Doddsism #136

Doddsism #136 | To be a star you can't be afraid to shine.

I always imagine that the lights on a Christmas tree are stars. When they are off they don't look like much but once you turn them on they illuminate everything around them. Some of us are just like the lights that haven't been turned on yet. It is time for us to shine and show the world how beautiful our light can be.

Doddsism #135

Doddsism #135 | Just because they call you something doesn't mean you are that something.

Have you ever received a letter that you didn't want and instead of keeping it you marked it return to sender? Words can be the same way. People can say all sorts of negative things about you but just because they say it does not mean you have to accept it. Just like that letter, you can send it back. 

Doddsism #134

Doddsism #134 | Kings carry themselves as kings and not as pawns.

If you saw a king walking down the street in normal clothes you might not think to yourself that he is a king, but chances are you will be able to tell that there is something different about him. That is why it is important that you carry yourself the way you want to be perceived.

Doddsism #133

Doddsism #133 | Procrastination can be the destroyer of dreams.

Have you ever waken up from a good dream and later when you try to recall it you have a hard time remembering anything from it. If only you had written it down when you first woke up. Just like dreams that you have while you sleep, the dreams that you have when you are awake can fade away if you don't act on them in time.

Doddsism #132

Treat the things that are important like they are important!

It seems like a really simple concept but so many times we spend so much time worrying about things that really don't matter that we neglect the things that do. It can be really easy to do because today's world is fast paced and everything wants to be your priority. When everything is "important" you can lose track of the things that really are important. You hear the stories too often about people so focused on their careers that they miss out on the beautiful family that they have. If you really want to figure out what is important in your life just make a list of all the things that are important to you. Next take that list and prioritize it down to the top ten most important things in your life. Take that shortened list and cut it down to five, then to three and finally to one. That last item standing is the thing that is most important in your life. I'm guessing  for most people it is not their career or money. Maybe those two are in the top five but usually not number one. For me it would have to be family which includes blood relatives and close friends. So by that list the thing I should treat like it is important is my family. Sometimes in the pursuit of other things we lose track of the importance of that number one thing. What is number one on your list?

Doddsism #131

You can either be changed by your environment, change environments, or change your environment!

Just because you are in a bad environment does not mean that environment has to change you into something you do not want to be. A mistake that some people make is that they think because a person is born or lives in a bad area that they are a certain way because of it. We all know those people who can walk into a room or party and change the whole environment. Certain people can walk into your life and brighten everything up. On the other hand we all know people who come around and make everything worst. It is almost like enjoying a sunny picnic and having a dark rain cloud poor rain all over your head. When you are in any environment you can do three things 1. You can let your environment dictate  your behavior. 2. You can leave your current environment and find a place that is more fitted for you. 3. The final and possibly the hardest choice you have is to change the environment around you. Be that sunshine that brightens up and transforms whatever environment you enter. Are you the sun that brightens your environment or the rain cloud that ruins everyone else's day? 

Doddsism #130

Sometimes your reflection can be the hardest thing to see!

Why is it when we look at other peoples situations their problems seem so obvious? If you have a really good friend or are a really good friend you know exactly what I mean. When a friend is in trouble a lot of times it is easy to see what the problem is and try to diagnose a solution. You can go through that same problem and have no idea what the issue is and it may seem like there is no solution in sight. It seems that it is always easier to look at someone else than it is to look at ourselves. We seem to have a tendency of getting in our own way. It is almost as if the problem disables our ability to analyze and adjust. That is why it is so important to have good friends around you to help figure out your situation. How is your friends list looking?

Doddsism #129

Negative words only have the power that you give them!

Words are powerful. They have the power to dissuade and persuade, they can make you happy or they can make you sad. But really words are only truly powerful when there is something behind them. Meaning, anyone can tell you that your fired from your job but unless that person is in a position of authority those words have no power. There is a huge difference between fact and opinion. We can get in big trouble when we take someones opinion as fact, especially if that opinion is negative. When someone is speaking negativity to you either you can accept it as truth (give it power) or you can take it for what it is (meaningless, powerless words). Just because someone says something does not mean it is true, even if that person is in a position of authority or esteem. That is why it is so important to know who you are on the inside so that when people try to speak negativity into your life you will be able to know that the words they speak are false. You also have to be careful with the people that you allow in your inner circle. People can become jealous of you and slowly try to sabotage your self-esteem. Whose in your circle?     

Doddsism #124 Part 3

Don't go to battle unless you are ready for war!

Just because you lose a battle doesn't mean the war is over!

The third and final part of Doddsism 124, just because you lose a battle doesn't mean the war is over. So many times we want to give up at the first sign of failure. We get rejected once and assume the battle is over. We can learn some of the best lessons in failure. There are two things that I think about after something has happened or I have been rejected. The first thing I ask myself is "did I do something wrong, or is there a way I could have done something better". Sometimes we fail or are reject even when we do everything correctly. It could be something as simple as timing. The second thing I try to figure out is "what can learn from this event." When everything is going well we tend not to look for ways to improve. Sometimes it takes something bad to happen for us to make the adjustment that could eventually lead us to greater success. Like I have said in previous post, even the most powerful and successful people have failed or come up short. The thing about those people is that even though they lost a couple battles they never stopped fighting the war. Have you given up after a battle? Maybe it is time to go back to war!

Doddsism #121

It is easier to believe in yourself when you know that someone believes in you!

How does it feel to be your hero's hero? To have someone you believe in whole heartily believe in you the same way. It is not always easy to have confidence in yourself. Sometimes you need to have someone in your corner who has your back. Someone who believes in you more than you do yourself. You may not know it but that same person that you believe in probably feels the same way about you. You may not always know it but that person is rooting for you like your own personal cheerleader. I have had situations where I did not feel like I could do the things I had to do. At those times the people that believed in my supported me  and made me realize that I could. The more they showed they believed the more I began to believe in myself.

Doddsism #120

Knowing who you are makes life so much easier!

Life is hard, pretending to be someone that you are not is even harder. With all of obstacles that we face everyday, it is easy to second guess ourselves. Sometimes we do things that we don't want to do just to fit into who we think society expects us to be. If you don't know who you truly are, you will second guess yourself on thing that you are more than capable of doing. It may even make you worry or give up when you could have easily achieved the goal you had for yourself. I have someone that is very special in my life. If she truly knew herself the way I do then she would know that she is a very gifted and special person. Sometimes we live below our potential because we are looking at ourselves through a skewed mirror. Once we realize that the true mirror rest inside of our heart we can then step into the people we are meant to be.

Doddsism #119

Don't be so concerned with the packaging that you miss out on the content!

We as humans can be very superficial creatures. The easiest way to judge something is by the way it looks, but it is so easy to get it wrong. You don't have to talk to someone to think they are pretty. Beauty is something you can see. It is very easy to get caught up on external beauty to the point where we ignore the content. Just because something looks good doesn't mean that it is good for you. The opposite is true too, just because something does not look good does not mean that it is good for you. If we judge solely on the packaging of something we can end up with a pretty box that is completely empty. I for one would hate to end up in a situation like that. Parents know first hand about ugly packages, and no I am not talking about their kids. Have you ever seen a present that has been wrapped by a child? It can get pretty rough. The thing is that even though the package is ugly, the meaning and the content of that package far exceeds the rawness of the outside.

Doddsism #118

Get the best out of life, don't let life take the best out of you!

One of the first lessons you learn as a young adult or even as a kid is that life isn't fair. Sometimes we work hard and do all the right things but we still get passed over. When I graduated from collage I thought it would be easy to find a good job. My plan was to go to school and get my degree and by doing that, open a door to a good job. It did not work out like that at all. I went on interview after interview with no luck. The jobs I wanted I didn't have enough experience to get. The jobs I didn't want I had to much education to be hired. While I was unemployed I worked on projects that I felt could make me more valuable in the workforce. Long story short I ended up back in school. It was not what I planned but I made the best of my situation. Shortly after I graduated the second time I was able to find a nice job. When I look back at the original plan I had I am happy it didn't work. Now I am getting paid for doing something that I love, but I never would have made it to that point if I didn't make the best of a bad situation.

Doddsism #117

The perspective that you see something in is just as important as the thing you are looking at!

Perspective is something that is a lot of times forgotten, but it is something that is very important.  We can look through history and find people who have been able to change peoples perspectives to the point that the people who followed them believed that they were doing something good when it was really just the opposite. You can take a painting and put it in a room full of people and have each person give a description of that painting. Each person has a different perspective of what they are seeing therefore every person will have a different interpretation of the very same painting. If you have ever seen the movie "Men in Black," there is a scene where Will Smith's character is trying out for the agency. His character along with others go to a shooting range where they shot each thing they perceive to be a threat. Long story short Will Smith's character ends up shooting at something different from the rest of the group because his perspective was different. How is your perspective?

Doddsism #116

It is not fair to compare yourself to other people. It is better to compare your present to your past and your future to your present!

Have you ever heard that saying that you can't compare apple to oranges? It is a very true statement, how can you compare two things that are completely different. Sometimes it can even be difficult to compare apples to apples because they can vary so much. There are many different types of apples, just like there are many different types of people. One of the many things that makes human different from apples is that we are one of ones. I know you may look like your sister, brother, father etc but still at the end of the day your a one of a kind. So how unfair would it be to compare yourself to someone else? The answer is that it is not fair at all. We all have different starting points and different roads that we take to get to our destinations. 

Doddsism #115

Replace a bad habit with a good one. Perform an habit exchange!

It seems like good habits are hard to form, while bad habits are hard to break. Habits can be very powerful. You can get into a routine of doing something that eventually performing this task becomes like breathing, you do it without thinking about it. Unfortunately for most of us we have gotten into some bad habits that we want to fix but have been doing it for so long that it is hard to stop. Procrastination is a good example of this. We procrastinate so much that even when we want to stop it becomes difficult to. I heard somewhere that after you do something four times consistently, it starts to become habitual. The more you continue to repeat this pattern the stronger the habit can become. If we can replace the bad habit with a good one then not only have you eliminated a bad habit but you have also started a good one.

Doddsism #114

You can't always do what you want, but there is always something that you can do!

It is easy to get frustrated when you want to do something but are unable to. This is especially true when your stuck doing something you absolutely do not want to do, like working when you really want to be at the beach. Whether it is time or means that is keeping you from doing what you want, it is easy to feel like you don't want to do anything at all if you can't do what you truly want. Whatever the reason you are unable to do the things you want to do, don't lose hope because there is always something else you can do. If the thing that is keeping you back is time, time management becomes very important. It is important to think ahead to things coming up so that you can plan accordingly. Planning is also important if it is financial reasons holding you back. Saving a little at a time over a long period of time can really add up.

Doddsism #113

Don't spend so much time worrying about "what if" that you miss out on "what is"

"What if" is a game we have all played. It seems the more we dislike our current situation the more we play it. What if I had went to a different school or studied a different major. What if I started playing sports at a younger age or stayed with that person I broke up with. Sometimes we can get so caught up with what we could have done that we don't see the opportunities in front of us. If we could only see the decisions that we made in the past the way we see them now things would be different. The "what if" game doesn't only apply to the past but also the future. What if I win the lottery or get discovered and become a huge celebrity. Dreams are great but if you never take the actions necessary to reach them, a dream may be all they ever are.

Doddsism #112

Be careful that the things you take for granted now don't become the things that you miss later.

You know that feeling when you first get something that is really nice. That excitement that you feel when you open it or use it for the first time. Shortly after, that feeling begins to go away. It doesn't all go away instantly but bit by bit each day until finally we don't think about it at all. Even if we still use this item we become so accustom to having it around that we don't give it much thought. We tend to think that things will always be there. Truth is most things we use on a daily basis don't get much thought unless it is malfunctioning. Sometimes the same thing happens with the people we love. We take for grated the things they do for us until for some reason they are not doing them anymore. Even worse sometimes the things we hate the most become the same things we wish we could have back in the future.

Doddsism #111

There can only be one captain at a time, too many people trying to steer at once will inevitably lead to an accident!

Life is like a long drive. You start out on a path, you may have a few twist and turn along the way but you are driving towards a destination. Along the way you run into obstacles that may divert you from your original goal, some may even change your path altogether. The thing to remember as you are traveling through the highway of life is to not let someone else steer your ship. I am not saying that you should not listen to other people or take input. What I am saying is don't let someone take the wheel out of your hands or worst pull you away from a goal that you have set for yourself. At the end of the day when every one has gone home and your all alone, you are going to have to live with the decision you have made.