Silence Is Golden

Sometimes it takes a break from talking, asking, engaging to confirm understanding. Sometimes it’s vibing to music, scouring a book, or viewing a movie that helps to gain understanding. Sometimes it takes silence to understand.

Silence has power. Silence has wisdom. Silence is learning. Silence is inspiring. Silence won “Best Picture”. Silence won world records. Silence makes sales. Silence makes connections.

Think about the role silence plays in your day. Maybe more is needed to think clearly, even objectively. Perhaps it’s just action not words that help you learn. What could listening, reading, or watching in silence be for you?

A cool quote (one of my favorites), now has a new and different meaning.

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Go be silent.

Dig

A good friend of mine frequently reminds me the importance of this. You cant just consume what is offered to you.
 
See the surface is the norm, it's standard, the status quo. There's something very safe about staying on the surface. Just do what she does, say what she says, write what she writes.... yer good. Taking things for "face value" is easy, no need to involve, just follow the directives issued. Comfortable. Basic. Straightforward. Like cruise control on life. _______! (Go ahead you name the blank...)

There are layers to everything, everyone. Yeah it can be difficult, even hard. You have to engage, ask, involve, or participate. Explore the unexplored, complicate the uncomplicated, flex the inflexible. It's uncomfortable, painfully so at times. It's frustrating, in-explainable, even undefined. It's paths that don't cross and answers that aren't predictable. ___________! (Go ahead name this blank...)

See I studied "digging" in college, some call it History. Inquisitive was my mind, obsessed with finding out why people did what they did, what and who influenced them to do so. I was, maybe still am, driven to find out why and how something occurs. It's in my DNA so maybe its easier to explain and see, but trust me, now more than ever there are tools to assist. Get crazy and Wiki, Google, or Yelp something. Don't take life for what's just on the surface. Don't do just because someone says to or its convenient. Ask what else it could be. Learn what is possible. Involve yourself. Engage.

"The best MC's will never be heard." or so I have been told. I get reminded of this often in different forms throughout my days. Many of us error on the safe, easy, or path of least resistance for fear of rejection, disappointment, or failure. We go with what's advertised or what others say is acceptable as to fit in or be accepted. Of course there is some boldness required to step out from behind a curtain and perform, but there wouldn't be any new or next if somebody didn't. If we only stayed on the surface we wouldn't learn. There is so much more out there to be heard, seen, experienced than just what gets dished up to you. Cease those opportunities. Ask one more question. Take one more step. Write one more page. Play one more note. Explore. Live. Dig.
   

Heart

It's not a stat, a metric, or a number. There isn't a test or a score. It’s not tangible, or something you can touch, or even something you can always comprehend. There's no magic formula, no book, no instructions. It's not a specific word, phrase, or speech memorized. You know it when you see it.

It's the champions, the winners, the record holders, but not the ones that are supposed to be. The best come from those who aren’t supposed to win, not supposed to achieve, the one everyone doubts. It happens when the deck is stacked against them. It's winning when everyone counts you out. It's defying the odds, annihilating a point spread, and driving your TEAM down for the winning touchdown (Eli). Just know it shows up when it matters most.

Trust it's in the undrafted and the #1 draft pick, the unsigned and the biggest of contracts, the unwanted and the coveted. Their measurement however comes when opportunity is presented and how they react. It’s what someone puts on display when they are backed up, counted out, or forgotten. Bottom of the ninth or the last round, seconds left or the last hour, it’s about what happens as time expires that defines.

Everyone has a little. Arguable whether it's taught or something you are born with. Coached or God-given? Studied or spontaneous? Learned or DNA? Hard to know for sure… but believe it when you see it.

Forget the stats, forget the metrics. Forget the favored or the expected. Give me the underdog. Give me the forgotten. Give me heart.