The Scoop: What We See

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” – John Lubbock

Short and sweet tonight!

Much as we are the sum of our experiences, and our attitude defines our experience, so often in situations we get exactly what we expect. We get what we expect because of predispositions and judgments. We see exactly what we look for because we judge before we understand. 

We’ve been taught to not judge books by covers since we were kids, but as much as we try not to, or pretend that we don’t, we judge those covers of books in the blink of an eye. We then make it incumbent upon the judged to prove us wrong. This couldn’t possibly be more backward. 

I think it’s fairly certain that this judgment is ingrained. We may not mean to do it. We may do it unknowingly, but we do it all the same. We do have the ability to think before we judge, though. If we allow for the fact that we’re imperfect, we can forgive ourselves for that judgment and then provide an opportunity to learn and understand someone. 

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” We have a choice in what we look for. We can look for positivity. We can look for compassion. We can look for decency. Or, we can choose to look for the negative. Either way, it’s a choice. 

Choose to look for the good. 

Have an awesome Thursday,
-A. 

Daily Short-hOPT: Choose Life

“See I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil…I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life.” – Moses

Every day we are faced with choices. From the moment we wake up, we have the opportunity to place our previous day’s worries behind us and begin with a clean slate. We have the option of letting a poor decision or a bad circumstance affect us and ruin the rest of our day.

How many times have you gone through the day and had a series of unfortunate events take place? Probably more than you care to remember. Plans get ruined, traffic makes you late, a meeting yields an unanticipated amount of new work, and your schedule does not go quite as you had hoped. How many times have you uttered the phrase “I give up!” usually accompanied by throwing your hands in the air in exasperation?

Now, think about a day when those same unfortunate circumstances may have bogged you down. But, instead of giving up, you worked through it. You moved forward and pressed on. You found a way to reschedule plans, no one cared that you were running a few minutes behind, the extra worked proved to be manageable, and you were able to get yourself back on schedule.

In each moment, you made a choice. In the first situation, you chose to give in to the destructive circumstances of your day. You chose to let the day win and get the best of you. In the second scenario, you chose not to let those circumstances define you. You chose to keep moving forward and living your day. You chose to win the day.

Every day we are faced with choices. How we elect to proceed in those moments can set the tone for our day. We can give up or make decisions that will be detrimental to our overall well-being. They may feel good in the moment and relieve us from the pressures and stress that the day has provided. But, those situations still exist and we still have to deal with them at some point. Alternatively, we can choose to move forward. We can choose to make decisions that may be difficult to face at first will benefit us as we work through them. We can choose to do the right things even if they are not always the popular decisions or the easy ones.

My challenge to you is that every day you wake up make a commitment to choose life. Choose to make decisions that will serve your best interests and advance your mission. Say no to decisions that are disruptive and destructive to your mission.

Choose to overcome. Choose to be your best. Choose to live your day, not just survive it.

Bring your best today!

Love, Noah