Reflecting on Relationships

Reflection starts with oneself but does not stop there—it is looking at the surface as well as probing deeper beyond. It is about understanding your abilities and capabilities as well as being open about your mistakes and your shortcomings. When looking inward during theprocess of reflection, the point is to figure out where one stands in relation to the world. In order for these lessons to be valuable, we must consider those around us, and we should be open to share as well as learn from others.

Reflecting on Relationships is about seeing the interconnectedness of many things. This principle is about realizing that many things in life are truly connected-- the situations, events, and decisions of today be synched and in balance and this health-work-life continuum has a direct impact on our future. Reflection can also mean spirituality -- your daily quest to prepare your mind and body for inspiration and enlightenment. As you observe your reflection, other images will emerge—those of the lives around you.

Personally, I am a lumper and not a clumper. To lump is to put things in individual boxes, compartmentalize and then relegate core elements in life to labels and stereotypes. In contrast, to clump is to remove walls, to appreciate the value of "one village" and to change the integrity of the things that are being brought together.

Understanding and Uniting

Another important value is to understand the world and the community around you. First we should try to understand others before trying to be understood. When visiting a tenant, it is important to not just collect rent or to check on the property, but to get to know them and learn about their community through the stories they have to tell. We listen, we understand, we learn, we UNITE.

Negotiating and Number Checking

In life, whatever hand you’re dealt is the hand that you have to play. However don't just submit it's worth to face value -- find it's true value and then negotiate it with other players. Before acting you should weigh every option. It makes it more difficult but in return, you get more out of life. I don’t like hearing people say we should do something a certain way because it has always been that way. In Runin’s approach, there are no set ways to approach a problem all the time – one size does not fit all, and life is too important to not try on another suit.

A decision should be made through negotiation but the numbers also need to be checked, refined and considered. Numbers is not just for balance sheets. It also connotes time, number of calories expended, distance to travel, etc.

If your numbers are not balanced, then your plans may fall into rocks.

Inspiring to Innovate

Innovation is not just about machines, technology and hardware. It is about people, ideas and software. Innovation is about sharing and tapping into people’s ideas -- a process we know today as Social Media. If people are using the internet in the same way that they were a few years ago, then they are behind the power curve. Web 2.0 means that the internet as an efficiency tool has drastically improved and we are just in the early stages. Social media is about leveraging people’s ideasand sharing it freely and instantaneously across the world.

Navigating

Onboard a ship, When you’re navigating, you are taking regular fixes to try and determine where you are. In life, people are not on a fixed course. Part of navigating is being OK with changing your course even if it means turning 180 degrees. There are times when you will realize that you are going in the wrong direction; it is OK to turn around as long as you don’t run aground and incur any permanent, significant damages.

Growing up in Lubbock, Texas, Monica Velez looked out for her two brothers, Jose and Andrew.

Acting as a surrogate Mom, the three siblings ran with their Dad who ran almost daily around their rural community in Lubbock, Texas. Running was their passion and what bound the four together.

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