Wait, You Disagree with ME? Equanimity Thoughts, Ideas, and Opinions

There is beauty in the distance

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.” — Albert Einstein

Oh, Saturday, you look swell; how are you? Let me take your hat, coat, and scarf.  I just made some FBS coffee; it’s on the counter; join me while I make some morning soup for the masses.

Well, I lost another one.  I have a few ways I deliver my soup, I post on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and I also have an email blast that goes out each morning.  I get the best feedback from my blast, people comment pro and con, and occasionally someone will ask to be removed.  It happened again yesterday; one of my friends did not like me calling Faccui an asshole; in his mind, he is a patriot, I disagree, but hey, you do you, I’ll do me.

I removed him from the blast; no longer will my words trigger him; I didn’t know he was thin-skinned.  It’s funny people that I meet that read my work, and they always want to tell me they don’t agree with everything I say.  I find that a little weird; of course, you don’t agree with everything I say; if you did, I would question your sanity.  The beauty of humanity is we all think differently, and how I view a topic might be counter to your view, and there is beauty in that distance.

Some of my new videos dropped yesterday, I was sharing with friends, and I got a beautiful text from an agent in Kentucky.  He complimented the work and shared, “he didn’t agree with everything I wrote, but liked that I challenged his mindset.”  Jeff has thick skin, and as I navigate life, I’ll be looking for the thick, not the thin-skinned if words trigger you; best we do not share ideas.  We can have a beer, dine together, but let’s not go below the surface; things can get dicey.

I’m into freedom of expression; you say what you think, I’ll mull those ideas, let me express myself, and you know where I stand.  If you disagree, tell me more; where am I erroring in my ways?  I have an open mind that is subject to change, but taking your ball and running away is just bad form.

I want to share a bit of my friend Chris.  Chris is a business owner; he’s currently selling his company; he is kind, he and his wife are friends, and we share many values.  But he will disagree with me, and when he does, he does not come at me with guns a-blazing; he calmly shares my words and where there might be room for disagreement.  Chris is a man of faith, and when I enter those waters, I can always count on his gentle corrective way of saying, “have you ever thought about this?”  Chris makes me a better man, and I appreciate his input and thoughtful approach to disagreement.  I love you, buddy.

I got a call from an old friend yesterday.  I had shared one of my videos; I’ve known Gary for 20 plus years, he was a vendor of ours for many years, became a client.  We’ve been on peer groups together, and he reached out to compliment me on the video. He was asking about my strategy. Have I thought about this or that?  Our companies have parallel growth; it’s fun watching him, and his brother grow their family business.  His input was I may be missing an opportunity and gave me a mutual friend that might enlighten me about a missing revenue source.  I have some pretty damn good friends; thank you, GT.

We wound down our week watching it snow; we now have ten inches up here.   It’s a winter wonderland fit for a Queen and a jester.  We will work around the house until noon, then head down the mountain to do some chores, we’ve been invited to a house party tonight, but I think my Queen and I just want to be together, loving, touching, squeezing.  Have I shared I love my life, I love my wife?

Speaking of my wife, she’s slow asleep.  I say slowly because my friend Kris pointed out I always write about her being fast asleep, not today, my friend, not today.  An update on my friend Patrick, he’s still on oxygen; COVID kicked his ass, he was unable to make our group meeting yesterday.  I’m going to ask you to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  I know you don’t know him, but trust me, he is a good man with a good heart and could use a little help.

Enough about me, how are you?  How was your week?  Seriously, did you kill it this week or get killed?  Our company had a pretty good week; I have my team report their revenue each Friday, we were over goal this week, under plan last week, but we are on pace for another successful month.  It’s fun watching our team go and grow.  I feel like our company has reached adulthood; it’s able to stand on its own without a lot of work from me, so I started climbing my second mountain.

My friend Brandon turned me on to the concept a couple of years ago.  Most are fortunate to climb one mountain, but a few of us are allowed to climb two mountains in our lifetime.   I’m not stopping with two; I plan on building this company much like I did my first. Then starting to climb the third mountain, I have no idea what that might be, but I’m going to live until I’m 114, so I’ve got time; keep your eye on the cornfield kid; he’s got time, motivation, love, joy, and energy to attempt to change the world.

A little reminder this morning that you are not for everyone, and everyone is not for you. If you find yourself agreeing 100% with something another says, maybe you need to be a little more critical in your thinking.  Do not allow those differences to trigger you, but open your mind to why he, she, or they said the thing they did.   Well, enough, time to move on, publish this thought piece and then get on with my day.  Cheers, my thick-skinned friends; I’ll keep being me and use my mind to thin my herd of friends. You do you, but let me do me.

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.” — Albert Einstein