Into 2021 We Go

Gregorian calendar says we are ending the year of 2020 tonight,
And overnight we enter 2021,
All with the same hope and excitement that a new year brings. 

The past year of 2020 challenged everyone in many different ways,

And it would be easy to dismiss,

A year deemed bad or maybe even a year to forget. 

We should not so easily turn our backs on this most challenging year,

Even as many endured so much,

Health, family or simply the impact of our isolation.

Each of us would have good reasons to curse the year,

One that was meant,

A year we thought, would be a turning point of greatness.

It was a year the futurists and prophets of positivity had said,

This year would bring,

But life determines how life itself is going to unfold.

I would rather look back on 2020 and view the challenges,

As growth, of changing perspective,

To view 2020 for the good things happened as well.

The year brought me off the road to spend more time with family,

To find new ways to connect,

To listen to people and to cherish more important things in life.

The year gave all of us celebrations, births, birthdays, accomplishment.

There was more of people talking, 

Sometimes angrily but talking is a way to start resolving differences.

We adapted and created ways to accomplish in spite of,

COVID isolation, social injustice, and pain,

Even as all of this occurred we moved forward, we did it together.

We did all of this working with each other, leaning on each other,

Trusting each other.

By sharing our human experience with each other to push through.

Now 2021, new year, new hopes, goals, dreams and opportunity,

Yet the year is but a number.

And we make of that number, the year, what we want of it.

Life will create what it does for us in the coming days and months.

There will be challenges just like in 2020,

But there will be opportunity, there will be joy, there will be success. 

As is customary, I wish the best for each of you in the new year.

I wish so much,

Health, happiness, love and peace to you, your families, your friends.

Most of all I wish for each of you to find greatness in yourself.  

To know you are great,

And to be happy in yourself with what you have and in what you do.

If you can find that, you can overcome anything.

Life really is great.

Let that be your wish, your goal, your success in 2021.

Stay inspired my friends! 

Chasing Greatness

“Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are great chase scenes such as Cary Grant getting chased by an airplane in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 movie North By Northwest.

And than there is the video below which is labeled as the world's worst chase scene. It might just be once you have watched it.

But are you chasing greatness only to find you can never catch it?

Do the common and simple things in life. Be kind and helpful to others. Work hard at your job and with your family and friends.

Greatness will find you.

Stay inspired my friends.

Follow Your Shadow

"Instead of watching the bird as it flies above our heads, we chase his shadow along the ground; and, finding we cannot grasp it, we conclude it to be nothing." - Augustus William Hare

Each morning, we arise from slumber of night where our dreams have been allowed to run freely. The endless movie in our mind in which we have a vision of something for our life. It is so real in dreams that we can almost touch them.

Yet we wake from them with the rising sun, only to let them float away like a child's balloon. Our waking hours cause us to concentrate on work and the everyday task of living. The waking hours also push our dreams into a quiet corner of the mind.

We may have passing thoughts of them such as the shadow of a bird flying overhead. We see the dream, but when we look up it has passed and is no where to be found. So we decide the dream did not exist. Did the dream really ever happen?

In slumber it seems so real. It is in slumber that we allow ourselves to believe the dream or vision can occur. Only in waking hours do we push it off as a shadow of something that doesn't exist.

Those dreams and visions can become real in your life if you allow yourself to believe in them. They are not passing shadows of nothing. They can be pursued and found just as the shadow has a real existence to it. The shadow is of a soaring bird reaching higher levels.

Believe your dreams can come true and find yourself soaring to higher levels. Stay inspired my friends.

Expect It

“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.” - Orison Swett Marden

Expectation - as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is;

Main Entry: ex·pec·ta·tion
Pronunciation: ek - spek - tā-shən
Function: noun
Date: 1540

1: the act or state of expecting : anticipation

2 a: something expected b: basis for expecting : assurance c: prospects of inheritance —usually used in plural

3: the state of being expected

4 a: expectancy b: expected value

The 'act or state of expecting' of something different or 'anticipation' of something that could happen in your life. Each of us should and do have expectations of an event or change happening for us. And each of us should have anticipation of change occurring; it is why you dream and set goals in your life.

So many times we set these goals or dream of something grand, only to never take it the next step. That step is 'expecting' greatness will happen by speaking into your own thoughts; by believing you will accomplish it. Of course you will never achieve just by saying you want something and it magically appears.

But if you don't believe or 'expect' it to happen, you will never step towards attempting to capture it.

Think of those that play the lottery. "Your actual odds of winning the lottery depend on where you play, but single state lotteries usually have odds of about 18 million to 1 while multiple state lotteries have odds as high as 120 million to 1." There are those who say, "you have no chance at all unless you actually play."

The same is true for achieving goals or a vision of success. And without expectation that something will occur, without stepping out towards change, nothing will occur. Simply put, you will not achieve anything if you do not expect to achieve it and by stepping out in change.

Expect greater things for your self, expect that you will achieve more in your life. Then step out and cause movement in your life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Spring Away

"Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!" ~Sitting Bull

There is a childrens poem that goes, "April showers bring May flowers, that is what they say. But if all the showers turned to flowers, we’d have quite a colourful day!" A playful look at new hope and possibility after a long, cold winter.

Spring is but a reminder that possibility exists for each of us. An earthly reminder that change can happen in our life. Yet this possibility exists with each new morning whether it be spring, summer, autumn or winter.

Never lose a single day to step forward in greatness. Never lose a single day to create a great life. Never stop treating each day of your life like its spring.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life Equals Risk

Reuters

"Only those who will risk going too far 

can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

Life is full of risk.

We can sit idle in our chair, watching all of it pass by us.

Or we can stand up and start stepping towards something greater.

It is your choice.

Do not be defined by others.

Stay inspired my friends.

Inspired Streetsweepers

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, 
he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, 
or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well." 

-Rev. Martin Luther King-

We each have inside the yearning to be the greatest at something. We want to be remembered for greatness that will carry our name in the memory of history for others to read about. We want to be remembered like those individuals who remain in the minds and teachings of people well into the future.

Yet we can not all achieve that level of notoriety nor does it mean true success if we do. Success means doing the very best at what we do with our lives; how we live our lives; and what we do for others. Success means trying to be the very best 'streetsweeper' that one can be.

It does not mean that you should not strive for the most majestic of things. What it means to say is that regardless of what you do in life, do it the best way possible.

I will never be the greatest writer to live nor will historians mark my passing. But the words that I do write are done with the best effort I can muster. The words I write will impact people and change their lives in small and big ways. You have the same abilities to impact others and to impact life with how you live your life.

Take that 'thing you do' and do it the very best you can. It will impact the lives of others and inspire them to something greater. In the end there will be those that do say, "here lived a great person who did his job well."

Stay inspired my friends.

Create Greatness

"Things you do today impact and set up a future for your children, your grand children and those beyond. So develop greatness today." -Dean Sweetman

To think that when I was 20 years old, my belief was that there was plenty of time to make changes in how I approached life. There was a sense of responsibility to excel in my work, to be a great service provider and to be friendly and out going. But not all of the facets were in place. It took quite a bit of time to force myself into change.

All of us go through it, procrastinating in the belief that the days ahead of us are limitless. We try to fool ourselves into believing that each of us will live to be 110 years old. Believing that there is plenty of time for change. You then wake up one day and realize you have lost many a day. You figure out that you could have been enjoying the fruits of change for many years.

Do not linger on those thoughts for very long. Change can happen right now just as it could have many years ago. The things you do today can have as much impact as it would have so long ago. So do not wait, develop greatness today. Create impact upon your life and others. You can do this!

Stay inspired my friends.

Overcome To Achieve Greatness

"For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So here I am, currently flying at 36,000 feet in a Delta 757 airplane, writing and making my way to Seattle. The landscape below me is much too far away for me to discern anything other than a few roads, mountains or fields.

If I look really hard though, I can pick out certain things such as certain large bodies of water or rivers famous to all. The most famous of course being the Mississippi River and as we passed over the Great Salt Lake. All look small and rather insignificant from such a long distance.

Even the Rockie Mountains and the Cascades look tame from such a far distance. They appear to be mere road bumps on our way to a destination. The goals we set for ourselves are at the end of that journey. Our destination looks easy from a distance.

While the distance seems to be much too far, the obstacles do not look all that intimidating. But as we get closer. As we come in with the distance being shorter, those obstacles all of a sudden get bigger. As we see them grow taller and wider, the mountains tops are greater and the rivers much broader than we expected.

It is at this point we might become discouraged. It is at this point many people may quit. What it reminds me of are the pioneers that made their way across the the great plains. These brave souls had a goal in mind and that was to find the west coast, to find fortune in the California, to find new opportunity.

Can you imagine as they slowly made their way across the flat lands, the heat, the wind and everything else they had to endure. I imagine them getting well into the area we now know as Colorado, only to be greated by the peaks of the Rockie Mountains.

The discussions that must have taken place had to have been heated. How far would they have to go. Would they make it before the cold and snow of winter set it. Some people must have said forget it, we'll stay here and go no further. They gave up on their dreams and settled for what they had.

Others pushed on, seeing the mountain tops as gateways to their dreams. They didn't seem them as obstacles blocking their way. They knew to rise up to the top would allow them to see the destination even clearer.

Many of those people made it through, dreams fulfilled and greatness achieved. The mountains, the rivers, canyons, or wide lakes did nothing to deter them from grabbing hold of what they wanted.

You will have similar obstacles in life. There will be mountains to face and wide rivers to cross, but each can be overcome and they will be overcome. Keep reaching, keep moving forward and move those mountains, part those waters and reach your destination in life. I know you can.

Stay inspired my friends.

Choose The Life

"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." ~Grandma Moses

So how do you make a great life? Is there a procedure manual laying about in some box that someone forgot to give you? Can we perform an internet search and find the perfect blog? Or maybe there is a college course we can take that wasn't listed in the general catalog.

Unlikely and very impossible to achieve without just living life. Getting up every day and putting yourself out there will teach you the most. It is likely you will get hurt along the way. It is likely that you will make mistakes. But it will be the life you make it.

I had always thought there was some secret to all of this. A well kept secret that no one would ever tell me. A secret so hidden that if only I found it, my life would achieve greatness.

Then it happened on a rainy day, sitting on my back porch. It was my life and it was mine to determine how I felt about it. It was a pact between my God and myself to make it a great life.

You have the ability to create a great life as well. It is up to you to change the way you think, the way you feel and the attitude you choose. It is your choice. Make it a great one.

Greatness Today

"Let the day commence and let greatness be your outcome." ~Joseph Primm

With each sunrise, the new day hands you another opportunity to do something great with your life. The ability to reach out and achieve is real and possible.

Most days we start with the thought that the same and old boring day is about to begin. We take our energy and direct it towards the "what is" instead of towards "what can be." Doing so leaves us with no energy, no motivation to grab greatness.

If you rise each day and decide that this day will be a great day, it will be. If you rise and are determined to change the things you don't like your life, you will. It all starts with changing your mindset, it starts with believing in what your heart tells you.

Believe in greatness for your life and greatness will be yours to have.

Greatness Inside

"When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous." ~Wayne Dyer

In the news lately has been the pending decision of Lebron James, basketball superstar. He is in free agency and everyone is awaiting his decision regarding where he will play next year. Will he stay in Cleveland; will he go to Chicago; will he land in Miami? All of these questions will be answered.

What I have found interesting is the talk of money. And it is a lot of money they are talking about. Roughly $16 million per year to play a game, albeit very well. And I am not here to question "how much is too much" or try to say that no one is worth that kind of money. There are thousands upon thousands of people that have mind-boggling amounts of money.

In the talk of a possible contract, it was stated it might be $15 million or maybe $16 million. The people reporting state that $1 million dollars won't make the difference because it is "only $1 million dollars" we are talking about. Maybe not in the context of his contract, but it is an amount that could make a huge difference to others. Heck, I'll sign up to take it if he doesn't get it. But then I can only jump six inches off the ground and maybe get up and down a basketball court only once or twice.

It is the pursuit of money and what you do with it that makes a difference in this life. I contend and hope for everyone that you make as much of those mind-boggling amounts of money as you can. Yet what I truly hope is that you do something good with those amounts of money.

I wouldn't suggest you give it all away and I wouldn't suggest how you spend on things in your life. We all spend up to our means which is just fine. What I hope for is that you can do something for those less fortunate. For those that do not have the means to achieve. You setting up a program for learning, for improving life for those may just birth greatness out of others. It will certainly birth greatness in you.

So go out and make mind-boggling amounts of money. Each of you have the capacity to do so. Each of you have the ability to do great things. All I ask in return is you give back a little to others to make a difference in their lives. Then you will truly be great, then you will be a king inside.

Being Around Greatness

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!" -Mark Twain

Immerse your life with negative people and that is where you will stay. Surround yourself with great people and your life will be drawn to greatness. Two fairly easy statements to understand and adopt.

I try to do this as much as I can, get near to great people and learn from them. One of my recent ventures is with Twitter. A social networking site that is full of one-line comments, musings along with the inevitable people wanting to sell or promote something. What I like about it is getting to read the general and everyday musing of successful people.

What is neat about it is that I can respond to them. Not sure at this point if they actually see my replies. It could be that they are simply waiting to make sure that I'm not a stalker (To follow or observe (a person) persistently, especially out of obsession or derangement). And I can assure you that I am not.

The intent is to draw close to these successful people, learn from them and hopefully provide them with some inspiration in life as well. some of these people may cross into your life while other times you need to step out boldly and introduce yourself. From there it is like any friendship in how it develops. Some do and some don't, but once you do, there is so much you can learn from others.

Great people want to see other people become great. Get near these people, learn from them and then give back to others what you have been given.
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