"It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigour. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution." ~ Thomas Jefferson I must confess a hidden predilection for the agrarian ideal and more specifically, a nostalgia for the simple virtue …
Tag: greg hake
Energy, Discipline, Spirit
Managing people, like training horses or parenting, is all about harnessing energy and teaching discipline, while preserving spirit. The best managers, like the best trainers, possess a remarkable capacity for empathy and their high expectations are never lowered by sympathy. I have no doubt that there is a marvelous spirit resident within each and every …
Mental Blocks
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...do the thing you think you cannot do." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt While there is a world of difference between your actual limitations and limitations you've accepted for yourself that don't really exist, the two are identical …
Big Decisions
My sons, aged 5 and 6, had an interesting conversation at breakfast the other day. They got on the topic of thinking and feeling somehow (I came in part way through) and my youngest made the declaration "Daddy, feeling is definitely more important than thinking!" My oldest, who is as siblings often are wired completely …
Pulling on Both Oars
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." ~ e.e. cummings Rare is the person who is authentic. Almost every man strains to give the appearance of qualities and a temperament which he does not possess, all in an effort to gain the approbation of others he feels he needs to …
The True Meaning of Life
The true meaning of life is to imbue your life with meaning. Your life, despite your genetic inheritance, your socioeconomic endowment and the dumb or bad luck you’ve had over the years, did not come prepackaged like a cake mix to which the waters of time are added. That which you have - your genes, …
The Discomfort of the Unfamiliar
I remember reading the story of Abraham when I was in my teens. This story stood out to me more than others, perhaps because it offered excellent and personally relevant advice at a time when I really needed it. As a young man I was very concerned not to waste my life bouncing around from …
Making it Manageable
“If our education had included training to bear unpleasantness and to let the first shock pass until we could think more calmly, many an unbearable situation would become manageable, and many a nervous illness avoided.” ~ Claire Weekes In a world where most people are not consistently giving their highest and finest you are bound …
The Prejudice of Paranoia
“I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code.” ~ Emo Phillips It’s hard to be a cynic without indulging in paranoia on occasion. The cynic grows to expect the worst in everything. He justifies his failure to assume responsibility for his …
Life on Purpose
As I mentioned yesterday, cynicism is nothing more than the absence of radiance in individual expression. By radiance I do not mean the false and groundless optimism that some people manufacture by mental gymnastics or through intention and therefore “have.” The radiance of which I speak is the outward evidence of the presence of the …
Gregory Hake 