Solid Friends

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” Walter Winchell

Each of us have so much we can give to others but tend to forget we have that ability. It is an ability to brighten and make a difference in another person's life. It is as simple as being a friend when others have left the room.

Being a friend means listening and offering encouragement.

Being a friend means lifting up a person when they are down or discouraged about their circumstances.

Being a friend means being real in your answers to them, which could be saying to them, "stop the self pity; get up and get moving."

This type of friendship works because if it comes from your heart. Clinical friendship with "do-gooder" intentions will not succeed because your concern can be seen as being paper thin. Friendship is solid and supportive. You know that you could lose the person you are helping, but knowing that if it makes a positive change in their life, you're okay with that.

Why? Because it is about them and not about you. Try to be a friend to someone, see if you can make a change in their life. Do remember though, you don't change people, they change themselves. But being a friend will give them the ability to make change in their own lives.

Fill in the colors that bind your friendships with others. And stay inspired my friends.

Your Path of Bricks

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." -David Brinkley

I guess you figuratively are not walking down the street with people throwing bricks at you. But it can certainly feel like it at times. The oddity is that it also feels like you are picking up those same bricks to carry.

It is sort of a "double-whammy" in that you are being pelted with bricks and having to pick them up carry them away. You could say it is very similar to a wagon full of rocks. An ever increasing load that you allow others to place upon your life.

The weight and size of this load slows your progress and eventually might break you down. It is a terrible thing to see a load of brick or rock come tumbling down upon someone's life. When it happens, there are only two possible results; complete destruction of the persons life or fighting renewal.

I have seen the destruction in people's lives. The kind in which they never recover and no matter how much they want to change; they have buried themselves forever. It is a heart breaking process to watch but one I have learned. No matter how heavy or burdensome, there is hope and possibility as long as life exists within you.

Start laying those bricks down. Stop shouldering the weight and let them lift you. The foundation you build with those bricks can serve meaningful purposes. One will give you greater footing as you walk by raising you above the unstable ground. And by building this foundation, it creates a means for you to reach greater heights.

These same bricks will also create a path for others to follow. A path that serves as an example to your spouse, your children, your friends, or others that follow you. Because the choices we make, the decisions on how we respond are being watched by others. People are watching and learning by the examples you set and how you respond to life. The type of path you lay for them will be everlasting.

Are you going to leave a pile of bricks or a nice brick path behind?

Stay inspired my friends.

Hole in your Coffee Cup Lid

"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference."
-Nolan Bushnell

In the 1996 movie titled Michael, there is a line in the script in which one of the characters reveals, "I invented the hole in the coffee cup lid. When you get coffee to go. I was the first person to rip the little hole in the lid, so you could drink it in the car. Could've made a fortune. It's weird."

How many times have you thought of something and never acted upon it? Later you find out that someone else had the same or similar idea, but they actually did something about it. Sort of irritates you doesn't it?

Every day we probably think of one or two things we would like to do. We then get home, go to bed and forget all about it. The idea is gone, lost forever until one day you see that somebody else had the revelation to actually act upon it.

When you get an idea, write it down in a journal. Then take some time to contemplate it, to digest and evaluate the idea to see if it has value in your life. If it does not, write down why and then leave it alone.

But if you find that it does have value in your life. If you realize that it is something you would like to do, then do it. Write down why it is something of value in your life, then start 'doing' things to achieve it. This may mean writing down the next steps, learning more or just getting up and moving.

Some would call it procrastination that holds us back. Others may call it lack of confidence. But to me it is simply 'YOU' keeping 'YOU' from acting upon an idea. As I like to say, "BELIEVE in your vision, ACT upon that vision and only then will you REALIZE that vision."

Get up today and invent a better 'hole in the coffee cup' and amaze the world and yourself.

Stay inspired my friends.

Life of Integrity

 

"Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity."
-W. Clement Stone

Webster's dictionary defines integrity as "a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values." The synonym for integrity is honesty. So why does there seem to be a lack of it in business and around us in general? An article in the Executive Travel Skyguide entitled Leaders Wanted argues that "We are in an ethical crisis. Our capitalist system, which depends on checks and balances, is being tested by corruption, greed and manipulation."

In our society, competition and the wanton desire to get ahead of others tends to pull the worst out of some people. I certainly wouldn't label all businesses or business people out there as suffering from this culture. But the culture of dishonesty and immoral business behavior is not a 'business' climate but a 'personal' climate. It isn't your business place that causes you to lack integrity because YOU have a choice in how YOU conduct yourself.

An article called Importance of Integrity describes it this way. "Integrity is a value, like persistence, courage, and intelligence. It is your choice of values and resolution to live by those values that form your character and personality. And it is integrity that enhances all your other values. The quality of person you are is determined by how well you live up to the values that are most important to you. Integrity is the quality that locks in your values and causes you to live consistent with them."

Those people without integrity are eventually exposed. So search for integrity and apply it in all that you do in life. Do not be overcome by the short term and many times disasterous results of taking the 'low' road. You will be more successful in the long term. You will be more respected. And you will just be a better person.

Be the better person, have the better life within. Try to live a life of integrity and as always, stay inspired my friends.