Sunday Afternoon Thoughts on Seeing Through the Blindness 06/23/13

Let's take a look at where we are right now; spring is in our rear view mirror, the beginning of summer is in our midst, and we are almost halfway through 2013. Surely, some of us have said that 2013 is going to be our year and that may be true if we strayed away from all things that didn't work for us in years past. I have probably had one of my best weeks in a long time and I think it has a lot to do with my family and extended family; Father's Day last Sunday, Big Brother & Sister T celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, and my Sister Melle Mel appearing on The Price is Right. While I wasn't present for everything that was going on, it was beyond exciting just to know what they were experiencing. This past week I was reminded that sometimes you have to lose one of your senses in order to appreciate everything that you have in your life. How would we see things if we experienced some sort of blindness? Have you ever experienced a moment of blindness that helped you see things clearly? Losing sight even temporarily could possibly be one of the best things for our vision. What have I learned even if just only for me is that we are so dependent on what we see with our eyes that often times we fail to see the right things with our hearts and minds. We are very visual people, but rely solely on what we can actually see and touch. What about those things that we can't see and touch, where do we get our visions from? How well is your sight? What about your vision? Sometimes merely closing our eyes for a moment brings the right visions to life for us. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen and should never be far from your mind. As we move into a new week, I challenge you to appreciate your moments of blindness to learn more about where you are in life. You may see something that you haven't seen before in your career, relationships, and even within yourself. Position yourself to live life and be phenomenal as the #PositiveMovementsForward mindset will carry you through anything that life can throw at you. “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” Mark Twain “Love is not blind; it simply enables one to see things others fail to see.” “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Helen Keller “You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.” “I have always thought it would be a blessing if each person could be blind and deaf for a few days during his early adult life. Darkness would make him appreciate sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.” Helen Keller “A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide” Samuel Butler “What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?” Michelangelo

Saturday Morning Thoughts on Being Worth the Investment 05/25/13

My, my, my I woke up this morning feeling quite a bit more refreshed than I have felt in awhile. Not sure what it was, but I feel like I don't have a care in the world right now. As I look around I can easily say, that things could be worse or so glad I don't have to deal with that. For about 2 weeks, there have been a few thoughts on my brain that I was struggling to wrap my mind around. So basically, I put some things down on paper and left them in draft status. The last 24 hours it seems like I have been in living in the midst of an ongoing epiphany revolving around this question, "Am I worth the investment?" Like most people that exist in the world today, there are so many ways of staying connected or in tune with what's going on. I have to ask, have you made an investment in something that is worth checking in on ever so often. If you know me and understand how much I value my relationships with the people that I care about, you know sharing my thoughts is therapeutic for me and its how I grow. Over time, I have learned that if I am not sharing my thoughts that I becoming stagnant with no growth. I have to thank my pro bono therapist Dora G for adding some additional insight on who Nick Jr. actually is.(Doesn't hurt that I have been a patient of hers since '96 lol) Here's an exercise that I am still working on, but is extremely healthy for your overall well being. Stand in front of a mirror and ask yourself, "Am I worth the investment?" Sit down with a blank sheet of paper and write down a list of things you have accomplished in life thus far and ask yourself, "Was it worth the investment?" And last, but certainly not least, count your blessings and you may realize that HIS investment was more than worth it. It's up to us to make the decision that whatever we choose to do is a worthwhile investment that gives us the return that we desire. We all have different reasons as to what, when, who, and why we invest our time, energy, and efforts into. What has been your greatest investment thus far? I would be willing to bet that your answer would be yourself, but I could be wrong. Would you believe that at some point in your life you have been someone else's biggest investment? The thing about it is that you have to be confident in knowing that you are worth the investment and then some at all times. When life happens, you learn a lot about yourself and those around you. I challenge you to go forward, live life, and be phenomenal. “Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future.” Jim Rohn “The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.” Frank Lloyd Wright “If you want to be truly successful invest in yourself to get the knowledge you need to find your unique factor. When you find it and focus on it and persevere your success will blossom.” Sidney Madwed “Invest three percent of your income in yourself (self-development) in order to guarantee your future.” Brian Tracy “When you make a commitment to a relationship, you invest your attention and energy in it more profoundly because you now experience ownership of that relationship.” Barbara De Angelis “Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.” Mary McLeod Bethune “The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to.” Marian Wright Edelman Sent from my Blackberry on the nation's best wireless network. Can you hear me now? #Boom

Sunday Evening Thoughts on Finding the Joy in Your Connection 04/28/13

Finally, an opportunity to take a break to relax and reflect on this Sunday evening. This was quite the long week with all the thoughts and emotions that were running through my head. Just one of those weeks that you are truly grateful for the problems that you do have as there are so many out here that have it worse than you do. From brain surgery of a member of my extended family to a motorcycle accident that left a young man I know in critical condition for several days, living the life you have was put in perspective for me yet again. At this point in life, I get my strength from my relationships with others. My mission now is all about finding the joy in the connections that I have. Have you ever wondered any of these things? Why did we cross paths? What is it I am here to learn? Or what is it that I'm supposed to be teaching? Or are we supposed to be building something together? Why this connection? Why now? I think back to a conversation that I had with a customer a little over a week ago that really brought things to the forefront about the connections we have. He came in to get his girlfriend's vehicle serviced and he was shocked to see that I remembered what both he and his girlfriend drove. He told me that he rarely remembers peoples names because he is getting up in age, but was surprised that when I see him I do reference our previous conversations as there was a connection there. The customer loves automobiles and has a vanity plate that says "CAR NUT" so he is not an easy one to forget. We have an appreciation for automobiles so finding the joy in the connection in this case was pretty easy. Lately, it seems like the majority of my conversations and thoughts have centered around our networks and relationships with others. I decided to peel back yet another layer of it all and figure out what is it about our different connections that bring them to life. You are probably like me in the fact that there are some connections that seem to come to life in an instant and stay that way all the time, and then there are others that are only alive in certain situations. Do you find joy in most of your connections? Is there pain in some? Why is that? Is it due to a lack of communication? Whatever the reason for your joy in any connection, do whatever you can to hold on to it and the feeling it gives you. Whether it be a smile, a kind word, or a listening ear there's always an opportunity to appreciate a connection. Seems like pretty simple stuff, but you would be surprised at how much we really do take for granted. If you haven't done so already take some time out find the joy in your connections and acknowledge people for what being connected them has given you. Believe it or not sometimes we go through life and never know what just being connected means to someone else. As you prepare to embark on a new week, I trust that you live life to the fullest and welcome the phenomenal things that life is sending your way. And if you didn't know it already, there is a tremendous amount of joy that I have received from being connected to you. “A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.” Heraclitus of Ephesus “Joy is not in things; it is in us” Richard Wagner “a good friend is a connection to life- a tie to the past,a road to the future,the key to sanity in a totally insane world” Lois Wyse “Joy is increased by spreading it to others” Robert Murray McCheyne “When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves” Jack Kornfield “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” Thich Nhat Hanh “Communication--the human connection--is the key to personal and career success.” Paul Meyer “There is no hope of joy except in human relations.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery