Grindin'...no this isn't an ode to the Neptunes! (But I do love them)

I'm so tired of folks coming up to me telling me about their hustle alone. I guess with most rappers constantly talking about moving weight and staying "on their grind" and "everyday I'm hustlin" it must seem like the thing to do.  But it's not just the rappers; it's the parents, it's the bosses, it's the love ones, hell we can argue this message is coming from everywhere.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT

You can hustle hard your whole damn life and remain standing still. I mean if you don't have a purpose behind what you're doing it will be all for nothing.  Case in point: When I was little, lol, 21 years old all I could think about was buying a condo. I didn't know why I wanted to buy a house...maybe I heard something about it being attached to the American Dream. I knew that in order to be a "complete" person, I would have to acquire this item. Now looking back that was fear motivating me to purchase a home. I thought, if I don’t have a home that’s “mine” I’m not going to live a stable life. That's most of us right? We gotta have this amount of money in our 401k and this type of car to drive, if we don’t have this and that than we’re screwed. WRONG!!!

Is having a condo nice? Yes it is. But does it complete me as a human being? NO! I wish someone would have broken that down for me prior to 21.  It's great to set goals.  No one is arguing that, however, setting goals that are not connected to our higher purpose is pointless in the long run.  We have to figure out what our PURPOSE is in life in order to gain happiness or we will spend the rest of our lives trying to feed that void. PERIOD. That means money, cars, homes and significant others will not be able to bring us lasting happiness if they're not connected to a higher purpose. And that feeling of being incomplete is a super scary feeling to have for 20-80 years. Often times that feeling is so bad and uneasy that we medicate it with alcohol, drugs, women, horrible relationships...you name it.

Why are we here in the first damn place? Are we here to make people laugh or cry? Do we want to help others or hurt them? Are we here to create or to destroy? I truly believe that what we are here to do resonates with the very essence of our soul. It's what makes us giddy with excitement to the point in which we are overwhelmed with joy and tears. (And it doesn’t cost a cent to experience this type of happiness).  However, it could take time to find it within ourselves. The trick is you can't get it by looking at someone else’s blue print because we're all hard wired differently. Took me a minute to get that fully, like 10 years. I can’t copy anyone because I’m an original and so are you. For that I’m grateful.

The name of this blog is INSPIRE the grind. Inspiration is literally translated to mean the breath of God. My personal belief is that we’re all inspired beings. We just cut ourselves off from the source. But when we connect to the thing that makes us happy, boy o boy there is no stopping our shine. It is my sincere hope that we all find our inspiration on our grind or journey on Earth.

A word of caution: Most of us have NO IDEA what the hell we're doing here. You can argue that NONE of us really know what we're doing here on planet Earth but that’s not where I’m going with this little rant. Of course there are religious manuals and various creeds and descriptions that give us a code or guide for rightful living. But what do we do with those great sources of inspiration? That’s right...the opposite of what they’re intended for us to do. We argue about which book is right, the pictures on the pages, the places where the books originate and the authenticity of the statues. What the heeeezy man? And in turn, we get distracted or totally lost in the sauce and think those books are all a sham. At least that’s how I felt at 13 years of age. Nothing could really reach me. I wish all the great religions of the world could come together and just say what they need to say in a simple word: LOVE. But that makes things too simple.

As a result…we don’t know what the hell to believe. The great majority of us are just blowing in the wind...killing time...smoking and drinking, getting A**, working a 9-5, chillin with the homies or warring with our families. Of course there are highlights to this type of existence, maybe a kid's birth or a wedding ceremony or a really cool movie on a Friday night. But the great tragedy is we never take a moment, a day, a week to look within ourselves and find out what makes us HAPPY.

Why oh why do we continue to plague ourselves with so much misery following someone else’s idea of happiness? I'm tired of blaming it on the devil. What did that dude ever do to me? What can we do to make ourselves a little more joyful?

I believe happiness comes from each and every moment. It's this gift called life. Like, we have this awesome chance to become great in this lifetime at whatever we choose to experience. We fall and fall again because we’re just learning and that’s ok. But we can become better friends, better strangers, better bosses, better employees, better artists, better dreamers...ECT. We don't need permission to be loving and happy. And yet that's how most of us parade around town. “My boss won’t let me do this and it’s ruining my day”. REALLY? You’re entire day or life is ruined by one person who does not control your mind, your creativity, and your vision? Interesting. “I don’t have the money to go to college so I’m not going to go”. REALLY? Hmmm so just because you don’t have the money in your pocket right now, you’re going to deny yourself an opportunity to grow because you can only see one way to gain entry.

We all suffer from limited vision. I remember how I first glimpsed the infinite. I didn’t get it in a book or from a person. I was just a kid bored just staring at the ground. I saw an entire army of ants, marching onward, talking in a coded whisper, moving with purpose and total order. I’ve never looked at the world the same since that encounter. For some reason or another everything looked different when I looked up.   When most of us get out of bed in the morning; we only see chaos. I wish we could have faith in the order because eventually we could see it in our own lives.

Some seemingly good and some seemingly bad situations will happen to all of us but they will pass because everything in life is in constant motion. It has to be that way otherwise how could we grow from nothing into something? But it’s because of our limited understanding of this concept that we place UNREALISTIC expectations on others and on ourselves to remain still, frozen and never changing as human beings. I’m sooooo guilty of this but I have to remind myself to be thankful for those who come into my life and for those who leave because they are making way for new and more pleasant experiences.

WE HAVE TO STOP LIMITING OURSELVES!

We act like our circumstances define who we are. We are not who our parents are. We are not our zip codes. We are not our race. We are not our income bracket. WE ARE BOUNDLESS POTENTIAL. Let’s do something with it. Let’s have a little flair, a little fun, a little creativity…

This is a limitless place of possibility. Don't believe the HYPE! Become more little by little, love a lil more. Go ahead try it. Smile at a random person, see what happens. I know, I know you feel weird doing it. Do it anyways. That smile could lead to an entire different life. I’ve witnessed it come true.

I wish success, love and happiness for everyone. Stay inspired on your grind. I beg you!

Shak
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