are sport fans, so like many of you out there, I'm excited for the NFL playoffs that kick off tomorrow. My team (Cowboys) have a first round bye, so they won't be playing tomorrow. However, I will be tuned in anyway because I love watching football, but also to find out who they will be playing. Alright everyone, I'm out so I'll see you all in the next post. Until then, I wish you all a Happy New Year, as well as peace and positive thoughts.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Setbacks Are A Part Of Life; It's Your Reaction To Them That Matters Most.

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There are many things in this life that are just impossible to avoid experiencing. I believe that one of those things is something that that we've both heard and experienced time and time again. What am I talking about you may wonder? I'm referring to setbacks, which is something that many of us experience more often than we'd probably like. Now what exactly is a setback? We all have our own interpretation of what a personal setback may be, but my personal definition of a setback is when something that may be important to us doesn't go as planned. A setback can come in all shapes and forms, and as I alluded to previously, no one is immune to them taking place. While the occurrence of setbacks may be a constant aspect of life, the various ways in which we choose to react to them is always up in the air. Because we are all different individuals with different ways of processing things, we all have different ways of reacting to setbacks. Just like anything else in life, there can be both positive and negatives that can be taken away from having setbacks. However, I believe it is safe to say that most people focus primarily on the negative aspect of setbacks. Regardless of what the setback may be, we find ourselves questioning ourselves and wondering; why is this happening to me? It's perfect normal to question why something may have happened to cause a setback, however, getting too caught up in the setback itself is counterproductive. We have to learn and understand that no matter who you are or what you've done, setbacks are just a part of life. What matters most is how we choose to react to them.

Hello once again ladies and gentlemen. It is I Brad H. back at it once again to present the end of 2016 edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. The blog itself isn't coming to an end, however, this will likely be the last entry of 2016. As always, I hope all has been good and well with everyone. For anyone that may be first time visitors and not familiar with how things go here, I normally come on here every other week to give my personal perspective on various thoughts and ideas that play a part in my life on a regular basis. I try to take those ideas and put them into words that can hopefully serve as an inspiration to others, as well as motivation for myself. Since we're near the end of the year, I wanna take a few moments and reflect. For me personally, it has been quite a journey with handling this blog series this year. In fact, I believe this is the first year that I've actually stayed consistent with updating regularly throughout an entire calendar year. That was one of the goals that I set headed into 2016, and I'm very glad to have accomplished it. I can only hope that through the process of staying consistent that I was able to reach and hopefully inspire others while being on this quest. Since 2016 isn't officially over yet, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself and say how good or bad this year has been to me. I'll just say that just like everyone else, I've experienced my share of highs and lows, but I'm also aware that anything whether for good or bad can still happen before the year ends. Since Christmas day is only a couple of days away, lets try to focus on enjoying that day itself, as well as the rest of 2016. Again, I thank everyone that has taken out the time to read any of these posts. Now that I've had the chance share a couple of reflections, lets go ahead and talk about this week's topic of setbacks and the importance of our reactions to them.

Before talking more about this week's topic, I always let others know that a person's individual viewpoints will always vary from person to person. The goal with this isn't to focus too much on what is considered right or wrong, but rather to encourage more in depth thinking on various subject matters. If anyone disagrees with or has a perspective different from myself on this or any other topics, that is all fine and well. I welcome all thoughts, and the promotion of learning from one another is something that I'm a firm believer in. Now, for a little insight on how I arrived at ending this year's blog series on this topic. I personally thought it would be both beneficial and therapeutic to write on this topic due to a recent setback that I've had personally. Not going too much into details, but I recently had a setback that has kinda thrown me for a loop a bit. Something that I was really hoping to work out recently just happened not to. Of course I'm disappointed about it, and I'm not going to front as if I'm above reacting negatively to setbacks. My hope this week is that I can show others that while setbacks aren't always an ideal part of our lives, we always have a choice on how we react to them. More importantly, I'm hoping that me writing this will serve as a form of inspiration to myself. Maybe it can help be the extra jolt that inspires to me pick myself back up from this setback that has knocked me down a bit. I'm trying to keep in mind that famous quote that goes; "If you fall down, you can look up, and if you can look up you can get up."

Now as I stated previously, the majority of people view setbacks happening in a negative way. Having negative thoughts towards a setback is totally understandable, and I would even say that depending on how severe of a setback that has occurred in your life may be, a negative outlook is sometimes warranted. I'm in no way saying that everyone handles a setback in this way. As I've stated in previous posts, we all handle and process things differently. Now while it may be both normal and natural to feel down or depressed following a setback happening, many of us allow those negative feelings to marinate within our minds. We often don't move forward fast enough from the setback, and that's when the negative state of mind can creep in and take over full force. Once that happens, it becomes even more difficult to get our lives back on course, and it becomes a vicious cycle of daily bouts of self-pity and doubt. Like I mentioned, we all handle and process things differently, which also means that the time frame of rebounding from a setback varies within us individually. However, the healing process takes a lot longer if we constantly allow a negative mindset to fester within following a setback. The biggest trait of a setback is that we often cannot control them, nor can we stop them from happening. They are guaranteed to happen in life, and they often hurt us deeply whenever they occur. While we often can't change nor stop them, we do have control of how we react to them.

People that are frequent visitors here are likely aware of that fact that I often talk about the power of the mind, as well as the importance of working towards strengthening our minds. In regards to getting through a topic such as this one, as well as many others, the mind is a key factor in determining if and when we bounce back from setbacks. It is easy to sit around and wallow in self-pity whenever a setback occurs. We are aware that participating in those self-defeating habits is equivalent to taking the easy way out. The hard part for us is developing the ability to be able to take positives from a setback, and then being able to learn and grow from them. Although this is can be a hard task to take, it's the one option out of the two that gives us the opportunity to grow as individuals. Embracing the agony and disappointment that comes with having setbacks isn't something that is easy to do, and I feel that it takes a certain amount of fortitude to do this. I know that I myself am working on trying to implement this tactic in my life. Again, much of this hinges on how big of a setback that a person is experiencing. I want to be sure and stress that the degree of impact that a setback can have varies, and if we're being honest with ourselves, there are some setbacks that may not be recoverable. Even if that is the case, we still have control over how we react.

Well I'm going to go ahead and bring this entry to a close. I guess I'll end by saying that we shouldn't focus too much on setbacks happening. Why? Because they are inevitable, as well as a part of life. We may have control in certain circumstances, but we can never control unexpected events happening. Instead of worrying so much about the setbacks, lets try focusing on how we react to them. Getting caught up in the self-pity and wallowing in our issues doesn't help the situation, nor does it add to our ability to fix whatever the situation may be. I want to state again that I definitely don't have it all together when it comes to this topic, and I'm still dealing with some backlash from the recent setback that I referenced to previously in this post. But like I said, this blog is all about me trying to inspire myself along with others. That said, me getting these thoughts out there helps me to learn myself. I can't speak for anyone else, but I will say that for me personally, you'll be surprised at how much you learn about yourself when you put effort into something you're passionate about. Well we're at the end now, so I'll leave you all with a quote that coincides with this week's topic. This one comes courtesy of Dau Voire: "A minor setback is an exquisite setup for a major comeback, remember that."

Well that's all for this edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' for 2016 folks! We made it guys! I hope you all enjoyed this blog entry, and I hope that some meaning and understanding was able to be gained from it. Before ending this, I want to say congratulations again to my younger sister for receiving her bachelor's degree last week. I mentioned her then upcoming graduation ceremony in the previous post, so I wanted to bring it to light once again. The commencement ceremony was truly great, and I'm so proud of you sis. Keep up the great work! Christmas is right around the corner, so Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Enjoy the day with your family, and take some time to reflect on and remember those that are no longer with us this holiday season. Alright, I'll see you all in a couple of weeks in the year 2017. Until then, I wish you all a happy holidays, and I'm sending light, love, peace and positive thoughts to all.

©2016 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Don't Be Afraid To Let People That Don't Respect You Go. (Having Respect For Yourself).

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Anyone that knows me fairly well are probably aware that just like many others out there, I love listening to motivational videos. One of my favorite motivational speakers that I've referenced to on this blog in the past is the great Les Brown. I was listening to one of his powerful speechless last night, and he mentioned how it's the people that we're the closet to are the ones that we're the most vulnerable to. This is something that many of us are already aware of, and it is something that I've frequently brought up in previous posts. Whether it may be family, friends, a spouse or associates, every single one of us have people in our lives that we have interactions with. Now I don't want to come across as if EVERYONE deals with disrespectful people. However, I think many of you can agree with me when I say that we all generally having dealings with a least one person in our lives that can be disrespectful towards us and others at times. One of the characteristics about disrespect is it isn't limited to just one type of person It could be family member, a girlfriend/boyfriend, a friend, etc that displays a lack of respect towards us. We all are going to experience disrespectful people from time to time, but when it becomes something that is rampantly happening towards us, it's probably time to take a step back and evaluate our relationships with these people. I believe that the biggest form of respect that can be displayed is self respect, and allowing others to constantly disrespect you without any repercussions can be damaging from a mental standpoint. It's okay to let go sometimes, and it's okay to not be afraid to let go of the people that do not respect you.

Hey, how's it going everyone? It is your man Brad H. once again on the mic about to spit a few bars. Nah, I'm just messing around with you all. I'm definitely not an emcee or a rapper, but I'd classify myself as somewhat of a wordsmith when it comes to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Hope everyone has been doing well out there wherever you are in this world. For those of you that may be first time visitors and not know how things go on here, I come on every other week to give my personal perspective on various thoughts and ideas that I think about on a regular basis. I try to take those ideas and put them into words that can hopefully serve as an inspiration to others, as well as motivation for myself. So Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we're now in the very last month of 2016. Wow, it's amazing how fast this year has flown by. It seems just like last month when I was writing the first blog post of the year for 2016, and now we're less than a month away from a brand new year. This December is going to be a pretty exciting month for my family. In exactly a week from today, my younger sister will be graduating from college. This is a huge accomplishment for our family, because she is the first to actually attend a university and finish. I received an associates degree back in 2007, but she will be receiving her bachelors. I, along with the rest of the family is extremely proud of her and this achievement. Way to go sis! Beyond that, I'm just excited for the rest of the football season, as well as the upcoming Christmas holidays. I've been hearing people complain about hearing so much Christmas music already, but I'm personally loving it just like I do every year. Well now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a minute, lets go ahead and talk a little about not being afraid to let go of people that consistently display disrespectful actions towards you.

Before going more into this week's topic, I always let it be known on here that a person's individual viewpoints will always vary from others. The objective I have here isn't to focus too much on what is considered to be right or wrong, but rather to encourage we as people to think about topics more in depth. If anyone disagree with me on this or any other topics that I've covered, that is totally fine. All thoughts are welcomed here, and the promotion of learning from one another is something that I think should be promoted more. As for how I came to discuss this topic for this week, the only thing I can point to is hearing others mention things about disrespect as of late. I actually wrote a post a little over 3 years ago titled 'Never Tolerate Disrespect From Others(Cutting People Off)'. You can check that out here if you'd like. I believe out of all the topics that I've written about, that one received the most comments from others. That particular post was probably more straightforward in terms of cutting me off. However, I want to piggyback off of that topic with a more less straightforward approach, and instead implement a more cerebral approach that hopefully inspires us to feel more empowered. Any one of us can cut a person out of our lives because of emotions like anger or fear, but letting go off others because we recognize that self love and respect are more important than our relationships with others is something that can leave us feeling more confident and empowered.

So as I stated earlier, we all generally have interactions with people that are disrespectful occasionally. Now in a scenario where we're dealing with someone that may be disrespectful, but it's a scenario that is only temporary or for a moment, it's a little more easy to not be phased by those kind of people. You know the kind of people that you may encounter out in public, but you don't have any previous interactions with them. We typically have no kind of feelings or attachments to those kind of people, so it's much easier to speak your mind and forget about them. The dynamics change completely when it comes to feeling disrespected by someone that is a big part of your life. These are the kind of situations that are often harder to not be phased by, and they can be even harder to just walk away from. Why is this so? Well, most of us have close bonds and attachments to these people, therefore, walking away is often not an option. Think about it for a second. Imagine that you have a spouse that is being disrespectful towards you, but they weren't that way towards you when you met them. Do you really think it would be easy to just let them go if you had years of time invested into them? More than likely, it would not be easy to just walk away from them, in comparison to someone that you don't know. Now I used a spouse as an example, but it can be any kind of relationship with someone that is a big part of your life. The bottom line is that it isn't always easy to let go of someone close to you that is being disrespectful, but here is why you have to at the very least not be afraid to let these people go. You are disrespect yourself.

So how are we being disrespectful to ourselves if we are allowing people to treat us any kind of way? Well from my perspective, when we allow people (regardless of who they may be) to be disrespectful towards or treat us any kind of way, we are basically not viewing ourselves as an individual of value and importance. Allowing this kind of behavior from others is basically a form of devaluing yourself, which can affect your level of confidence and self worth. One thing that I've learned as I've gotten older is that when a person is afraid of potentially losing you, their real feelings and emotions begin to show. In other words, when people see you as someone that is of importance and value to their life, they will often treat you accordingly. This means that they will consistently treat you well, and they likely won't ever disrespect or devalue you because having you in their life gives them fulfillment. Do you really believe that someone that really cares about you would constantly disrespect you if they knew that you would walk away if they never stopped doing it? I highly doubt they would, and if they did, then that's probably a person that doesn't truly care about you. No matter who you are, you are valuable to someone in this world, and the people that see you as being valuable are the ones that will consistently treat you with respect. As I stated earlier, self respect is the most important kind of respect that we can have, and when you respect yourself unconditionally, you won't allow others to constantly disrespect you.

Now with all of that being said, I want to say that I'm not saying that we should just completely cut off people that we're close to. What I'm saying is that if someone doesn't show you the respect that you feel you deserve, then it's okay to reevaluate your relationship with them. From my perspective, there is a bit of difference between letting someone go, and cutting them off completely. I see cutting someone off as an act of retaliation against someone that you feel have wronged you. In other words, it is more than likely done out of spite in order to hopefully hurt that person. In my opinion, letting go means that you're open to trying to work out whatever the problem may be, and then if there isn't a solution to your liking, then you basically remove yourself from the situation. I view letting go as a way of putting yourself before others, which is something we should always do when it comes to having self esteem. So don't ever be afraid to let go of people that don't respect you. Again, there are all kinds of respect, but self respect is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves. I'm going to leave you with a quote that I came across that I feel gives some credence to this particular topic. "No relationship is ever worth sacrificing your dignity or self respect for."

Alright ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the end of another topic. As always, I'd like to thank everyone that came through for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. My hope is that there was some meaning and understanding that could be taken away from this topic, and hopefully it served a source of inspiration for someone out there. If you feel the need to add or contribute anything else in regards to this topic, feel free to drop it below in the comment box. Well I'm about to go ahead and sign off for now folks. The Christmas holiday will be right upon us by the next time I update, so continue to stay positive and in the holiday spirit. I know this can be difficult to do sometimes, especially around this time of the year. Many people grieve even more during the holidays, and we also lose a lot of people during the holidays. It can be rough, but try to be thankful for everything you have whether big or small. Alright, I'll see you all in a couple of weeks. Until then, I wish you all peace and positive thoughts.

©2016 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.