Brave Enough to Grow

Reading Time: 1 minute

• 300 words

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It is exceedingly hard and uncomfortable to point out and address one’s weaknesses—yet it is strangely tempting, even enjoyable, to point out the weaknesses of others.

How do we find balance between these two extremes? I propose a simple mental habit, especially for those who desire growth over pretense.

If you are reading these words, it means that you are human. Unlike animals, which cannot read or be taught to do so, humans possess unique abilities. As humans, we share specific strengths and weaknesses. Somewhere within all of us lies the potential to excel—whether as public speakers, inventors, or individuals capable of resilience after failure. Likewise, buried within us are the roots of envy, bitterness, and other negative traits that trouble the human heart.

Recognizing this shared humanity can lead to a profound realization: The weaknesses we identify in others often mirror weaknesses within ourselves.

Here is a habit I propose for those brave enough to try it:

When you identify a weakness in a friend or stranger, immediately ask yourself: In what way is this very weakness inherent in me? In other words, how am I, like my friend or this stranger, also unaware of my own shortcomings—whether it’s bad breath, poor food choices, or a negative reaction to feedback?

This habit offers solid benefits: It increases awareness of our own weaknesses, reduces the tendency to criticize others, and fosters a deeper appreciation for our shared human experience. We are all connected, revolving together on this large globe called Earth, suspended in the vastness of the universe.

Cancelo Alvarez

Broken Teachers, Broken Students

Reading Time. 1.5 minutes

• 345 words

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 "When teachers are confused and uninspired — they will contribute to the general failure and complacency rate."

I wrote an article dedicated to Your Environment last month. The aim of this article was to emphasize that ‘education’ in a destructive, stagnant environment can easily turn to dust and a badge of shame.

Think about this, our parents, to make a living, have to choose a career, and usually the most readily available careers are government-run, such as nursing, security, and teaching. A parent is fundamentally a human who’s either consciously decided to get a child or unconsciously brought one into the world through lack of awareness. Therefore a parent is also a child with great responsibility to raise another child. A parent is a child because they are still learning about life, making mistakes, fighting their fears, filled with uncertainty, and more.

A person who is turned into teacher because they’ve met the system requirements but has no love or inclination for teaching is an exceedingly harmful person to the youth and to the glory of mankind. I shivered when this dawned into my mind — that, some of my school teachers were actually parents at home. Parents who were failing at parenting. Parents who are overweight because they are greedy around food, parents who are in debt because they are frivolous with money, parents who are mean and bitter because they’ve been hurt and betrayed by their romantic partners. In other words, parents who contribute, rather than reduce, to the confusion and the trauma transferred onto the youth.

I cannot help but strongly believe that had I been educated in a closed-environment by one or two dedicated mentors I would have thrived during my teenage years compared to this shuffling exposure to many uninspired teachers.

Children and teenagers are faced with a lot of challenges; poor parenting, destructive environments, peer pressure, self-doubt — but what’s frequently ignored is the added confusion and bitterness they get from teachers who are utter failures in their personal lives!

Home school your child, is my conclusion.

Cancelo Alvarez

 

Transforming Your Reality

Reading time: 1 minute

“Everything is Energy and that is all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.” — Albert Einstein

In other words:

"Unless a person has prepared himself for this chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous. A great occasion is worth to a man exactly what his preparation enables him to make of it." — Earl Nightingale

When your whole being — mind, heart, and soul — Loves, Understands, and Believes in a specific reality, your energy becomes continuously and directly invested in it. This creates a positive cycle of energy. Small wins compound, small exploratory failures teach, understanding spreads and deepens, eventually, your belief in self and that reality transcends normality.

What is normality? The state of complacency. It is unclear whether you are in or you are out. No, it’s not really uncertainty. It is simply the refusal, obvious or hidden, of fully committing your heart and soul into a certain reality or vision. The state of normality dominates your mind and that of society. This is why you must transcend it first before you may enter the stage of, for lack of a better word, attraction.

You attract the reality you want when you match, mentally, spiritually, and physically the frequency, that is, the implicit alignment and understanding of the requirements of your desired reality.

And so standing here today, in a nutshell, I would recommend to you an obsession for your chosen desire — for only such an abnormal approach may fulfill the gaps of understanding that now separate you from your desired reality!

Cancelo Alvarez

 

Rising Above Financial Struggles

Reading time: 2 minutes

• 350 words

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You shouldn’t have time to complain about life being hard. You should be busy getting physically stronger, mentally sharper, financially in a better place, building relationships with loyal friends who have your back, taking smart risks and investing in your future freedom. 

How to Improve Financially When It Feels Like You've Tried Everything

Many people feel stuck financially, convinced they've exhausted all options—school, job applications, even going door-to-door in search of work. When nothing seems to work, it's easy to believe that no one values your skills or what you can offer. But often, the biggest barrier isn't the lack of opportunities; it's a negative outlook and a pessimistic view of oneself and the world.

Before blaming external factors, reflect inwardly: Are you holding onto negativity and desperation? I've been there, and this mindset never worked. What did work was maintaining a positive attitude, having hope in myself, and committing to self-improvement.

Focus on Self-Improvement

1. Wellness: Exercise to combat stress and negativity caused by financial pressure. Meditation helps clear pessimistic thoughts, revives gratitude which creates space for resilience. 

2. Learning: Read to uplift your spirit and develop skills that open new doors, even if they start small.

3. Networking: Reach out, start conversations, ask questions, and offer support. Rejection is part of the process, but each connection brings new chances.

I once spent months applying to companies in distant cities, only to discover through a chance conversation that a company just 10 minutes away was hiring over 100 participants—and they needed someone like me. Had I been too afraid to speak to a stranger, I would have missed that chance entirely.

Rise Above Desperation

"If you find yourself filled with the anger and desperation of smothering poverty, you have to rise above it to communicate your hope. You have to reach inside yourself and find your sense of self-worth and your belief that you can and will do better. Then you have to reach out and communicate that belief." — Kent Nerburn, Simple Truths

Financial struggles can be overwhelming, but the key is to keep believing in yourself and taking action. Focus on what you can control: your mindset, skills, and interactions. With positivity and relentless effort, you'll be better positioned to seize opportunities that arise. 

Cancelo Alvarez 

The Inner Duel

 Reading Time: 1 minute

• 223 words

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People get offended by many things when they are insecure: you are not poor because millionaires exist, you are not unpopular because good-looking people exist, you are not average because smart, talented people exist. You are the product of your training, efforts, risk-taking. — Orange Book

It’s You vs You. Truly, it is. You win the Gold medal not because you did better than everyone on the day of the performance, but because of your dedicated, deliberate preparation vs lousy, unguided training, because of your sincere commitment to small improvements of your strengths and weaknesses vs an indifferent attitude to either or both, because of your willingness to compete in the first place vs your resistance to challenge!

It is You vs You because you possess a Healthy Self and a Sick Self. For ages and ages it has always been that way. The two polarities you see around you: good vs evil, love vs hate, loss vs gain, tears vs laughter, etc. are all taking place within you also, and they compete for your attention.

The trick, therefore, to doing well is first accepting that you are both Sick and you are both Healthy. You are capable of being extremely sick if you choose to think so, and you are capable of being almost flawlessly healthy if you commit yourself to that also.

And secondly is it realizing that whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into — is largely dependent on which Self you feed minutely.

Cancelo Alvarez

Celebrating Our Similarities

• Reading Time: 2 minutes
  • 370 Words

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 I discovered people are alike in many more ways than they are different.

I was heavily influenced by Morgan Housel when he wrote, “The dead outnumber the living 14 to 1, and we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind at our peril.”

In my early teenage years, I relocated to a more crowded environment, and in this large community, it seemed to me that people were convinced of how special they are—egotistical, indifferent, and insensitive to others. You see this in the levels of liquor and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, crime, and the stagnation of adults. I strongly believe these individuals have willfully refused to study and learn about others. They’ve convinced themselves they know it all.

Worse, if they don’t know something, pointing it out only irritates them.

In such communities, where most believe themselves unique and special, you often find the most ordinary, wretched, and ignorant. They are ordinary because they follow what their friends or neighbors suggest; wretched because they lack the discipline to forge a new path, conforming instead and growing bitter; and ignorant because they repeat the same cowardly and selfish mistakes that shaped their upbringing.

Only when people begin to study humanity—the intricate, machine-like mind, the triumphs and failures of the past—do they become, not necessarily unique, but authentic, original, and daring. Only then do they appreciate the similarities between one another, not to lament over, but to celebrate strengths, alleviate weaknesses, and find a healthy balance between pleasure and purpose.

Cancelo Alvarez