Extraordinary People

It was said there are no extraordinary people.  

That there are only those who pray, 

And then there are those who do not.

It was said there are no extraordinary people. 

That one side owns morality, 

And the other does not. 

It was said there are no extraordinary people. 

That goodness belongs in only one fashion, 

And the other pure evil. 

It was said there are no extraordinary people.

But in life we all are extraordinary, 

Those who believe they are and those who do not. 

 Stay inspired my friends!

Breathe, Just Breathe

 

The air we breathe, when we take a knee.

The pew, the field, whichever we believe.

A common theme is the air we breathe.

The air we breathe, when we protest our grief.

The street, the park, in social media we talk.

We do so using the same air we breathe.

The air we breathe, when differences reign.

The shouts, the tears, our moral outrage displayed.

All that is left is the air we breathe.

Stay inspired my friends!

It Is What It Is

 

In winter it came so quiet and growing.

We gave it no notice nor heeded the warnings.

Under control, not worse than the flu,

We gave it no notice nor knew what to do.

In spring it was loud and so deadly serious. 

We laughed at the masks, our freedoms, we choose.

Such simple steps but oh how we mused,

We laughed at the masks, so many we will lose.

In summer we said it will go away, you fools,

Yet the echoes of death, so many are dying.

It held on firm, it continued to spread.

The echoes of death, it is what it is, was said.

With fall now upon us, debate it runs on.

We fools of the virus, remain to get stricken.

A leader is touched, like millions of others.

We fools of the virus, how many get taken.

Stay inspired my friends!

Clouds of Grey

Grey clouds swirling in random quiet,

Filling days with covered notions.

My mind it drifts with all their passing,

To places of so many emotions.

The sky will fill with gentle rain,

Like tears of joy or tears of pain,

The day continues mostly silent.

The Sun it sits above this blanketed sky.

It settles then onto the horizon,

Darkness falls, still stars are hidden.

And tears still fall on ground so sodden,

To wash and cleanse that which I feel.

The night continues mostly silent.

The day returns the rain has settled,

Upon the earth so dry now fertile.

It springs forth hope of new direction.

My mind is filled with eased conviction,

To watch the sky now cleared of grey.

Each day it passes, each one is new.

My life continues mostly silent.  

Stay inspired my friends!

Burning Fires

If the sky screamed colors of orange and red,

would we take notice.

If the winds grew hot and unrelenting,

would we take notice.

Nature's voice resonates its truth,

with years beyond our own.

If the forest crumbled into black ashes,

would we take notice.

If the birds soared with no branch to land upon,

would we take notice.

Earth so magnificent and wonderful, 

takes care alone in spite of us.

If we cried out from the smoke,

would we take notice.

If it all ended with nothing left,

would nature take notice.

Stay inspired my friends!

Taught Me

In a moment of wanting,

I turned to ask a question.

To ask the man who taught me so much,

A man who taught me so much.

 

No longer is he here to tell his truths,

To give me the turn of a tale.

But forever as my heart beats,

He will be the man who taught me so much.

-- Stay inspired my friends.

To Fly

The bird so high in a blue sky,

No wings flapping, moving smoothly in flight.

The trail it leaves marks a path,

From one destination to another.

To see from so high, so very high,

A world so small, its largeness so immense.

I long for a return to flight,

To see a world I thought I once knew.

From feet in the cool green grass,

Gazing to see a bird so free in flight.

Longing for the lift to let the dew release,

Seeing the curve of my earthly wonder.

My flight will return, to soar above the birds,

To feel the air beneath my feet.

Rising above the noise and chaos,

To return and nest in the comfort of a lover.

-- Stay inspired my friends.

Waiting At The Door

With the many years removed, 

Your gentle calming voice still rings in my ear. 

The comfort and tears you wiped from my face, 

My heart remains full of your love.

 

You always stood at the door, 

Waving goodbye until gone from sight. 

Seeing you there one more time, 

Is what I long for but will wait. 

When you left, we stood at your bedside, 

Knowing you were leaving for a while. 

We stood there waiting, 

Until you were gone from sight. 

And when the time arrives,

When my life returns to another.

I know that I will find you at the door,

Waiting for me there.

-- Stay inspired my friends.

Hummingbird

This day to sit and gaze at the waning summer days. 

Of a season cautioned by masks and six foot deep pain. 

The isolation of quarantines, rioting and politics,

And yet the hummingbird still flitters about. 

The air is filled with the noise of human discord. 

Our existence, our righteousness is on display,

For all of nature to watch and wonder.

And the hummingbird still flitters about. 

When autumn change appears at a sunrise,

Will the change bring our own in some way. 

Or will the ensuing cold only bluish our hearts,

While the hummingbird still flitters about. 

As it goes, we will find a way to have a life,

To be a short lived member of this great world. 

And when the beating is gone from us,

We will flitter about as the hummingbird. 

— Stay inspired my friends. 

Our New Normal

“Today, the sun will rise on all your doubts.”
― Marty Rubin

It was Friday morning, December 13 of 2019 when I took this photo from my hotel room in Shanghai, China. Yes, Friday the 13th and no, I am not a superstitious person. I just thought I'd get that out in front of any comments my readers may have.

This was my last day in China after a week long visit with customers and team members of the company I work for. It was a beautiful morning, the kind that photographs can do no justice to let alone a smartphone camera. But I wanted to capture the moment for it serves me with a great reminder of a successful week. The business connections were productive as were the team meetings inspiring along with also being productive.

Little did I know a mere 500 miles to the west, something was brewing that would change our lives today.

When I returned home to Atlanta, the holiday season was upon us. There would be gifts exchanged, gatherings for family meals and the various holiday parties of revelry and togetherness. The year of 2019 would end with the usual champagne toasts to a year gone by and the good tidings of a new year. That year was to be 2020, a year marked on calendars and written about in predictions, prognostications and prophecy.

January 1 came and went like any other new year day and our lives in the new year began as it always does. The football games, the return to work and the planning that goes into starting a new year fresh with hope and optimism. Myself, I had another business trip to Japan to meet with other team members and more customer visits. This was a great trip to meet old business friends, spending time as we always do dining and talking of those things which matter in our lives. It was a time of reconnecting and strengthening our long distant relationships.

I have been lucky in my line of work to have traveled to most places in this amazing world. All but two continents have been my pleasure to have visited and I am continually amazed. Setting aside governments and religions, people around the world are pretty much the same. All of us are getting up in the morning, having breakfast, getting the kids off to school, fighting traffic to get to work and dealing with the rest of our daily lives.

In all of those similarities, we are all simply living our normal lives but then the virus.

Everyone had seen the news of this thing wrecking havoc upon a very large city in China and we went about our normal lives. This thing then began to spread to other pockets of communities around the globe and we went about our normal lives. Some thought no worse then a new strain of the flu and we stayed in our normal lives. But down deep I think many of us were also starting to believe there was more to it.

In late February, another business trip would take me to London and onto Ireland with a final stop in Germany. I would only make it as far as Ireland. We had all heard of the changes coming. Of people wearing facial masks and taking care to wash your hands to the tune of Happy Birthday. I had been trying to take care while also continuing with my normal life. Then came the call for all employees to effectively end their business travel and return home.

A new normal was taking shape even though we were not fully aware of it just yet.

I grew up on a farm in east central Nebraska. Hog farmers is what we were with the small town life you read about in books and on Sunday TV news feel good pieces. We felt as many I am sure do to this day, safe. Safe from the concerns of the busy world of the big city or even other countries. When I moved away, it was first to the big city and a job that job leading to even larger cities and different countries. My belief is the world is much smaller then you can imagine and yet, it is still amazing.

After returning home from Europe I was concerned with my health and of those I would be around. I did the precautionary things one should do and yes, I had my normal airplane sniffles upon return. Was it the virus, did I have it, was I infecting others? Nothing could be done but to wait it out and the new normal we were reading and hearing about was growing and spreading to even the remotest of places.

And now, here we are in our new normal. Working from home, businesses closed, stay at home orders, no gatherings and social distancing. A new normal that all of us are coming to terms with. Some more reluctantly then others. A new normal that has us teaching our kids at home, conducting Zoom meetings with the dog barking in the background and getting used to wearing a facial mask at the grocery store, still amazed at the empty toilet paper shelves.

Will we return to the old normal we had grown accustomed to?

There will be some level of previous normalcy in our lives eventually. And there will be a new normal to contend with. The global economy will have to find its way back into a healthy state. People who have lost their jobs will have to claw their way back from financial ruin. Your favorite restaurant or department store may no longer be here. More and more delivery trucks will cruise through our neighborhoods. And the new normal will be just that, our new normal.

For me, I always hold onto the goodness this world can give us. The beautiful yellow pollen of a spring day in Georgia or the goodness that really does exist in humanity. Just hold on and know that the sun will set each day but rise in a spectacular fashion whether you are in Shanghai or in your own hometown.

Stay safe, healthy and stay inspired everyone!

Do Not Go Gentle

Do not go gentle into that good night ~Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

As described in many places, Dylan's poem is a strong summoning for us to live boldly and to fight. It wants us to not simply "go gentle into that good night," but to fight against it.

And even at the end of life, when "grave men" are near death, we are instructed to burn with life. The poem's meaning is life affirming.

Stay inspired my friends!

In A World That Can Always Use It

So much to be thankful for. So much ability to give kindness.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
― Plato

Do you remember that feeling when someone, a complete stranger did something such as holding the door open for you? Or maybe there was another, small and random thing they did which put a smile on your face. The thing that occurred was an unsolicited and random act of kindness.

Kindness does not have to be random though, it can be intentional.

Kindness whether given or received has a biological impact on our well being. Studies by neuroscience show that kindness triggers higher levels of endorphins. These are the chemicals that make your body feel good. They also activate a part of the brain that is associated with enjoyment. Over many years, researchers have consistently corroborated the benefits of doing good. And what are those benefits?

It can make you happier.
A study done at University of California Riverside, had subjects practicing five small acts of kindness each week. Small things such as donating blood, thank you notes or helping someone in a small way. The results showed an increase in happiness but those in the control group, who did nothing, reported a slight decrease in happiness.

It can make you healthier.
This chemical releases within our body by being kind will produce a hormone called oxytocin, which helps keep your heart healthy by relaxing cells along the walls of our arteries, allowing more blood to flow through and be delivered to the heart and other organs. This will reduce your blood pressure and lower risk of heart disease.

It might even lead to a longer life.
There have been studies showing those who volunteer their time tend to achieve better overall health outcomes than those who do not. For those people, it lead to a 22% lower death rate when researchers checked back with both groups many years later.

You should try to make it a goal to enact some level of kindness towards others each day. The following list are examples to possibly inspire you.

- Give a genuine compliment
- Treat a friend or coworker to coffee
- Pay for a stranger’s parking
- Send an unexpected thank-you or "thinking of you" note
- Hold the door open for someone
- Call a friend to ask about their day
- Let a stranger cut you in line
- Offer to take a task off of a coworker's plate
- Share a funny or uplifting video
- Cook a meal for a friend or loved one

Want even more ideas?

- Choose forgiveness
- Grab lunch with a new coworker
- Give up your seat on public transportation
- Lend an ear to someone who needs it
- Visit an elderly relative
- Donate to a non-profit
- Send a thank-you note
- Leave a quarter in a laundromat
- Send a care package
- Share an umbrella
- Offer words of encouragement to someone who needs them
- Support a local business
- Leave a generous tip
- Host or organize a gathering for your community

Doing something good is good for everyone involved. Make the change in our world by you being the change that happens.

Stay inspired my friends!

Shaking the Hand of Innovation

From the great folks at Despair.com
"An innovation is one of those things that society looks at and says, if we make this part of the way we live and work, it will change the way we live and work."
- Dean Kamen

I love the thought of innovation and how it can change our lives. But I also love the way the good people at Despair.com make us step back and think about what we are doing or saying.

Many years ago, there were more people employed delivering milk to your doorstep, building cars, typing up stock purchase orders, and cleaning your windshield at the gas pump. But innovation has pretty much done away with these and many other types of jobs.

I am not saying we should go back in time to the horse and carriage days with crank phones on the kitchen wall. But there is something to consider about moving ourselves, humans, forward in life.

We have to understand that many new technological advances can and do make much of what we get paid to do, irrelevant. And what that means is you need to be aware of it and to make changes in your life and career to remain relevant. More and more automation along with the advances in artificial intelligence, we as humans have to find other purposeful ways to stay engaged.

New innovations will also create new types of opportunities for jobs. You simply have to be willing to adapt and change in order to take advantage of those new opportunities.

One day you might be shaking the hand of an android, and not the smartphone kind. But then again, maybe it will be.

Stay inspired my friends!

A Changing Journey

"We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are."
-Tobias Wolff

Anything we do in life is going to have some level of resistance. The resistance will come in many forms and places before us obstacles to completing that which we want to accomplish.

Think of the mundane things we do such as driving to work each morning. The varying traffic can be an obstacle to overcome in getting to your place of business. Or possibly the check out line at the grocery store with a long slow moving line.

There are also much larger or more important things in life in which we work to overcome. A job advancement goal you might be struggling to grab hold of. In all of these things we do, persistence is your greatest ally.

In a book I wrote, I went out looking for stories of 'change' from people in all levels of life. Average everyday people to the famous and powerful people have been contacted. This can present a problem when you are asking people to open up to someone they do not know. My persistence was in knowing there are people who really want to tell their story.

There were of course some who did not wish to participate and I can fully respect those decisions. The varying letters of rejection were sometimes amusing, while some were very blunt. There were of course letters that provided me with great encouragement for success. And each of those letters, regardless of the response, reminded me that I was connecting with people.

It is the connection that gives me encouragement to persevere in my efforts. It is a strong belief in connection that can cause influence in their lives. It provides me with motivation to keep pursuing my goal. The same can be done by you in the journey you are on.

Obstacles represent opportunities to assess and find new paths to those goals. Motivation is the culmination of things or reasons why you are on your particular journey. Perseverance is key to continuing on that journey and never give up; once again, never give up.

The path may change, just don't give up on the journey.

Stay inspired my friends.

Googly Eyed Love

"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." -Thomas Carlyle

A few years ago, I wrote a book called "Love Is", I thought I would share some insight into the googly eyed frog from the book. The picture I use is not of the actual art creation I made back in Kindergarten. I certainly wish it was but alas, you will have to read the book to find out why I do not have the original in my possession.

You see over my many years, I have always had the urge to be an artist. Raphael, de Goya, Monet, and Dali to name a few. There are so many others that I have come to enjoy over the years. Even in my earliest years, I felt a connection to the art one could make. I believe it is because art gave me a window to other possibilities in life.

The physical act of producing art is to me, an extension of one's imagination. A window into one's heart and soul where that imagination is birthed. And my googly-eyed frog was the earliest form of my own imagination being revealed.

Alas, I never developed a decent talent for the arts although I have dabbled in it from time to time. Painting, acting, singing, architecture and design are the purview of others. Even so, I have always relished in being close to it. To watch and to be amazed by those with artistic talents.

One might suppose that I did not try hard enough or work on the craft enough. Yet I seemed to realize early on that the various arts tend to have a natural ability that flows from the individual. It is similar to athletic ability and the great athletes in history. No, I eventually accepted the fact that my talent lay elsewhere.

My mother helped me to understand where my talents were. My father helped to build my talents. And together they gave of themselves so that I could master what it is I do today. Each of them had a loving heart to guide me early on in life. It is a loving heart for others that matters quite a bit in life. That is what "Love Is".

This book, Love Is can take you on a journey to possibly discover what love is. It will explore his life, the stories of others, and take a close look at the greatest love story ever told. So open yourself to a different and very real way of understanding what love is. After reading this book, you may find one of the greatest things in life, which is love.

Stay inspired my friends.

Living an Epic Life

“Give Compassion: Every day the average person fights epic battles never told just to survive.” ― Ken Poirot

Christians will be celebrating a religious holiday this coming Sunday and is observed by millions of Christians around the world. Now before you go and leave this article, I am not here to preach or convert. I simply want to talk about your life and what you can do with it.

When it comes to Easter, it is believed by Christians that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. On the third day (EASTER) he rose from the dead and his resurrection gives us renewed hope. While as a Christian I find all of that very powerful, I also find truly inspiring is the ordinary but then amazing life this man called Jesus lived.

Whether you have faith and belief in the religious context around it or don't, it is the life he lived and gave up. His was an epic life based upon making it a great one for others and in turn, himself. I like to say that, "Epic is the word for all of our lives. Epic is the life that was given for all of us."

You have the ability to live an epic life. And no, I am not here to say that you can be greater or bigger then the man we call Jesus. John Lennon made that mistake in how he said it back in 1966. But what you can do is live a big life, an epic life; one that impacts others and brings greatness into their lives. In turn, your life becomes greater then it otherwise would have.

To me an epic life is one full of every day, ordinary heroic acts. These are the types of acts that are not splashed across the headlines of newspapers. They are not ones which produce ticker tape parades. They are not acts which garner medals and plaques. An epic life is one in which you do the small things which make a difference in other peoples lives.

The holding of a door for someone carrying a package. Letting another car onto the freeway during rush hour traffic. Donating money to a needy cause or person. Saying "I love you" to your wife and kids as often as you can. It is a life of doing all the small little things which create big things for others.

Your life can be poetic in the sense that others will look at you and say, there goes a great person, there goes an epic person.

Stay inspired my friends!

Looms of Life

"We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning."
- Henry Ward Beecher

Was there a time in your life when a person or group of people did you wrong? The kind of wrong which sends all of your belief in others shattering into shambles.

Life itself all of a sudden seemed to matter very little anymore.

I recently read again the tale of Silas Marner, considered a classic tale and written by George Eliot many a half moon ago. Silas was a young talented man with the promise of a soon to be new bride. He had talents within a trade and talents in care of his fellow man.

Silas had everything figured out and life was perfect.

It happened one such day that a close and dear friend turned out to be none too close or dear. Silas was set up for failure in the eyes of his community, friends, and worse his soon to be bride. His trust in others had been betrayed and it fell on him as a ton of bricks upon the ground. With the loss of friends, community and his love, all that was left to do was leave and embark on a life of solitude.

It is a story with many similarities that erode parts of our lives.

There can be mistrust, betrayal, loss of love, and loss of faith when we encounter pain each can cause. It can force us into a mere existence of just getting by. It sends our life into a spiral of meager existence within the shadows, while the sun shines brightly elsewhere.

Different forces can be quite cruel if we let them win the battle. The battle I speak of is your own life. Life can be wondrous and amazing but it can also be depressing and dark. Either can happen based on what we allow to enter.

The doorway to your life is controlled by you and not external forces.

It may take time to overcome the hurt in your life. It is not an easy process, but the reward of a great life awaits you if you let the goodness in and push out the pain.

Silas came to trust and love once again. Your life is also worth living in the bright sunshine as opposed to the cold shadows. Find a path to overcome the pain. Allow your life to be full of greatness once again.

Spin your yarn into a wonderful quilt of memories which last a lifetime.

Stay inspired my friends.

Who We Turn To

“Just when you think that a person is just a backdrop for the rest of the universe, watch them and see that they laugh, they cry, they tell jokes...they're just friends waiting to be made.”
- Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein

There are lots of people in the world you pass by each day. As you drive down the street or walk through the store going about your daily life.

Those people you see; you smile and exchange a quick greeting.

Day by day these people fill your world and are a part of all that happens around you. It can become easy to be oblivious to their existence. The fact remains you become a "movie prop" in the background from their perspective as well.

Maybe we should stop and look at others not as "movie props" but as potential friends.

A friend who has a good thing to say or someone to offer support when in need. With so many people moving about in the world, having a friend around every corner is a pretty comforting thought.

Try to create new friends from the everyday background of your life. Every one of them will count as a great new addition to your life.

And stay inspired my friends!

Sky Full

"Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you."
- George Whitefield

Each of us have an ability to move beyond pain, grief or disappointment. We can move beyond the circumstance we find ourselves in. So much is possible if we just press forward and speak the future out loud to ourselves. We can find a way to see beyond what blocks our view.

We can get beyond what is holding us back.

There is an old story about a bedouin within his tent wondering how he would ever achieve all that he wanted. A friend told him to look up at the ceiling of his tent.

"What do you see" he asked the bedouin?

"All I see is the ceiling of my tent" responded the bedouin.

"Come out of the tent and see my ceiling" said the bedouin's friend. "What do you see?"

"I see no ceiling but a sky full of countless stars" replied the bedouin.

Exactly as the bedouin saw, your life has no ceiling above it.

The possibilities are as endless as the stars in the night sky. The paths you can choose are as vast as the eye can see. All it takes is moving beyond the present.

Do not let the past hold you firm in its grip. Break free to reach for a star or even the seemingly impossible.

Step out and look to the night sky. Find a star and begin your journey.

And stay inspired my friends.

Happiness Adjustment

Groucho Marx once said, "I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it."

Simply put, people do not like to hang out with unhappy people.

Sometimes it requires a bit of hard truth in order to get people to see the reality of a situation. Your productivity at work is impacted by being unhappy and it impacts those around you. If you are unhappy with your job and the daily grind of it, move on to something else.

Make a change in your life.

I am not here to say you should simply quit and walk out the door with a smile on your face. No, the smart thing to do is continue to do your job the best you can, but start looking for a new job.

Life's steps should be planned as best you can.

Take time to understand and recognize how your own attitude is impacting you and your relationships. Understand how being unhappy all of the time is impacting your job performance and then do something about it.

Maybe it requires an adjustment of your attitude.

Examine yourself, adjust yourself and reinvent yourself to rid the unhappiness from your life as you can. It starts from inside.

Stay inspired my friends!