Tiny Tales 10-in-1 Bundle: A Collection of Short-Short Stories on Creativity, Public Speaking & Social Skills

By Armani Talks

A Collection of Short-Short Stories on Creativity, Public Speaking & Social Skills

Tiny Tales is a collection of short-short stories which deal with:

Creativity

Emotional resilience

Content

• Language: English
• Publisher: Armani Talks
• Release date: Feb 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869043269

Book preview

1

Ruby Red Version

ARMANITALKS

Yin & Yang of Women & Men

A man considers a woman boring when she cannot hold a conversation

A woman considers a man boring when he cannot spike emotions

-A man considers a woman boring when she cannot hold a conversation

Why?

Because it creates roadblocks and more conscious effort

Traditionally, a man will contact the female first in an initial encounter

If the conversation goes smooth, then the dynamic is smooth

However, a woman who only answers questions back, but doesn't ask any

Gives one-word responses

Makes the man do all the work

This friction makes the initial conversation a hassle

-A woman considers a man boring when he cannot spike emotions

Spiking emotions means making the woman feel more than 1 emotion

Envision a roller coaster

A roller coaster does not go in a straight line

At a bare minimum, it goes up and down

As a disciplined man, it may be tough to intentionally spike someone's emotions without coming off as a tryhard

So here are 2 tips

Humor

No one does not like to laugh

A humorous personality is a skillset

Find value in laughing and it'll be easier to make others laugh by accident

Mystery

Curiosity is a form of emotion as well

Don't be the person who is saying everything that you plan to do

Keep some mystique

In order to keep mystery without being too secretive, always be on growth mode

By continually leveling up for life, you'll often surprise yourself

Which will surprise others

Pain & Fire

Set yourself on fire when things are getting too comfortable

Not literally, but figuratively

Push boundaries, break limits & do that on repeat

The Phoenix willingly sets itself on fire to come back as a stronger version of itself

'I'm happy for this Phoenix. But I don't see the point of setting myself on fire?'

Let me share why you have no choice in the matter

At one point or another, it's discovered that maintenance is an illusion

It just seems like that because we are stuck in day to day activities

Sometimes going up

Sometimes in the middle

Something going down

Overall, it looks like maintenance

When zooming out, a stunning realization is made?

'Which is?'

It's only up or down

Like a light switch

On or off

The mind is a problem-solving machine

'Wow, that's great news!'

Not so fast

The mind is also a problem creating machine

The reason that anxiety rates are on the rise is that the general public use their mind to create problems

Imagination mixed with problem creating leads to tension

Small problems are turned into gargantuan ones

Someone's decision tree collapses when they are anxious and sad for prolonged periods of time

'A decision what??'

Think of it as your pool of options

One day, the person wakes up and realizes that maintenance was an illusion

It's either up or down

That's when this person willingly sets themselves on fire in a figurative sense

They begin their journey to turn the mind from a:

-Problem creating machine-> problem solving machine

'How do they do it?'

By feeding the mind problems...willingly

Due to intentionally feeding the mind setbacks, the narrative regarding problems is changed

Nowadays, it's viewed in a positive light

A positive view of problems is where geniuses are formed

And mediocrity is shed

Allow each new level of you to be unrecognizable from your previous version

Make the trajectory up

Up

And more up

Decision tree expands

Entropy lowers

Connections are formed

And meaning is realized

This is the path of the winner

Most importantly... this is the path of the Phoenix

Snake Blood

8 Signs of a Potential Snake:

1. Talks bad about others

2. Bitter to see you win

3. Has the rep of a snake

4. Cheater

5. Malicious drunk

6. Low social awareness

7. Too much free time

8. Consumes negativity

Let's go thru each one...

Talks bad about others

How someone talks about others is how they talk about you when you're not around

Nothing personal

This is more on this fellow

They talk down others in a desperate attempt to bring themselves up

Bitter to see you win

If they don't clap for your wins, then they will give you a standing ovation for your losses

If they seem bitter, it's because this person wanted a similar win as yours

It sparked a core desire

Beware

Your win is being perceived as their loss

Has the rep of a snake

If different groups of people who do not know each other are saying similar things about the same person...stay alert

This person may have done a lot of people wrong

And the individuals are trying to warn you

Cheater

Cheating can show low character

If this person is a serial cheater, then they are more prone to throwing you under the bus

'What if it happened in the past?'

Still, remain aware

Malicious drunk

Drinking makes it easier to do what you always wanted to do

So if a person is routinely displaying aggression while drunk, may want to keep them at arm's length

The mask has fallen off

Low social awareness

These are the type of people who will accidentally become a snake

You tell them information that is meant to be a secret

However, due to poor judgment, they will routinely let you down

Not malicious

However, snake-like tendencies are exhibited

Too much free time

A person with too much free time tends to show poor judgment

The mind is prone to entropy

This means the mind goes backwards unless it has something to move forward towards

Too much free time = Creating drama

With one's self & others

Consumes negativity

Last but not least...

This person feeds the mind garbage

Input dictates output

Judge someone by what they consume

Because it will influence their behaviors towards you

Primal Remote Controller

Your breath is your remote control

Fast shallow breaths = Anxiety

Slow deep breaths = Peace

When the mind and body disagree, you get anxiety

When the mind and body agree, you get clarity

The two agreeing comes down to coherence

When you feel relaxed, that's when you are in a state of coherence

However, situations are presented in the environment which causes flux within

Aka: high pressure situations

'How do I maintain composure during moments like this Armani?'

By breathing correctly, homie

Imagine if someone wanted to get rich but didn't know the difference from a 10$ bill and a 1$ bill

You think they'll get rich?

‘No.'

Correct

Now imagine someone wants to reach clarity but cannot tell the difference between good breathing and bad breathing

You think they'll reach clarity?

‘No.'

Correct

Bad breathing = Short & loud breathing

Good breathing = Long & silent breathing

A mind left unchecked produces monstrosity

Breathing left unchecked produces anxiety

This does not have to be a complete makeover in your life

Just take some conscious efforts to silence the breath more often

Make it stealth, like a ninja

When the breath is silenced, the diaphragm is engaged

And you went past chest breathing to DEEP breathing. By silencing the breath, the mind & body come back into alignment

And the 2 begin working together

The best time to practice ninja breathing is during high-pressure situations

The second-best time to practice is whenever

Do it mindfully until you can do it mindlessly

That's how a winner breathes & maintains composure

No matter how daunting the environment is

Mind Gym

-Nonfiction to work out your left brain

-Fiction to work out your right brain

-Meditation to exercise awareness

-Visualization to sharpen imagination

-Writing to slow down your thoughts

-Focus for strength training

-Reframing thoughts for reps

A mind that remains in rest goes backward

A mind that is taken the gym, gets stronger

-Nonfiction to work out your left brain

Insights learned from setbacks, years of experience, and skin in the game all compressed in one location

A book

Read nonfiction and gain practical tools

-Fiction to work out your right brain

Do you go to the gym and only work out one side of your body?

‘No'

Why?

‘Because I need to be balanced.'

Exactly, don't just read nonfiction Read fiction too

-Meditation to exercise awareness

The mind will sway

That's ok. Make yourself AWARE

And bring it back to the target

Meditation 101

-Visualization to sharpen imagination

Start off light

Create images that are familiar

Hold onto the image

Then make it move

After that, you can experiment more

-Writing to slow down your thoughts

Writing and thinking are different sides of the same coin

If you have a tough time focusing, get in the habit of writing by hand more

This slows down thoughts to give you control

-Focus for strength training

Turn boring tasks into 'focus sharpeners'

You have to do chores anyway

Rather than doing it with a sour attitude

View it as taking your focus muscle to the gym

-Reframing thoughts for reps

You are not what happened to you

You are what you remembered of what happened to you

Constantly practice finding the silver lining in things

No matter how dark the experience was, there is a silver lining buried within

School vs Life

In school, memorization is rewarded

In the real world, understanding is

Understanding leads to memorization of the right things

Memorization does not always lead to an understanding of the right things

Let's talk a bit about the difference between school education and real-world education

Just because the 2 phrases have 'education' does not mean they are being used the same way

'Does school and real world have anything in common?'

Yes

Both have 3 variables in common:

-Theory

-Thinking

-Experience

Theory, thinking & experience provides the backbone of education

But HOW they are used are vastly different from school vs real world

In School, the order of importance is:

1. Theory

2. Thinking

3. Experiences

For them, theory is king

Thinking comes down to critical thinking

How well can you make rational conclusions from information?

Guess how school measures thinking skills?

'Uh...'

Through tests & quizzes

In school, picture theory as the cake

And experiences as the icing on the cake

Many subjects in formal education do not factor in experiences

If you get it, that's seen as a bonus

But their order of importance comes down from knowing the laws, rules & content

In the Real World, the order of importance is:

1. Experiences

2. Thinking

3. Theory

Experiences come down to first-hand interaction with the subject matter

Sure, some theory may get the ball rolling

But the experiences are now seen as the cake

Thinking faculties are measured based on how well you can think through first-hand experiences

How well you can make sense of your OWN data points

After making sense of your own data points, the theory takes up a new life

It adds formula's and frameworks which can help you spot good experiences from subpar experiences

Understanding the difference between school education and real-world education shows why memorization can be leveraged in 1 field and not the other

Memorizing is great

Cramming for an exam & passing is great

You proved you can perform when your back is against the wall

The question is....do you understand it in a practical sense? In the real world, it's best to lead with the understanding mindset

Because understanding allows for memorization of the right things

Rather than the memorization of all things

Knowledge was never power

Knowledge tied to personal experiences is power

Fun Obliterates Force

Don't focus

Eliminate distractions so focus is a byproduct

What do you picture when you picture focus?

'I picture a very serious face, concentrating.'

That's the imagery that plenty of people get

-A serious face

But this hurts your focusing abilities

Turn that 'serious' face into a 'gentle' face

And quit being your own enemy

'What do you mean by that?'

I mean that mental rules & physical rules operate under different conditions

With the body...

Anytime someone wants to work harder, they need to put in more effort

Get serious

And go from here -> there

The process of going from -> there is the process of effort

There is space

And to get from points in a space, there is time

On the contrary, mental rules are different

You don't need to get from here -> there

You remain where you are and operate to the best of your capabilities

This is where joy beats tension for concentration

Turning the face gentle, signals to the nervous system that what you are studying is what you want to study

Rather than 'I have to focus'

Serious face

It's 'I get to learn more about this dope topic!'

Joy

Distractions

Why eliminate them?

It seems like common sense

But there is a deeper WHY

You create a lot of distractions for yourself when:

-you hate the topic

-are ambiguous on the topic

-have no clue how the topic relates to you

So subconsciously, distractions are placed

-buzzing phone next to you

-more tabs than usual opened

-not finishing Pomodoro's all the way thru

There are going to be topics you will have to learn about that are boring

But how can you make it enjoyable?

How can you make it relatable to your past, present or future self?

And simulate a gentle face from there

Life Law:

Mind influences the body and body influences the mind

During Toastmasters, when a new speaker was nervous before a talk...

They were told to fix their body

It's hard to control the mind

But fixing body language is light work

And fixing body language controls the mind

Another life law is that mind can influence the environment and environment can influence mind

It's tough to control the mind

So, eliminate distractions from the environment

And control your mental prowess

As more distractions are eliminated

The more clarified the mind becomes

And as the more clarified the mind becomes, the more focus can happen

The goal of all of this is to have fun on the topic you're learning

Make that the FIRST intention before you even begin the task

With fun, curiosity happens

And with curiosity, focus happens

Much better than 'trying' to focus and giving yourself a headache

Brainwashed Zombies

Brainwashing happens GRADUALLY

Which is why it's difficult to spot

Narratives gets subtly reinforced

Over & over again...

At first, you don't make much of it

But overtime?

You have altered beliefs

Be very alert

All content is not good content

A lot are sinister

Good content makes good people great

Bad content makes good people resent the great

Media literacy is the ability to:

-spot the intent of content

-scope good content from bad

-create media

A lot of sinister people out there

Brainwashing does not happen in an obvious manner

It happens subtly

If it was too obvious, then the brainwashing attempt will fail

It needs to be sneaky

So, the target has no clue that it's happening to them

A few moves in the digital space include:

-creating an us vs them narrative

-throttling certain accounts

-boosting propaganda on the trending section

-repetition

The clearest targets for getting brainwashed are people who take it day by day

No purpose or direction

Create the content you'd like to consume

Are you just consuming?

Or can you share some ideas too? The creation process allows a consumer to understand a new mindset

The mindset of a creator

And this creator mindset can spot intent of media content in a strategic way

They know when they are being lied to

Or they know when something feels off

Introverted & Extroverted

Be introverted with your thinking

Be extroverted with your communicating

Who is an introvert?

'Someone who is antisocial or socially awkward?'

Incorrect

An introvert is someone who needs to recharge after an event or a series of events

Who is an extrovert?

'Someone who is social & overly talkative?'

Incorrect

An extrovert is someone who feels charged up after events & feels low energy being by themselves for long

What do both definitions have in common?

'You're asking too many questions man...'

Go on and answer it

'Idk.'

Energy

That's where the 2 worlds align

It comes down to how energy is being used

Understand that, then you understand the core principle rather than the derivatives

Now the question is why be introverted with thinking & extroverted with communicating...

It's because it works

Introverted thinking allows to harness that energy and channel it inwards

Inwards energy leads to higher vibration thoughts

This leads to creativity & the capability to approach problems from a bird's eye view

Bird's eye view to problem solving is what makes introspecting great

This higher view allows you to blame yourself as well

And allows you to introspect past ego

Introspection should always lead to clarity

But introspecting with your identity in the mix does not lead to clarity

It just leads to an ego-stroking session

Rather than running in the forest

You look down in the forest

More perspective

'Why extroverted with communicating?'

Because this leads to more presence

Thinking is good

Knowing when to suspend thinking is great

Channeling that energy outwards allows the mind, body, senses to be in the environment

So rather than looking for the right things to say...

The right things are presented to you

When you are driving a car...do you only look at the glass in front of you?

'No.'

What else do you look at?

'My side mirrors, rearview mirrors, the camera that shows the back view etc.'

Correct, more perspective

When I say listening, what do you envision?

'Ears.'

That's wrong

People who only listen with ears miss a lot of crucial information

Listen with eyes, ears, touch and all the other senses

Not every interaction will require all senses

But getting them engaged forces presence & melts away social anxiety

'And what happens when we flip them?'

Being introverted when you should be extroverted leads to over thinking

Being extroverted when you should be introverted leads to a lack of focus

The rules of checkers fall flat with chess

And the rules of chess fall flat with checkers

Not because the rules are wrong

But the application was wrong

Introverted with thinking

Extroverted with communicating

And that's the mythical ambivert on an individual level

Ego

You don't kill the ego

You tame the ego

If you try killing the ego, then you get a 'nice guy'

If you try taming the ego, you get social & emotional intelligence

What is the nice guy?

'A person who is kind?'

Not quite

Kind and nice are different at a fundamental level

The nice guy may say a real or fake message with polite delivery

The kind guy will say a real message with polite delivery

The core philosophy of the nice guy is to be accepted

The core philosophy of the kind guy is to express truth

Confusing 1 for the other seems like a small mistake

But it can lead to a lot of heartache

With that out of the way...

What is emotional intelligence & social intelligence?

Think about it

Emotional intelligence is when the mind understands the different spectrum of emotions that one experiences

Understanding leads to control

This is the essence of thick skin & integrity in one's action

Emotional intelligence is an internal game

Social intelligence is the external version of that

Emotional and social intelligence are cousins

One influences the other

Now is the time to talk about the ego

The ego is one's identity

What is it, or who is it that they are identifying as?

This is a deep philosophical question

What the ego identifies with is what creates the narrative of thoughts in the mind

The mind is made up of:

ego, intellect, memory & data from the senses

The ego gets all the memory & past data...

Then creates narratives out of that

'Wait, you're losing me. You're saying the ego creates narratives on its own?'

That is correct

Therefore I say you don't learn storytelling, you just make yourself aware that you always do it

Humans tell stories on autopilot, because that's how the ego is wired 'And why am I not killing it?'

Well, this is where your core philosophy comes

-Some cultures believe in destroying identity to attain truth

-Other cultures believe in preserving identity so it can experience truth

Picture your phone

I'm sure your phone has much different content than my phone

Different apps, different photos, different text messages

That fair to say?

'Yes, it is.'

What if we had identical phones?

'Eh, I wouldn't like that too much.'

Why?

'Because my phone represents my unique life.'

That's correct

Your phone (just like you) has an identity

The identity isn't the problem

Losing scope of the bigger picture is

If you were to start identifying as the phone, then we'd have a big problem

And likewise, when you start identifying with your story, then you'll have a big problem

A lot of people are not living life

They are just re-experiencing their past in different contexts

I call that sleepwalking thru life

And they unfortunately learn, when they have little time left

To escape this rat race for the mind, we need to stop identifying as the story & become the storyteller

And this is the game of making awareness stronger than the mind

Awareness, consciousness, is the storyteller

Mind is the story

To tame the ego, detach from the ego

To tame the ego, identify as awareness, the storyteller

The ego works in waves

It goes up

It goes down

It experiences joy

It experiences pain

The storyteller is the surfer

Riding the waves with grace

But never identifying as the waves

Why the Loved are Hated

When you generate a lot of attention by stating your opinions, you'll notice 2 groups of people:

1. People that agree

2. People that disagree

When you try to turn group 2 into group 1, you get a headache

When you further inform group 1, you gain loyalty

The art of being opinionated is just that... an art

Abuse it, & you will be annoying

Be strategic & you can build wealth...

In terms of social skills...

being too opinionated can get annoying towards others

It can plummet opportunities & make you less aware of your environment

Mature socially intelligent people know the art of:

-Knowing when to keep opinions to themselves

-Knowing how NOT to have an opinion on something

Immature socially unintelligent people know the art of:

-expressing everything just to hear themselves talk

-forms opinions on topics they are not informed on, just so they can 'fit in'

So that's what it's like being too opinionated in terms of social skills

On the flipside, being opinionated in terms of New Media is smart

New media is the media that has been formed due to Web 2.0

Due to advancement of information technology, nowadays a solo individual can build a media empire

New Media platforms are:

twitter

blog

YouTube

Podcast

Facebook

Instagram

etc.

While many use these new media channels to bitch & moan about things out of their control

A few creative minds are using the new media for what it was meant to be used for

'And what is that?'

To create

In order to create, you need to plug content in these new media tools

Content can be formed thru your opinions regarding your interests

Content + New Media = Your Personalized Platform

The more you express your own opinions in a comprehensible way, the more authentic you showcase yourself to be

This creates vehicles for building products, passive income, renting out your blog to advertisers etc.

So rather than expressing each opinion that you're mildly informed on…

Reserve the opinions in