Holbrook New Media Audio Feed

This first quote was posted by Rachel Ward, who has been so supportive of  the show from the very beginning. Thanks, Rachel!   The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.   “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear!"   What happens when you see someone you feel good about? Love happens in  various degrees and is not only assigned to your life partner. There are  many people that you feel affection for when you see them approach.    Knowing you are in for a good conversation, that this person likes the  same things you do, or has deep understanding of a similar painful  situation you each have experienced, gives you a sense of love deep  inside. You LOVE to see them coming and want to spend time with them.   This also a has beneficial effect on your body systems and contributes to  a sense of health and well being.   A link to an earlier episode of Daggers Of The Mind that describes these  benefits will be included in the show notes.   http://jeffreykholbrook.blogspot.com/2014/10/adam-sandler

Liam Neeson (suggested by Jake Lanham)   “Why would anyone ever tell anything personal to a journalist?”   The job of a journalist is to gather information and then tell the public, slanted in a way that seems interesting and exciting to them. Celebrities have traditionally had trouble with journalists who are constantly prying into their private lives hoping to find shocking things they can disclose. Paparazzi are another breed altogether, almost rabid in their devotion to getting compromising images of celebrities to sell. How about your own situation? Even if you are not a celebrity, there are people around who are trying find out private things about you they can disclose to others. These intrepid individuals are called gossips. Gossip is a tradition as old as communication. The gossip feels the need to know things others don’t so they can ‘WOW’ everyone with the secret knowledge in order to gain importance for themselves. The gossip just isn’t happy with normal facts however, and it usually takes somethi

Morgan Freeman   “I gravitate towards gravitas.”   Dictionary.com defines gravitas as: 1. seriousness or sobriety, as of conduct or speech.  Are you a goof off, or do you take life a little more seriously? Is the world just a huge playground, or are you honestly waiting to play until the chores of the day are concluded? Is playtime something you have earned, or is being frivolous and reckless your M.O.?  Responsibility can be no fun at times. Those unpleasant things that must be done, and can’t seem to be avoided intrude on our lives almost daily. How do you decide to handle this?  Some, like Mr. Freeman take the sober approach to first get those things accomplished, leaving the mind clear for a short vacation before resuming. Others work so hard at avoiding work that it would be much easier to do the actual work in the first place. How to cope? The drudgery of everyday tasks can be dealt with in a systematic manner to reduce the unpleasantness. If you are in an environment where it is permitted, listen to mu

Mark Harmon “How many times have you been on the freeway and had someone fly by you at 100 mph then end up two cars ahead of you at the off ramp? What's the point?”   Ahh, that amazing feeling when you jumped ahead of a few others and made it to the front of the line without really earning it. Did you have a real sense of accomplishment? We know you were the same one who jumped line in 1st grade because you were so immature, such a baby. Somewhere along the way, you learned that to get your own way, you bullied others. Pushing and forcing a path for yourself, others are just in this world for you to measure your level of conquest. Every person you meet, there is a singular thought. “I must break you”. Blaming it on your mother or father sounds like a good excuse, and it makes a lot of money for psychiatrists, but ultimately your decision to dominate is your own aggression against people who never wronged you at all. It’s just as wrong as it was when you were the victim.  It’s time to grow up. It’s wrong, and

General George Patton   “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”   The best decisions are made when people who disagree come to a  consensus of what is best. Notice I didn’t say compromise. Compromise  means that you don’t fully agree with the solution, but you are  willing to give up some elements of your idea under pressure.  Consensus means after the pressure cooker session is finished, ALL  agree that THIS is the absolute BEST idea.   The interchange and challenge of ideas has been always been the best caldron for THE IDEA, the ultimate best idea for the situation at  hand.   Most people can’t work with others well enough, (checking their ego  at the door) to admit that an element of thought from a coworker is  better than yours and should be incorporated in the final plan.   Everyone you meet has many different experiences and knows things you  don’t. This is also true of yourself in relation to them. The  buzzword today is Diversity. I have heard that a lot, but all that  was said

Oprah Winfrey “My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” Imagine you are building the foundation for a house using cinderblocks. As you work your way along, you find one is severely cracked and is starting to crumble. You realize that there is a place in the foundation where it would never be seen, “What’s the harm?”   Another quote by Oprah Winfrey: “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.”   So, what’s the harm? The weakest link in the chain is the one that will fail when put under pressure. A few years down the road, when the homeowner finds cracks in the walls because of the failure of that block, the real harm will be revealed.   Ok, how about the harm it will do to you? If you get by with it now, you will do a little more next time, then more, and soon you won’t even recognize yourself because of your utter lack of integrity. It happen

Ralph Waite   “You only mature when you face problems you can't deal with.”   Think back to the finest moments of your life. I imagine the path to the accomplishment was simple, and you and everyone else knew it. The acclaim you received was so immense because you didn’t really have to work for it at all.   Nope, not even close. A victory that you just breezed through is not really a victory at all. The glory, and the maturity only comes in the struggle. You must actually learn new skills, not just draw on old lessons if you are going to grow from it, to mature.   I have mentioned my daughter Ecil in previous episodes. Here is her Facebook posting regarding a crisis she faced and her reaction to it.   Feeling pretty epic at the moment. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that there was a clerical error which resulted in me being 4 credit hours short of graduating in December and it was too late to enroll in another course. Not being the kind of person to take things lying down, I've been busting my rear since

The first quote was contributed by my brother, Darrell Holbrook. Joycelyn Elders, president Clinton’s surgeon general. "…most of the people that die with heart disease and cancer are our elderly population, you know, and we all will probably die with something sooner or later." Most of us hope to die later rather than sooner. The idea of a “full life” is quite appealing. It seems that there is much less sympathy for an elderly person dying as opposed to a child or anyone short of 40. Granted, many older people who are in the throes of diseases such as heart disease and cancer will tell you they are ready to die and wonder why they are allowed to drag on and on. Tell me, at what age is it categorically expected that you have lived long enough and your passing is not as important as someone younger? Many people would choose the biblical estimate of “3 score and ten” or 70 years. My father is 80 years old. He is in great health and takes a long exercise walk every day. He has been happily married to my mother fo

Liberace When the reviews are bad I tell my staff that they can join me as I cry all the way to the bank.   Have you ever been talked about negatively when you did the right thing? Especially when you did it well? While bad reviews from others can be for poor performance, many times it is the jealousy of the reviewer that is talking.  Take a look first at the reason for what is being said. What is their motive? Even those who have no inclination to compete with you may have a selfish reason they want you to fail.  Ann Patchett Praise and criticism seem to me to operate exactly on the same level. If you get a great review, it's really thrilling for about ten minutes. If you get a bad review, it's really crushing for ten minutes. Either way, you go on.  How do you react to criticism? Is it so devastating you mope around for weeks? It’s not possible everyone will like everything you do all the time. Even you won’t like everything you do, that is, if you are honest with yourself. Take the line that even mean spir

Alyssa Milano I'm a big believer in individual responsibility.   In movies, there has always been the Sigmund Freud type of psychiatrist who automatically tells his patient, “blame your mother”. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, that is always the comical solution. “It’s not my fault” seems to be on everyone’s lips these days.  It is obvious that most of the way we live our lives is based on how we were raised, and this can include a phobia or two that we have picked up and made pets of. Once you are an adult however, your choices, good, bad or ugly are your own. Children who are learning how to relate to the world, start as totally selfish persons who seek only to satisfy their own needs as babies. The whole point of your growing up process is to learn that you are not the center of the universe. You must learn to take responsibility for your own actions. Simply put, if you break it, fix it or pay for it.  Today, the normal path is not quite so clear. A fixed moral code is quite uncommon today. Like a s

This first quote was submitted by Scotty Rose who has been sharing Daggers Of The Mind on Facebook. Thanks so much, Scotty! Angela Davis Biography.com lists her as an Academic, Women’s Rights Activist, Scholar, and Civil Rights Activist. Her quote: “We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.” From Dictionary.com the definition ofLiberate- to set free, as from imprisonment or bondage.   Angela Davis has spent her life advocating changes in our society. Over the decades we have seen massive shifts in our culture, and every person you talk to would have their own opinions about how good or bad these changes are. Isn’t that as it should be? We know how society has been evolving, but how do you liberate a mind? Most of us, being quite human, will define a liberated mind as one who has been purged of all the things we each think are incorrect or wrong. That’s not liberation, that is mere conformity. Conformity is what we’ve taught since childhood. That is the magic way we get along and pr

This first quote was submitted by Paul Wolford. Check out the book he wrote with Scott Edwards called “The Slayer of Saints”. Paul Stanley, front man for the band KISS. His comment is about the restrictions placed on their lives by superstardom. “I don’t think it was my nature or any of ours to start complaining about something like that. That’s like winning the lottery and then complaining about the taxes. Or becoming president and saying I don’t like wearing a tie. Well, if you are lucky enough to get what you wanted, shut up!” Why do we complain so much? If things are bad, we complain, if things are good, we complain. If things are really great, and we have achieved that amazing thing we always wanted, we actually HUNT for a reason to complain. There could be a variety of reasons, but I can think of two right off. We want sympathy, or want to outdo someone else’s complaint, thus winning a small victory for the day. Sympathy is something we actually CRAVE sometimes. We appreciate it when others recognize o

Marlee Matlin She came to prominence in 1986 as the deaf leading lady in the movie “Children of a Lesser God”. Her Quote: “Silence is the last thing the world will ever hear from me.” From her bio in the International Movie Database. IMDB.comMarlee Beth Matlin was born to Don and Libby Matlin; she was their third child. Marlee lost much of her hearing at the age of 18 months. That didn't stop her, though, from acting in a children's theater company at age 7; she was Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." Her deafness never held her back. As an adult she said it so eloquently: "I have always resisted putting limitations on myself, both professionally and personally." Around 30 years ago, my employer participated in a state run program to integrate many deaf and hard of hearing people into the workplace. I can only say that this program has been an amazing success. Back then, hearing people sometimes found themselves uncomfortable associating with people who spoke a different language when they couldn’t understand or

Jack Nicholson “I love discourse. I'm dying to have my mind changed. I'm probably the only liberal who read Treason, by Ann Coulter. I want to know, you understand? I like listening to everybody. This to me is the elixir of life.” How much do you enjoy a disagreement? I’ll admit, it’s not my first choice for the way to spend an afternoon. An argument can raise blood pressure and cause the loss of lifelong friends. Not very funny.Have you ever wondered why some people always seem to end up arguing? I really believe the number one reason is fear. The fearful person is the one who attempts to shout you down instead of letting you get a word out, even after you were courteous enough to listen to their views. This person is so afraid of contamination from another idea, that even allowing it to be expressed will taint them with an element of doubt that could alter their life forever. Scary! This is no more true than when discussing religious or political issues. The beliefs of  religion and politics are ingrained i

Hank Aaron “You can only milk a cow for so long, then you’re left holding the pail.” What kind of plans have you made for the future? Do you expect everything to go as it always has, or do you have plans to cope with pitfalls you may eventually face? Many things could happen to change your current status. Loss of your job, a health issue, a drastic increase in utilities, taxes or fees, or even a lawsuit or divorce can make a sudden shift in your ability to cope with your circumstances. As Mr. Aaron put it, do you have another cow if the one you are currently milking runs dry? Having a backup cow in the barn is a really good idea. In our last episode of Daggers Of The Mind, a quote from George Takei was featured. In his book “ To The Stars”, he said that as soon as he was earning some money acting, he began buying real estate rental properties. By its very nature, acting doesn’t always give a steady paycheck, he wanted a more stable form of income while being free to accept and turn down roles as he saw fit. A

Anjelica Huston What do I think of the Yankees? I'm sorry, I don't follow football. Hey, when was the last time you encountered someone who didn’t share your interests? I would say there is good chance it was today. Besides being out in the real world, social media is in the home from waking to sleeping again, so even if you had the day off at home, you encountered someone who wasn’t interested in your favorite subjects. Another question. What was your reaction to this? Some can accept this on the face value, realizing everyone is and has the right to be different in their pursuits. Others immediately jump right to ridicule, eager to prove their point of view is superior. Dictionary.com says Ridicule is speech or action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing, derision. Why is ridicule so popular and so quickly used against others? I firmly believe this has more to do with the state of mind and intelligence of the ridiculer rather than the victim. Thomas Jefferson: Resort is had to ridicu

Adam Sandler I wasn't a kid growing up thinking, "One day I'll get an Oscar and make a speech". That wasn't on my mind. I want to just do the best work I can do. Ah, reward, what an amazing motivator. Most successful humans, being basically selfish creatures, are working toward very specific goals. We are told that failing to have a goal in mind will paralyze our thought processes and will stymie achievement in all it’s forms. This certainly applies to your actual direction in life. What would happen if the football team was working hard, but didn’t realize the goal was the other way? Quite counterproductive I think. If they didn’t figure it out quickly, they might find themselves not getting to play at all. Okay then, we really do need a goal to get started in the first place, but what type of goal have you set for yourself? The rich and famous goal is probably one of the most common. All of us have those “if money were no object” dreams. These goals are “What I can gain” types of ambitions. How about Mr. Sa

Robin WilliamsEveryone has these two visions when they hold their child for the first time. The first is your child as an adult saying "I want to thank the Nobel Committee for this award." The other is "You want fries with that?" 18 years. You have just 18 years to affect and guide the life of that tiny human being you’ve been entrusted to raise. So sad that so many don’t spend much time or effort on this most sacred of trusts. I’ve met young men before who take a savage pride in living the wild life, a narcissist who tears around the world, seeding babies at every turn. Some don’t even know of some of these offspring, where or when they might have been born. There are few things that set a life off in the wrong direction like being forgotten in the first place. Some fathers feel just guilty enough to send money, but never give the most precious commodity of all, time. Have you had contact with your child today? How about going all the way and telling your son or daughter how much you love them? I know about

William Shatner"With three kids, it was always very, very tight, and it was always a scramble for what was my next job. So I learned never to go into debt because I don't want those monthly payments to preoccupy my thoughts. I never spend more than what I can afford, and I don't owe anything." I suppose all the listeners to this show have all the money they will ever need and life is wonderfully well funded, right? Oh, I guess not. Most of us have lived all our lives from payday to payday, and have accumulated debt along the way. Paying cash for everything seems quite foreign to us, and it feels like we could never have our piece of the “American Dream” if we never accumulate any debt. A few years ago, the American president was quoted as saying our responsibility as Americans was to use our credit cards to get the economy rolling again. Is it even possible to have a cash based lifestyle? There are plenty of websites, such as Dave Ramsey.com who say that this is not only possible, but completely practical. Mr

Angelina Jolie"You might never find out that you are useful for all the right reasons - and not all those stupid things that people tell you you're useful for." What are you useful for? I believe most of us haven’t really tried to find our special talents and aptitudes. Being busy with life and making a living is quite distracting. As a result, we tend to believe what others tell us, and in the end spend a large amount of time being jerked about like a puppet on strings. Being used by others is never much fun. We seem to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to please others, and sometimes people get the impression that you are available for their convenience. This usually starts with a compliment, telling you how good you are at something, and ending with how you need to do this thing for them. Wanting to please and be liked, we comply and find ourselves in a never ending loop of being used. To be fair, not everyone is trying to use you, but it is imperative that we learn to detect the signs early so we wo