Empowering Women

When people ask me why I wrote, “100 Things This Father Wants His Daughter to Know”, I tell them there are two reasons.

The first reason is, I have a daughter. However, I could have told her these principles privately, and it wouldn’t have served the second reason, which is, to empower Women.

Women are the most powerful species on the planet, and yet they don’t realize it. Perhaps it takes a straight, white, male to recognize and declare this for it for Women to be taken seriously. Men have stood inside their privilege, and suppressed the power of Women as a threat. Indeed, men have been threatened by the power of Women since the beginning of time.

I believe Women are the inspirational force of the world. Without Women, the world would be a horrific place to be. Men have ruled for thousands of years, which is the reason why the world is broken. We know all too well, the calculated pattern of masculine leadership. Perhaps now is the time we accept that Women are more efficient leaders.

Women bring different gifts to leadership than men do. The gift of Love is a trait that women are born with. In it’s highest resonance, Love is the greatest force in the entire Universe. Women are either growing inside of that gift, or they are drifting into a man’s austere world of dominance and manipulation.

Therefore, it was important for me to write this book. Not simply for my own daughter, although it was written for her benefit, it was written for the benefit of Women everywhere. It was written so that Women could step into their power, and lead the world out of the cloud of darkness that men have created.

The most effective method of leadership is through inspiration, and Women are the inspiration of the world. By inspiring Women to be cause in the matter of the world, it creates the perfect partnership for powerful leadership.

But to accomplish this, we need to break down the broken paradigm of masculine energy, and its contempt for its feminine counterpart. As men, we must acknowledge that we have been part of the problem. Men have suppressed and shamed Women for thousands of years in an attempt to keep them down. Men have exploited sexuality, shaming Woman using terms such as witch, slut, harlot, and many more in an attempt to reinforce the double standard that exists between men and Women. Men have treated Women as a lesser partner, restricted a Woman’s ability to vote, and enjoy the same rights that males take for granted. Even today, there are many rights that are not equal between men and Women in the workplace.

I believe the time has come to talk about this inequality, and adjust it accordingly. However in order to fix a problem, one has to first admit that one exists. Men do not want to redistribute their power to Women, and so the struggle continues.

The good news is nature finds a way to flourish despite’s man’s methods of attempting to thwart it. Sooner or later, common sense prevails, and the shift of power finds its way to a more efficient vehicle.

I hope that “100 Things This Father Wants His Daughter to Know” is aligned with that realization, leading the world into a new possibility through authentic, feminine energy.

I hope you enjoy reading this book, and I look forward to your thoughts and feelings about it. You can download it, and leave a review on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Things-This-Father-Wants-Daughter-ebook/dp/B01BVZAEH6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456521764&sr=8-1&keywords=chuck+bastie

Why Johnny Manziel is Being Released by the Cleveland Browns

Looks like Quarterback Johnny Manziel, AKA: Johnny Football, is going to be released by The Cleveland Browns.

"Why?" you ask? Let me tell you why...

I heard a saying once that over the years has made much more sense than when I first heard it in my twenties. The saying was, “Money will only give you more of what you already have in your life.” So with that being said, if you have misery in your life, a lot of money can enable you to have more misery. Yet if you have a lot of kindness, money can enable you to have more of the same.

Some of us wish for money. Dreaming of winning the lottery, we seem to think it will make our lives the way we always wanted. But that’s the equivalent of running 600 volts of electricity through copper wire and grabbing on for the ride. If you don’t have respect for that energy, it can zap you.

Similarly, so is rewarding a young man like Johnny Manziel with millions of dollars for his capacity to play a game over a series of years in the future. Most young men have no appreciation for how money can change their lives. Like electricity, money is an energy. It attracts all types of attention, and demands respect and discipline. When there is money involved, there are all kinds of agendas on what can be done with those resources, and everyone thinks differently.

Preparing a young person for the life lessons money can teach is almost impossible. You can teach a class about theories, but until the student is able to apply those theories in the real world, it’s always going to be hypothetical. That’s where the learning and growth come in the form of experience.

That’s why having a mentor or life coach is so important to these young players. The athletes have the talent and ability to play in the game, but the business side of the sport is an experience they lack. The players are completely unprepared for the road ahead of energy vampires, taxes, sex, booze, drugs and other potholes in life.

If one could look ahead and see the potholes of life, one would be able to work around them, and continue onward. However, these young players can’t recognize the potholes ahead, and the impact it will have on their lives. Being able to recognize the potential issues ahead means navigating around, and not hitting them. Truly, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And just like how money will simply deliver more or less of whatever you place on top of it, the impact of a mistake at that level can be catastrophic.

So if you look at the Cleveland Browns releasing Johnny Manziel from their team, I can see two things. The first is, a lack of support from The Browns organization in how Manziel needed to be directed away from a life of distractions away from the game. A professional sports organization is in the business of developing athletes in ability and mental toughness, and in this experiment with Manziel, it was not successful.

The second, is poor scouting on behalf of The Browns. Scouting these days cannot be directed toward talent alone. Talent is simply the ante into the game. The real art to scouting is recognizing talent with an attitude, which can be developed into solid character traits with the proper mentoring. When identifying talent, a scout has to take into account many factors, including the athlete’s upbringing, attitude, coaches, education, and a host of other parts to the equation.

But to find all of these is not realistic. It is up to the scout to take their organization’s culture, and recognize that fit in the athlete’s attitude, and then invest in him to deliver the proper tools for success. To expect an athlete to be how we would want him to be, is only setting the organization, and the athlete up for failure.

And in the cases of athletes who have not lived up to expectations, these two reasons are the cause. In the perfect sense, an organization with the proper culture to support and empower the athlete with a workable set of abilities and attitudes will produce an individual for success. 

It’s just that simple. Anything else is how we complicate this equation with our lack of perception, tools and clarity.

Mike Richards

It seems like Mike Richards has found his way back into the NHL. Many thought they had seen the last of the 30 year old forward, who has won just about everything hockey has to offer including 2 Stanley Cups, an Olympic Gold Medal, a World Championship, and a Memorial Cup.

The first-place Washington Capitals saw fit to reward Richards with a million dollar, pro-rated contract. Despite his past issues, the Capitals hope to capitalize on the new, and improved Mike Richards. But the question remains, will this be the new, and improved version of Mike Richards?

Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, Richards worked his way up to captain the club in a most promising career before discord with The Flyers lead him to being traded to the Los Angeles Kings. In L.A. he was a part of two Stanley Cup teams, and it seemed Richards could do no wrong. But it seems that Richards’ issues were eventually to catch up to him.

While watching the many interviews Richards gave, the one consistent trait I noticed wasn’t the quality I was looking for. I wanted to see it, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t there because I don’t believe Mike Richards has arrived there yet.

Instead, I saw nervous energy, a lack of connection, smugness, shame, guilt, and an a lacking of authenticity. In fact the term, “fake it til ya make it” resonated with me while I watched him answer every question. Not exactly the qualities you would want to see from a man coming back after a tumultuous past.

Don’t get me wrong, I want Mike Richards to be successful. I want to see him make a rocky road smooth again. I want him to show everyone that second chances are possible, if you do the work to make them successful. Yet, I think Richards sees this as an opportunity in the game of hockey, and not the more important game of life.

What I wanted to see was Richards take the opportunity to accept the accountability for his actions in the past. I wanted to see him unburden himself with the guilt and shame he has carried, and probably hidden for many years now. I wanted to see him to acknowledge all the people in his world who believed in him, and whom he let down. I wanted to see him share his story so we could understand him better. In short, I wanted to see the man inside Mike Richards, and not the hockey player.

All the troubles which lead to Richards’ downfall aren’t unique to him, yet I feel he’s making it seem that way. There was a chance where his story could’ve been shared for others to understand, empathize, and connect with. He could’ve used that moment for altruistic purposes, and lead from a position of understanding. An understanding that he is a human being, and that he makes mistakes just like the rest of us. A human being who happens to have earned millions of dollars playing a game we Love, but a human being who’s story isn’t uncommon. He simply got caught up in the money, and game. He surrounded himself with weak people who appeared strong, and made some poor choices for his family, friends, team mates, coaches, and most of all, himself.

Sharing all of that would’ve taken courage, authenticity, and vulnerability. All the traits which a captain, and a leader draws power from. There isn’t a person who wouldn’t admire that courage, and draw inspiration in their own life to follow him to the end of the earth if need be. Leading from that way of being requires no explanation, because everyone understands it.

But does Mike Richards owe us that explanation? Probably not. The writers, fans, and public will probably hear Mike Richards’ interview, give it it’s two minutes of attention, and then move on to the next issue at hand. But if Mike Richards wanted to connect to the public, to have a powerful voice in the community, to publicly right the wrongs that he’s been responsible for, he didn’t show it in those interviews.

Instead of seeing him as a hockey player, we had the opportunity to see him as a human being, who happens to play hockey. But I got the impression that Richards didn’t want to be seen that way. So I guess we can treat him like a hockey player, and wish him well on the rest of his career. However long it lasts, I hope Richards will have a new lease on life, and see it for all the gratitude it brings when someone believes in you, and life offers you a second chance.

I hope Mike Richards recognizes, and makes the most of it. I hope he does the work in his personal life to seize that, and understand that this opportunity has very little to do with the game of hockey, and much to do with the game of life. 

And the life he saves, may in fact, be his own.