The Truth Shall Set You Free

The other day I swung my shed door to close it-but it didn't close all the way. It looked closed but I could tell it wasn't quite closed. As I strode away--aware that I hadn't actually closed it, I began to try to convince myself that I couldn't be sure if the door was really ajar or... When I understood what was happening I became sickened that I was actually conspiring with myself to deny reality and do what was easy in the moment. (not go back and close the door. I know! How much more lazy does it get than that?!)

Food for thought. (No pun intended.)

If you eat crap you'll probably get fat and certainly be unhealthy.

If you don't exercise you'll always find yourself tired and, more than likely, carry extra beef with you.

If you spend your time with the unambitious you'll fail-a lot.

If you don't do what you know, you'll miss the opportunity to become what you could.

If you don't learn to put others first you'll learn what it's like to be miserable.

If you go through life longing for more and different but do only shades of the same, you'll guarantee yourself deep regret.

If you spend more than you earn you'll end up broke.

If you don't read and consider different points of view, you'll not only avoid wisdom--you'll befriend ignorance.

If you don't make your kids feel good when they are around you now, they'll learn to get along without you later.

These are just a few basic realities of life. We can convince ourselves that they aren't so but that has not affect on reality. We can decide we're too busy to address them but as the above reality based Ronald depicts, the realities of life and the realities from compromise and its predictable results will find you.

You are The Uncompromised--act like it.

RR

It's All Application

Who cares what you know if you won't do something with it?

• Applied knowledge is wisdom.

• Ignored knowledge is destructive.

• Denied knowledge is stupidity.

Since the problem in life is very rarely that we lack information, you can see the above three options for your choice in how to engage your life.

Doing Something,

RR

Ode to Spain's Soccer Team--and us.

Saturday I went to Foxboro, Mass to see the American national soccer team play Spain's--who, by the way, just won The World Cup.

I'm still shocked at what I saw.

Spain won 4-0. That's not so hard to believe, I guess. What was shocking to me was the ease by which they won. It looked as if they barely broke a sweat while the Americans chased the ball all over the field never possessing it for long.

I was certain it would be a really great game. America's team isn't bad but...

Spain’s players were, almost to the man, masters. And playing like a team they created great results.

Being great as a team and masterful as an individual--and far ahead of the competition (if only your demons) requires:

• · A decision to be great
• · Caring more about your goal than you do your comfort
• · Spending time with people who are better than you at your chosen endeavors
• · A decision to never quit

We all have to choose where we’d like to place ourselves on the scale between mediocrity and mastery. Having witnessed the results of years of dedication and resulting dominance, I know I’m capable of more.

And you…? What is it time to stop messing around with and start hitting hard?

Toward Mastery,

RR

A Blog About Fajitas?

Is "fajitas" Spanish for "make your own burrito"?

I don't want to make my own burritos. But man I keep ordering fajitas when I go to Mexican places. I can't help it; I like them.

I want steak, fried onions/peppers, diced tomatoes, guacamole and that nifty sauce. But I don't want to have to do the math required to properly divide up the resources (previously mentioned) so I don't end up starring at an empty hot plate and three soft tortilla shells.

I'm not quite sure what the connection between this touch of inspiration and a personal growth message would be. Let me see what I've got though...

Why don't I simply ask for three steak steak soft tacos with onions, peppers, diced tomatoes, guacamole and nifty sauce? Why do I keep putting myself in this bind of missing dinner time conversations as I do long division on a sizzling plate that some dude is compelled to tell me is hot?

Hey, I know! I could actually ask for what I want. Why continue to damn myself to do math and the manual labor necessary to properly ration my foodstuffs?

Okay, motion carried. Asking for what I want is a good thing and worth trying. I'll be dining on Mexican Wednesday night and commit to ending the insanity.

Thanks for the therapy.

RR

Since Your Mind is Democratic...

Majority rules! Say that and most people would shout some version of, "Amen!" or "Of course!"

Would it change your thinking if I told that America isn't a democracy?

Would it change your mind if I told you that James Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution, had this to say about democracy: Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.

A democracy is two wolves and one sheep deciding what is for dinner. No security, no higher principle and no natural freedom to appeal to in a democracy when 51% can be swayed and bind 100% of the population.

On the other hand, our minds are an awful lot like a democracy in that what we most think about, we become. If you want to change you need increase the volume and enthusiasm of those thoughts that reflect the best of you and your dreams and goals.

Wow, Ron! Interesting and informative!

Thanks,

RR

The Dabbler's Lament

A paragon of endurance, Mother Teresa labored in the gut of Calcutta for decades giving everything she had to help the "poorest of the poor". She held the hands of lepers, applied medication to open maggot-infested wounds of the dying and held the skeleton-bodies of broken infants as they left this life.

She didn't seek attention, she avoided it as it took her from her what she knew to be most important: expressing love to all those who society was mindful to forget. The world sought her.

The dabbler's lament is elusive fulfillment. He knows that he ought to do things, whether for others or even himself, but he doesn't think in terms of self-sacrifice except as it serves his more immediate purpose. That purpose might be recognition to feel a sense of value, pity so as to dismiss his responsibility, guilt to better control another or the perpetuation of an image that needs occasional maintenance.

Having lost a sense of "mission", the dabbler needs to be seen. She survives on consciously created PR campaigns designed to have people see her a certain way. So self-absorbed is the dabbler that she's lost part of her humanity--becoming blind to the needs of those around her.

Chances are, you're neither a Mother Teresa nor a total dabbler. Reflecting on the dabbler's lament and the joyful life of a saint:

Where do you see you need to engage people differently?

Where is your "mission field"?

Though these examples are somewhat black and white...we still are forced to choose and live that shade of gray. I wonder what you'll choose.

Your Servant,

RR

Finding a Hero Amongst the Living

I like Booker T. Washington, Ben Franklin, Mother Teresa and a slew of other brilliant but long since departed people.

• I work to have Washington's dignity.
• I study and evaluate myself to gain Franklin's sagacity.
• I consistently look to give earnestly and generously so to imitate Mother Teresa's compassion in action.

Someone said to me recently, "You really should have some heroes that are still alive." I was first surprised by the truth of this observation and after I stopped laughing, I asked myself why I don't have any living 'idols'? Well after a couple months of reflection, I have an answer.

Though it doesn't seem really evolved, it was true. I found I was protecting myself from learning that someone I'd admired was really a scoundrel. I didn't want to find that I'd invested any part of myself emotionally in someone who had plenty of time and opportunities left to mess up. I liked the neat and finished product that a dead and revered icon provided.

By unconsciously and exclusively following the dead, I was denying the inspiration that comes in the practice of virtue in the living.

I'm happy to report that I'm appreciating the endurance of Dan Jansen, the perspective of the Dali Lama and the consistency of Ron Paul. I don't have to agree with each person's lifestyle, politics, or anything else. I can admire their application of virtue.

In whom do you see virtue? How will you imitate it today?

Following and Leading,

RR

Awesome Distinction

This isn't mine. A friend, Camilla Rogers, found it someplace and it deserves more airtime and credit to whoever made this incredible distinction.

If anyone knows who said it, let me know, I'll amend this post ASAP.

The short setup on this is that Camilla and I were talking about how people (to include she and I) can get caught up in pretending we're going for something rather than sincerely wanting and working toward it. Here it goes:

A DREAM - An adult synergy of desire, imagination, and expectancy. A dream has a subtext of maximizing who you are, and a supertext of becoming more than you are.

A FANTASY - An adolescent adventure in imagination without any real desire and no solidly determined expectation. The "guts" are missing. The potential manifestation is seen as a threat and a source of fear rather than something to celebrate as a source of joy.

Whoa,

RR

Faithful When No One is Looking

Benjamin Franklin was easily one of the most famous, loved, respected, impactful and wise inventors, wits, philosophers, philanthropists and statesman and of his day.

He gave us the modern post office (not the bloated bureaucracy), invented the Franklin Stove, lightening rod and much more. He was a prolific writer, unifier of a new and great nation of principle and a man known in his day as a great sage and prophet.

He, however, started this journey having washed up on the shores of Philadelphia (an economically depressed city) with just enough for a couple of meals -or so it seems...

Before he left Boston and after his arrival he was a hungry learner and student. He spent his free time learning how to write, debate, understand and reason. He read constantly and became a pretty sharp guy fluent in the conversation of intellectuals.

His industry and aptitude caught the attention of the Governors of three states within months of arriving in Philadelphia. And though there is much more to say about how this poor boy went from rags to riches, fame, immense service and near-prophet status it can all be traced back to his being faithful.

He could have done nothing or just a bit with what he felt the desire to do. He could have just gotten by. He could have done well and not pressed himself.

Franklin chose to be faithful to something bigger in himself.

We all need this kind of faithfulness.

RR

Dealing with the Unexpected

This guy just went in for an oil change... (maybe)

JFK said that the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

Aint that the truth!

People have fantasies that who they really are will be discovered -and admired by others, through adversity or challenge.

The truth is, though, that who you are is the result of daily practice. If you can't handle little stuff with coolness or humility (for example) you won't suddenly sprout divine presence that allows you those qualities when your car breaks in two. It takes courage to recognize this.

The Uncompromised of our world engage rather than avoid reality. We'd better get to work on repairing our roof now. What qualities is it time for you to nurture and grow?

RR

Do you Have Any Standards (Personal Standards)? Part 2

Values aren't anything special; everybody has values. And more, everybody's values sound wonderful. Nobody has a value called "killer" or "idiot" or "pushover" -that is, nobody has values like these that actually mean what the name insinuates.

People have values like: love, honesty, connection, security, hard work, self-care and the like. But have you ever thought about people like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin... and their values? Hitler killed 30 million people; Stalin killed 60 million and yet I'd be willing to bet that neither of these men, if you were able to sit down with them and do a values clarification exercise with them, would confess to having values such as: genocide, rape, pillage or S.O.B. No, no, no... their values would sound no different than Mother Teresa's or Gandhi's.

I'd put A LOT of money on the fact that all four of these individuals from the 20th century would have had values that sounded quite similar. I'm sure from Adolf Hitler and Mother Teresa you hear words like "commitment" and "mission" as values. I'm sure Joseph Stalin and Gandhi would speak mutually, yet independently, of their commitment to the values of: "change" and "peace".

How do we reconcile this? Certainly Adolf Hitler was "committed" and on a "mission". So was Mother Teresa. Mohandas Gandhi could very well be the quintessential example of a person who lived the values of "peace" and "change". Joseph Stalin too, worked for "change" and his own version of "peace".

On a much lighter note, but staying on the same theme... I've worked with people who have a value called, "self-care". I've seen people use this value to justify getting a massage, eating cheesecake, eating spinach salad or numbing out with their drug of choice (food, work, porn, drugs or drink). Oh man! I've been one of these people! What does the value "self-care" mean? The answer is, it means whatever we want it to mean, given the right circumstances. This simply can't be good enough.

The above, is just one example of many, where values (which are naturally vague even when there clarified with other words) actually can be used, not to bring people what they really want, but in our moments of weakness, to justify the things we don't want and wouldn't do otherwise. Yikes! Just say no to values.

Go get yourself some Personal Standards!

Soon enough. Stay tuned to Thursday morning's post.

As Always,

Be Good-Don't Compromise

RR

The Agony of Compromise

Does Compromise ever feel good?

At the bottom of a dish of ice cream, that you said you wouldn't eat...

When you lay your head down, another night, -having skipped out on doing something you knew you should...

When you say something to someone, just to get to them...

When you bitch about your job then declare that you only have 11 more years...

You have compromised YOU. It's nothing short of betrayal...

It's funny, in the moment, administering the medication of mint chocolate chip to your wounds feels reasonable. Performing busy work to provide a 'reasonable' excuse why you don't have the life you want, seems understandable. Really, in those brief but powerful moments you know your self to be full of it -and with enough of this, and in the end it will be a bitter taste you will live and die with.

Honestly looking at what you are choosing to do with your time, money, energy, body, etc. is the place to start wen you want to live as The Uncompromised. Stop thinking so much and decide what you really, really want. Write it down. Finally, Do Something. Anything...but be in action, learn, adjust the plan and do more.

Don't Compromise. Be Great. Go do something.

RR

Fishing in the Rocks

I don't know whether I was exercising a particular wisdom or just lucky but I caught 3 fish in 45 minutes while the two experienced fishermen caught none in two hours. What do you think?

I was on vacation (and some work) in Myrtle Beach, SC with my family and decided to take my boys (5 and 6 1/2) fishing. Enthusiastically we paid, took our frozen shrimp and our 'gear' to the end of Pier 14 to 'fish'. I honestly didn't intend on catching anything but thought it would just be fun for the boys to try and me to, well, try!

We met a couple of guys in their 50's who'd been fishing for quite some time, as they later -and clearly pointed out. I'd been just casting my line as far out as I could go in any direction when one my line got stuck and of the guys told me there was a long stone wall that went from the beach way out to sea just under the water. The message was clear, 'Don't cast in that direction, you'll lose your lure.'

Well my coaching mind (and contrarian spirit!) was awoken! I thought something like, 'Hey, it's in the rocks, the challenges and seemingly risky/dangerous times where the fruit of life is so often found!' So for the next 45 minutes I cast only toward the rocks.

I did the best I could to keep the bait moving so it wouldn't sink too low and settle in the rocks and get caught -again. Well three fish -and 45 minutes later, I thought this little story was worth sharing.

I fully accept that I'm no fisherman and what happened could have been luck (any fishermen out there?) but then again doesn't life experience tell us that there is a lot more going on in the 'fray' than in the open water?

RR