Planting Now for a Later Harvest

"It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn." ~ B. C. Forbes

The fall will arrive quickly and we will wonder how the year went by so quickly away from us? It will seem like only yesterday that we were celebrating the new year, full of hope and wonder? Will we have wasted our days daydreaming or will we have prepared those dreams and planted them in the spring?

When September takes hold of our days, the harvest will be upon us.

Those seeds of hope and want were planted in great soil in the spring of the year. Will we have carefully watered and tended to them into the summer months, knowing our expectation of a bountiful harvest? And when fall arrives, will we reap the reward of our hard work?

When we harvest that bounty, will we store those collected achievements to carry us through the winter months. For it is the harvest that gives us yearning and desire for new dreams when another new year approaches.

Are you acting upon your dreams and planting them with actions?

Will you tend to them and move boldly to ensure your dreams take root and flourish? If not, you will wonder where the time went when harvest arrives and there is nothing for you to reap. Or you may wonder why your harvest is so small. For the time was wasted and a cold winter will approach and want will take over your days.

We are now in the time of planting and tending to our dreams.

The actions you take now, throughout the summer and into the fall will prove to be worthy. Spring time is the time to begin movement. Start now, preparing, moving, and bringing your dreams to life. Spring is a great time to plant seeds and the time to take action upon your dreams is now. The great harvest this fall will be the reward for all of your hard work.

Stay inspired my friends.

Planting Seed

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." -John Maxwell

In many of the books I have read and the speakers I have listened to, each speak of "sowing seeds for the future." And it occurs to me that the by-product of having a positive attitude is the planting of hope and goodness. What starts out as a 'me' adventure turns into a 'for others' epic.

John Maxwell says there is an essential part of your success journey and that is in helping others. Without this, your journey will be lonely and quite a shallow experience. The joy you will receive is hard to describe. Albert Schweitzer said, "...the purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others."

All of this means is that you begin right where you are; doing the little things. That can mean spending more time at home watching television with your kids, spending more quality time with your spouse, encouraging someone at work or volunteering to do something for your community or church. Every little thing you do is the planting of another seed.

And while you are pursuing what your own purpose is, you help others along the way. Danny Thomas (for those of us that go back far enough) would say that "...all of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others."

Continue the journey for me, for you and more importantly for others. Stay inspired my friends.

A Simple Seed

"Your heart is full of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout." -Morihei Ueshiba

Think back to your grade school science class. Back to the week where you were taught about the basics of a seed. The teacher would have told us the three parts are:

(1) an embryo (dream)
(2) a supply of nutrients for the embryo (attitude)
(3) a seed coat (you)

Now the embryo (dream) is the beginning of what will be a new plant if grown under proper conditions. The embryo has two points of growth; one which will come forth into the light as the stem, the other will remain rooted drawing nourish from the ground.

In order for the dream to be born into something real, seed germination must take place. This is a process by which a seed embryo develops into a seedling. There must be a stirring within to cause the dream to begin its growth into vision and action. There will be an emergence of your vision into the light for others to see.

As this seedling reaches up and outward, the root of the vision must remain firmly planted in good soil. You need to feed yourself in good company, in good advice and in good purpose. Without this good soil, the vision can not be sustained and will soon wither.

As the seed grows and matures, the vision of what was once a dream will be realized. It will produce fruit and more seed. Others will be impacted by the original seed which was at one time just a dream. Growth will be exponential as you reach out even further. And it all started with one small seed (dream).

Inside each of us lay a talent, a purpose, or dream. It is in seeing the vision of the seed inside of us as fruit which starts the process of growth. Look beyond the wall in front of you, the seed coating over your dream. See what is inside where the potential of the seed exists.

Grow your dream and produce the fruit of possibility. And stay inspired my friends.

Your Cornerstone

"Setting a firm foundation better prepares us for success." -Dean Sweetman

Here we are, half way through the month of April. In fact it is tax day here in the United States, the last day to complete and turn in our tax forms. With all that is going on, January 1st is quickly fading from our minds and slipping into the quiet past.

Even with the taxes and everything else going on, it is a day not much different from the day before. It is a day that is not much different from any other day as time passes by us. But it is a day that can have significance for every one of us if we stop and think about it.

If January 1st is the 'starting point' for what we want to accomplish this year, than have you? If you have not, than the importance of today is to get started; begin today. If you have not started to lay the foundation for what the year has to offer; begin today.

The opportunities that may come our way, the experiences we will encounter and success that is ours to achieve are built upon a firm base. When those April showers come our way and the flowers of May spring forth, will you be ready for it.

If January 1st was our day to start preparing, then March 20, the Spring equinox is our time to begin planting the seed of change. If you don't prepare yourself, when the time comes to plant it will be too late. You will miss opportunity to plant the seeds that will change your life.

You don't want to miss opportunities of rain and growth that will sustain you through the long hot days of summer. Without a strongly rooted vision, growth can not be sustained and the fall harvest of achievement becomes another lost opportunity. With another long cold winter to think of what may have been.

Don't wait to start setting in motion your foundation for a great year. If you haven't, then start today, start with change and start with belief that this year will be different.

Stay inspired my friends.

Tending Your Field

“The fields are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, green spangles.” ― Ayn Rand

The world around you, regardless of where you are, is your field of influence. It is a field that includes the hearts and minds of other people who enter in and pass through it. Your sphere of influence is generally any one that you encounter through out your life. It is a field that you have an impact upon by your actions and words.

As a farmer plants seeds and tends to the field, you have responsibility for the seeds you plant in the hearts and minds of others. You can tend to them over time and watch people grow and move to greatness. Or you can ignore them and watch them wither. These interactions go on everyday both to you and by you.

You may be 'planting' seeds within the fields of your influence, but others are doing the same as you enter theirs. When two mindful farmers enter each others environment, a wonderful thing happens to both people. The metaphor for tending a field of influence can be difficult to follow in its concept, but the more you think about it, clarity will come to your understanding of what I am writing.

The basic premise for me when it comes to 'farming' your field of influence is this; do not leave people where you find them. Help them, nurture them and bring them to a higher place. Leave them with hope and understanding that life has much to offer them.

The 'harvest' of a well tended field will yield much to you. Your life will be enriched for the experience and be more bountiful in its rewards. In all that you do, leave that which you enter better then when you found it. Leave the heart and mind of others in a better place.

Stay inspired my friends.