lecture

one of the interesting activities i've been doing this week is giving leadership lectures to the 2nd class COCCs in ROTC and well i've decided to post one of the things that i shared to them today...

Lesson 15 of Colin Powell's Leadership Primer Powerpoint Presentation:
Part I: "Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands
for the probability of success and the numbers indicate
the percentage of information acquired.”
Part II: "Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range,
go with your gut."

in any case i hope the statistics don't scare you but all it basically says is not to act until you are at least 40 percent sure that you are right and don't wait until you are 100 percent sure because by that time it is usually too late... in any case the second part of this post is what i consider to have a bigger significance...

Risk

To laugh, is to risk appealing to the fool

To weep, is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out for another, is to risk involvement

To express feeling, is to risk exposing our true self

To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd,

is to risk loss

To live is to risk dying

To hope is to risk despair

To try at all, is to risk failure

But to risk we must,

Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing

The man, the woman who risks nothing, has nothing

is NOTHING.

that concludes this post... for an added bonus try reading the poem out loud and it somehow gives you an extra feeling when you are about to read the last part as if you're proud to say that once in your life you've taken a risk and that you are not empty and that you are indeed someone...

thoughts

a thought has been lingering in my mind this whole day... it seems to have been prodded by recent conversations with friends... as i scribble down words in this entry i am able to convey my feelings as well as ideas to all of the readers... in an attempt to share with them what i possess... i have also allowed them to own these thoughts... once processed in their heads it can no longer be considered all mine... it has eventually been absorbed as part of their knowledge... as such things happen i cannot help but think that whatever notions i have expressed in this blog is open to a myriad of interpretations... even allowing some of the stuff here to be distorted by existing biases as well as to be consumed and read like any other entry... i only have control with what i place here but once placed... i have no control of it anymore... it can take on a life of its own in the minds of others... this however leaves me curious as to how other people interpret my entries... as i have no sure way to check... all i have are speculations which were made prior to writing the entry... i find it a challenge to try and lock the thoughts of my blog so as to prevent it from being misinterpreted... however since i do not have the capacity to sieve through all possible interpretations i go with the safest route in order to protect the integrity of my blog... a painstaking task but i firmly believe it to be a helpful one... in any case... i hope that further scrutiny of the thoughts i choose to place here in my blog will allow me to shape the way the reader thinks of my entries... allowing a more effecient as well as meaningful sharing...

a quote that i would like to share: "assumptions are a transparent grid through which we view the universe... sometimes deluding ourselves that the grid is that universe..."

optimism

"the tapestry of the universe is vast and complex... with infinite patterns... while threads of tragedy may form the primary weave, humanity with its undaunted optimism still manages to embroider small designs of happiness and love..."

the quote above was taken from a book that i've been reading lately... anyway i gave it some thought and i tried to figure out how i can relate... well personally i believe that in life tragedies always have the greater impact on us... in philo we even learn that trauma is what makes us think... that if something unusual happens that is when our brain starts working to assess why and how a certain event happened... it seems that there is no wonder why bad things are usually magnified out of proportion... it is through them that we are supposed to improve ourselves on... if everything were to be normal... we would all grow to be complacent... nothing will fascinate us anymore as well as astonish us... we will not wonder about anything... we will cease to think... however this also presents a problem... if we wonder about everything there would not be enough time to put anything into action anymore... therefore we have made systems in our heads that allow us to process thoughts that can automatically address "normal" issues... a ball falls and it automatically is processed as a result of gravity... therefore it is rare to ask why on certain events... i think i've strayed too far there is time for another entry regarding the process of thinking...

anyway... if tragedies are indeed necessary to teach us... then what makes us different from roadkill... what makes the human spirit different... this is where optimism comes in... despite the overwhelming problems that we may encounter... as long as we recognize that tiny beam of light called hope we are able to continue with our lives... many can plunge into darkness and keep their eyes shut thinking that by opening their eyes they will the same thing... nothing... but to those who search around enough they may see that glimmer that will eventually lead them out of the darkness... i just hope that people try hard enough to look before despair gets the better of them...

solitude

i never imagined myself to be so busy lately... it's as if it wasn't a vacation at all... today is technically the first half day that gave me some time to sort some things out... as i came home from the COA formsem i immediately had a backlog of emails to read as well as blog entries... then i stumbled upon one email that prompted a thought in my mind... the difference of loneliness and solitude...

in both cases the person is just by himself or alone... the big difference is most probably the mindset that one has... loneliness is an unwanted experience... loneliness makes a person feel bad... fear of loneliness may lead to tragedy... one may even feel lonely while in a relationship especially a bad and unhappy one... loneliness is seen as negative... on the other hand... solitude is appreciated... solitude can give clarity of mind... solitude may be used for reflection... solitude can avoid disaster... solitude is viewed as something positive...

on a more personal note... i think that loneliness can be converted into solitude... that the feeling may be turned from something negative into something positive... something destructive into something helpful... most of us who experience loneliness tends to sulk and hide in a dark corner... but then when we are in the dark how can we ever see the light of reality... that maybe on the lighter side of things being alone may be the time to reflect... especially your priorities... to think of what is really right for you in life... it is possible for people to rush into relationships as well as to pursue the wrong person for fear of not having someone... some are also afraid to get out of a relationship for fear that no one else will come along... an irony of having someone yet still feeling lonely... i guess the challenge is to really stop and think... think of the situation and assess it... find more positive opportunities as well as outcomes... to have that positive attitude to transform loneliness into solitude...

side note: i'm thankful for all the things that i've been doing for the past two weeks... it has surely given me an ample amount of distraction to place things in perspective... hopefully this may lead to the better horizon that i've mentioned in my previous entries...