LinkedIn FreshPer

Imagine you knew the difference between story and history.

It would make a difference, wouldn’t it? You might even wonder why it’s not herstory.

Kidding aside, to people whose mother tongue isn’t English, there’s nothing new and no surprise, English is amazing.

In French and German, to name a few, it’s easy. Histoire is a story no matter what and Geschichte is a story beyond the shadow of a doubt,

Given history has everybody confused, is usually how it works, makes you wonder what words are for, doesn’t it?
#words#history#story#education#manipulation

Everybody actually loves words, they’re just doing it wrong.

The 3rd-most-common mistake people make with words, so common it is taken for perfection, is looking at them, in vain, for meaning and for making sense. As Peter Drucker put it, “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

It is useless because words lack the sensory organs required for the job. The sensational one, the one with the senses, is you. And looking at words for meaning is equally useless because what a word means to you, no word can know it for you. 

Sure, deciding the meaning of words takes work and there are people out there eager to do it for you, for free. For free? Well, let’s put it this way, in the words of Bruce Lee, “If words control you means everyone else can control you.”
#leadership#inspiration#education#words

For my research to answer the children’s questions, I’d love and appreciate your thoughts on the “If they could talk?”-question pictured below.

We can talk to and about the wordless. But what if the wordless could talk, too? What would they tell us? In other words, what can we learn from the wordless? What can the wordless learn from us? 

Thanks for reading and for sharing, if so inclined, your thoughts in the comments section below!
#inspiration#knowlegde#education#words

When you lose your dream, only time will tell who has lost and who has been left behind. “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” – Langston Hughes

DREAM-KILLER #1: A BIGGER DREAM. Should that happen to you, it simply means your dream isn’t big enough. Why bigger trumps good is being debated. All the more reason to choose your dream well.

DREAM-KILLER #2: DISTRACTIONS. Distractions are a slow dream-killer. They often go unnoticed until the damage is done.

DREAM-KILLER #3: NOT COUPLED WITH THE COURAGE IT TAKES TO FOLLOW THROUGH. Some dreamers don’t break down after the start, but just before the breakthrough.

Either way, dream-killers work in impunity because there is no dream police. It is all up to you.
#dreambig#inspiration#words

Though I wish it were otherwise, it doesn’t seem to matter a Dickie bird whether I like it or not. The last time I checked…

“There is a war between the rich and poor… between the man and the woman… between the left and right… between the black and white… between the odd and the even… between the ones who say there is a war and the ones who say there isn’t.” – Leonard Cohen

…appears to describe the world we live in today as if nothing had changed, except everybody knows the list is even longer than that now.

Personally, I don’t think more war will make the world a better place. I also don’t believe war can be ended by the same stories that start it.

That, and because it tells more than a story ever could, is why I speak up for the story always missing from the stories told at school — the story of words.
#history#lifechanging#words

Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.” – Scott Adams

Many believe understanding you is a waste of time because it is only a word. 

Words are boring! 

Isn’t there a shortcut?

Try seeing you for what it is. 

I’m not saying it’s a shortcut, all I’m saying is you couldn’t be anything else if it tried.
#inspiration#lifechanging#words

Your heart may be dancing, trembling, aching, pounding, or breaking, to name a few. There is very little a heart cannot do.

But what if your heart is just beating? When that happens, when it’s just doing its job, there’s a tendency to ignore it, isn’t there? 

For WHO you are, you’ve got a name, family, friends, school, and government.

But WHAT you are is all up to you and there’s a reason that heart is beating in you. 

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”
– Rumi

When your mind is too busy for comfort, an irresistible urge to clear it comes knocking at the door.

When that happens, some seek solace in instant gratification. Though they’re sure to find a dealer, good luck with that. The more mindful seek solace in relaxation, meditation, yoga, and closed eyes, to name a few. Either way, the list of available options is too long for a LinkedIn post.

However, a clear mind cannot be achieved by pretending it isn’t there. After all, everything your mind can think of is a word. The way to go is by reconnecting with the wordless, also known as nature. It is not known to ever have failed yet. First things first, you must get away from the wordy and break down old habits of seeing. Look at the wordless as though for the first time, if it helps, imagine being an alien on a strange planet.

The options are endless. You might decide to watch a river flow. If so, the water in you — 70% of you, give or take — will signal it’s safe to clear your mind now. If you’d rather listen to the wind or meet a tree growing toward the sun, the 100% of you doing the same will remind you that you’re part of nature, not separate. Everything is heightened. Taste is heightened. Smell is heightened. Sound is heightened. Trust in yourself is heightened, too, and when you return to the wordy world, you’ll likely look at old words with fresh eyes, too.

With eyes made to clear your mind and keep it so.

“To see, we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” – Claude Monet
“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?” – Marcel Marceau
“You don’t know nothing, but you don’t need to know. The wisdom’s in the trees not the glass windows.” – Jack Johnson