DW's Blog
Respect & Integrity
by DW Green — September 13, 2023
Respect is like integrity. Integrity is strong, “works,” and is constructive and successful, whereas its opposite fails. Integrity is therefore practical; its absence leads to weakness and collapse. The same is true with respect. It’s opposite fails and its absence leads to weakness and collapse.Many times, respecting rivals or groups or individuals who hold a differing “truth” or “belief” is difficult. But respect isn’t about agreement. Respect is about acknowledging and honoring the other person(s) position, perspective, or point of view. Respect is about, as Bob LaBonne Jr. says, living by the Golden Rule. Treating others the way we want to be treated. One can choose to accept the situation as it is, attempt to change it, or leave it all together. But regardless of the choice, one should BE respectful and kind to the individual(s) involved.Well, my “take” on respect anyway!Read More – Late
...read moreAppearance
by DW Green — September 6, 2023
Ever wonder why stuff shows up in your head? I was thinking of the expression “perception is reality.” Perception is not reality, but, admittedly, perception can become a person’s reality because perception has a potent influence on how we look at reality. We don’t realize how much stuff we believe is true only because we perceive it to be so. Like water in a mirage, a dream, an echo, a phantom emanation, a reflection, a castle in the air or a hallucination, all things are clearly apparent yet do not truly exist. While they do not exist, they appear to, and yet have no basis in reality. All this is to say, it’s wise to review your customers perception of your store. Quality, selection, service and value! Perceived or true.Read More – Breakup
...read moreFear Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
by DW Green — August 30, 2023
“Only the paranoid survive,” Andy Grove, a former CEO of Intel, famously said. It might be true. But we also know that the paranoid often destroy themselves quicker and more spectacularly than any enemy.The combination of power, fear, and mania can be deadly. The leader convinced that he might be betrayed, acts first and betrays others first. Afraid that that he’s not well liked, he works so hard to get others to like him that it has the opposite effect. Convinced of mismanagement, he micromanages and becomes the source of the mismanagement. And on and on—the things we fear or dread, we blindly inflict on ourselves.The next time you are afraid of some supposedly disastrous outcome, remember that if you don’t control your impulses, if you lose your self-control, you may be the very source of the disaster you so fear. It has happened to smarter and more powerful and more successful people. It can happen to us too.Read More – Saying What You Think
...read moreHoly Moly
by DW Green — August 23, 2023
I’ve always liked the phrase Holy Moly. It has a nice sound to it! Holy moly means “an exclamation of surprise, shock, or astonishment.” Or, as in Wow! (the exclamation used by the comic book character Captain Marvel.) Holy moly! A whole quarter! Shazam!” Shazam is a pretty neat word too! Holy Moly, as an exclamation of surprise, dates back to at least 1892. Wow! Shazam!However, this blog isn’t about Holy Moly. It’s about Ego! Holy moly! We have an ego due to social convention, but the fallacy we all make is that we treat this abstraction (ego) as if it were real and physical. But the ego is merely a composition of ideas and images about ourselves. This image is obviously no more us than the idea of a tree is a tree. Additionally, the image we carry about ourselves is extremely inaccurate and incomplete. My image of me is not at all your image of me, and my image of you is not at all your image of you.The good news is, is all that is required to become free of the ego is to be aware of it, since awareness and ego are incompatible. As Deepak Chopra writes, “If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyon...read moreFunny How That Works Out
by DW Green — August 16, 2023
Stories about lottery winners tend to share one lesson, suddenly coming into a great deal of money is a curse, not a blessing. Just a few years after they get their big check, many lottery winners are actually in worse financial shape. They’ve lost friends, they’ve gotten divorced. Their whole lives have been turned into a night mare as a result of their obscenely good fortune.
It’s like the Metallica lyric (fittingly from a song called “No Leaf Clover”): “Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel / Is just a freight train coming your way.”
And yet the most common response from a cancer survivor, the person who went through the thing we all dread and fear? “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Funny how that works out, isn’t it.