Hello and welcome or welcome back to the 2nd blog of Dailey Life. Before starting this, I would like to warmly welcome you, and say that it’s so great to have you guys here, no matter who and where you are.
The purpose of Dailey Life is to empower people and to have them reach their potential and become better one day at a time, even just a little. Everyday, we are always getting better and becoming the best we can be to empower others and to spread love, joy, energy and vibes to everyone.
The vision of this blog is to create a community that is empowering, but let’s face it, life is something and there is so much craziness going on in the news and social media, maybe even your personal life, but even with the craziness going on, with the rise of COVID 19 and the continuation of the pandemic, with the Omnicom and Delta variants, a lot of things are happening, but no matter what’s going on in the world, we should have a beacon of hope. We should be a light in the darkness that shines for others, to inspire people and to empower.
In this blog, I want to talk about life lessons. Life is short and statistically speaking, you have people who live in their thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, and all the way up to a hundred or even beyond that. You know, my grandmother died at age 102. She was actually born in 1918, which is a shocker. When I think about it, I’m like,
“I cannot imagine what it would be like to reach 80, 90, 100 or even beyond that.”
My grandmother made a really great impression on me in her years here on Earth, and I hope that I, too, can make an impression on you, even just a little bit, and you can do the same. I hope that, wherever and whenever you’re reading this, you make a great impact upon the lives that you interact with.
So, with that, let’s think about the many life lessons that we’ve learned. When we think about education, we constantly think about the education system, going to class, and learning lessons from teachers, but there are other lessons that we can learn in life and from everyday living. Some people would call this the school of hard knocks. When we’re living life and experiencing everyday interactions with people, like our family, friends, coworkers or students. We encounter so much interactions every day and the thing that I wanted to bring up is wherever you go through a situation, whether it’s good or bad, ask yourself this simple question;
“What can I learn from this interaction? What can I learn from this experience? What can I learn from this circumstance?”
It’s a very easy question when you think about it, but everyday you interact with people, even if it’s less or more people. This isn’t a contest. When you think about it, you will have interactions with people on a day-to-day basis, unless you’re a hermit crab or you don’t interact with people in general, then that may be a little different. Your experience may be very different than mine, but that’s one of the beauties of life. My experience is different from your experience, so all the interactions that you have with other people in your life, there are lessons that we can learn from them. When we think about this business of life, there are going to be; highs and lows, hills and valleys, ups and downs. There are going to be seasons in life, with that, every day, you might meet someone for the first time and never see them again, but there may be a lesson that you learned from that person, and that’s something that’s really beautiful. When you start looking at life that way, seeing it and thinking to yourself,
“What am I going to learn from this person that I’m talking to or interacting with?”
Or
“What am I going to learn from this person?”
It may be a very small, microscopic lesson, but nonetheless, a great one. Or it may be a reminder of something that happened in your life. Something that I find to be very interesting is this idea of synchronicity, also known as the kind of repetition of things that we hear, experience or even see in life. For example, let’s say that I hear on the radio, while scrolling on Facebook, a topic about how we need to forgive our friends or other people for the wrong they’ve done for us. I may hear that on Facebook, then hear it in a conversation from a coworker that didn’t see the post I saw, then hear it again in a phone call with my mother or something I hear in the grocery store. When someone’s talking about how I need to forgive my uncle for the wrong that he’s done, then maybe I need to seek forgiveness for the wrong that I’ve done. In this idea, there are things that kind of line up nicely, now as a Christian, one thing that can happen is that you find the hand of God, and it’s lining up. That’s called synchronicity. It depends on what background you have, but it’s this repetition of a lesson that happens in life, and I think we have to observe what happens in our own life.
We have to be mindful and aware of the people that we interact with because let’s face it, the life that you live as a human being will have a profound impact on people. You may not realize how big or small it may be, but it will have an impact nonetheless.
It’s like everyday if you’re going to Starbucks or a gas station to get your cup of Joe, I’m always on the go, which is why I always have a cup of coffee in the morning. I see the same barista practically every single day. Yes, this goes to show how much Starbucks I drink. Every time I interact with someone, even if it’s the same people over and over again, there’s a an energy. You do not know how you are impacting them. And how often do we consider how they are impacting us? It’s a mutual matter.
It’s kind of like this two-way street from the lessons that they can learn from you, and the lessons that you can learn from them, and it’s just one person, not even considering all of the people that you’ve interact with.
Oftentimes, when I’m talking about hills and valleys, I’m talking about the ups and downs, like there are going to be good and bad situations that you will be going through and it would be wrong of me to say that life is going to be easy and perfect. We, as human beings, live on this Earth where everything is not perfect. There are going to be a lot of bad things that happen in the world, like crime, theft, racism, and many other things that happen. We are imperfect. I know we try to be perfect, but we’re never going to be perfect because even if I am perfect, to someone else’s eyes and mind, the way they’re thinking, I’m not perfect to them, and that’s a whole other perspective with that. So, the whole point of that is, in the human condition, living here on Earth, we’re not perfect. We’re never going to be perfect, but we certainly should do the best that we can with what we have. We should take ownership and responsibility of our life and do the best we can every day. Granted that we’re going to have good and bad days, but like I’m saying, in those times when we have a bad day, we have to seek counsel. If you believe in God, seek God, other people, or anyone you can talk to. I’ve always thought of this idea that when something bad happens to us, there’s this understanding that there are things that we cannot change, but it’s what we do after that’s happened, so all of this is kind of tied together.
I’m focusing on this idea that we are going to learn lessons from every single person that we interact with, talk to, have professional or personal relationships, friendships, or just someone that you see going by in the grocery store, we are going to learn that lesson, even if we’re having a bad or good day, sometimes in my own personal experience, something that I’ve learned is that sometimes you learn from the most difficult of people.
I once had a coworker in one of the jobs that I used to work at where I butted heads with them all the time. There was criticism of how I was performing, now granted I did the best I could as an employee, but it was more of a personality conflict, but from this coworker, I learned how to handle different personalities that was different than mine, and even though we were working together and getting the job done, I learned a lot of lessons about patience and understanding, their perspective, their story and how often we go about our life and trying to force ourselves onto other people, but sometimes when we have that conflict, it’s almost like the universe, or God, is trying to say;
“Hey, look, here’s another perspective. Observe, listen and take the time to see the other perspectives.”
Sometimes I think that we tend to say we do that, but we really don’t. We should see where someone is coming from, like the saying that means that we have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoe. We have to see their perspective and where they’re coming from, granted, it can be hard to do.
I’m not perfect and there are many times that I don’t understand. Like,
“Dude, what are you talking about?” “What’s your perspective?”
I shouldn’t cast judgement on them and need to try to understand everything. Where someone is from, it’s exhibiting love, understanding, and kindness towards other people. Treat others with kindness and respect, even though you may have a bad situation, a person you cannot tolerate, or someone that you cannot deal with very well, you can learn lessons from them in the same way when you’re having the best days. It’s like,
“Hey, I learned something new.”
That’s awesome, but what about those bad days? We still have the opportunity to learn from other people, so something you have to ask yourself is, is conflict good? Although it can be, there will always be good and bad conflict, but in conflict, it’s an opportunity for you to see the other perspective. It’s the opportunity for you to listen instead of speak. It’s for you to think and consider this other person. Very often when we are in conflict, we are butting heads with other people. We should listen to other people’s perspectives. Ask yourself,
“What can I learn from this person? This situation? This circumstance?”
Look at it as a lesson. I’m not saying to learn as many lessons as possible. Don’t treat people as numbers. Treat them as human beings. Treat them like you’re genuinely curious to know where you’re coming from. Show authenticity and genuineness, like,
“Hey, I have a good relationship with you, or maybe I don’t, but there’s a lesson that I can learn from you, and vice versa.”
It’s a mutual thing and we do the best we can with what we have. That’s something you’re going to hear me say a lot of and that is something that I’ve learned through books that I’ve read and courses that I’ve taken, and I also believe that in everything we do, we do in excellence, granted, we are not perfect.
We strive for excellence and not perfection. And even though we may have those times of darkness, we may be in that dark place externally, or even internally, we can come to light by our thoughts, actions and will and we can seek the light, no matter what it is you’re going through. You can choose light or truth in the path of darkness. Sometimes it may be professional help, and sometimes it may be changing the way you think, or the people you’re interacting with, but understand that you are in control of who you are as a person. You have a mind and a heart, so you have the ability to respond to what life is going to throw at you. Remember, every single circumstance, there will come a lesson. Every single person there will have a lesson, so when something bad happens, do we react to it or do we respond to it? There is a famous saying that I absolutely love and it says that,
“Responsibility is responding with ability.”
It is the ability to respond and I just think that it’s such a really cool way of looking at it, that we can respond to a situation with ability. You have that ability in you, and I know not everyone’s going to agree with what I believe in, but I believe that each and every single person is gifted, that they have strengths and abilities, that they have potential that is within them.
I would say that it is God given potential that you were created by a creator and that creator gave you potential and it is up to you to decide what you are going to do with that potential.
Life is incredibly short, so make the best of your life. There is so much to learn and experience; good and the bad. There have been plenty of times where I’ve been in dark places, suffering and struggling. There was a time when I was depressed and overwhelmed, and that’s the reality of that, and I have to think,
“What can I learn from this? How am I going? And with those lessons, what am I going to do with those lessons?”
Or
“How am I going to implement those lessons into my life, right?”
Ok, I’m learning. From this situation, maybe I shouldn’t have done the action that I did, or I should have done it differently. You learn those lessons and you move forward with it. Don’t repeat the same mistake that you made. We learn, grow and implement. We move on, and with those lessons, we teach other people the lessons, knowledge, wisdom, insight and information. So just think of how many lessons you as a person can learn just through simple observation, just by asking yourself those kinds of questions or by taking the time to learn from someone else’s perspective. When you think about it, if you have a mentor, it’s a very positive thing to have, and I encourage having a life coach, spiritual director or someone who can mentor you, even a good friend who’s gone through the same or a similar experience. When you think about it, they’re telling you the experiences in a positive light, so to have a mentor who can help you can be very fruitful. You’re learning the lessons, from their mistakes, from their experiences, and you’re taking it all in. Think of how you can use that knowledge and then implement that into your life when we’re learning stuff in school, or other people
But learning those life lessons, that’s the first point. The first thing that you have to do is learn those life lessons from every circumstance and person, though it does take practice and time, but through that, you’ll learn and because of what you’ve learned, you’re going to use it in your own life because you’ve seen what your actions can do, or you’ve seen what the situation has taught you so you can continue forward.
The cool thing about this is that as you are learning, you can have discussions with other people. It could be your friends, mentors, network, tribe, or anyone, as long as you find people to have those discussions with you, like,
“Hey, I’ve learned this, you know? Have you learned anything?
Or
“You know, I haven’t learned anything.” “You know what, I have.”
It’s just one of the great things. How else do we learn life lessons? Through experiences, conversations, observations, the books we read, the courses we take, whether it’s formal or informal education. We can learn, even in our darkest and highest of times. It’s kind of like when you’re dating. You learn what not to do or who you don’t want to date. Now you learn what you want and through those experiences, it’s such a wonderful opportunity for you guys as we learn those lessons and implement them into our own lives so we move forward.
One quote that really comes to mind that I really life is from Earl Nightingale, which his,
“All you need is a plan, the roadmap and the courage to press on to your destination.”
I know each and everyone of us, we have potential and purpose, and through that we need to go to the goal, the prize, and you see to it that you don’t stop at that goal, no matter what it is, and keep moving forward. You’re going through that goal and you’re meeting a lot of people. I have this visual image where it’s like you’re going on a path, your life path, and as you’re going through the journey, you’re walking on the pathway or road, and you’re going to meet people along the way, and these people are going to teach you lessons that will help prepare you further down the road.
You may stumble a little bit, but how often do you learn the same lesson over and over again, but haven’t done anything about it? I know for me that’s happened a lot of times where it’s frustrating, but that’s the reality of it. There are many times where we’ll have a repeat of the same lesson over and over, and we get to figure out what to change differently or how to move forward differently, so there has to be a reason why we’re learning that same lesson over and over.
You’re going about your life journey, there’s certain people you’re going to meet and there are going to be certain experiences that you’re going to go through, and as you’re going through the journey, you will learn, and because of the lesson that you learned, you know what to do, what not to do, or you know not to talk to that person.
Here’s a lesson that I’ve learned, but based on what I learned in the past, I have a framework, or a general understanding, of how to move forward. It’s building upon that foundation as you’re going through the journey of life, and then what’s really cool about that is as you’re progressing, there will be people who may be in their life journey, their life path, and they may ask you that question because you were divinely appointed that you were to meet that certain person. The cool thing about life is that you come across people that may ask you a question or may say something out of the blue, so you’ll need to be more patient and they may learn something from you, even though that’s not really what she meant.
As you’re going along your life path, you may meet someone and have a profound impact on them. Always be mindful of that. Always be mindful of the people you interact with every single day on a day-to-day basis. That’s why I’m writing about this in this blog. It’s empowering to others, just think about who you interact with, what you say to them and how you treat them because you don’t know how they see you. It’s hard because sometimes you have all these thoughts in your head, but we have a job to do, school to go to, and all these different things that we have to do. Sometimes you have to think,
“I have to be nice to people.” “I have to treat people with respect.” “I can’t be rude to them.”
How often are we on our phones? It’s like, we’re talking and you completely disregard the person who is right in front of you and that’s hard because we live in this world where we’re so connected and have so much going on, I mean, you go to Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, and any other social media platforms, and it’s overwhelming with all the information that you’re taking in.
Take the time to think about who you’re interacting with. I want to challenge you to ask yourself this question,
“Who is someone that I’m learning from?” “Who is someone that I can learn from?”
Then flip it.
“Can I be a beacon of hope?”
I’m not saying to be a great teacher, but to treat people with respect and they will see that you’re a good person and you’re doing the best you can with what you have.
Ask yourself that question.
“Are you doing the best you can in this life with what you’ve been given?”
If you’re not, then think about how you can do it. Take ownership of your life because I believe that who you are as a person is the most beautiful gift that’s been given to you, and it’s up to you to decide what you’re going to do with that life. Either you use it for good or bad, you could treat people horribly or nicely. It’s amazing how one person can decide what to do with their life, and how they’re going to spend it. Are you going to live life with intention, with a purpose? Or try to reach your God given potential and be an inspiration for other people?
I’m not saying you have to go to thousands and thousands of people, like when you see all these great teachers and these heads of tech companies, it doesn’t have to be that large scale. It could be your child, your lover, your spouse, your coworker, or anyone that you can inspire. That’s how we make the world a better place. We are being that beacon of hope. There are so many people who exist and are in the dungeons of their mind. We’ve all been in dark places. I’ve been in dark places. So, let’s bring people to light. Let’s empower them, encourage them, and respond with ability. Granted that you can’t force someone to change, but you can show them how you live your life and say what you’ve gone through. You can be real. You even can just listen to someone and not say a word. It’s like if someone is going through a really rough time, you could sit right next to them and be present, which is another way you can be a light in the darkness.
Ability is just showing up and being there for someone, which is an amazing thing to do and there’s so much that you can do. When you think about a ship that’s sailing on the sea, it’s going to go through stormy waters, and that beacon of hope that it sees when the light is shining through the storm is the most wonderful thing, though I’ve never been on a ship in a stormy sea, I can use my mind to imagine, but how often do we go through stormy waters in our life? How often do we wish we could see someone who gives us a smile and shows that act of kindness? It’s like when we’re thinking about random acts of kindness, you have no idea what the ripple effect will be like because you have no idea what someone is going through. It’s like you go to work every day and when you think about it, with COVID 19, there’s a lot of face coverings, but it’s not the only mask people tend to wear. We know that there are also the people who wear masks to hide their emotions.
I’ve talked so much about lessons that you can learn, but let’s flip that for a second. You have no idea what the person next to you is going through and what the people you interact with on a day-to-day basis are going through. You have no idea if they’re going through a divorce, contemplating suicide, or struggling with anxiety or depression. You cannot even fathom what they’re going through and on top of that, do you even understand what you’re going through? Do you understand your own emotions? I’m not saying that to bring you down, but if you think about it, you have no idea what the next person is going through. We can do the best we can to understand ourselves and our emotions and work with a professional, but like I said earlier, we can also change our thoughts. We can become mindful or fully aware of who we are through observation.
Though it’s impossible to interact with every single person, consider how you behave, how you act towards people and how you talk to people. I’m not saying that you have to be perfect, but it’s just something to think about. Giving someone a smile is free. It’s what we learned as children, but how often do you hear adults not say please or thank you? Are they rude? They cut in line, lie, cheat, and steal, but how often does that happen? Sometimes I think children are more well behaved than adults, but maybe not all the time because children can be a mess and a handful (I should know), but with that, what lessons are people learning from you? In the beginning, I was saying the same thing, but I did mention that it’s a two-way street, so what lessons are people learning from you now? Granted, you have no idea how they’re going to respond or react to you; is it an emotional response? Is it going to be well thought out? How is that even going to manifest? How is that even going to work? But you can still do the best you can by going about your life everyday with your interaction and intentionally, by being real with people, not by being angry.
There is something that I heard a few times before, but I don’t know who originated it, but the idea is,
“Would you tolerate yourself like if you were to spend a day with yourself?” “Would you be able to handle yourself?”
Most of us, even myself, think that we can’t handle ourselves. I tell my wife this all the time,
“I’m so glad you married me, because I wouldn’t marry myself.”
But that’s the reality. I have my shortcomings, my wife has her shortcomings, but we do the best we can by putting effort in our marriage. But we have to look at ourselves and think about how we’re acting and how we’re behaving towards our brothers and sisters as the Bible said, or our neighbor.
One thing from the pastor of the church I always go to always talks about loving your neighbor, which is a biblical truth, because like I said, I identify as a Christian which means that I believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible, and something that really stuck out to me all the time is, are we loving our neighbor? Or to rephrase, how are you treating other people? Your neighbor can literally be someone who’s next door, like it can be a family member, so how are you treating other people?
These are questions that we certainly have to think about and when we’re doing these kinds of things, we have to use our mind, so we’re basically analyzing.
In the first blog, I was talking about emotional, spiritual, physical, professional and psychological. Just a full disclaimer, I am not a doctor, but it’s really about analyzing our current situation. It’s taking a moment out of our busy day. How often do we just sit there and appreciate the life that we have? How often do we really just take the time and say,
“You know what, this is the trajectory I’m going.”
Or
“You know, how did I talk to this person? Did I really listen to what they said and how they said it?”
So those kinds of questions are what we have to think about, and since we’ve been in the winter months, we talked about sadness, depression, darkness, and the coldness, but through that comes new beginnings.
I don’t want to guilt trip any of you. I just want you to think about who you are as a person. It’s a brand-new year and to me, that’s insane that time is flying by so fast, but with time flying by, we make the best of our lives by doing the best we can. There’s hope for a better future and that’s something that our lives can reflect on, and we can become better people every day. We have the opportunity to learn, grow and influence other people in a positive light. So, analyze it. Think about it. Think about who you are and who you’re becoming.
If you don’t like the way that you treat people, you can change that. If there are lessons that you haven’t learned or things that you feel like you’re learning over and over, think about what you can do differently.
It’s a new beginning and a new start, so what are you going to do with that?
To end this blog, I’d like to say that this is Dailey Life. My name is Patrick Dailey and thank you so much for reading this blog. You have been so supportive and great. I really appreciate you guys listening and tuning in. Thank you so much.
