YOU ARE SEEN

The hosts of the Open Mic podcast discuss the importance of showing love and compassion to others. They share personal experiences of helping someone in need and emphasize the power of small acts of kindness. They also discuss the need to have an open mind and be flexible when plans don't go as expected. They believe that life's detours can lead to unexpected blessings and that patience is key. Yo, it's been a minute, ha ha, it's been a minute, I'm your host, Papa Silk, and I am your co-host, Will. And this is... Open Mic. Here just to give you something to think about. Let's get this party started. Man, how's your day going, brother man? Man, my day is going good. It's going good, I cannot lie. How is yours going today, pops? Hey, I woke up this morning and I was blessed, so I have no complaints. You have never lied, I tell you what, I was... You know, today was pretty rough, I was a little bit down, ill, you know, the family's been sick and whatnot, but, you know, like you said, as long as I'm waking up, it's another beautiful day, another beautiful opportunity to, you know, just share positivity and share love, and so that's what I'm grateful for today. How about yourself? What are you grateful for today, pops? Man, I am grateful for the simple fact that the Lord Jesus allowed me to open my eyes this morning, and then, just throughout the day, just being an inspiration and motivation just to smile and just to let people see that, hey, it's a beautiful day. Amen. And people... I had this one dude... I feel you on that, Will. Um, let me ask you this, it's like, what was something today that made you question or see something in a different view? Well, let's be real, I had a situation where there was a lady that was at the job who was having an emotional breakdown. Oh no. Yeah, real talk, and, um, to the point where what was told to me is that she wanted to kill herself, that she didn't see, um, why she should be here, why she should continue living. Oh no. Yeah, um, and just let people know, when we do our podcast, this is nothing preconceived or anything that we've sat in a meeting about. We're just going with the flow, and that's the cool thing about this Open-Minded Podcast. It's whatever comes, it comes. And as this situation, you know, talking about committing suicide, uh, definitely hits home because I'm pretty sure we've all known somebody in our lives, whether it be family, friend, co-worker, or a neighbor, yeah, that decided to end their life. So, I appreciate the, the, the person that told me, because then I went looking for this person, and wasn't in the first spot that they said they were in, and then found this person outside, and tears in their eyes, and all bloodshot and everything, and I was like, hey, are you okay? Are you okay? Got a smile, even though the eyes were full of tears, gave me a thumbs up and says yes. I said, okay, and so I left it at that, and I went back, and, and I found this person, walked around the counter, and gave them a hug, and I was like, yo, I said, I'm just coming to check up on you, and they were like, thank you, I appreciate it. I said, yeah, you know, I gotta keep an eye out for my people. Wow, that's, that's powerful. I mean, man, I mean, just, I think we live in a world right now where it's just one of those things where people are scared to show love and show compassion. It's fear of judgment, and I think when you let your walls down, and you see somebody in need, or just see somebody that's having a hard time, or a hard day, and just to be able to be like, you know, forget whatever I'm going through mentally, spiritually, whether it's something back at the house, or you took time out to make sure that you let this person know that they're seen, and I think that is something that we can all, you know, try to implement in our day to just be like, you know, we all live selfish lives of, you know, going out to work, doing what we gotta do to get back home, but try to inspire somebody along the way, and let them know that, hey, look, I see you. Yeah, I like that. I like that, because I told somebody this past week, I said, it feels good to be loved, because to be loved is to be seen, you know what I'm saying? So yeah, you made a really, really good point there, is being able to let people know that you see, not saying that, hey, I see you, but I do acknowledge you, and I've taken notice of you, so I'm going to show you love, because that phrase is, we don't know what people are battling through. We don't know what people are going through on a daily basis, so something as simple as a, hey, how are you, or a hug, or a high five, or some dap, and say, hey, I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you. Man, I'll tell you what, like, it's just so simple to be kind, and I think that's kind of, you know, something that you've implemented into me, into my everyday life. I know I had told you this previously. It was kind of like a situation where I was at Target, and there was an older lady, and she was looking to go take up a 32 pack of water, and I was right there, and all I asked her was, hey, look, are you getting this? I can load it in your car for you, and she was like, oh, yes, and so I loaded it, and she said, wow, you know, I didn't know there was 10 people still, and that triggered in my brain to be like, wow, something so small, you know, can literally change the course of somebody's day. Yeah, and what's amazing about that is a total stranger, somebody you just happen to be walking by, and decided to, you know, show a random act of kindness just by picking up some water, you know, and that made her day. It probably made her week. It probably made her month. It could even made her year, because I love a phrase, and we'll talk about this, you know, on a later podcast, but expect the unexpected. That is one of those things that I have always lived my life by, is expect the unexpected, but I guarantee you, she was not expecting that. I like that phrase. I think that's kind of how I live my life, is like something that I always tell my wife is, you know, go into situations with no expectations, and then you'll never be let down. Amen to that. Good God. It's like, you know, people have these preconceived notions of, you know, whether you're getting together with friends, and you're like, this is how it should go, or like, you know, planning a wedding, this is how it needs to go, or just your everyday life, but if you go into situations and opportunities with an open mind, and no preconceived judgment and or expectations, expectation, right, you know, you open yourself to going with the flow, and, you know, just taking advantage of that situation. Oh, yeah. And what's interesting about even with that is, I was telling one of my guys that I work with today, I said, I said, you know, when we plan something, and when those plans fail, I get highly upset, and I should not have that spirit about me. I said, so what I've done after so many years of making plans is, I was like, you know what, I don't plan anything anymore. I have an agenda. So if it's on the agenda, cool. If the agenda changes, I don't get mad anymore. I don't even get upset. I don't even get heartbroken or whatever the case may be. Because like I said, the agendas change. So having an open mind and changing just one word from plans to agenda changes my whole outlook and my whole demeanor on life itself. So that's pretty powerful. That's pretty powerful. I would say, you know, the wifey, she's very, you know, you've heard her family, they're very like by the book, very planning. And that's something that we've had to work on, because she's somebody that gets very excited for those plans. And, you know, something that, you know, we've taken with our everyday life, and I hope that, you know, whoever's listening to this as well, can take this and, you know, run with it is, you know, just to, you know, not only expect the unexpected, but understand that, you know, people's lives, you know, day by day, like you said, you never know what somebody's going through, you know, but at the end of the day, understanding that, you know, things are going to change, things are going to come up and plans are not always going to be the way you, you know, want them to be. But just to be able to roll with the punches and be like, okay, you know, God, you know, is not making this align. And just to give you an example, we've been trying to hang out with some of our good friends. They're actually our neighbors. And it was just like, it's just like our universes weren't aligning. Like, we had plans, they had plans or vice versa. Yeah. And, you know, we kind of were getting upset about it. We're like, you know, why isn't this working? You know, and then we invited them out to dinner last weekend, and they finally got to make it got to meet some of our friends. And dude, I'm telling you, like all those heartaches are all those disappointing moments where it was like, I was so excited to finally get to hang out with these individuals all came together at the right time. Okay. That's awesome. Because it's like when we're on this road of life, when we're on this journey, you know, even when you're traveling on the highway, there's going to be detours, there's going to be things that's going to happen on that journey, that's going to prohibit you from getting to your destination in a timely manner that you think it should be. Now, when you talked about that life situation, you still made it to the destination. And you were just detoured a little bit just wasn't the right time. I think a lot of times we get impatient. And we have that, that microwave mentality, where, you know, plug it in for 30 seconds, boom, it's done. We don't want things to let simmer and let it cook and let the flavor set in we we want to get stuff done now. But I've also learned just here not say recently, but I've just learned in life that an object. Let me backtrack this phrase. What I've always learned and what I used to teach my kids in daycare, patience is a virtue. By being patient, you still got to the desired result, it just took a little bit longer. Now you're able to appreciate and enjoy the people more because you got there. Now just to say that, you know, if y'all got together sooner, you know, anything could happen, you know, drinks could got spilled, food could have got messed up and overcharged on anything. And it would just make the whole experience just horrible. But the simple fact that, you know, when everything lined up the way it was supposed to, and you had a little bit of patience, and you finally got together, y'all had a kick-ass time, you know, so it was awesome. Yeah, I would say you're right about that, man. Patience is definitely a virtue. I would say anything that ever came in my life, and I'm sure you could agree, anything that came quickly was never obviously appreciated or valued. And I've noticed just even through, you know, my journey of life as an entrepreneur, you know, a father, you know, a son, a brother, you know, and whatnot, it's like I've just learned like low and slow is the best way to go. It's like cooking your best steak, you know. Do you want to put it on 450 and have it done in 10 minutes? Or do you want to, you know, put that baby on there for 150, 200 and let that thing cook for six hours or less? You know what I'm saying? Quality is going to be so much better with patience. Oh yeah, and sometimes you gotta let things just simmer a little bit because we have an emotion, we have a tendency to have that knee-jerk reaction to where it was like, I gotta have that right now. I gotta get it. I want this right here. I want this right now. Okay, go ahead and get it. And then when it's gone, you're like, ah, are you kidding me? That went by too quick. But cool thing about being on a journey, as they, you know, use your analogy of steak, you know, when I'm on the grill, if I'm done in 10 minutes, it ruins the whole experience of being on the grill. You know, I cut the temperature down, let that stuff cook and let it simmer. And I can enjoy it and appreciate it more because what's happening there is the flavors and everything that's mellowing in, that's meshed together, is going all through that piece of meat. And the same thing with life, you know, you put your life on the grill, you turn down the degrees, let your life simmer, man. You know, a lot of people worry about what's going to happen next week, what's going to happen next month or five years from now. You know me, today is the day, the Lord has made, so I'm going to enjoy this moment. And while I'm in this moment, I'm going to let this steak simmer for a little bit and enjoy the things around me. Great. Well, well, oh man, it is good to get you on to the cast, man. You know, we straight rep it on audio.com, open-minded slash papa silk, that's where you can find us. And pretty soon, hopefully real soon, we're going to be working our way to all social media formats, just so that way, wherever you decide to listen, you can listen in at any time, all the time. Yeah. What else is going on, brother, man? I'm going to try to wind this down just a little bit. Oh, nothing, man. Just, uh, you know, another great day in the books, you know, looking for another great day tomorrow. Every day, my mindset is a Saturday. You know, most people get excited for, you know, the weekend, but I, like you said, um, I look forward to every day as, as a Saturday, you know, um, an opportunity to, you know, just grow and, you know, get better 1% a day. Um, another cool thing that I wanted to tell you before, you know, we let our options go and whatnot was, um, I saw this quote, it was like in order to win a year, which is 365 days, you have to win 12 months. And in order to win 12 months, you have to win one day at a time in those months. So understanding that, like, you know, whatever your goals are, whatever your dreams, aspirations, or hell, even if you've got a vacation coming up, right. And you're saving up, you're saving all the money you get XYZ to, you know, treat yourself, understand the end goal, but the end goal starts one day at a time. Let that steak simmer, baby. Let that steak simmer, man. Let's get back to eating, man. Let's talk. Let's talk. Yeah. I like that because again, you know, people always say, you know, you have to have a goal and everybody's goal is not the same. You know, um, everybody's vision is not the same. And then I don't ever want, as far as people that I come in contact with to ever feel like I have any high expectations or, um, different levels that I feel that they should achieve. I'm gonna tell you straight up, you do you, and while you're doing you, I'm going to support you. Amen. You know, because it's not about me. It's not about we. It's about you. I like that. Yes, sir. I came up with that phrase a couple of weeks ago. Not about we. It's not about me. It's about you. And see, and open-minded. It's not about we. And it's not about me. We do this for you, the audience, our listeners. We just hope that, you know, we inspire, you know, those across the world listening, whether you're family, friends, um, you know, people that we met on the outside world, or maybe you're listening for the first time from an acquaintance or having to just come, come by this podcast. You know, our goal is to, you know, put a smile on your face, you know, and to talk about real things in life, but, you know, open up the dialogue, letting you know it's okay to have an opinion, think a certain way, you know, and also get to hear other people's opinions, because at the end of the day, nobody's wrong or right, and nobody's looking to be right or wrong. You know, we all are. We are all, you know, on this earth, you know, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody's walk of life is uniquely different, and that's what makes us all special. And you know, I'm very special. And so are you guys. Oh, yes. And again, you know, Papa Silk is in the building, man. We appreciate you taking time out of your day, your evening, your night, your bright early morning, whenever you decide to chime in and listen to this Open-Minded Podcast. Again, from your host, Papa Silk, and your co-host, Will, we love you, and we hope you have a great, great, great, great night. And this is Open-Minded.