Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween Smiles


"You have to have a certain persona to be a star, you know, and I don't have that. I'm a banana." - Harvey Korman

A few years back on the day before Halloween night, I had spent most of the day dodging misting rain attempting But late in the afternoon I put away my paint brushes, cleaned up and donned my banana suit. For that night was the night of Trunk or Treat.

Many places have these annual events. Churches, local neighborhoods or businesses invite people to, park their car in the lot, decorate the trunks of their cars and hand out candy to all of the miniature ghosts and goblins.

My role turned out to be comic relief for the kids.

I worked the money box for the "hot dog, chips and a drink" meal we were selling to raise money for charitable events. Sitting their dressed in a banana costume, I had a difficult time convincing the small kids I was actually an apple. It appears our school system had done an excellent job teaching these kids.

There was no fooling the kids and for one enjoyable evening, I could play the fool and get others to smile and laugh. To see a smile light up the face of another person, child or adult, is truly a magical thing to see. Even if a few adults enjoyed themselves at my expense, it was well worth it.

I can smile, they can smile and the evening is a success.

Every day we have an opportunity to put a smile on someones face. It does not mean you have to put on a banana costume to do it. Many times all it takes is a smile upon your own face to cause another person to smile also. Much of the weight of a sullen day can be lifted when we smile.

For me, having been wet and moving a large ladder around all day trying to paint my house was a distant memory once the smiles started. Your own day can be lifted when you smile and pass it along to others. Do not let another day 'slip' by (Did you catch the reference to banana peels?) without putting a smile on your face and the face of countless others.

It may not solve all your problems, but it will make them a bit easier to face.

Stay inspired my friends!


Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Dancing For The Bus


If only his mind were as easy to fix as his body.” ― Han Nolan

The news story above can at first be amusing or even easily pushed aside with one excuse or another. Certainly the individual has some type of issue whether it be drug-related, just having a bad day or quite possibly a mental illness.

Many of us including myself have in some way been touched by others with mental illness. It hurts to see someone you love go through the daily struggle. And to see others brush off the affliction as if only a bandaid were needed to repair them.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), is an organization dedicated to helping people build better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

All of us can do a little bit to help as well because mental illness is just that, an illness. It is not laughing at the man dancing for the bus.

Mental Illness ― Emm Roy, The First Step

People assume you aren’t sick unless they see the sickness on your skin like scars forming a map of all the ways you’re hurting.

My heart is a prison of Have you tried?s
Have you tried exercising?
Have you tried eating better?
Have you tried not being sad, not being sick?
Have you tried being more like me?
Have you tried shutting up?

Yes, I have tried.
Yes, I am still trying, and yes, I am still sick.

Sometimes monsters are invisible, and sometimes demons attack you from the inside.
Just because you cannot see the claws and the teeth does not mean they aren’t ripping through me. Pain does not need to be seen to be felt.

Telling me there is no problem won’t solve the problem.

This is not how miracles are born.
This is not how sickness works.


Stay inspired my friends!

Friday, October 21, 2016

Blue Sky For A Dreary Day


If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, Rejoice, for your soul is alive.” - Eleanora Duse

There is a great song many of you are probably familiar with. It is called Mr. Blue Sky and was written by Jeff Lynne and performed by his group Electric Light Orchestra.

In a BBC Radio interview, Jeff Lynne talked about how he came to write this particular song. He recalls he had been staying in a Swiss chalet trying to write his bands next album after having just released their New World Record album.

As he says, "It was dark and misty for 2 weeks, and I didn't come up with a thing. Suddenly the sun shone and it was, 'Wow, look at those beautiful Alps.' I wrote Mr. Blue Sky and 13 other songs in the next 2 weeks."

Yes, a blue sky can lift and inspire when life seems most dark and dreary.

A blue sky is like the smile upon someone's face when they greet you. Kindness can make your day better. Kindness can once again make the sky blue in your life.

And while the sky might be overcast with clouds where you are, maybe I can put this song into your playlist as an act of kindness. And quite possibly make your day a "blue sky" kind of day.

Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra

Radio announcer: Warning! today's forecast calls for blue sky's
Sun is shining in the sky there ain't a cloud in sight it's stopped raining,
Everybody's in the play
And don't you know it's a beautiful new day, Hey, Hey
Running down the avenue, see how the sun shines brightly,
In the city, on the streets where once was pity,
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today, Hey, Hey

Mr.Blue Sky, please tell us why,
You had to hide away for so long (So Long),
Where did we go wrong
Mr.Blue Sky, please tell us why,
You had to hide away for so long (So Long),
Where did we go wrong

Hey, you, with the pretty face, welcome to the human race
A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waiting,
And today is the day we've waited for, Oh-Oh

Hey, there, Mr. Blue, we're so pleased to be with you,
Look around, see what you do, everybody smiles at you
Hey, there, Mr. Blue, we're so pleased to be with you,
Look around, see what you do, everybody smiles at you

Mr. Blue Sky, Blue Sky, Blue Sky, Blue Sky, Blue Sky, yi
Mr. Blue, you'll get it right, but soon comes Mr. Night,
Creepin' over, now his hand is on your shoulder,
Never mind, I'll remember you this, I'll remember you this way

Mr.Blue Sky, please tell us why,
You had to hide away for so long (So Long),
Where did we go wrong
Mr.Blue Sky, please tell us why,
You had to hide away for so long (So Long),
Where did we go wrong

Stay inspired my friends!



Thursday, October 20, 2016

Overcome The Obstacles


If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, ''Here comes number seventy-one!''” - Richard M. DeVos

When the will to overcome an obstacle in our life becomes stronger then the obstacle itself, anything is achievable.

Perseverance will take hold as you battle setbacks to achieve a dream you've placed in your heart.

Take the story of Andy Kadavy, a senior football linebacker at the University of Nebraska. He always had a dream to play for his beloved Huskers while playing high school football in his hometown of Seward, Nebraska. When a few other large schools offered him scholarships to play, he developed a belief and vision that he could also play for Nebraska.

With that vision, he decided to walk-on and attempt to make the team's roster. But during this same time he began to develop a problem in his right eye. He kept this condition from most everyone including his coaches. He struggled, he had successes but then was let go. You can read more about the details of his story on Lincoln Journal-Star.

His story is one of perseverance, of never letting go of his dream. He stayed with his goal and his circumstances changed; opportunity came again. His reward for sticking with it was a scholarship earned in his senior year of university.

He believed in his vision, he acted upon his vision and finally realized his vision.

When it comes to your dreams, your visions, your goals - persevere and you too can achieve that which you seek.

Stay inspired my friends!

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Service With A Smile


"Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow them." - Madame de Stael

In the spirit of service to others, here is a story from quite some time ago told by Andy Andrews. Andy wrote of a person who had an unending spirit to serve others. I felt it was a good story so here I reshare his story with you.

===============
===============

I met him at least eight years ago—maybe ten—on Concourse A at the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. He wore black pants and a white shirt with a black tie and bib apron. "Let me carry that for you, young man," he said, noticing the balancing act I was performing with my luggage and the tray of food from Paschal's Restaurant that included iced tea and peach cobbler. He didn't wait for me to say yes or no. The old fellow just grabbed my tray with a smile and was off, limping heavily on one leg that was obviously shorter than the other.

I followed him around the escalator to an empty group of tables I had never noticed and it was only then when I realized that he had also brought napkins, a straw, and packages of salt and pepper ... items I usually forget. With a flourish, he wiped a table, removed my plate from the tray and arranged it carefully with the napkins and the iced tea. Pulling back my chair as I hurriedly retrieved three, one-dollar bills from my pocket, he smiled and said, "God bless you." His nametag read: FOSTER.

After I had eaten, I walked back around to the food court, curious to see if this was a new service the airport had put in place. Certainly, I had never been "helped" before. I saw several other men and women dressed like my new friend, loosely assembled, and talking with each other, waiting without enthusiasm for tables to come empty. At that point, one of them would disengage from the group, clear any trash left on the table, wipe it down and return to their coworkers.

Glancing around the huge area, I quickly spotted Foster. Smiling, laughing, and moving fast, he helped one person after another. Mothers traveling alone with children or elderly people seemed to catch his eye first. He never waited to be summoned. He went where he was needed. Most were like me—shocked at the help—and looked around as if there might be a hidden camera recording this amazing event. I watched for fifteen minutes before heading to my flight and counted six people or groups of people he had helped during that time.

I was back through the Atlanta airport the next day and couldn't wait to visit the food court again. Sure enough, there he was, the old man with the big smile. He didn't have time to talk, but he helped me to a table as he had the day before (with napkins, salt and pepper, and a straw) and said, "God bless you, young man," as he held out my chair.

I had a twenty folded and ready to place in his hand that day. I was impressed and inspired by this old man who struggled to walk, yet moved like a dervish as he cleaned empty tables and looked for people to serve. From that day forward, he was Mister Foster to me.

As the years rolled by, I developed a great admiration for Mr. Foster. I saw him several times each month and introduced him to my wife and boys along with anyone else with whom I might have been traveling. "Watch this guy," I would always instruct as he left our table. "And watch that bunch of other people over there dressed just like him." The contrast was clear.

I enjoyed contributing to his financial well being—especially during the holidays—because he worked hard helping those who needed help. I never once suspected Mr. Foster was making a play for tips. In fact, though I rarely slipped him less than twenty dollars, he often made me wait while he helped someone in obvious need of assistance. And whether they offered money or not, he always smiled, held their chairs and said, "God bless you."

And then he was gone.

About eighteen months ago, unable to find my friend in the crowd, I asked the ladies at Paschal's, "Where is Mr. Foster today?"

"Fired," they told me.

"What?" I asked, not believing what I had heard.

"That's right," the ladies all nodded. "They fired him. Humiliated him. Sent the man home!"

"Who fired him?" I said, stopping the buffet line in its tracks. "And for what?"

The Atlanta Airport Authority, I was told, had determined that Mr. Foster had become "a distraction". They ordered him to stop helping people. "Stand with everyone else," he was told, "and wait for the tables to empty like you are supposed to. You are a busboy…act like one."

But who can act like a busboy when your heart tells you that you're so much more? He couldn't and he didn't and they fired him.

A few months later, he was back (happy as ever) on a trial basis. But I never again let him carry my tray. I did, however, continue with the twenties. And the fifties. And sometimes more. He took the money because I made him take it. I was mad for him and he knew it. His "God bless you's" often came to me with a tear. His spirit was gone.

Today, I went by Paschal's—Concourse A in the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. Before I could even ask, one of the ladies on the serving line spotted me. "I been expecting you," she said. "Mr. Foster's gone. He quit. He told 'em he was old and sick and couldn't do the work no more." Then she cocked her head and added with a whisper, "He ain't sick. There ain't nothing broken about that old man."

Nope, I thought as I turned away, there ain't nothing broken about that old man. Nothing but his heart.

Mr. Foster, I miss you. I am one among many who do, I suspect. So wherever you are ... God bless you.

===================

Try to serve others in whatever capacity you can. Do not because you have to but because you want to. You will be remembered for years to come and have made the world a little bit better place for others and yourself.

Stay inspired my friends.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Make Them Laugh


If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.” ― Robert Frost

Donald O'Connor had an amazing dancing ability and was a joy to watch.



Maybe today we can relax from the toil of politics and circumstance.

Maybe today we can just laugh.

Stay inspired my friends!

Monday, October 17, 2016

Serving To Be Served


He who wants to be served must first know how to serve.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

Having a positive attitude, overcoming your own issues and serving others is something all of us can do. If you think about it, the thing which helps you get through bad days is the servitude of others.

What does it mean to serve others?

In his book The Spirit To Serve - Marriott's Way, J.W. Marriott states that a core purpose is, "to make people away from home feel that they are among friends and are really wanted." These simple words are how you can approach every day interacting with other people.

At a sporting event, your job or even the grocery store.

This idea does not confine itself to your own home or workplace. It could be said anywhere you go, the space you flow through is your home. Being in any place at any time means you can make another person feel welcomed and wanted. So many of us travel through life with blinders on to those around us. We should become an open and friendly person in everything we do.

Everyday and everywhere.

Sure its tough to always be cheerful and friendly. Yet the more you do it, the more you will see others open up to help you when you are having a bad day as well. Not long ago, I was on a trip far from home. It had been raining and I was not particularly pleased to be here.

But then a man offered me his umbrella in order to get to my car.

Nothing was asked of in return, a smile and a thank you as he moved towards his car. A simple act of kindness to make me feel a bit more at home and to ease my day. So I carried forward his kindness to others. Make it a good day for someone.

And stay inspired my friends!

Friday, October 14, 2016

4th and Go


"To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing." - Unknown

Two teams were in overtime, playing a heated rivalry football game. The score was knotted together at twenty-three to twenty-three with plenty of momentum on one side. The offense had fallen upon a fourth down with less than one yard to go for a first down. The ball was on their own thirty yard line.

Easy decision was to punt and wait for another chance.

Hard decisions require us to try and go for it.


If they made a first down, momentum would have clearly swung their way. If not, the opposing team would be in a position to win. The teams lined up, excitement grew as the quarterback barked out the call. Huge men came crashing together trying to outdo each other.

The running back took hold of the ball and ran into the mix of bodies, trying to search out those few precious feet. But it was not going to happen. He was stopped short of the first down marker, short of the goal that would allow them to continue.

The opposing team had stopped them on "4th and 1" and went on to kick a game winning field goal. One team victorious and another defeated.

All of this drama played out for a mere two or three feet.


Sometimes we get that close to our own goals in life. One, two or three feet is all which separates us from achievement. As we make our final push to cross over that line, we get pushed back, defeated and rejected.

It seems during those few moments all is lost.

But not all is lost, there is hope. There is strength in knowledge of what went wrong. There is greatness in moving forward and trying again. The obstacles in life we face sometimes get the better of us. Even when we felt we were unstoppable and had the greatest of confidence in our own ability, the opposition will win sometimes.

So you withdraw, replan and reattack the goal.

You jump back into it with new experience and understanding. You keep trying.

Stay inspired my friends!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Who Decides


"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
- Abraham Lincoln

Everyday we are faced with decisions that need to be made and obligations that must be agreed to or kept.

The obvious ones include getting up in the morning and choosing to go into work or school. The harder decisions might be staying in a particular job or what career to pursue after completing your time in school.

It requires having responsibility; to ourselves and to others.

The easy to do is to put off until tomorrow those things which we find hard or uncomfortable to deal with. Doing so only delays the inevitable and can many times make the results much harder to accept.

Responsibility means taking accountability for your actions and decisions.

Many people will use excuses to side step accountability. It was someone else's fault, there is no way I could have done such a thing or I am not capable enough. Certainly there will be times when things are out of your control or simply outside the bounds of your capacity.

Do not get caught in the trap of using excuses as a crutch to side step responsibility. Accept responsibility for who you are and the life you live. It will make both today and tomorrow a better place.

Stay inspired my friends!


Monday, October 10, 2016

Set Your Sails

From SoftPicks

"Every great discovery I ever made, I gambled that the truth was there, and then I acted in faith until I could prove its existence." - Arthur H. Compton

Every great discovery in your life, everything you believe about yourself, can only be achieved by having faith until you prove it. We do not simply achieve something without first envisioning and believing in it until we obtain the end result.

So many times we want to bypass all belief and simply achieve. We want to be walking along the beach and find gold coins washed up on the shore. Or maybe that we wake up one day and have everything we want suddenly there for us.

All of those methods are wishful thinking.

What can happen is we grab hold of a vision and believe in it. Christopher Columbus had a vision that the world was not flat. He believed sailing due west would cause him to find a new trade route to India.

So he set out with three ships and ninety men on Aug. 3, 1492 from Palos, Spain.

On October 11, 1492, he spotted the Caribbean Islands southeast of what is known now as North America.

It was a vast ocean of unknown for Columbus and it is the same vast ocean you will encounter when setting out upon your own discovery. Believing and adjusting along the way will eventually lead you to something newly discovered. for you see, Columbus did not find the trade route to India.

He found something new.

The same will happen to you.

What you first set out to discover may not be what you thought it would be. But the discovery will be what is correct and right for you. So set your sails for discovery and believe in your dreams. You will find a treasure that is far greater than you first thought.

Stay inspired my friends!

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Little Bit Happier


We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” - Frederick Keonig

We have those moments on the weekend, maybe during the evening or a vacation to relax a little bit. We take the time to enjoy rest, family, friends and to simply unwind from many of our cares.

The tendency is to enjoy the weekend but not the week day.

One could suppose this is due to work and the rush of responsibility. Yet why not be happy every day of the week. Maybe let some of those minor cares get set aside every day of the week.

Lighten your worries and let them go.

There is a simple song by Bobby McFerrin titled 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. The song was inspired by Meher Baba (1894-1969) who had often used an expression by the same name when writing to his friends and followers. It was later on in the 1960's when his well used expression was printed up on inspirational cards and posters.


It was in 1988 that the songwriter Bobby McFerrin noticed a similar poster in the apartment of the jazz band Tuck Patti in San Francisco. He was inspired by the charm and simplicity of it and sat down to write his now famous song.

In an interview Bruce Fessier did for USA Weekend Magazine in 1988 McFerrin said, "Whenever you see a poster of Meher Baba, it usually says 'Don't worry, be happy,' which is a pretty neat philosophy in four words, I think."

All of us should try to be a little happier in life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Deception In Place Of Truth


Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.” ― Walter Scott

The fall season officially started on September 22nd of this year and in many places people are starting to experience the cooling weather patterns. Of course this would be in the northern hemisphere with spring coming to those south of the equator.

Every year people look forward to the cooling temperatures after suffering the heat of summer. The autumn colors of leaves on the trees, shorter days and pumpkin spiced latte drinks all signal a change.

Knowing that a bitter winter lurks behind the fall season.

We tell ourselves the cooler weather is a joyous thing while knowing the harsh and brutal cold of winter comes quickly. It is a lazy lie we tell ourselves that winter will not be of any consequence. Maybe we have forgotten the lessons of the prior winter.

Deceiving ourselves often enough that it can become our truth.

There are many times we tell other lazy lies about our past. We exaggerate on topics of athletics, of education, of ability or beliefs. We tell ourselves that we have learned the lessons of the past but we fail to enact those lessons learned.

This is the point at which we lie to ourselves and make excuses for not having learned those lessons. We fool ourselves into believing we have it figured out but in reality we are repeating the same mistakes, same missteps and same failures.

Knowing that a bitter winter of pain lurks behind the lazy lie.

The lies we tell ourselves or others only mask the inevitable. They result in harsher pain when the truth is revealed. And what of the pain in trying to hold together the lie when freedom exists in the truth. So soon it will come to bear.

Do not deceive yourself or others around you. The knots which hold together the lifeline of lies are weak and insecure. Build your life upon truth and wisdom gained from our past. Do not allow a lazy lie to get in the way of a great life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Monday, October 03, 2016

Moving On From Regret


"You have to forgive yourself for everything you do in your life because you made that decision based on what was happening at that instant."
- William Shatner

The definition of regret varies slightly from one place to the next. Most commonly it means to experience regret on account of; to lose or miss with a sense of regret; to feel sorrow or dissatisfaction on account of (the happening or the loss of something); as, to regret an error; to regret lost opportunities or friends.

Regret is really your conscience speaking to you.

It means going over what you have or have not done relative to some incident or event. The regret part comes along when you decide internally that you should have done something different.

Many times our regret happens in the fresh light of new information or in hindsight. We usually have at that point the benefit of having seen the results or outcome. But what happens is we will beat ourselves up with regret and not get past it.

Do not misunderstand, regret serves a purpose.

It serves a purpose in evaluating what we have or have not done in life. But we can not allow it to chain us down from ever moving forward. William Shatner tells the following story in an interview with Men's Journal as an example.

"I lived close enough to where Marlon Brando lived that I could have walked to his house. I always wanted to talk to him. Never did. I knew a lot of people in common with Laurence Olivier. I could have talked to him. Never did. I know they would have taken my call. I could have taken them to lunch. But because I thought they might not, I didn't do it. I wish I had."

This story gives us insight to a couple of things; one is that regret serves a purpose of learning a lesson from the experience. The second is we need to move on with this new learned experience. We learn from examining our regret on how things happened.

You should not linger on regret though.

You made decisions based upon what you knew or thought you knew at the time. Now you have more understanding from having learned from the experience. Just do not allow the regret of a bad decision hold you back from making another decision.

New found revelation or knowledge allows you to grow.

Make that phone call, send that letter or change your behavior. Break the chain of regret that holds you back in life. It is a heavy stone that can be made into a perfect stone for your path in life. Lay it down and move on to greater things.

Stay inspired my friends!

Friday, September 30, 2016

100 New Steps


Normal is an ideal. But it’s not reality. Reality is brutal, it’s beautiful, it’s every shade between black and white, and it’s magical. Yes, magical. Because every now and then, it turns nothing into something.” ― Tara Kelly

Life has its moments for all of us. I like to call it 'going through a season' to describe these changes. And like all moments it might be momentary or permanent in the impact it has on our daily life.

There is nothing normal in life. It is just life.

For me, I was able to complete my latest book and make it available to the public. It is a collection of my writings called 100 NEW STEPS, available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.

Yes, I would appreciate your comments on my new book, but I will say it was an effort to get this book out due to changes in my job. A lot more travel, responsibility and exciting changes now that EMC has been acquired by Dell Technologies. Exciting changes, exciting opportunity, but a new season is upon me.

And quite actually, I am fine with all of it.

What it effectively means is less time for writing each day. Less time to spend writing things that might have a positive impact on each of you. So it was important for me to get my latest book out there to help fill the gaps in my daily writing.

It means I need to find time to continue writing my next book, a semi-fictional story tentatively titled SEAT 12B. I have set my own deadline of spring 2017, just in time for the travel season. It is a story I am sure you will enjoy if I can adjust to my new season.

I will adjust as we all do.

Changes are going to occur for all of us. Job, relationships, money, health, and just about any other possibility can alter what we believe our 'normal' life is. So it becomes important to accept the changes, adjust to them and keep a positive outlook on your new life experiences.

What my hope for each of you is that you make the adjustment. That each of you can find the strength to enjoy your new normal. And that whatever comes your way, life will remain an event you enjoy because life is great gift we have been given.

May all your moments be more joyous than not.

Stay inspired my friends!

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Let It Go


"You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present circumstances unless you change." - Les Brown

A single act that occurs to you can set the tone for your entire day, if you choose to let it. Those seemingly small 'slights' are thrust upon you by another person such as getting cut off in traffic.

This happened to me recently at a two lane right-turn when a person in the righthand turn lane decided to get in a hurry. They moved over into my lane as I was turning and nearly hit me. Now out of all the articles I've written, life happens and you should just let it go. But of course I could not do that for a few minutes.

How could this person do this? What a jerk and all those other thoughts developed in my mind. Physically I could tell it was upsetting me but I identified it and began a series of thought processes to bring me back from that low point.

First identify that is has upset and is effecting you.

Secondly, ask yourself why you are reacting in this manner.

Third, begin to think about how you are going to let it effect the rest of your day.

If you decide to hold onto it and let it fester, the rest of the day is going to be miserable. so let it go and chalk it up to simple human interaction. There was no real harm, so no real foul and you both move on. The problem is if you do not, it will impact how you deal with others during the day and can have disastrous results.

Letting it go will free you to move on and have a productive day.

Stay inspired my friends!


Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Superstition Mountains


"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." - Bertrand Russell

In the heat of an Arizona summer, one thing remains present in the not too far off in the distance. The towering figure of The Superstition Mountains looms greatly across the scrub and cactus landscape. These mountains seem to float on the water logged mirage which stretches across the horizon. These mountains are named for reasons which have only small amounts of fact in them.

It is in the lack of knowledge where superstition can grow. Ignorance can lead to fear which in the end creates an inability to move forward in your life. It is in superstition that fear will feed upon itself and upon you.

In order to move ahead in life, one has to get beyond the fear of whatever invades your life. You must get beyond the superstition that holds you back from achieving more. It is an obstacle not easily overcome but it can be overcome.

Once you loosen those chains of fear, you will be free to overcome the mountain of doubt in your mind.

You will conquer those mountains and the view you will see is astounding.

Stay inspired my friends!

Friday, September 16, 2016

Finding Home


A person does not grow from the ground like a vine or a tree, one is not part of a plot of land. Mankind has legs so it can wander.
Roman Payne, The Wanderess

The lives of people are impacted by the circumstances they are born into, the choices they might have made, or by the changing conditions of society. And the decisions we make create the person we become.

We can become bound by our roots.

The life we come from when born and our ancestry can shape us tremendously. How we move through life and the stakes we place in the ground as we grow older can cause a settling of our footing. We become rooted believing nothing else need be done.

If we can establish a firm footing, a comfortable hold on the life we live, we can also use those feet to examine and find where we come from. To help confirm or complete the circle of who we are, we search for home.

To find who we were before who we are now.

I have a story of an American, a long time ago refugee from Hungary who escaped along with his father and brother in 1957. A secret escape during the Hungarian Revolution as the Soviets moved to crush any and all opposition.

His mother had died some short years previous to this escape to freedom. His belief for so many years had been that his mother's family wanted nothing to do with his father, brother or himself. This was a story strangely perpetrated by his father's new wife.

Reasons are often never understood.

From that early February day in 1957, he never had contact with his mother's family in Hungary. It included a few years of no contact prior to leaving the country and emigrating to a new life and country.

Yet the questions lingered for many years as this boy grew into a smart, strong and successful man. He was like many other people working hard to build a life, raise a family and reach his dreams and goals.

Questions left unanswered.

In mid-1998, he and his wife made a trip back to Hungary; a journey of discovery and sentimentality. He wanted to find and visit the grave site of his mother who had died at the young age of thirty from cancer. He had lost his mother at the age of seven and this trip home was to come a bit closer to her memory.

The trip was guided by a cousin from his father's side of the family. They found their way to the cemetery and to the office for information of where the grave was located. After forty years, to see his mother's resting place, they found their way to the grave site.

Surprise hidden by the many years.

What they encountered was a well-tended plot and markers for her parents who had died many years after her. With a lack of knowing how or why the grave sites were so well tended, back to the office they went to find out who might have been responsible for the grave; an age-old practice is to pay a fee every 10 years.

The office was only able to provide an address in a nearby town, but no name. With this information they set off to discover an answer to who could have been tending to his mother's grave. Eventually they found themselves parked across the street from the address given to them at the cemetery office.

Would they want to see me.

From here I allow the man's wife to carry on the story.

His cousin got out of the car and started walking across the street to two women who were talking by the driveway gate. My husband remained in the car and I asked, astonished, "Why aren't you going with him?" and the response was "I'm not sure they will want to see me.

The story he had known all those years was that his mother's family had not and would not want anything to do with him.

I said "Of course they will want to see you!" and urged him to go. He slowly got out of the car, then started across the street. By this time his cousin had introduced himself and was explaining who we were. I heard a shriek and my husband started running across the street.

One of the women was his aunt, who was only seven years old when he was born. She had babysat the young boys when their mother was sick and for a short time after she died. There were tears all around and hugs galore.


As this man's wife explained, "People used to ask us 'Why Hungary?' I daresay many people cannot possibly understand what it means to have given up your homeland because it wasn't safe to stay, and the resulting longing for family, the sounds of your native tongue, and connections with your earliest memories."

We can establish roots without getting stuck in the hardened clay. We can go home once again and find answers to whom we have become.

Keep seeking home, keep seeking who you are and stay inspired my friends.

Stay inspired my friends!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

A Stalk Of Fennel


"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." - Terry Pratchet

There is an old Greek mythology story of how man was given fire. It is the story of Prometheus and his yearning to help mankind in spite of the ruling gods.

Prometheus would say, "Ah, how very poor and wretched they were!" He found them living in caves and in holes of the earth, shivering with the cold because there was no fire, dying of starvation, hunted by wild beasts and by one another.

Their lives were not a well lived life.

To accomplish his task, Prometheus created a distraction amongst the gods. He took a stalk of fennel with its center filled with a dry, soft pith which would burn slowly and could keep on fire a long time and stole fire from Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire.

When he returned to the place where immortal men lived, he found them cold and damp in their caves and it was here that he built a fire for them. He then began to teach them how to warm themselves and how to build other fires from the burning coals. Soon all men and women gathered and were warm and happy.

All were thankful for the wonderful gift.

It was not long until they learned to cook their food and to eat their food like men instead of like beasts. They began to leave their wild and savage ways. Instead of hiding in dark places, they came out into the light; into the bright sunlight, and were happy because life had been given to them.

We too can light a fire for other people.

When we inspire others to greater things, the fire we set ablaze in their hearts will warm all of life around them. We can carry the fire to others by the kindness, the compassion and the desire to make life better for all of those around us.

We can be the ember from the stalk of fennel which brings others out in to the goodness of light and a well lived life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

What Seeds Are You Planting


"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
- Og Mandino

Yesterday was an opportunity to do something good.
You had an opportunity to plant a thought of kindness.
You had an opportunity to do something good for another person.
You had an opportunity to set the world in motion towards something better.

That same opportunity exists today.
You can plant a thought of kindness.
You can do something good for another person.
You can set the world in motion towards something better.

Plant today and harvest the goodness tomorrow.

Stay inspired my friends.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Biggest Fish Ever


The hype cheapens the hyped, as right things are then made wrong by exaggeration.” ― Criss Jami

ex·ag·ger·a·tion: A statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is. The action of making statements that represent something as better or worse than it really is. Other words one could use are; overstatement, overemphasis, magnification, amplification, aggrandizement.

Is exaggeration the simple method of trying to get your point across?

Most of the time it is used to take an innocuous event and describe it in such a way as to prove a point or state a position? In many cases, doing so can make you look dishonest and manipulative to those who see through your exaggeration.

The use of it often times will backfire, causing people to dismiss your point even if it might be true. Yet many times exaggeration is used because the actual truth is not supported by the actual truth. Using hyperbole might create a certain air of belief but in fact it is only a sly attempt to deceive.

Do you post outrageous memes on social media in order to make your political point?
Do you declare every restaurant or meal you have had the most awesome of all?
Do you see your belief as the one truth of all the truth out there?

How many more times will it take before people simply start tuning out and stop listening to you? Will you ever have the capability to give people a reason to change their minds when all you do is bombard them with the hyperbole of exaggerated truth?

In the end, you are more trustworthy if you are more accurate in your stated evaluations. People will listen and consider your argument more often instead of tuning out. You will become better understood in the long run. A simple statement as close to the truth as you can make it will do more than the creation of noise.

Stay inspired my friends!