grace

4 Words That Will Heal Your Relationships

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

persons-0030_largePeople.

Ugh.

They are the worst sometimes.

They let us down. They break our hearts. Most of all, they pretty much just get on our nerves.

I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of guy that sometimes wants to just crawl in a hole and get away from everyone. Sometimes all I want is a little peace and quiet away from everyone who’s making me mad.

Lately though I’ve found a new trick for how to heal my relationships with people. It’s a simple sentence I read in a book I keep going back to called The Road To Daybreak by Henri Nouwen.

Nouwen says that when people let us down, make us angry, or just frustrate us in general we should remember these four words: Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: The Broken Beautiful

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

It’s hard to feel beautiful on a Monday.

You wake up late, still hungover from a weekend of fun, forced to go back into the work and grind. You don’t have time to pick out a great outfit or fix your hair the way you like it. You still feel guilty over the mistakes you’ve made – the same ones you made last weekend.

You may not see something beautiful staring back at you in the mirror. You may not see a beautiful day ahead outside your window. You may not be able to see through the fog of shame you carry with you.

Maybe you could use a little Monday Morning Music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jxZRDB_DU8 Continue reading →

You Don’t Need A Filter

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

photo.PNGA picture is worth a thousand words. And when a thousand words aren’t enough, we use Instagram.

People of my generation (myself included) can’t seem to post a picture without putting a fancy filter on it. Whether it’s through Instagram, Facebook or Twitter apps, or even just on the iPhone itself, no picture feels complete without adding a little tint to it.

Why is that? Why don’t we think a normal picture is good enough anymore?

Continue reading →

How To Escape Your Groundhog Day

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Groundhog_Day_(movie_poster)Have you ever watched “Groundhog Day”?

I think people underrate the Bill Murray comedy from 1993 because of the goofy title. But if you see it on cable this weekend, stop and watch. I bet you’ll get sucked in.

Bill Murray’s character finds himself stuck reliving the most inane day possible, over and over and over again. He can’t escape the day until he the universe deems he made all the right choices with his life.

It’s easy to get stuck in your own version of “Groundhog Day” – reliving the same mistakes over and over and over again. Continue reading →

The Gospel Of Buddy The Elf

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

159580-elf_6“Elf” is the best.

That’s not a controversial statement, is it? I mean, all these blog-writing sites I read tell me to write controversial posts to get more traffic.

Since “Elf” is more universally beloved than the World’s Best Cup Of Coffee, I tried to come up with an angle to tear the movie apart.

I’ve got nothing. It can’t be done. “Elf” is pretty much perfect.

Seriously – I took a girl to see “Elf” when it first came out in theaters. She didn’t like the movie. Right there I knew things would not work between us. We broke up a month later.

I watched Elf with my current girlfriend the other night. Thank God she likes it, alhough she did fall asleep watching it.

As she slept through the last 30 minutes I really took to heart the end of the movie. Continue reading →

Do You Wear The Black Hat?

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

“The villain is the person who knows the most and cares the least.” – Chuck Klosterman, I Wear The Black Hat

In his new book I Wear The Black Hat, Chuck Klosterman writes about villains both real and imaginary. As with everything he writes, Klosterman’s book is an inventive and thought-provoking examination peeling back layers of pop culture to reveal truths that seem obvious until you realize you never realized them before. (There’s a particularly interesting discussion about what would happen if a real life Batman began to fight crime.)

But what sticks out the most is Klosterman’s main theory: A villain is a person who knows the most and cares the least. If you know all the facts about a particular situation, if you know what harm your actions will bring and you simply do not care what happens, then you are a villain in your story.

In a roundabout way, I Wear The Black Hat reminds me of another book about story: Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Continue reading →

What’s The Story Behind Your Souvenirs?

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Every souvenir tells a story. Every keychain or coffee mug means something, whether a memory of a mighty experience or a tangible reminder of a foolish impulse.

When the youth group I lead embarked upon our very first international mission trip to Jamaica, I knew I needed a special souvenir to bring home. When we went shopping on our final day, I spotted this bowl.

IMG00169-20110805-1138

I wanted something in my office I could look at each day as a reminder of the incredible journey God sent me on that week.

What I thought I was getting was an authentic piece of Jamaica craftsmanship. When I got home and unpacked, I realized I had something else. Continue reading →

The Office and The Quest For A Happy Ending

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

The-Office-the-office-556868_1024_683

Not every story gets a happy ending.

After 8 years and nearly 200 episodes, I’m worried “The Office” will become one of those stories.

After dismissing the show when it first premiered as yet another soulless remake of a British series, I fell in love with the Dunder Mifflin drones through DVD  marathons of the first 3 seasons.

My friends and I watched and rewatched Jim’s slow and subtle courtship of Pam, Michael’s tasteless jokes, and Dwight’s beet-loving eccentricities over beach trips and long afternoons when we should have been studying instead.

Now with the finale airing tonight on at 8 PM on NBC, “The Office” comes to the end of its story. For diehard fans, this comes with disappointment and with relief. Continue reading →

30 Rock and The Two Things You Need To Succeed

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

30 Rock“30 Rock” should have been cancelled after six episodes.

The odds were against it from the start. Most people remember “30 Rock” debuted during the same season and on the same network as another show set behind the scenes of a fictional sketch comedy series, “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip”.

“Studio 60” was a big budget drama from the mind of “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin and featured one of the biggest tv stars of the past decade in Matthew Perry.

It was the centerpiece of NBC’s fall lineup that season. If any show was going to succeed that season, it was “Studio 60″.

It lasted 22 episodes.

7 years and 138 episodes later “30 Rock” took its final bow, running laps around the competition and being hailed as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time in reviews like this one.

How did that happen? And how can you find the same level of success?

By not being afraid to make a change. And by being on a network with a lot of grace to give. Continue reading →

Your Scars Tell Your Story

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

Every scar has a story – just not necessarily a good one.

slide.001I might have the dumbest scar you’ve ever seen. Each year my school had a ceremony honoring the top students. In the 6th grade I got called out of class early along with my friend Kevin to go to this Honors Night practice.

I was pretty excited about the privilege. Well, at least the getting out of class part. As Kevin and I headed toward the practice, I pushed open the door outside with a joyful burst of strength.

What I didn’t count on as I used all of my force was the force of the door as it swung back. Just as quickly as I had flung it open the door bounced off the wall and slammed back into me, crushing my glasses right into my face. Continue reading →