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trace brady

@tracebrady

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As is tradition, here’s some things I learned/remembered during my 25th trip around the sun:
1) Strive to be useful instead of happy because this shifts the focus from pleasing yourself to helping others. Happiness is a byproduct of serving a purpose larger than yourself.
2) Purpose is putting the right amount of pressure on the gas pedal, at the right time, in the right way, for the right period of time, in the right car, with the right people, going in the right direction. Put another way, purpose is taking meaningful action towards a meaningful goal that is a) truly aligned with your deepest-held values and beliefs and b) shared with like-minded people.
3) Meaning of life is not something to find and imbibe. Meaning is created and ascribed.
4) Everyone is telling their *perceived* truth. Just because someone is “wrong,” doesn’t mean they’re being dishonest.
5) Pick your battles. We must reserve our time and energy for fighting the good fight. For everything else(ie everything on social media), turn the other cheek.
6) Before you speak, let your words pass through three filters: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? Being antagonistic or defensive will only validate the ignorant’s pain and feed their insecurity.
7) “What would this look like if it were easy?” This deceptively simple question will change the way you do anything and everything. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
8) There’s always a third option. When faced with a false dichotomy, ask “What am I missing here? What *other* path can I take to still get what I want?"
9) If you love three things, don’t cut two off to pursue the third. Combine your passions in new and interesting ways.
10) It’s okay to feel lost. You’re not alone. by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

#funfact
Scientific studies that I just made up show that babies who listen to Bobby Caldwell & Sam Cooke grow up to be smarter (and more soulful). by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

This photo was immediately followed by a Tickle and a Boop. by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

Currently sitting at stage 6. by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

I pointed to the exhibit and said, “Murphy, what’s that?” And since she can hardly talk, I answered my own question: “It’s a dinosaur!”
Out of nowhere this hermione-granger-lookin, 1st-grader-on-a-field-trip standing next to me said, “ACTUALLY, it’s a giant tortoise. 🙄”
😂🙃🤪💩💀 by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

Gettin weird on a walk in the woods. taken in Bloomington, Indiana by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

As kids, my siblings and I fought like crazy.
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But don't we all need to fight and to learn how to do it well?
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The goal in fighting, as well as in peace, is to obtain a still more perfect peace, both externally and internally. We use those whom we fight to solidify our own identities — as individuals, as people, as humanity — by ordering our external and internal worlds around the things that are not us.
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We're Michelangelo and the marble, slowly chipping away at everything that isn't the David.
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I guess what I'm trying to say is, these guys made me the beautiful work of art that I am today 🤪
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#nationalsiblingday by @tracebrady

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8 years ago

This post is brought to you by Sebastian Junger, author of “Tribe.”
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After an earthquake collapsed a coal mine and trapped the men inside, a Canadian psychologist interviewed the survivors and identified two types of leaders that emerged during the crisis.
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Early leaders
-lacked empathy and emotional control
-were not concerned with the opinions of others
-associated with only one or two other men in the group
-took forceful, life-saving action where many other men might not.
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Once the escape attempt failed, a different kind of leader emerged.
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Later Leaders
-focused on group morale
-used skills that were diametrically opposed to those of the early leaders
-were highly sensitive to people’s moods
-worked hard to be accepted by the entire group.
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“Without exception, men who were leaders during one period were almost completely inactive during the other. No one, it seemed, was suited to both roles. These two kinds of leaders more or less correspond to the male and female roles that emerge spontaneously in open society during catastrophes such as earthquakes or the blitz. They reflect an ancient duality that is masked by the ease and safety of modern life, but that becomes immediately apparent when disasters strike. If women aren’t present to provide the empathic leadership that every group needs, certain men will do it. If men aren’t present to take immediate action in an emergency, women will step in.” by @tracebrady

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9 years ago

“I think what I’ve offered is different. Not because I drew better than anybody or wrote better than anybody, but because I was more honest than anybody. And in the discussion of children and the lives of children and the fantasies of children and the language of children, I said anything I wanted, because I don’t believe in children. I don’t believe in childhood. I don’t believe that there’s this demarcation – ‘Oh you mustn’t tell them that. You mustn’t tell them that.’ – You can tell em anything you want. Just tell em if it’s true. If it’s true, you tell em.
–Maurice Sendak by @tracebrady

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9 years ago

A huge shoutout to the strong women who raised me.
I have them to thank for my well developed feminine side including but not limited to my affinity for scrapbooking, Disney movies, musicals, all things cheesy, and shakin my booty.
Without their constant compassion and infinite forgiveness I would be a wretched, sorry excuse for a human being(well... moreso than I already am 🤪).
#internationalwomensday by @tracebrady

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9 years ago

I’ll keep this one brief.
3 things I learned in my 24th year:
1. Be soft.
Don't man up. Tear up listening to River by Leon Bridges. Make funny faces at the kids in the shopping cart in front of you. If you tense up before a car crash, you’re much more likely to break your bones and die.
2. Listen to yourself.
Take a step back and ask yourself how you’re feeling right now. Do this often. If you’re consistently feeling off over the course of several weeks or months or years then something needs to change.
3. Go see Black Panther in theaters two times. by @tracebrady

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9 years ago

#dream
As far as dirty Chicago cops go, I was one of the good guys. But I was no angel either.
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I recruited 12 people for a big bank heist. One member was a photographer and actress at the time, but she wasn't making enough money on her art alone, so she got creative with how she sold her skills. She joined our team as reconnaissance, taking photos after casing the joint, seducing the bank president to get a copy of his key, and helping with the planning process.
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Anyway, the job went south, and I was one of the cops called to storm the warehouse from which we worked. I gave the team a heads up but they only had three minutes to make an escape. The others tried to run. Most were shot in the process. My partner, the dirtiest of the dirty, even shot some female bystanders just because he could.
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As we were wrapping up our sweep of the warehouse, I found myself alone in a large, open room, and I heard the faintest of coughs. I looked everywhere and eventually found the actress/photographer, rolled up in some carpet, beaten half to death. There were cuts and bruises, her chest was cut open, her hands soaked in her own blood.
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“Who did this to you?” I said, thinking of killing the culprit if he wasn't already dead. It was Johnny, the leader of the heist, I just knew it. He escaped the raid, but he was a dead man walking if I had anything to do with it.
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She just looked up and smiled and gave me a little wink.
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“This was you?” I said, confused. “You did this to yourself?”
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She said nothing, but her silence said everything I needed to know.
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I picked her up to take her to the ambulance. But before she could tell the other cops her elaborate story about how she was walking her dog, taking photos of the warehouse, and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, I said, “Ya know, you legitimately scare the shit out of me sometimes.”
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She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then she leaned up, kissed me on the cheek, and whispered in my ear, “Gooood,” with just enough “o”s to send a shiver down my spine. by @tracebrady

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9 years ago