My Faith In You

"Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof." -Khalil Gibran

Just having one of those weeks and if not for my wonderful wife Laura...just not sure what I would do. Stay inspired my friends.

Impact Globally By Impacting Locally

"It's stunning to me what kind of an impact even one person can have if they have the right passion, perspective and are able to align the interest of a great team." -Steve Case

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact you have on others? Stopped and really thought how your words and actions can change lives?

It happens each and every day you get up from your bed. The way you tell your wife and children good morning can set the tone for their day. It can set the tone for your day. The way in which you interact with people that come in and out of your day impacts them and you in subtle and not so subtle ways.

Impacting people globally

The idea of how we can have a positive effect upon others came up in a recent conversation. I was being asked about two people my wife and I know. These two people, Dave and Annie, are moving to Brazil in order to greatly change the lives of people in that part of the world.

Both of these people are young retirees from the normal everyday jobs that all of us take on in life. It wasn't a lottery winning that prompted them but opportunity for change. They grabbed at this change which now places them on a path to have a huge impact in Curitiba, Brazil and many other parts of Brazil. It is a global reach beyond our own doorsteps here in Atlanta.

The Jewish Rabbi, Harold Kushner is quoted as saying, "Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness." It is my belief that doing these things simply provides us with the side benefit of happiness. Not only happiness for ourselves but also for those we touched. Reaching out beyond your own door and into the lives of others is what creates a great life.

Impacting people locally

So going back to the discussion I was having, this person questioned the impact oneself could have. The global impact Dave and Annie are going to have is something they could not fathom in themself. It reminded me of a phrase I have heard in various forms most of my life. "Where ever you are, there you are. So it is, you can have an impact anywhere you are."

You see the location of where Dave and Annie are going to be is but one small part of the world. Where they are going to be is where they will be impacting lives. The same can be true right here in Atlanta, down the street at the grocery store, at work, and even in your own home. "Where you are is where you can have impact on others."

Impacting people collectively

I was asked why do we call it a global impact then? How is it that what I do locally here have an impact around the world? The answer comes in the ripples of life that connect all of us. I have written of this before in how your life touches others in ways you may never realize.

The ripple of a stone dropped in the water creates a wave that washes a sea shell upon the shore to brighten a childs day when found. That child is filled with excitement and wonderment. The child is spurred to discover more about the ocean, becoming a famous marine biologist such as Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Your impact here, locally, becomes a part of the collective wave around the world. Your impact ripples to points that will touch the ripples created by Dave and Annie. It is the collective nature of these waves that have a global impact. That is how we have a global impact when we impact people locally.

So keep doing good things locally, wherever it is that you are...for that is where you impact globally. Stay inspired my friends.

Seasons of Life

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." -Hal Borland

It started on March 20 at 1:14 A.M. U.S. EDT when most of us were sleeping soundly in our beds. Quietly the season passed from winter into spring, or so it seemed. This particular year it seemed as though the clocks were busting to jump forward into spring.

Winter was hardly an event in most places, with the exception of central Europe. I can attest to some of what happened there. But for most, winter just didn't hold our attention too much. The spring weather just couldn't be contained.

Anticipate Great Things

Through the course of winter and spring, we know that we have no control over the weather. No more can we cause a wintry blast of cold and snow than cause the flowers to pop in wondrous colors. All we can do is accept and take enjoyment from what is presented to us.

I myself am no fan of winter's cold and snow. For so many years growing up, the shoveling of snow, the donning of heavy coats; none of that appealed to me. I always anticipated the arrival of spring, sometimes excited only to have winter sneak in a last blizzard of snow and cold.

The one redeeming thing is that I always knew that this too would pass. Whatever the weather, season or situation, things would eventually change. It happens with everything because you can not contain change.

Seasons of Life

We have seasons in our own lives that mimic your own view of the seasons. Winter can be unfairly seen as the darkest and most lifeless time of life. For others it is full of magical beauty. Spring becomes the start of new life and hope.

I could make a case for the summer of our lives or even my favorite season which is autumn. All four seasons are nature's cycle of life and we are tied to nature. So it stands to reason that we will go through seasons in our own lives. There will be the good, the bad, renewed hope and the shedding of the old.

While we can not always control the seasons that occur in our life, we can control how we respond to them. For winter's cold embrace, I marveled at the moonlit nights shimmering across the snow. For spring it is the budding of the barren trees as they filled in to shade the ground below. Summer is life in perfect motion and autumn with its bursting colors even while dying leaves drifted slowly to the ground.

You have the ability to control your own reaction and attitude to the seasons in your life. While we may not enjoy the bad things that happen to us, we can take solace in what beauty does exist in the situation. We can hold hope that a springtime will happen. We can know that a perfect summer will once again return.

Stay inspired my friends and enjoy the seasons of your life.

Pollen Speaks Life

"The nature of a flower is to bloom." -Alice Walker

Spring appears to have come early to the Atlanta, Georgia area. Very much like the rest of the United States, a mild winter is quickly turning into spring like weather. In fact we might just skip it and go directly to summer.

With the warm weather though comes the heavy dusting of pollen from the pine trees. This yellowish dusting is the most obvious sign although not the most annoying to with allergies. Many of the other plants with their unseen pollen invades the nostrils and lungs.

I am fortunate enough not to be bothered by allergies. But for those that are, this is a very tough time of the year. Why we have pollen is actually uplifting in my view. But to understand why, we must ask...

What is pollen?

Simply put, pollen is the powdery, dusty substance found within flowering plants. The pollen is necessary for the fertilization of like plants so that new seeds can develop, scatter and create more plants. Sounds very similar to those old high school biology classes we sat in.

The reason I find pollen so uplifting is the phrase, "so that new seeds can develop." In other words, new life is born of this process. Without it, the backyards, fields and open land would be barren. The earth would be pretty much void of anything living.

The same can be said of the words you speak into your life and the lives of others. What you say can spring forth good things in life, or they can cause harm and wither you where you stand.

• Think of good words as good pollen.
• Think of bad words as mutated pollen.

When you speak good things into your life and others, those words spark new life inside. They form with everything that is good and cause a reaction that force new growth inside of you. And like pollen, the wind and your voice will carry those words to those around you. Your words (good or bad) will pollinate inside the lives of those nearby.

• If you speak negativity and failure around your children, that is what will grow inside of them.
• If you speak positive and uplifting words, they will grow in a world of success and goodness.

We are very much like the flower, we are meant to bloom. When a flower opens its petals to release its pollen, our words drift from our speech upon others. And like the flower, we can either leave a yellowish dust to be scorned by people. Or we can spread our words quietly, silently and create new hope and birth in the lives of others.

During this season I will say "gesundheit" for all of the sneezing you might encounter. But I will also say "inspire" others with your words and don't stop when the pollen season ends.