I was on a store a few weeks to buy a new celfone case. The vendor was Indian and so I quickly without any thought converted to the Asian way of bargaining.

In Canada, it's uncouth to ask for a lower price or bargain from the stated product price on the label.

Back home and in many other parts of the Asia, it's the way of doing business. If you don't bargain or ask for a lower price, you are actually on the losing end.

One time, I was visiting Ho Chi Minh and went into this major shopping mall and I asked the lady vendor the price of that cute bag.

She told the price and I moved my head from side to side in disbelief.

She quickly retorted, "What do you want for a price?"

But then again, I didn't want to bargain at all. I said, "No thanks."

I was about to leave, when she turned and said, "Okay, give me your last good price." I tried a price off the top of my head but even that didn't make her agree.

I ended up leaving politely and saying thanks for trying. She had that annoyed look which indicated to me that I was just wasting her time.

But when I bought that celfone case, the vendor told me of the second tier of pricing and we agreed instantly.

A few years ago, I was having an initial conversation with an Executive Director of a local non-profit. He immediately asked for my price without establishing the appropriateness of the intervention, the objectives, measures of success, and parameters of engagement. In short, he was just price shopping! 

Both parties must be serious about the buying and selling business, otherwise goods or services wont move at all.

This boils down to the buyer's intention to buy and the willingness of the seller to meet that intention. 

Fishing for information is one thing. Committing to the sales process is a dead must. 

I don't know about you but the blab it and grab it/name it and claim it works for me.

I can cite many specific situations in my life and career when it feels like it's just a dream, until you invoke the Divine to work this out at His level.

I have experienced countless times when the odds were stacked against me and yet I got the goods.

Is this luck, accident, or coincidence?

I disagree.

I think that when we use our imagination for good, we get what we believe.

Most of our thinking life is focused on the negative, unwanted, and what-if bad scenarios.

We magnify the things that can happen negatively, to the extreme point. 

One bad report from the doctor could result to sleepless nights and unending anxiety.

A child's flu could lead some parents to the emergency room.

One deal that went wrong would drive a professional to watch her back in case she might get fired from it.

There are countless times when if we're honest enough, the negative outweighs the positive thinking.

These days, we need not just positive thinking but a deep awareness that what we confess with our lips comes from the quality of our mindset.

Good confession comes from a good mindset.

The mindset dictates how will we react to situations, those 'stuff' that happens without reason or cause.

Good confession comes from our imagination, the 'inner man' in all of us.

Good confession brings hope, energy, and resilience in our spirits.

There were too many people in my life who were able to overcome countless obstacles because he/she believed first and foremost that he/she can deal with it and come out victorious. 

Good confession precedes good results.

May not be the best results ever but deciding to use that experience as a springboard for the next is already a win. 

If you can't even muster enough conviction for yourself and life works, you can't get off the first base. 

I have just subscribed to a news agency that purportedly says that it's just pure news, no slanted opinions or twists on a news story.

If you really think about it, the social media and traditional media are feeding us with a constant barrage of one-sided opinions based on their political inclinations and predispositions.

Confirmation bias and more polarization based on entrenched positions are already creating enough havoc on our democracy.

There is too much consumption and very less on discernment. 

A few of my students used AI for an essay assignment. Some took the whole paragraph and pasted into their essays without understanding what they actually copied. I traced one paragraph to a Chat-GPT issued statement about "American Indians." They didn't know that a lot of ChatGPT-produced content is unusable. It wasn't coherent, accurate, and specific enough for many inquiries. 

Discernment is extra-rare these days. I would champion that everyone be more discerning, to critically analyze what they're getting from ChatGPT, do fact-checking, and use it with a grain of salt. 

Any human with a thinking brain should not only question the sources of any information but ensure that it is based on unassailable facts.

If you care enough about your impact and the legacy that you're creating, it's better to be silent than to spread more misinformation around, unknowingly.

Instead of having an auto-pilot on consumption, have it on discernment.