Niquey in Thought

  *          *          * Nothing in this world can convince me that pain is a gift from God. But I can still put a harness on it and ride it like the wild bull it is into a higher future. Pain is a compass that shows you where to focus your energy. Not complaining energy and not pitying energy. I’m talking about solution energy. Pain is an indicator of the potential breakthroughs lurking under the surface. Pain is the crack of a gold vein hiding in the rock crevice of your life. Mine the gold. When we find painful spots in our lives, it’s telling us where to dig. It’s practically screaming at us to search for, discover, create, build, make the solution that will take us to the next level. The consequences of not reacting are deceptively subtle. You see the consequence is numbness. Numbness to the pain. Blindness to the gold. Complacency. Stagnation. You become one of the 99% of people who are just comfortable enough, trapped in the...

  *          *          * Security is a scam. Government jobs were considered safe jobs. Tech jobs were considered safe jobs. Healthcare jobs were considered safe jobs. The last few years have proven otherwise. Years ago, the question of privacy versus security was a hot topic. More security meant less privacy and vice versa. What they “forgot” to tell us was that the security wasn’t guaranteed, but the lost privacy and freedom were. When are we going to stop selling our souls to people and systems that can’t give us security? Hellen Keller in The Open Door said it well: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” We’ve got to quit looking for security in the jobs, the benefits, the pensions, the status, even the buffer of money. It’s a waste of time. The only real place we can get unadulterated security is with God Almighty. Instead, we need to learn to embrace l...

  *          *          * When are we gonna stop looking for hacks and start looking for principles? I swear it’s a modern-day addiction.  This idea became even more real to me after picking up piano again. After following Audrey Lo (a pianist and X-growth guru) on X for a while, I found my desire to improve my piano skills rekindled. But I was intimidated (and low-key traumatized) by my past experiences. I first started piano at 8 years old. It was obligatory at first, but I actually grew to enjoy it. In fact, I was quite good at it. There was one problem. My ears were faster than my eyes. I developed a nasty habit of memorizing songs before I learned how to read them. I could hear a song played once or twice and be able to pick at the keyboard until I could play by myself. Some people would call that a talent, but to me, it was a curse. It held me back to the point where for years I never developed my ability to read notes. I...