Look Inside For Talent

"Go and do your gift everyday." - Phil Pringle, Meditations

Watch all of those television commercials while relaxing during the evening after work. You will hear announcer carnival barking the next great thing we need in our life. Truly amazing how good they are at their jobs, a gift no doubt.

The "Easy Jet Water Cannon", "One Piece Dryer Ball", and even a "Three Speaker Rodent Repeller" are must have products. There are so many things materially, monetary, job, or relationship related that we get pumped up to want. Eventually we become immune to what we have already and end up only wanting.

We also tend to forget what we already have inside of us.

It is a talent of some sort that if we don't look inward, we will never see it. The gift will get blurred by the want of other things. And it is a talent so unique because it is your talent. It must also be nurtured and brought out into the light of day.

Once a talent is recognized and understood, it can be shared with others. As you develop your talent, draw yourself to others who can help you build upon it.

The quality of those we surround our self with reflect the advice and life we get. Same is the quality of water you drink is only as good as the quality of the well drawn from. The well needs to be tended and cared for or it will fall into disrepair. A poor well will only create sickness and misery.

Surrounding yourself with good people, the water drawn will refresh you.

Do what you can to shut out the unnecessary noise and wants of life. Concentrate on the gift which already exists inside. Use your gift everyday and see how much your world expands.

Stay inspired my friends!

Revealing Heart

"The heart does not lie." - Vittorio Alfieri

Our true self is revealed by the actions of our heart.

No more true does this happen then when we have difficult times in our life.

In Sanskrit, the “heart” is referred to as Hridayam which means, “Here is the Center”. Hridayam or the Heart in this definition is thought of as the center of our existence. In ancient Eastern texts and scriptures, the heart is talked about in the context of physical health, mental health, spiritual health and vitality.

It is rare if ever we ask, “What is in your brain?”.

It is possible we might ask, “What is on your mind?”

Neither of these statements have the warmth of asking “What is in your heart?”

If we ask someone, “what is in your heart,” we are looking for true and direct communication with the other person. You might call this having a "heart to heart talk.” Which means having an open, truthful and mutually respectful conversation.

It is said the term heart literally means truth.

When we want to know the truth, we go to the heart of the matter. When I say to someone, “I want to speak my heart”, it means I want to speak my truth. I want to give my true feelings.

Jill Sweetman, Counselor and Life Coach, has said "Tough times expose our true heart." This is true and the nature of our heart is less surprising if we examine our own heart. It means looking inside and understanding what and who we are.

One's true heart will reveal itself eventually.

More times than not it does so during times when we are having difficulty. If your true heart is weak and hard, there is work to do in order to strengthen it. We prepare ourselves by understanding who we are. And it is our heart which reveals the true person inside of us.

Stay inspired my friends!

What Lay Inside

"Appearances are often deceiving." - Aesop

How do you overcome the outward appearance of things?

Do you try to see what is truly inside?

The picture above is a place across the street from a hotel I stayed at in Boston. It is called called Kings and the picture makes the place look quite a bit better then it did during my stay.

When you come up on it, you wonder how did they fit a bowling alley into a parking garage. As the door opens, stairs angle downward and you realize you are going into a basement. The first time in, you begin to ask if you made the right choice.

You then find room upon room. There are three separate bar areas, two separate bowling areas and one large billiards room. All quite nice and enjoyable. Our group spent two evenings there having a great time. As I am not a food or entertainment critic, I will stop with the glowing report. What I will say is that its outward appearance was not what we found inside.

There was so much more then what appeared on the outside.

The same can be said for people we meet. Each of us carry a certain outward appearance. From the down on his luck disheveled look to even the most well-groomed looking gentleman, we each have more on the inside. As it was, the convention I was attending with over 7000 people brought all shapes and sizes of folks. This wide variety of people are very similar to the people we meet each day. Each connection with another person is a new opportunity to discover what is inside.

The folks I meet each day adds a huge variety to my experiences. People bring great new things into my life. These people do the same for you with each connection you make. Each day you have an opportunity to look beyond the outward appearance of someone.

Go deeper and find something that exists inside of people.

"Don't judge a book by its cover" rings true and is not just a cute saying. If you look beyond the covering, you might discover a new friend who has so much to share.

Open the door of the bowling alley door or life of another person; discover what lay inside.

Stay inspired my friends.

Real Change

"Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical." ~ Sophia Loren

Some years ago, the city of Atlanta (Georgia, USA) had a problem on its hands. A busy street on the southeast side of downtown had become quite notorious for crime, prostitution and drugs. Such a shame because Stewart Avenue was a functional and friendly area many years prior to that.

As time progressed and attitudes changed, this once nice place to live became a haven of trouble. Things got so bad, the city of Atlanta made the decision to clean things up. Their first step was to take Stewart Avenue and rename it Metropolitan Parkway. The name was chosen to highlight wonderful institutions of higher education that held the street as their address (Atlanta Metropolitan College and Atlanta Technical College).

There you have it, change the name and all is better right?

Not hardly, change takes a lot more work and effort.

This stretch of road still has many issues and change that needs to occur. It is something very similar to what needs to happen inside each of us. When we make a decision to correct a behavior or obstacle in our life, change has to happen on the inside. We can not simply change our hair-do, clothing style or name; we have to change our attitude within. It takes determined work to make real change in our life.

Think of it as a house which has developed a termite issue. You can repaint the walls inside and out, but if you don't take care of the actual problem inside the wall, there will be continued destruction. Old habits and old destructive friends have a way of sneaking back into our lives very much like a termite inside the walls of a house.

When you decide to make change inside, the choices will be tough. You will need to leave old friends behind. Even the National Football League here in the United States provides lessons for new rookie football players to help them with these changes. Some of the lessons are to disassociate with some of your old friends that may try to hold you back.

The same can be said for anything you do in changing your life.  There are those that wish to remain behind and will instinctively try to keep you down with them or cling to you like termites in the foundation of your house.

Real change requires more than a name change, more than a new coat of paint.

Real change requires effort to change what is inside of you.

Once you find and create real beauty within, real change will occur on the outside.

Stay inspired my friends.

The Fire Inside

“Abruptly the poker of memory stirs the ashes of recollection and uncovers a forgotten ember, still smoldering down there, still hot, still glowing, still red as red.” ~ William Manchester

This is a story that comes from a former church Pastor of mine. He was was speaking to a large group of men about re-igniting their lives. And as the story goes, many years ago he was attending a beach-side conference which always held a very large bonfire at conference end.

In the days leading up to the conference, folks involved with putting on the event had built a huge pile of wood and timbers. This was going to be a very large fire for those gathered. Think Burning Man Festival size fire but at a church related event.

As the conference began, the rains began with it. There was rain pouring down for two to three days. Through out the week it was soaking everything including the wood being piled high for the final night bonfire. Of course the final night came, the rains had ceased and everyone had expectations of a grand fire.

As you would guess, the wood was wet and the days sunshine had not dried it fully. So organizers and good intentioned folks began gathering anything flammable. They found newspaper, dry brush and lots of matches were consumed trying to get this bonfire burning bright.

Then out of the corner of Steve's eye, he sees a person coming with a large fuel can, gasoline one would expect, letting the liquid fly towards the pile. It was estimated this person had two or more gallons of the highly flammable liquid.

To no one's surprise, there were a few small embers from the failed attempts to fully ignite the wood pile. Those embers were still glowing within the pile of wood, newspaper and twigs. I am sure you have seen what happens with gasoline. The fumes are flammable and all it takes it a small spark or ember to ignite it completely.

An instant solar flare occurred which lit up the entire coastline. News reports indicate ships off-shore thought it was a light beacon. So intense that...well, you get the picture.

The amazing thing about this story is all it took was one small flame.

One small spark or ember to change everything.

Something so small and singular in purpose we somehow forget that it exists, but it does exist. It exists in each of us, deep inside where we have forgotten it.

That one small flame glows, just waiting for you to throw something on it. To let it ignite your life and explode into something great. Oh yes, it does exist and all it takes is that one small flame. A small touch or a small amount of movement to change your life.

Stay inspired my friends.

Look Inside To Get Outside

"There are deep, changeless connections inside of us that help us to manage change. Part of our inner self-care involves remembering those very loving people who will always inspire us with their values and courage." - Steve Brunkhorst

There are days days in which nothing seems to go correctly. All of the world seems to be crushing down upon you with no end in sight.

Each of us know those days will happen and that those days will be overcome. Yet while we are in the midst of all the havoc, it is difficult to keep our heads up and see past the current situation.

Take the man suddenly losing his job for reasons out of his control, trying to find new employment, yet every step being hindered by circumstance. Those 'hindrances' seem much like a concerted effort to keep him down.

What of the woman with young children, finally seeing her way out of an abusive relationship, only to find the going very tough. Wondering each hour if she made the right decision, looking at her kids and trying to find answers.

Each person must find some level of inspiration to keep them moving forward. It takes good and supportive people to be in their lives, but it takes an inner strength to remain positive.

This is when you must look to those around you that can inspire with love and encouragement. To give give you the courage, the strength and the will to keep moving forward towards a better life.

Look inside to the good things that have always been in and remain in your life.

Work through the pain and doubt while you gather up those good things.

Build a better future while using the support of others. Then go out and inspire others, it all comes back to you eventually.

As always, stay inspired my friends.

Ordinary People

"I believe in the power of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. So look for in people the talents and possibilities they possess." -Unknown

Each of us have varying talents and abilities. Throughout your day, you will be bumped, annoyed, flustered, angered or even insulted by other people. Your first reaction will be the most important thing you will have for the moment. This is because we tend to judge each other by first impressions and many of these 'firsts' can cloud our ability to see the true person.

You want others to see the real you, the talented and good person that you are is sometimes not seen in that first impression. The true test comes when you are challenged to see the possibilities in others. When you get bumped, annoyed, flustered, angered or even insulted by other people, will you look beyond the first impression?

If you can see the talents and possibilities others possess, then just maybe they will see yours. Believe in the power of ordinary people, believe in your self...so much more exists when we look past first impressions.

Stay inspired my friends and have a great weekend.

The Fire Inside

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." -Arnold H. Glasow

I have heard it said that when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. You can't wait for others to come along each time to light it for you. There needs to be a mechanism from within that you can use to re-ignite your passion.

Too many times we run out of steam in our pursuit of our best life. The road can become long and weary. There are those moments when it can feel like the struggle isn't worth the effort. This becomes your signal to re-fuel, to re-stoke the fire within.

The keys are to look at your goals again and tell yourself how great its going to be once you achieve them. Then pick up something inspirational to read such as the Bible, or self-help books written by motivational authors or maybe even mine. But find the words that inspire and motivate you. Find the words that lift you up and remind you that all is truly possible.

This is also the moment that people with negative personalities will seem to suddenly appear. They are usually the first on scene, like firemen that have come to put out your fire completely. In this particular case, you need to avoid those people. Move as far away from them as you can.

Get yourself around people that will help you keep those embers burning. The positive kind of people that will help you collect and add fuel to that fire. They will be the kind of people that help you protect that fire.

Keep the fire burning for your dreams, visions, and goals. Never give up on yourself.