Being A Better Man

We all lose something dear to us from time to time, its inevitable. For whatever reason, we might lose a job that we depend on. Or we might lose a relationship thats really important to us. A beloved pet or relative might die. Your car might be destroyed by a hit and run driver while you are in the store. You might lose a limb in a workplace accident. Dealing with major loss is really just another part of life and its important that we consider how to deal with these things prior to going through it. Because we want to deal with whatever loss we may face as best we can, as a man.

Every Wednesday I regal you with a story from somewhere in my unusual and interesting life. It could be funny, sad, serious or disturbing, the important thing is that every story has a lesson. The name of today’s story is; Aim Of An Evil Boy. Even though these are my stories, you can apply these lessons to your own life, or perhaps they will remind you of your own similar story and the lessons you learned from it. Either way, you should be entertained. As you listen I really want you to consider your own stories, when did you learn these lessons? Can you remember? Sometimes digging up your own past can have great benefit, especially if you are made to remember that one singular moment in time when you learned something vital. It’s almost like learning it all over again. That…is the purpose of these stories. In fact, I think there is nothing quite so human as the hearing and telling of stories. It’s how our ancestors conveyed critical information from one generation to the next. The stories told around campfires the world over are what eventually shaped our species into what it is today. Today’s story, called Aim Of An Evil Boy, is about an extremely important lesson I learned, an difficult way, unfortunately, this lesson was gleaned at the expense of another living creature.

I was thinking today about how each of us have a perception in our heads of who we are, of what kind of man we are. I have spoke many times on this show about the importance of knowing ourself well so that this perception of self is as accurate as possible. I have also said on many occasions that perception is reality. The things we perceive are what is real to us. That’s important, because if we perceive that we are good, kind, strong, brave, intelligent men…then we are much more likely to live into that reality. One of the things, perhaps the biggest thing that informs our perception of self, is our memories. All of our memories, both good and bad are what come together in our brains to form the tapestry of our existence.

You may have never thought of it as a learned skill…but I absolutely believe it is. I think this because there have been young men I mentored, who didn’t have a clue in the beginning, they took no pride in their efforts, they quit as soon as they were tired. But, as a result of working alongside men who did know how to work hard…they learned, and in every case it changed their life for the better. It changed their life for the better because it gave them a whole new level of pride, confidence, and purpose as a man.

Every Wednesday I regal you with a story from somewhere in my unusual and interesting life. It could be funny, sad, serious or disturbing, the important thing is that every story has a lesson. The name of today’s story is; The Ugly Years. Even though these are my stories, you can apply these lessons to your own life, or perhaps they will remind you of your own similar story and the lessons you learned from it. Either way, you should be entertained. As you listen I really want you to consider your own stories, when did you learn these lessons? Can you remember? Sometimes digging up your own past can have great benefit, especially if you are made to remember that one singular moment in time when you learned something vital. It’s almost like learning it all over again. That…is the purpose of these stories. In fact, I think there is nothing quite so human as the hearing and telling of stories. It’s how our ancestors conveyed critical information from one generation to the next. The stories told around campfires the world over are what eventually shaped our species into what it is today. Today’s story, called The Ugly Years, is in a slightly different format than most Wednesday stories. It has to do with our perceptions of ourself, and the danger of caring too much what others might think of you...and not caring enough about what you think of yourself.

So, it’s Monday now, and the weekend has just passed. The weekend’s are kind of a big deal. Some of you listening had the time of your life this weekend. Others of you may have had a so-so weekend. While still others of you just sat around and did nothing at all. look, if you are working five days a week, then the weekend is the time to get out and celebrate the week you just went through. Or…it’s the time to get stuff done that you didn’t have time for during the week, or it’s a time for needed rest. I’ll tell you how I spent my weekend…

The reason I’m talking about this stuff, is because as men we have an obligation to think for ourselves. We should question everything we hear instead of blindly believing what we are fed…and then regurgitating it. There are very few pure sources of information out there now, everything has a bias. You owe it to yourself to do your own research, to determine for yourself the truth of things before you simply adopt them as gospel with no basis. What is at stake is your relationships. All of us have relationship with people from many different walks of life. I’m not just talking about your families, but the people you work with, go to school with, do business with, and commute with. The people who live in the same city as you do…they are all just people, like you.

Every Wednesday I regal you with a story from somewhere in my unusual and interesting life. It could be funny, sad, serious or disturbing, the important thing is that every story has a lesson. The name of today’s story is; Hard Times On The Big Road. Even though these are my stories, you can apply these lessons to your own life, or perhaps they will remind you of your own similar story and the lessons you learned from it. Either way, you should be entertained. As you listen I really want you to consider your own stories, when did you learn these lessons? Can you remember? Sometimes digging up your own past can have great benefit, especially if you are made to remember that one singular moment in time when you learned something vital. It’s almost like learning it all over again. That…is the purpose of these stories. In fact, I think there is nothing quite so human as the hearing and telling of stories. It’s how our ancestors conveyed critical information from one generation to the next. The stories told around campfires the world over are what eventually shaped our species into what it is today. Today’s story, called Hard Times On The Big Road, is another story from my trucking years as you might have guessed. It's a story about having to deal with really bad treatment, while at the same time be responsible for someone else. I learned a lot of lessons in this story that are still with me today.

If you are a regular listener to this show then you know that I try hard to not bring politics or religion into the discussion here. There is a reason for that, the reason being that these things tend to divide people into groups and I prefer to talk about what unites us. I prefer to focus on the fact that we are all men, regardless of our political or religious positions. In this episode I will stray from this policy slightly….only as far as I need to though. Before you fly off the handle and unsubscribe, I ask you to listen. Keep in mind that at the core of this discussion I am still addressing the character of men; our behavior, our reactions, our language, and ultimately our best interests.

As many of you know, I began this podcast because it was a journey I was already on. A journey that I wanted to bring other men on with me. I had no idea how profoundly I would be affected by doing this. What you may not realize is that every single episode I created caused me to do some of the same things that I encourage other men to do. It caused me to look inward, to evaluate and scrutinize my thoughts and positions. To make a determination about where I stood and what I believed.