Membership Has Privileges

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it." ~Sydney J. Harris

There is an ad campaign by a major credit card company that basically says, "Membership has its privileges." It is a way of enticing you into choosing their card over another. That by doing so, you will have advantages that non-cardholders will not have.

It is a powerful way to gain and keep people using your products. For me, membership in an airline mileage program offered by Delta Airlines has kept me returning to them for years. As a long time travel and medallion member, those privileges were something I had gotten used to. The ability to bypass the long lines, seat selection, upgrades and so much more were things that made travelling so much easier. In light of the 2009 economic downturn, my air miles plummeted.

Then on February of 2010, my status as a Gold medallion member was stripped away. Even though my travel has increased significantly this year, I had lost the 'brass ring' of travel. I had been relegated to what frequent travelers call 'Abyss' status. A level so low that the airlines consider you no better then the baggage, which you now have to pay to check if not carried on.

Oh the humanity of it all, poor pitiful me. My heart was crushed, my ego bruised and my frustration inflamed. How could I possibly go on? So now I state with 'tongue firmly planted in cheek' that I was unsure if I could go on.

Yet I found myself taking a deep breath, relaxing and focusing on the new reality of airplane travel for me. I could get upset with the airline or other travelling passengers, making myself a grumbling and mean spirited person. Or I could assess the situation, adjust to the new situation and enjoy the day.

I made efforts to change my status with the airline, but took to my new standing with ease. I could have turned my attitude into making myself miserable each time entering the airport. But I didn't want to ruin the grand possibilities that life has to offer by being dour.

Heck, I still have my Sky Club membership and can enjoy the comforts of a lounge before boarding a plane and taking my middle seat. Yes, I even tried to get out of my middle seat without the privileges of membership. I was then amused by a Platinum member (75,000 + miles flown per year) that requested a seat change on my same flight. He had a middle seat as well and could not get a seat change. He asked the agent, "my Platinum status means nothing?" I guess even membership does not always have its privileges.

So please keep calm and carry on with your day. Just relax and enjoy the day because membership in life has so many privileges. We just sometimes forget to experience them.

Give Without Expectation

"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~

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United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 8283

Noncash Charitable Contributions

Contributions From Which You Benefit

If you receive a benefit as a result of making a contribution to a qualified organization, you can deduct only the amount of your contribution that is more than the value of the benefit you receive.

In ex; you pay $65 for a ticket to a dinner-dance at a church. All the proceeds of the function go to the church. The ticket to the dinner-dance has a fair market value of $25. When you buy your ticket, you know that its value is less than your payment. To figure the amount of your charitable contribution, you subtract the value of the benefit you receive ($25) from your total payment ($65). You can deduct $40 as a charitable contribution to the church.

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Even the U.S. government acknowledges that to gift something, there can be no benefit to you if it truly is a gift. The gift given can not result in you receiving anything in return of tangible value. If so, that portion of the gift can not be claimed on your taxes.

Thank goodness we don't get taxed on the intangible aspects of giving. Or at least until govenrment officials figure out how to tax one's heart. The intangible benefit to giving can fill one's heart and soul with greatness. A benefit that can not be measured or taxed for that matter.

Gifts to others can come in many different forms such as money, clothing, or services. I see gifting not only in those forms, but in the every day things I see others do. The holding of a door open for another person, the friendly hello or carrying the grocery bags of another. The gifts we give manifest themselves in the form of a smile or handshake.

A gift can even be in the acknowledgement of the other person. So many times we walk through our day glancing away from others. We glance away from the homeless, the jobless, the lonely or the hungry. We even glance away from those we work with or even love. Too many times we are afraid to acknowledge another because we 'might' be asked for more.

Good golly, we might need to help someone that is in need. We might even have to forgo our tired state and interact. Yet the act of giving when nothing in return is expected or even seemingly possible will give back more then you imagine. An overwhelming feeling of energy and happiness fills your being.

Psychology Today wrote, "We've all heard the old adage that it's better to give than to receive, but why this is so is less known. As will become clear, giving is a gift—not only to others, but to ourselves—because it increases the bond between us and the person to whom we have given, tells us about ourselves and generally increases our feelings of competence."

In religious terms (2 Corinthians 8 & 9), translators had used an
English word, ‘liberality’/’liberal’ (or ‘generous’ in later versions) which suggested the size or extent of the gift, to represent a Greek word haplotes/haplos, which really meant ‘sincere, simple, unaffected,’ and related to the heart attitude or motive of the giver.

So giving comes from the heart with no expectation in return. This giving comes in large ways such as huge sums of money or other assets. But the majority of giving comes in small, seemingly meaningless ways. It is the small gifts which can have such a large impact on someone's life. Their life gets impacted and in an almost undetectable way, we get impacted.

So give without expectation of getting anything in return. Give with your heart and make a difference in the life of someone. Watch your own life gain something greater and best of all, no one can place a tax on that.

Speaking From Beyond

Anita Kunz

So here I am, a full week of having meetings and lots of talking.  I mean a whole lot of talking going on.  I learned some time ago that when these types of weeks come along, forget drinking anything but lots of water.  Through out our lives we talk continuously.

If we take some averages thrown out there that women on average speak 20,000 words in a day and men only 7,000 words; I'll take an average of 13,500 words per day. If you then figure the average lifespan of a person (world average) of 68.9 years, then a person speaks roughly 338,715,000 words in a lifetime. Give or take a few words.

I then find it interesting that someone would have invented a device that will let you speak even beyond this lifetime. I kid you not, a Talking Tombstone that is described as a "Video Enhanced Gravemarker". I'm not certain how serious this is, but I would assume that once you have passed on, its time to let someone else do the talking.

We have plenty of time during our lives to say what we want. The point I'm trying to make is to make those words count. Tell someone how great they are today. Tell someone close to you how much you love them. Tell others the good things that can make their lives better.

It doesn't mean you can't correct someone or be critical at times. We do all too much of that is the problem. Find something good to say as well. Don't wait until the time runs short. My challenge to you is to finish reading this article, maybe pass it along to someone, but more importantly call someone and tell them something good about their life.

Painting Opportunity

"All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen." ~Sidney Lumet

The story is all too common, you train and train, waiting for your moment to succeed in one of a thousand different careers. You search and knock on doors, trying to get your foot inside. Nothing becomes a reality, so while the pursuit of the dream continues, you wait on tables, sell shoes or deliver pizza.

There is story similar to so many of us. Her name was Mardee Hoff, a young model in pursuit of an acting career. Time and again she tried but failed to get any auditions for acting work. So she performed many odd jobs, doing what she could to keep herself positioned.

One day she was called to model for a magazine. Someone was needed to pose for a cover painting on the Saturday Evening Post. Famed artist Norman Rockwell did many of the covers during this time period. So the job was deemed prestigous and it helped pay the rent, which was more important.

She didn't know what the pose was going to be. But again it was modeling and that was something she knew how to do. So pose for the picture, earn a paycheck and keep pursuing the acting. As luck would have it, the drawing was of a Hollywood starlet being surrounded by 1930s papparazzi.

Opportunity was close at hand, much closer then she may have expected. When the cover appeared on newsstands around the country, a door was about to open for Mardee. The phone began to ring with calls from movie companies. Eventually she came under contract with 20th Century Fox Studio.

The many failed attempts to get an audition had not been a waste. The odd jobs and modeling had not been a waste. All were preparing her for one audition she didn't fully realize was the one. The one that would place her next to a door of opportunity. She realized her dream of becoming an actress. She placed herself in alignment with opportunity that came along when she least expected it.

Opportunity holds the same door open for you. But you have to place yourself near it. You meet up with it along your path. If you do nothing, it will be rare that you meet up with opportunity. Keep moving forward, keep trying new things, keep pursuing your dream. Eventually you will meet up with opportunity and the door to your dream will open wide.

The picture of your life will get painted in an unexpected way. Life will open up before you and it will be opportunity that holds the key to that door.  Put your self near the door, prepare to meet up with it and walk through.