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Inspiration from Danny Trejo

I came across this video and could not hold myself to listen to it several times and take a time to write down some notes. In my own unique way, I can relate to what he is saying from my own experience and I would love to share pitch points with others. Below the video are some important facts from this short clip I want to comment on.

Everything good that has happened to me, has happened as a direct result of helping someone else.

Some people believe, that good or bad things which happen to us, are results of luck or bad luck. How many times I have heard someone telling me, “oh you are so lucky. How many times have I heard someone telling me “bad luck mate”. This type of response is not beneficial in any way to me. I strongly believe, that all good things happen to me, because of my previous actions and hard work. Contra that, I believe that bad things happen to me, so that I can learn a lesson and they are result of my previous decisions as well. When some people tell me, “you’re so lucky”, other words they are not acknowledging or don’t know about the hard work leading to that “lucky stage”. They tell me, that I have no control of where I am and why. The same concept applies to negative expeirence, where people tend to blame “bad luck” as a cause of unfortunate results. They tend to say that, because they don’t know or understands the actions that led me to this “failure”. They want to make me feel less guilty, so they blame “bad luck”. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help me at all. What I need is a feedback – both positive and negative. If I lose on battle, don’t come to me and say “bad luck mate”, instead come and say – you did well this this and this, but you were lacking this this this. In case you don’t know why I lost or did not perform that well, then throw questions at me instead? Did you practice that move before? Did you tried this technique yet? Did you plan? Did you practise enough? Questions, questions, questions, that help me or lead me to gain understanding on why things happened in that particular way. The same concept applies to positive outcomes and results. Instead of saying “you’re so lucky”, say “what did you do that help you get here?” or “what do you thing was the key factor to win?” or “How did you learn to do this move?”. These questions are not only guidelines and inspiration for you, they are key reassuring elements and feedback for me. Do you see the difference? This is very simple philosophy, which can be applied on daily basis and empower us all. Yet, it is poorly practiced, because it requires critical thinking that not many of us want to use. Simply, because it is easier not to. Well, I challenge us all – to take this approach instead and seek for questions and answers, because they help us understand, they help us GROW.

Staying away from drugs and alcohol.

This advice comes deeply from Danny’s experience. I did not come across drug use and alcohol addiction in my life, but I was involved in cultural phenomena called social drinking. Social drinking is a consumption of alcohol without consciously deciding, whether or not, you want it. In other words, you drink because others drink. You don’t ask yourself if you should or should not drink, if you want or you don’t want to drink, you simply – just do it. Now to realise impact of this, I undertook a 12 month challenge of not drinking any alcohol at all (please seek for Hello Sunday Morning project). It helped me to understand, how heavily is alcohol integrated into our society and cultural habits, how badly it impacts our health and how much money and opportunities are lost by being part of it. I am not mentioning this here, to make us quit drinking or to make us all believe, that there is only one good live and that is without alcohol. I mention this here, to bring back the critical thinking we all have, to help us realise what we do and why. Is this really our choice? or do we blame negative (or positive) outcomes onto others? Are we responsible for these choices or does it happen just because of our luck? I am not going to dive into drug topic, because everyone has different idea of how drugs are defined. However, seeking for questions and answer in what we do, why we do it and where could we be instead – that is my message to pass.

Education is the key to anything you wanna do.

When I hear Danny Trejo saying this sentence, my heart melts. I feel warm blood coming from my heart down through my body and circling all around. It feels so good to hear someone else thinking the same way. It is my strong believe, the more educated choices we make, the better outcomes are waiting for us at the end of our journey. To find the right balance between – having no education / information prior actioning at all – versus  – to have enough knowledge for making the best decisions, that is the challenge we all have to deal with. There is a quote from Aristotle: “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” Sometimes, we are better off not knowing, because life seems to be much simpler that way. However, is the quality, great choices and decisions really hidden in not knowing? I personally believe, that knowing enough is essential and knowing everything is sometimes beneficial. I believe that by learning more about causes of my actions and decisions, I am preparing a ground for more sophisticated choices in future. By learning more, I am growing and that is the ultimate purpose of my life. I love to GROW. 

What is your purpose of life?