Perception is only reality when we allow it to be

Mirrors help small spaces breathe. 



Often used
in restaurants and hotels, they help create the illusion that a room is larger
than it really is. 



It’s the oldest trick in the decorating book. Especially if
for those who live and work in tight quarters. Visual manipulation is the
easiest way to fool the human eye. 
From a hospitality and real estate standpoint,
one or two large mirrors can go a long way. 

Who doesn’t love thinking they have
more square feet, height and light than they paid for? 

But perception is only
reality when we allow it to be. 

Think about the last time you walked into a
restaurant, took a glance around the room and marveled to yourself, wow, this
place is slammed,
only to notice your own reflection staring back at you in the
mirror. 

Woops. Guess there is no other group of people on the other side of the
buffet. There is no dimensionality there. It’s just a play of light. It’s quite
a jarring and illuminating moment for the human psyche. 

Davincistudiedthis principle with his perpetual motion
machine, calling it the inevitable loss of momentum in a system when it rubs
against reality. 

It sounds daunting, but it’s ultimately a healthy thing. When
you experience this transition from seeing a whole world of objects, people, events
and concepts, back to yourself as the sole center of it all, you start to relax
your model of reality. Because you now know that so much of what you thought
was the world was just a reflection. 

It was a story you told yourself about the
way things were, or the way you wanted things to be. And then you got mugged by
reality. 

Give thanks for these moments. Anytime you are lurched through the
curtain of reality, you come out on the other side a more conscious person. And
that is the essence of what it means to be human. 

Keen wrote in hisapologyfor wonder that reality is a gift, a delight
and a surprise, an excessive superabundant cafeteria of delight. 

Dinner is
served and so it begins. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How much of your reality are you allowing to be perception?
* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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All men are equal in their powerlessness

Many of us have picked a career path where not knowing is the norm. 

Every day we sit down to work, there is this countervailing force of grayish uncertainty that is constantly working against us. There is no way to know how or where or when the next customer, the next idea, the next investor or the next project is going to materialize. If at all. 

But we show up anyway. Because we have faith in ourselves. We trust the people and trust the process. And we believe that we are a welcome presence wherever we go who creates value, despite all that we do not know. 

If this doesn’t make our work into a spiritual practice, then let the gods strike us down where we stand. 

Cameron characterizes it beautifully in her book about creating the prosperous heart:



On every level, in every situation, the act of making something where something did not exist before is in many ways the very definition of faith. 

If you had complete faith in yourself and the universe and in your future, what would you do differently? 

And yet, there is a fine line between patience and procrastinating. 

Yes, we sit with uncertainty, but we also don’t spend too much time meandering in the mush of our own indecision. 

Yes, we allow for the synchronistic accidents of weather and will that might alter our trajectory, but we also don’t sit back and wait for the world to say, yes you, you’re the one. 

Yes, we learn to become comfortable with ambiguity, but we also get out there and darken enough doorsteps to help enough people fall in love with what we already worship. 

In the end, all of us are equal in our powerlessness. 

Certainty has left town for good and it won’t be back. 

May as well get used to it. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Who taught you what to do when the certain thing didn’t happen?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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His commitment will remain uncompromised

Brown writes in his inventive book about the rise of artificial intelligence that any man can stay sober in a desert, but only the loyal can sit in an oasis and refuse to part their lips. 

This is the ultimate test of our level of commitment. 

Can we live our cherished life purpose choices, even in the face of crushing temptation to do otherwise? Can we remain true to ourselves, even in a world that is constantly trying to turn us into someone else? Can we redefine our toughness through restraint, even amidst the enormous social pressure to give in? Can we make a complete effort anyway, even when the odds are stacked against us and most people won’t even notice anyway? Can we courageously stick with our crazy idea, even if we look like idiots and risk alienating those who don’t understand? 

This is a huge ask. To sit in that oasis and refuse to part our lips, it’s not the kind of commitment that we manufacture on the cheap or on the fly. It takes blood, sweat and years

And the cruelest part is, nobody is going to congratulate us. Nobody is going to pat us on the back for how brave we are. There will be no roaring round of applause, and there will be no white bearded man in the sky to tally our points and approve our admission through the pearly gates. 

Which means we better be doing this for our own edification. Because it serves our meaning making mission today. 

If you want to elevate your standing in your own eyes, plop down in the middle of the oasis and refuse to part your lips. 


LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Which of your fears are diminishing your commitment?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

It’s the world’s first, best and only product development and innovation gameshow!


Tune in and subscribe for a little execution in public.

Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs


An angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other

Joyce notoriously wrote that any object, intensely regarded, may be a gate of access to the incorruptible eon of the gods. 

His theory was, holiness is location agnostic. 

Indeed, it’s a beautiful and accessible scaffolding for our spiritual lives. It means our souls belong everywhere. And that wherever we go, divine love will find us. 

And all the people shall say, amen. 

But as long as we’re talking about giant cosmic imaginary friends in heaven, it would only be fair to include our fiery friends from hell too. 

We wouldn’t want to be discriminating. 

Consider this couplet from an obscure book of religious poetry:



There is no place that the devil will spare. He can follow us anywhere. 

A humble reminder, that we all have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. The daily inner conflict of conscience versus temptation never leaves us. 

The hard part is, these dark forces are far more insidious than the light. They play dirty. They throw things at us that we have never even seen before. And of course, the great trick they pull is convincing us that they don’t exist. 

Ask anyone in recovery. Whether their drug of choice is cocaine, gambling, sex or work, all addiction is the same. It’s only disease in the world that tells us that we don’t have it. 

That is my definition of the devil. And he is as real as it gets. 

Remember, if there is nothing in this world we can’t turn into heaven, then there is nothing in this world we can’t turn into hell. 

Every waking moment is filled with the overwhelming urge for whatever it is we are now addicted to. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS…

When temptation assails you with cruel force, how will you respond?* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

It’s the world’s first, best and only product development and innovation gameshow!


Tune in and subscribe for a little execution in public.

Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs


What if we weren’t scared of your anger?

Maisel writes in his book about humane helping that sometimes, what people need is a certain kind of silence and special holding of the moment. 

The practice is that our heart is harmlessly open and receptive to whatever emerges emotionally and energetically from others. 

This approach is useful in a therapeutic setting, but also applies to any interaction in which someone needs our help. The anxious friend, the baffled customer, the angry coworker, the frazzled boss, the overbearing parent, the depressed colleague, each of these exchanges invites us to renew our vows to the fidelity to the moment. 

Assuring us that we don’t have to run away at the mere whiff of difficult emotions. 

Things are going to be fine. Because all feelings have a beginning, middle and end. They are like weather patterns that come and go. 

And so, this person sitting next to us does not to be fixed, merely witnessed. 

The tendency, however, is to hope that people will be miraculously rescued by some brilliant thing we say. That we will be the chosen mentors whose timely insight will awaken them to the impossibility of happiness based on their previous worldview and change their trajectory forever. 

But life is not a romantic comedy. There is no guarantee of a satisfying closure to every problem. 

All the more reason to focus on truly joining people. Inhabiting their universe. Accepting their reality. Tolerating their emotionality. Opening to their difficult moments. Maybe even challenging ourselves to feel those feelings with them. 

At the very least, doing so will show people that we are not scared of their feelings. And it will prove to us that this moment will not destroy us, it will not make us recoil and vanish. We’re still here. 

Remember, we can’t go any deeper in our practice if we run from it. But when we practice holding the moment with people, relating to each other authentically and humanly, a divine electricity will surge between us



LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What compromises our ability to be present with others?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

It’s the world’s first, best and only product development and innovation gameshow!


Tune in and subscribe for a little execution in public.

Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs


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