Danny Brown's Blog, page 8
February 21, 2017
Love People, And Use Things
This weekend just gone saw the annual Family Day holiday in most of Canada. A government-endorsed public holiday, Family Day was created to “…celebrate the importance of families and family life to people and their communities.”
It’s one of the many reasons I love my adopted home (I moved here from the UK in 2006) – after all, how many countries actually offer a paid day off to spend with your family and celebrate family life?
Especially in today’s work climate, where the family can take a ba...
February 17, 2017
The Ballad of Safe, Potential and Already There
There were three businessmen walking down a long and winding road. No-one knew how all three came to be on the road at the same time, but there they were.
Their names were Safe, Potential and Already There.
Safe (as his name suggests) was happy to be wherever there was room for him. He followed the coat tails of Potential and Already There and often stopped to admire the view, then run to catch up with his two friends later, out of breath and giddy just for being around others.
Potential was...
February 13, 2017
I Want to Live in a World…
Where “fake news” isn’t a defense mechanism.
Where families aren’t torn apart in broad daylight as a statement of power.
Where acceptance isn’t based on religion, colour, gender or sexuality.
Where fear isn’t a tactic used by men in power to prey on the weak.
Where lies are not the new truth.
Where women aren’t silenced on the democractic floor for daring to call out bad people.
Where children aren’t afraid to go to school because their parents may not be there when they get home.
Where our e...
February 10, 2017
Sorry, Tobias Lutke, But Shopify Shouldn’t Be Hosting Breitbart
Over on Medium, there’s a post from Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke regarding his company’s hosting of the Breitbart e-commerce store.
(If you’re unaware of both companies, Shopify is one of the leading e-commerce solutions on the web, and Breitbart is a right-wing propaganda site disguised as journalism)
In the post, Lütke addresses recent criticism (10,000 emails, tweets and messages and counting) of his company’s decision to continue to allow Breitbart to sell products online using the Shopify so...
February 7, 2017
The Focus of Needing to Be Focused
Since starting my blog back in 2008, it’s gone through many iterations, both in the style of presentation, and the theme of the content within.
It’s gone from having about a dozen or so categories, to only having one (which is the bigger picture of this thing called life and where we sit in it, personally and professionally).
It’s gone from having multiple sidebars to zero; from having affiliate ads and posts trying to sell something to zero ads and zero selling (at least, not the hard sell)....
February 3, 2017
Pay to Speak at Your Social Media Conference? Are You Drunk?
Take a minute to imagine getting a new client.
You’ve worked hard to get to that stage, and now you’re ready to sign the contract.
Then the new client stops you in your tracks with these words:
OK, I’m ready to have you do your thing for me. But you’ll need to pay me first.
You look at them, surprised, wondering if you heard them right.
So you ask the obvious excuse me, and receive this reply:
You’ll have to pay me first. If you want to work for me, you’ll need to pay me. If you don’t want to...
February 1, 2017
There Is Good in the World – You Just Need to See It
Sometimes it’s tough either going online and looking at your social feeds, or watching the news on TV, or picking up a newspaper.
Wars. Hate. Bigotry. Violence. Divisiveness. Fear. Anger.
There’s a lot of negativity, and a lot of people stoking the flames of that negativity.
So rampant is it, you’d be forgiven for thinking there are no more good people in the world. Or, fewer than there was when you were younger.
But you’d be wrong.
There is good. There is love. There is caring. There is all...
January 20, 2017
Make Believe Games
Did you doodle at school as a kid? Did you play make-believe games with your friends that took you to other worlds, real and imagined? Did you have an invisible friend?
Our minds are so free as kids. We imagine anything and everything. Our creativity knows no limits, and our imagination is boundless.
When do we lose that? When does our creativity go into hiding, and we settle for the ordinary and the mundane?
Some people never lose it. Some people keep the imaginative strength of children int...
January 17, 2017
Belief is Half of All Healing
In the book A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, there’s a moment when the tree monster is telling the main character, a boy called Conor, a story about the tree’s past.
The tree is using these stories to teach Conor about life, and how to deal with different situations.
In this particular story, the tree talks of a parson and how the tree punished this parson for something he’d let happen.
I won’t spoil the story or the book by describing the punishment (and the lead -up to it) as A Monster Cal...
January 5, 2017
Acknowledgement is a State of Mind and An Emotion of Being
Acknowledgmentis a state of mind and an emotion of being. It’s a constant.
It’s the knowledge that no matter what, you have a network around you to keep you going, even in your darkest times.
Friends; family; loved ones; colleagues; even virtual strangers online that have somehow become some of the most important people in your life.
It’s never giving up, because you’re thankful for the lessons learned even when failing.
It’s acknowledging your weaknesses; your frailties; your mortality, and...
