Carpe Diem. Seize the day… Make your lives extraordinary. Dead Poets Society It’s the fourth week on my topic and I am just as excited and motivated by my themes of Commitment, Excellence and Action as when I first introduced you to it in the beginning of February. When I started to write about these three themes that I know you hear about often, they just kept unveiling themselves as a much deeper theme than a one-and-done. Commitment, Excellence and Action seem so simple, yet so hard to master, if you don’t lay the groundwork to get it right the […]
Life lessons
Discover who you are
Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. Bernice Johnson Reagon If you ask your friends and family what are some challenges that they are facing today and how they plan to overcome them, most of your peers will look at you with a blank expression and suddenly you will see a quote cloud form above their head that says, “You need to find someone else to talk to. I don’t want to go that deep today…or tomorrow or ever.” Now it’s not because they didn’t understand the question, it is […]
Attract what you expect, reflect what you desire, become what you respect, and mirror what you admire.
I had some interesting speaking engagements recently and it brought to mind this saying: Attract what you expect, reflect what you desire, become what you respect, and mirror what you admire. In Pennsylvania, I was speaking to those who are planning on running for public office. I teach Your Campaign Speech and how to engage your audience to listen to your message. And in Maryland, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak at the Spouse Program for members of Congress. I must say they were both wonderful groups to spend time with and my thought for today is a direct […]
Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities…
Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. A few weeks ago my show was about if you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way, and, although I thought I was done with that thought, in my mind and in my quiet time I kept coming back to the BIG idea that anyone can take the steps in the right direction to do what they are called to do. What may seem impossible to others is not impossible for you. If you will, just put forth the effort to make it happen. […]
If you can’t change the people around you…
This has been a week of sadness and joy for me. Let me explain. Within a ten day period three people I knew died, one from unexplained causes, one from cancer and one from Alzheimer’s. Due to my travel schedule, I could only attend one of the funerals, but I know what I saw that day would have been the same at each service. Sitting in the packed church for the service, I was struck by the outpouring of love that left a 500-plus seat auditorium only with standing room for those who came to support the family and recall […]
Suspend Your Disbelief
I love poetry, and recently I re-read the simple and yet profound poem by William Wordsworth ~ With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things. Do you see into the life of things? Or do you allow your mind to stop any exploration into things you know little to nothing about? The reason I ask is because I am curious to know if you are stuck in the pluff mud of life or if you are open to simply suspending your disbelief about the way […]
Difficult Roads Often Lead to Beautiful Destinations
My theme today is “Difficult Roads Often Lead to Beautiful Destinations.” Now, I know that today’s thought is probably the last thing on your mind when you’re slogging through hard times. I get it. We’ve all been there, but if you were truthful with yourself, you’d have to admit that, more often than not, when you do come through the storm and land on the other side, it’s usually never as bad as you thought or expected it to be. And if it was a miserable experience, you can count yourself lucky to have survived. The truth is that many […]
The beginning of wisdom is knowing which question to ask
What is the question that you would like an answer to? Is it a question about your life, your family or your future? And is there someone who can answer those questions for you? I believe that deep inside, most of us pretty well know the answers to all of the questions that bubble up in our minds, and yet we choose not to speak those questions. We fear the answer we don’t like or want. We don’t want to admit that the answer maybe something we don’t want to happen in our lives. Ah, questions! We are all looking […]
Hey Good Looking
When was the last time someone said that to you… I hope today or at least yesterday and maybe tomorrow…without a doubt I know you’re good looking and smart because you listen to my radio show and read my blog posts. But friends, how do you turn those good looks into opportunity? Opportunity to do all the things you dream of, opportunity to be the person you desire to become, opportunity to excel in your field of work or study…believe it or not it has little to do with your good looks, smarts and lineage and everything to do with […]