Saturday Evening Thoughts on Feeling Special 6/29/13

The first half of the year is just about complete and I can honestly say that 2013 has been one for the books. The last couple of days, I figured I was going to melt with temperatures peaking in excess of 116 degrees. I can't lie and say this wasn't another great week because it was. When I tell you what made it so great, you are probably going to be like wow I can see how that makes you feel that way. Believe it or not there are just a few things that really inspire me to live the life I live and my relationships with the special people in my life is probably the most important. The highlight of my week was talking to one of my nieces Thursday on her 9th birthday. Its actually funny that with all the stuff I have going on that when I woke up, my most important task on June 27 was making sure I set aside some time to visit with this amazing 9 year old. As I thought about it, with the exception of one year that I was out of the country, I have always shared some special time with her even if just over the phone on her birthday. While I am highlighting how excited I was to visit with her, I began to realize how often I take time out for those that I care about to recognize these special occasions. Define what special means to you. What does it mean to feel special? Do you ever feel special? Do you ever make others feel special? As I thought about those questions I began to think about people that I have encountered over the years and how they have been placed in my life. For me it basically broke down like this. 1) People who know me 2) People I know 3) People I associate with 4) Acquaintances 5) People I just be emailing, texting, Facebooking, or tweeting 6) Friends 7) Family Amazingly enough, over the years I have learned that a lot of the people I consider family don't even share the same blood with me, but they have proved to hold a special place in my heart. There's just something about the way people make you feel when you are around them that makes everything about the relationship seem special. Maybe there's a word or phrase here that inspires you to live tomorrow differently than you did today. I challenge you to create special moments with every opportunity that you have cause you just never know if the opportunity may come around again. Don't ever forget that you are special yourself. Live life and be phenomenal in all that you do. Hopefully you realize if you are reading this right now, that you are special to me for one reason or another. PositiveMovementsForward always! “To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.” Jim Valvano “Distance never separates two hearts that really care, for our memories span the miles and in seconds we are there. But whenever I start feeling sad cuz I miss you I remind myself how lucky I am to have someone so special to miss.” “Life becomes precious and more special to us when we look for the little everyday miracles and get excited about the privileges of simply being human” Tim Hansel “No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning.” Barbara De Angelis “The friends who grew up with you deserve a special respect- the ones who stuck by you shoulder to shoulder, in a time when nothing was certain, all life lay ahead, and every road led home.” “Will you ever? I don’t think you will ever fully understand how you've touched my life and made me who I am.I don't think you could ever know just how truly special you are that even on the darkest nights you are my brightest star.” Erica Jong “Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things.” Og Mandino