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I don’t really hate it, but I hate two things. One is the New York Yankees, and the other is people say, “That’s just semantics.” Sometimes it comes up in casual conversations and it makes me a little angry, but it’s about how people use language to get more of what they want (or lose more of what they don’t want). I hate it when I’m coaching people. .
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When I talk to agents, the discussion goes something like this: “It’s just a little game you’re playing with language. I’d love to get more lists,” or “That’s cute, but it needs some ‘real’ coaching.” ”
are you kidding? Virtually everything to humans is semantics. Our lives are bound by semantics. Do you think Martin Heidegger was kidding when he said that “language is the house of being”? He said that people are more productive when they are worried, scared, or upset. Am I being honest about my claims?
The evidence is that everything we touch, see, or feel is immediately embedded in some semantic context, which in turn influences our understanding of what we touch, see, or feel. It points to the fact that we shape our experiences instantly.
Find three things in your life that don’t fit you semantically. Indeed, we have experiences that go beyond language. There is no doubt about this. The moment of awe you feel when you see a sunrise, the glimpse of divinity when you see a work of art, those are fleeting moments.
And at the very moment we become conscious of these things, language descends upon us and we trap the experience in a semantic cage. In other words, it’s all semantics.
What to do vs What to do
The difference between “got to” and “get to” is a fairly common idea in the field of motivational speakers, but I couldn’t find any specific sources. James Clear talks about it in Atomic Habits and Jim Rohn talks about it before him. I’m sure there are many more if you want to see them.
Hamlet’s conversation with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” is a general conversation about the way we live, rooted in semantics. It can be interpreted in a way that applies to your ideas. What I’m saying is that it’s not a new idea.
But changing that one letter from “o” to “e” and “got” to “get” changes everything. (Unless you’re one of those people who says, “It’s just semantics.”) Its meaning is not obvious to us.
When we have something we “must do,” we have built a house of obligation, burden, and control. When we see things as things we have to do, we are paving the way to joy and living a life full of privilege and opportunity.
This is relatively easy to understand. Living it is something else. The problem is that we try to pretend to be happy by thinking “positively” and doing things that don’t bring us joy.
We put positive thinking on top of what we feel like we need to do, but as one of my mentors says, “hiding shit doesn’t make it any better.” Pretending to be happy about losing customers or seeing market activity down 40 percent compared to a year ago is not the answer.
I’m not talking about faking it until you make it. That’s certainly true, but you won’t get there by simply pouring “notes” on things you don’t want to do.
We are reluctant to take that opportunity. we are down to the level of readiness
Navy SEALs, Buddhists, and ancient Greeks all said this same thing (and if these different groups share the same idea, we might need to pay attention) yeah).
When it comes to physical activity, we are clear about this. We go to the gym, run marathons, mountain bike, and do yoga all to prepare our bodies for the life we want to live (or the life we want to live). (to prepare for this). But can we train our brains to live with gratitude?
Can you feel gratitude when you don’t get what you want? What if things get bad? When life hands us lemons? The evidence is clear. Yes, you can. Multiple studies over the past 50 years have demonstrated the value of mindfulness and meditation as tools for training the brain to interact with the environment with gratitude.
The habit of living gratefully involves constantly looking for opportunities to flip the switch from duty and burden to honor and privilege. By developing the habit of noticing the miracles around us, we are setting ourselves up to live a happier and more productive life.
I have a friend who is a great performer and painter, and he calls this “active gratitude.” This means living life with a strong edge that allows you to always look at what’s right in front of you and find something to be grateful for in that person or situation. Or location.
There are opportunities for gratitude everywhere.
Indeed, most of us would agree that holding our newborn child is a moment of gratitude. Witnessing and participating in that moment feels like witnessing a miracle to most people. In fact, all of them are often summed up as the “miracle of childbirth.”
It’s hard to argue against this idea.
As I stood there in the hospital, watching my wife go through pain that I (thankfully) will never experience, with one last push (and scream), this little perfect person popped out. Ta. It was clear that I had witnessed a miracle.
One egg and one sperm met about nine months ago. They divide and divide, and each cell has the potential to become any part of the body. Each somehow knows how to grow into toes and hair and lungs and blood, and the whole somehow divides and grows until it becomes a fully formed baby girl (and three years later became a boy). It was and still is a miracle.
Seriously, who is against this?
At the same time, what else do they have in common? What could be more normal? What do you and I and literally every other human being have in common other than birth? That’s the very definition of normal. Nothing could be more ordinary.
Being born is undoubtedly the most common and most miraculous thing we experience.
Einstein said: “There are only two ways to live life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle.”
So, isn’t it up to us to decide how we view it? I mean, is it a miracle? That’s right! Is it normal? It doesn’t get any better than this.
coffee for closer
There’s nothing like a cup of joe to start the day. Certainly that’s one thing I’m looking forward to. Simple and pure, it is one of my favorite rituals.
For us, nothing is more common than starting the day like this. What a miracle! A Yemeni goatherd in the 15th century noticed that his goats looked different after eating beans. Hundreds of years later, I opened my cupboard, ground these magic beans, and became happier.
Someone invented a truck to deliver to stores. Someone built a road. Someone was stocking it. Every step of the last five centuries has happened by chance to bring this cup to your lips this morning. How did the generations of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents line up perfectly for this cup in front of me? are you kidding?
That’s a miracle, dude. It’s all a miracle.
Maybe it’s “just” semantics, dude
After thinking about it for a while, a new idea occurred to me. What would happen if we changed the way we heard “It’s just semantics”?
What if the obviousness given to the semantics by “only” in this sentence is not the only way to hear that sentence? Instead, semantics is malleable and therefore affects the quality of our lives. What if the intention was to point out how easy it is to change?
Is it a miracle or normal? It’s just semantics. You can choose. Should it be reached or will it be reached? same. Just semantics. You can choose. One provides one quality of life, the other another. choose. After all, it’s just semantics.
Aaron Hendon’s extensive experience in real estate and entrepreneurship has given him a unique perspective on how to navigate even the most volatile market conditions. Connect with Aaron on Instagram and LinkedIn.
