Category Archives: Philosophy

Philosophy, Personal Development

Comments on The Industry of “Personal Growth”

Before I start….let me premise with the statement, I believe in “personal growth”

 Here is where I differ from folks who circulate in the industry of “personal growth”. We do most of our learning as humans between the age of 0 and 15 years of age and for developing success habits our parents indeed played a large role in our growth….like it or not.  Somewhere along the line in our formative years we were learning about consequences to our behavior. We were learning about rewards emanating from work and behaviors which would lead to successful relationships. We were learning right from wrong, etiquette (maybe), how to overcome, and skills necessary to complete tasks. We were learning adaptations and workarounds. We were up to challenges or we weren’t. If we were not, then we ran the risk of isolation. We learned when not to say what we were thinking. We learned to speak with strength in the right context. We learned how to assess environments with our intuitive senses and feedback mechanisms. All this was going on prior to the age of fifteen. A tremendous amount of stimuli came our way.    

So, this personal growth industry wants you to believe that you need to be remade or remove much of what you had already learned or discard baggage or eliminate dysfunctional relationships. Some other person is going to do a quick assessment on your weaknesses having not lived through your years of development assumedly by injecting a bag of tricks from the self help domain in order to make you new and improved.

I suggest that if you believe you need to find a better version of “you” that you assess your situation and work it backward for yourself for starters. Then entertain bringing in somebody else to assist with your own assessment.  You do have the capacity to be honest with yourself but you must do so in the context of some reading or watching / listening to course materials in the area in order to stimulate regions within you that yearn to be fortified. Engagement with a practitioner will be much more fruitful having researched yourself first and identified sources of trouble.

It’s difficult to witness the disingenuousness of unqualified people prescribing without the authority to do so. It’s even worse to watch the low esteemed subject themselves to others when they’d be better served in solace with abundant materials available. The kinds of people one wants to see more of in the personal development space are those who have achieved what they’re espousing.

Politics, Philosophy

Crass With No Class – That’s Trump

Yes. This is Donald Trump and he holds the highest office in the United States of America. You cannot defend the assertion of “crass with no class” by simply deferring to an alignment with his public policy. This is what’s been done over the past two years among those who have been defending him. You see, I actually draw a correlation between personality, personal conduct, derogatory references to minorities, and the potential for leadership mistakes. I also empathize with voters who have been disenfranchised with Washington lobbyists and governmental mismanagement leading up to a radical choice in the Republican nominee. For context, we have the latest “tweet” pertaining to the Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, Tlaib “squad” suggesting they return to their countries despite three of the four who have only known the United States.   

The biggest trouble with these crass twitter remarks is the lack of condemnation by his peers. It’s apparent that his political peers are either afraid to rebuke his tirades in fear of reprisals or fear of becoming the actual target of yet one more of his rants. Oh yes, then there’s the fear of a defamation lawsuit in the back drop of man who threatens like a school yard bully.  It’s dysfunction at its finest and in spite of being conservative in my ideology, I’ll be looking deeply into the eyes of those who dismiss Trump’s abounding personal insults as frivolous. The evidence of him being intolerant is abundant within the public domain during his short tenure as President never mind any private relational discord he would have encountered prior.  

 Lindsay Graham has remarked but there was no rebuke. This is the same Lindsay Graham who endured insults from the tongue of Trump during the contest for Republican nominee. To be quiet amidst undeserving personal attacks of peers seeming to be racist is to condone if travelling in circles around the President. When a nation cannot conduct debate with dignity, good faith and confidence erodes.      

If “values” matter as a principal in governance, then Mr. Trump fails. If U.S “financial solvency” becomes the primary bench mark in which Trump presides and somehow his leadership facilitates the return to fiscal prudence, he’ll have a success. Or, his experience in bankruptcy and his capacity to offend may actually serve him well should the U.S. federal debt become unserviceable during his tenure.

Philosophy, Lifes Lessons

Not Achieving? Consider This

First of all, you are most likely achieving more than you think you are but society’s norms, customs and feeback mechanisms oftentimes communicate negatively. Hence; the conditioning you receive is not necessarily congruent with your output.  Unfortunately, there are also a few who overestimate their contribution as well. Then there’s your government with its officials who think they know who should be bestowed awards based on criteria unbeknownst to those too busy raising children, volunteering modestly, and invigorating their workplace with passion and commitment. Last time I looked, it was a hockey player receiving the Order of Canada. I’m sure she’s a nice lady. 

Here’s the thing. There is much repression in the spirit of those who have over reached with financial responsibility thereby compromising the pursuit of unique latent talent. The kicker is that it’s not just the variable of “keeping up with the Jones’” which has many stymied but also the subliminal familial and social suggestion that you are “not really good enough” or ‘how dare you be adventurous” with career when there are mouths to feed.

Here’s the other thing. You’ll never get yesterday back. It’s gone forever. If you spent yesterday by keeping your biggest aspiration tucked away in that dark closet of your mind, it’s one less day you’ll have available in fertilizing its fruition. You will have a legacy. What will it be?  

Philosophy, Politics

State Has No Business In The Bedrooms of Canadians

Your tax money is getting spent once again on a special interest group. I am not prejudiced against whomever fits into the acronym of LGBTQ and whatever other letters get added in the future. In fact, I don’t think there’s consensus yet with respect to which letters should fit at the end. However; I am strongly against sending money to Ottawa in order to appease a group who may have legitimate social challenges in the context of the expression of their identity. I do not elect a government to propagate social construct. However; I do expect my governments to enforce common sense law including legislation around “hate”. If a parent responsible for the livelihood of someone associated with this elongated acronym fails to provide the necessities of life in consequence of the individual’s sexual preferences, then parent’s wages should be garnisheed to pay for public housing in association with said parent’s discriminatory conduct. Not the taxpayer. 

At every turn, our current federal government operates as if it has a moral authority superior to yours. It apologizes, acquiesces, and spends as if there are no limits to your capacity to pay tax. Our current federal government lacks the backbone to say no to any special interest group likened to themselves on the political spectrum. 

It was Justin Trudeau’s father who in fact stated that the government has no interest in the bedrooms of Canadians. Today his son sank your money into a program aimed at appeasing yet another group claiming victimhood but this time because of the group’s alternate sexual appetites.    

Philosophy

Judgment, Diatribes, and Social Media’s Evolution

Let’s premise this whole thing. If you’ve accessed this through facebook and I’ve engaged with you over the past six months, you’re not identifiable with characteristics below.

The most fascinating revelation arising from the phenomenon of “social media” has been the propensity of more folks than expected to wield insults and criticism thereby deploying a sense of personal power on a stage unavailable to previous generations. When these same folks wouldn’t dare make such radical broadcasts at the dinner table with their grandmother, they’re all over the internet. Occasionally a healthy debate breaks out on a “thread” whereby not one individual insults while presenting an argument and I shimmy in my home office chair thinking there may be hope.    

The second most fascinating revelation is the vanity expressed by some. I wonder about the staleness of some homes responsible for nurturing the self esteem of children and what happens to the emerging adult whose vitality has been stifled during youth. I think to myself that “social media” serves as a conduit for actualizing lost lustre of neglect from formative years.  I wonder while unconvinced. Don’t be confused by all those nice pictures of you and your family, activities and such. Keep ‘em coming.

Could these platforms also serve to simply feed the egos of some who didn’t pursue higher education but now have a forum to display their smarts? I believe this to be partly true in some cases with other aggregating motives.

My confidence in the human condition has been weakened when I aggregate the behaviour that I see on “social media”. I can’t help putting the term in italics because I consider the term “social” to aberrant of the actual interactions foundational to the platforms (exception of note – my membership in an imaginary band). Although weakened, I take solace in the fact that people for the most part are followers because they haven’t been taught nor nurtured in how to lead with moral strength. The lessons of our forefathers in characteristics such as duty, pride, dignity, compassion, tolerance, and respect have been lost on many. Yes… many and their foolishness is now more transparent than ever.   

On the topic of politics in social media, I’m intrigued by formative arguments here or there. However; I believe that anybody whose lifeblood on politics is poured into the feeds of social media should really consider running for office especially if the tone is akin to one long diatribe. Otherwise, at the minimum one might balance posts with other areas of interest. If posts number more than two a day, I’m thinking you have an agenda rather than a healthy sincere compulsion to share.