Failure Is Not Shame

Failure Is Not Shame

When I was a small boy, I had to learn to walk.  I fell down a few times.  There was no shame in that. Falling down is a part of learning to walk.

When I really got into singing in high school and college, I would, on occasion, sing a few flat notes.  I probably shamed myself.  I beat myself up for my flaws as a singer.  As I look back on that time, I have to put things into perspective.  As in learning to walk, learning to sing is a process.  My vocal chords weren’t developed yet, nor was my musical ear trained to discern pitch perception.  Those are learned traits.  They are not shaming moments. 

In the tenth grade, I took mechanical drawing.  I was lousy at it.  I believe I made a D minus.  My teacher, Mr. Casteel, had the good sense to write on my report card something like … “Mike really tries hard to do a good job in my class.  He just doesn’t have the insight, a basic skill, for mechanical drawing.”

And yet, I’m a darn good drummer, singing, conductor, writer, speaker, manager, banker, and a few other skills and talents I’ve accumulated along the way.

Oh my, I’ve had some hard learning curves, and that is what they were – LEARNING curves.  Not shame closets, not failure marks – learning curves.

I’ve written on this topic a dozen times, and will continue to address this subject.

Failure is the gateway to success, to learning and improving.

FAILURE IS NOT FINAL!

This is what is

on my mind today.

It's All About People Blogsite

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Today I Choose

Today I Choose

There is a lot going on at the moment in our world, in this land called the United States of America, in our cities and counties.  There is political divide, racial divide, economic divide, philosophical divide and spiritual divide.

And what are you choosing to do about all of that?

Here is what I am choosing.

I’m not a marcher.  Never have been.  If you choose to do so, and choose to do it in a peaceful, non-aggressive way, I bless you and say, “go do what you must do.”

I’m a Christian.  I do not curse and slam those who are politically or racially different from me.  I bless them for also living on this planet in this world and breathing the same air that I breathe.  I choose to allow you to believe differently from me, use different phrases and language expressions from me.  You can hold any political stance you wish, any philosophical dogma you care to hold.  Please, hold to those thoughts with passion and confidence. 

However, … allow me the same privilege and the same opportunity.  Just because we differ does not mean one is better or more superior than the other.  We just believe differently.  We express ourselves differently.  You get to choose and I get to choose.  How great is that?

I choose to pray for all of mankind.  I pray for George Floyd’s family, I pray for those who staunchly wave his flag of honor and memory.  I pray for the police officers who were involved in his death.  I pray for their families and fellow officers.

I choose to pray for their commanding officers and other law enforcement individuals, including those in the judicial system and court systems that will have a hand in in bringing about proper judgments and assessments in this situation.

I choose to pray for my President.  I will not judge his motives, his past life, his present actions, for I do not know all that he knows.  I don’t have the privilege of knowing all that he is privy to.  He has a weighty responsibility, and I pray for his health, his safety, his judgment, and for those who advise and consult with him.  I also pray for his family.  This is no small burden resting on their shoulders either.  To see one you love and respect who faces daily criticism and one whose every move and decision is questioned … that is a hard burden to bear.  I pray especially for them.

I choose to pray for all our men and women in political positions and with varying responsibilities.  They, too, bear a heavy load and have much to weigh on a daily basis. 

I choose to pray for you, my reader, regardless of the stance you may take on any of these issues.  Be open, be wise, be careful in making hasty decisions and forming judgmental opinions. 

I choose to believe in the honest and fair resolution of these crisis that we all face.  It will take time, perhaps a lot more time than many of us would hope for.  Yet I believe a positive outcome will be revealed in due time.

I choose to believe mankind will have a future with hope in the middle of all of this upheaval.

This is what is

on my mind today.

It's All About People Blogsite

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Won't You Be My Neighbor

Won’t You Be My Neighbor

Carolyn and I went to see Won’t You Be My Neighbor Friday night.  I was deeply touched by the simple messages of hope and esteem that this man, Fred Rogers, presented.  He gave us esteem, wholesome concepts like honesty, acceptance, responsibility and many other great concepts, during his fifty years of being in the public eye.

And in his theme song, this lyric speaks loudly today.  “Would you be mine?”.

The full lyric is”

“So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day.

Since we’re together we might as well say:

Would you be mine??

I have to couch this in the context of what I’m seeing in our world today, especially in America.  I have been threatened no less than ten times to be unfriended because of the way I voted in the last election.  I have been accused of having less than righteous morals, poor judgment, lacking in mental acuity, and just being plain un-American. 

This is wrong!  It is wrong on so many levels. 

My friends, I live next door to you.  I shop in the same grocery store and buy my gas at the same places you do.  I attended the same college/university as you.  In many cases, I attended the same denominational church you attended.  And now … just because I made a different choice from you, I am a lesser specimen. 

I don’t think so. 

My view … we are neighbors.  You may live in Tennessee, New Mexico, or any other parts of this great land, yet we are neighbors.  The globe has shrunken to ‘everybody is my neighbor.’ 

I never get far from this John Kennedy quote:

Our most basic common like is that

we all inhabit this planet. 

We all breathe the same air. 

We all cherish our children's future. 

And we are all mortal. 

We get to choose.  We get to vote as we see fit.  We get to voice our opinions.  And it stops there.  We don’t coerce, we don’t force a decision for who or what or how to believe, and we don’t threaten or commit violence if we don’t get our way.  After all, we all breathe the same air.  And we cherish our futures and those of our kids and grandkids.

We are reasonable adults, and I call upon reasonable and responsible actions from all of us in managing our frustrations, our angst, our disappointments and our concerns. 

And, perhaps, I call for prayer for ALL of our leaders.  A L L !

I hope to God a civil war never shows its ugly face on our land again.  I pray for tolerance, understanding, and a grand sense of “won’t you be my neighbor” to come sweeping over all of us.

What do you say … neighbor?

This is what is on

my mind today.

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

More Words on Creativity

More Words on Creativity

Do you desire creativity?  Consider this:  Take the time to care for your creativity.  It has to be cultivated, practiced and allowed to be expressed.

Big news, right?  Probably not, and we pursue creativity anyway. 

I have considered myself a creative person for nearly forty years, yet in the last ten have I really felt I’ve reached a new level in understanding this elusive creature. 

There have been times in my writing schedule when I could tell the minute I open a blank document on my computer that this was going to be a fresh and flowing writing session.  At other times, I’ve struggled for an hour or more and have had to give up in sheer disappointment and a bit of frustration.  However, I’m learning to be less disappointed and say, “I’ll live to write another day.”

And that is exactly what happens.  Tonight is one of those times.  We are in La Connor, Washington for a 24-hour getaway.  This week alone I opened one of my blog pages and attempted to write a certain blog.  Nothing happened.  I finally wrote a long missive last night, only to share it with CB and we agreed it is too long and too … whatever. 

And yet tonight, in this hotel room, I can hardly keep up with the ideas.  I’ve written two posts in about 45 minutes. 

Wish I had a pill to bottle for those of you who seek to be creative.  I’ve be a rich man.  This is what I know about this process.

~It comes with practice.  I am more creative today than I was ten, yeah 30 years ago simply because I have practiced being creative.

~I am a leech for ideas.  I listen to everyday conversations, books on tape, read books, watch movies, listen to music and a hundred other activities, all in search of one seed of an idea.  Just one. 

~When the ideas don’t come, pursue for a while (whatever that means to you), and then be kind to yourself and simply say, “Tomorrow is a new day for new ideas.  Goodnight."

~When I’m writing, I usually have a particular blog site in mind (I have five.)  However, there have been times recently when I thought I was going to write for one site and another idea for another site crept in and took over.  I allowed it to take over.  Ideas happen when they happen. 

~Keep a file of ideas.  I almost always carry a Moleskin pocket notebook with me.  And on this computer, I have an idea file that is 190 pages long.  I’ve been collecting ideas for nearly ten years.  I mine it weekly for ideas and you would be amazed at the ideas I can get from some passage I recorded six or seven years ago.

~A final thought:  I borrow ideas from the greats and make them my own. I completely embrace this quote by Pablo Picasso.

Good artists copy; great artists steal.

P.S.  Be kind to yourself.  Be generous with self.  Noodle, wander, meander.  You’ll be amazed at what this can do for your creativity.

This is what is on

my mind today.

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration