Daily Inspiration 11-14-12

"If you want to feel valuable, add value to others." -- John C Maxwell       In The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C Maxwell, law number three is the Law of the Mirror: You Must See Value in Yourself to Add Value to Yourself. It's all about self-esteem, believing in ourselves, loving ourselves, and many of us have a problem with that. I know I used to. I love this law and the way John deals with it, and I especially honed in on the quote above. John asked immediately following the quote above, "How much time every day and every week do you spend focusing on others and adding value to them? Do you service others through a volunteer organization? Do you mentor people? Do you give assistance to others less fortunate than yourself?" All good questions, yet I find that they might give the wrong impression. Counting the time each week sounds like a huge commitment to a long-term project that may very well become an expected, repeating endeavor that can be taxing and burdensome. Of course, it is always nice to serve others through a volunteer organization. Again, some may consider these troublesome. And, we probably all give assistance to others less fortunate than ourselves, though probably not as often as we should. And that word should is the rub. This way of giving to others, helping others, volunteering for others creates more problems than it solves. I get it. He says to serve others, to create value for others and to others in order that we may be more, and he even says we should do more and even give a tenth of our time and energy to serving others. What a burden it can all be. . . Though I don't care for the way he spells this out at the end of this chapter, I do agree that by adding value to others, that we have to add value to ourselves. This can be done in so many ways and there are no right ways and wrong ways. But, here's the real key: it has to come from the heart. It cannot be something we should do or something we do expecting a return. It has to be freely given with zero expectation of any result period, except that we think it could be of service to another. I attend business networking events and I love to help others in any way that I can that is "on my path." That might be knowing more about their business so I can send them some prospects. It might be encouragement to write a book, or play an instrument or enjoy their day with joy. It also may be more profound than this, but in any case, it comes from the heart and without any attachments whatsoever. It is not a trade. The feeling that I get from doing it is sufficient for me. I feel that I am lining up with the best of myself in doing such. You don't have to go very far "off your track," or away from your strengths, or what you enjoy and love in order to be of service and add value to others. It isn't an amount, or even a how-to, it is just a simple and beneficial way of sharing love.

What Could Be Better Than That? It's The Best!   Spread Some Joy Today--Love, love, love. . .  Love, love, love. . . it's easy! All you need is love, do-to-do-ta-do. . .

Daily Inspiration 11-13-12

"No one improves by accident. Personal growth doesn't just happen on its own. And once you're done with formal education, you must take complete ownership of the growth process, because nobody else will do it for you." -- John C Maxwell       No one improves by accident and personal growth doesn't just happen on its own. How true. I've studied quite a number of famous and not so famous successful people and in every case they have taken 100% control of their learning and personal growth. When I was a child and read and heard about Abraham Lincoln and how he sought out and devoured every book he could get his hands on in a time when finding books was a serious challenge. He would be so astonished at the availability of learning materials today that are available to most people on the planet. In grade school I was so excited about learning, and then in junior high and high school, I was much more interested in fitting in, or trying to. My real education didn't take off until it was no longer required. I was out of school, out of the Air Force and at age 22 ready to make my way in the business world. My learning skyrocketed then, and has never stopped. Though I did not graduate from college, in my Linked-in profile, I state this as my education: Masters, Philosophy, Sales Management, at University of Self-Education Studies. I am proud to go to that University where the students never graduate. Instead, they are lifelong students. I have grown on purpose because I want to know, and I want to understand so much. I want that for me. For you, it might be something else entirely. It's all good. We each have our own way to dealing with the idea of learning and personal growth. I grew up around people who gave up learning and growing and instead focused on drama. I could not wait to escape the gravitational pull of that and get myself into a different space. Timing may be an issue too. There were many dry spots in my own personal growth where I found myself feeling the friction of the atmosphere surrounding me, but I awakened from that pattern a grateful man, reminded once again, that I am in charge of my own growth by my own choice and desire.

'No Wind Favors Him Who Has No Destined Port." -- Michel de Montaigne    Spread Some Joy Today--Wherever you are and whatever you do, the only thing that really matters is that you are enjoying yourself. Learning, loving, sharing, working, growing. The joy that you get when you are excited about life and living is the most powerful attractive quality you could possess.

Daily Inspiration 11-12-12

"Few things prompt a person to follow through like accountability. One of the ways you can do that is to make your goals public." -- John C Maxwell       In my continuing personal observations of John C Maxwell's new book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, I saw this quote above in the chapter on the second law, the Law of Awareness. Have you ever seen this or a similar message somewhere, or been told that this is a good strategy? I've seen it many times and it has never really worked for me. The idea is that others will help keep you on track of what you say you want to do. And, they might for a while, but generally not for long. In fact, at least in my experience, that this strategy was harder on me than failing to follow through. I really didn't need the additional pressure and it was a negative. My philosophy based on my own successful follow through is that it just has to be between me and me. It has to rise to the level that it doesn't matter at all what anyone else thinks about what I'm going to or committed to doing. It only matters that I do it for myself. I don't need a support group or any other crutch or pressure, what I need is to see myself where I want to be and to become it but moving into that picture. If I decide to lose 20 lbs., I need not announce that to the world, but to see myself 20 lbs. lighter and how that feels and how I look and then become it by moving into that picture. It must be for my reasons, for me alone so the change will become entirely personal. If I'm going to write a book, having a cheering section, or a progress oversight committee, is counterproductive. I just need to do it. The important things I actually succeed at doing, others found out about long after it was up and running.

Knowing What I Want Is A Good Motivator, Deciding To Act Is A Helpful Second Step, But Knowing WHY And That Being Important To Me Creates The Discipline To Do It.   Spread Some Joy Today--What action can you do today in gratitude?

Daily Inspiration 11-11-12

"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily." -- John C Maxwell       In yesterday's Daily Inspiration, I shared a link to a webcast and some thoughts I gained from it by John C Maxwell centered on his newest book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. Since I find that I was so profoundly moved by the incredibly powerful and yet simple messages, I decided to share a little bit each day about this for a while. Frankly, I'm finding some answers that I've been ignoring for a long time. Maybe some of you are like me in that something sparks a thought and another and another and you start getting excited about where those thoughts are leading you. In the webcast, John spent a good amount of time on the Law of Consistency. I absolutely loved the simple ideas he shared about how he has been able to write 74 books. Bringing what he said to the simplest concept, it is this: He is passionate about what he does because he loves what he does and more importantly, he knows why he does it. He also knows that what he does is something much, much larger than himself. In other words, he serves a larger purpose than making a living, writing a book, etc. The first part of that is his motivation, but in order to actually get it done, or turn it into an accomplishment, requires discipline matched to the motivation. Discipline is a scary word to most people because it sounds an awful lot like drudgery, work, lots of effort, late nights and other such ideas. However, he says the truth is that he just does it every day. 'Every day? What does that mean?' people would ask him. His answer, 'it means, every day.' Of course, they're looking for a different answer because to them every day seems like a burden. . . surely he must mean 5 days a week, or every day for just a month or two or something. 'No,' he would say, 'every day means every day.' 'Even on Christmas?' they would add. 'Yes,' he says, 'every day.' So, how does he have 74 books published? He writes every day. 'Now,' he says, 'I might only write 10 minutes today, 6 hours tomorrow, I have no set amount, but only to write every day.' It is the consistency of his actions that add up to the accumulation of the results. John asks, "what are you willing to change doing today in order to change what you will be doing tomorrow?" It's a great question to consider and answer. He adds, "in the end, hard work is really the accumulation of easy things you didn't do when you should have." I've known that consistent efforts are a key to better results, but have I applied that in my life? Rarely. It is now obvious to me why I have what I have. However, in recent years, I have endeavored to find things that I love to do and have a good reason why which helps me do some things consistently. This CTS Daily Inspiration began in summer 2009 and every single day since I have practiced writing and thinking and sharing. Believe me, there have been many days when I didn't feel like it. But, I love what I am doing, have a strong larger than me purpose and that strong motivation encourages me to actually then be consistent by following through and doing it anyway.

The Results To Me Are Worth Any Of My Efforts. It Is Also Interesting How The Accumulation Factor Works.   Spread Some Joy Today--Beating yourself up, or 'shoulding' yourself is not joyous or helpful. Start by loving yourself first. Count your blessings that you already have. Now go do some things you want to do from that much stronger foundation! Whatever your choice, you are perfect the way you are to begin with.

Daily Inspiration 11-10-12

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks on the outside, dreams. Who looks on the inside, awakens." -- Carl Jung       I have many mentors that don't know I even exist. They've never met me, know nothing of me, and I have never met them, yet many of them are my mentors. Abraham Lincoln, Wallace Johnson, Colonel Sanders, Ray Kroc, Jim Rohn, James Allen, Andrew Carnegie, are just a few of them. They are all dead and mentor me still. One who is alive that mentors me especially in the attribute of leadership is John C Maxwell. I love to hear him, and watch him, though I've never seen him in person. I am a student of his and have been since I first was handed a copy of Developing The Leader Within You. It was a brilliant and valuable gift. John's newest book was just released last month, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. I just bought the book this morning, but before I did, I watched a 90 minute webcast with John C Maxwell where he talks about 5 of the laws in the book. His storytelling is somewhat different live than in writing, and I enjoyed it immensely. I'll give you a link at the end just in case anyone would also like the opportunity to watch this. So after this webcast and reading part of the book, I've had lots of views of my past and random thoughts that were stirred. One prominent one came from the quote above, which I find fascinating to consider. I was taken back to 1972 and my first "career-type" position where I became an automobile salesperson. I had just left the Air Force and didn't have any interest in a job. I wanted a career. I liked cars, was previously a mechanic and liked the idea of wearing suits and selling them, though I was not the normal salesman type. It was okay. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. My dream was to be a teacher, but I wasn't qualified to do that, yet I saw the sales manager role at the dealership more as a teacher and less like a drill instructor. So, I got excited about my vision and set a goal to do just that. My vision became clear to me when I looked into my heart, knew what I wanted to do and decided to find a way to achieve it. I was focused and it only took two years to get there. As a result of that vision, I changed the image of the sales manager to match my own vision and I was smitten with something I've done most of my life in various ways. It affects me yet as a business owner. One last thing to consider about this was also in John's book. I'll leave you with this statement on the previous page from the quote above to consider: "I believe it's very important not only to know what you want to do, but also why you want to do it." On this statement, I agree completely. It continues to make all the difference in my own life. For webcast, go to http://www.15lawsofgrowth.com/index.php and sign up. It's free. Oh, buy the book too. It is going to help a lot--no matter where you are in your travels.

Consider Why You Do What You Do And How It Affects What You Give To It And Get From It.   Spread Some Joy Today--Learning something new or more is joyous for me. It excites my whole day even from just a fresh understanding.

Daily Inspiration 11-9-12

"To make the world a better place, see the world as a better place." -- Alan Cohen       Influence is something we all have. First we have influence on ourselves, and second we have influence on others. There is one question that we all need to answer though, and that is, what will our influence be? Jane Goodall says it slightly differently: "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Influence really comes down to how we choose to view the world. Yes, it is always a choice, though it may not be on purpose. We can see the forest or the trees, the crime or the punishment, the love or the hatred. Whatever we want to see, we have the choice to see, or we can choose by default to see what others say they see and agree with them. It's still a choice. We can see a job we love or a job we hate. We can see a world of prejudice and despair where there is an endless list of things that need fixing, or are in our opinion, wrong, or we can see a world that is perfect and changing and infinite in its possibilities. We are obviously also influenced by others. We can choose to accept or reject that influence and that decision determines how we view the world. But, no matter what, the best question to ask ourselves I think is this: Are we seeing the world the way we want to see the world? If what we see is not what we want, we must choose to see a better world, career, business, family, lifestyle, church, government, environment. Often it is already there and you just didn't know it until you looked with a new mindset.

The Power Of Choice Is Our Ultimate Gift.   Spread Some Joy Today--See what you see more closely today. Take a good look.

Daily Inspiration 11-8-12

"I cannot always control what goes on the outside. But I can always control what goes on inside." -- Wayne Dyer       Wayne Dyer is a favorite author and mentor who I began reading and studying in the mid-1970s with his landmark book at the time, Pulling Your Own Strings. That book was so powerful for me then, but it was only something that I would know intellectually for a lot of years and then I finally learned to adopt it in my life. There was help along the way and more recently it was The Secret. Though The Secret was focused on the Law of Attraction, it was much the same thing as Dyer's Pulling Your Own Strings in that we have so much more control of our lives and how we feel than we choose to use even when we know the concept. In fact, there was a lot of backlash from some serious resistors about the whole idea of the Law of Attraction being a bunch of hooey, indicating that they seemed to accept the idea of the Law of Distraction instead. Even when we know that we have the power of choice no matter the circumstance when it comes to our own thoughts inside, much of the time we may fail to allow ourselves to use it or choose to ignore it for a time. Drama has its benefits, or at least we've learned that it is not only accepted, but often encouraged. Again, we have and always will have control in our own mind. It is never what happens to us, but what we think about what happens to us. It is never what others think of us but what we think of us. I love how Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame says it: "It's not what you say out of your moth that determines your life, it's what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!" Somehow we think that this knowledge of this power we have to assimilate itself fully and completely immediately, but the reality if often that we need to remember that if we don't practice it, how could we ever get very good at it. I'm practicing every day now and it IS getting better! I'll be a super star in no time at all.

We Have The Power. No One Got Left Out. Let's Use it!    Spread Some Joy Today--Teach by your own example. It is the most powerful way.

Daily Inspiration 11-7-12

"If you had started doing anything two weeks ago, by today you would have been two weeks better at it." -- John Mayer       All the more reason to begin right this minute. Procrastination has a way of keeping our skills at an artificially shallow level. And, since practice at anything has a general tendency to improve our actions and fluidity, time is very much on our side. . . if we at least begin. At the very least we will know more about it (whatever 'it' is for you), and more about ourselves at the same time. I dare say the latter is more important in the long run.

There's No Time Like The Present. Begin NOW!   Spread Some Joy Today--Consider. . . The best book has yet to be written, the best song is not yet sung, the best social media site is still ahead, there is always room at the top! Feels good, doesn't it? Now share that kind of feeling with others today.

Daily Inspiration 11-6-12

"Ease is not a sin or an anomaly. It is your natural state." -- Alan Cohen       For a long time I was suspicious, but now I think I am at least intellectually sold on the idea that ease is our natural state. However, that is certainly not what we have been taught through the ages. We have been taught the opposite. We've been taught that if it is hard, it is a challenge and if we persevere regardless of the difficulty, we become a hero, one who overcomes the odds to win. I am now persuaded--and it was not an easy task, because I held on to the hero bit with vigor--yes, I am persuaded that ease is the way. I know when that tidbit of enlightenment came upon me. It was when I was given the metaphor of being in a rowboat and rowing upstream fighting the current, or instead, allowing the current to take me with ease. I have been persuaded that everything I want is downstream, when I always thought it was upstream. No wonder life was hard. The next issue is my own resistance to the actual doing of that little feat. Since I held on with vigor, the idea of putting the oars in the boat was tantamount to failure, giving up. The shame of it all. . . But, I am learning to think about ease being a good thing and difficulty being something I would rather avoid. Of course, when you think of it that way, it makes sense, doesn't it? So now I am having thoughts like, 'if this is difficult, it doesn't feel good or right, so I must be resisting the easier way.' The first step is awareness, right? The second step after assimilation is to practice it and actually think. That shouldn't be any work either. I think that if people are going to do a thing, it must be easy in order to be popular and it sure helps to get things done! Next time you're up against a difficulty, or challenge, and you find yourself bucking up and rowing upstream, try thinking about what you're doing and consider there may be a far easier and more natural way to achieve the objective. It will require more and more trust I think, but that will get easier and easier with practice too.

Here's A Good Place To Say, 'Let Go and Let God.'   Spread Some Joy Today--What can you do to help someone else today? Do it.

Daily Inspiration 11-5-12

"Don't wait for the right answer and the golden path to present themselves. This is precisely why you're stuck. . . . . .The way to get unstuck is to start down the wrong path, right now." -- Seth Godin    Don't we all want the perfect and right answer when we don't know something or don't know what to do. It seems especially true with those things that could go several different directions, and we feel like the wrong decision could be devastating. It doesn't matter whether that is true or not, it's just how it feels. I've seen people lament over their next car, measuring and weighing, test driving and color matching, feature comparing and price quoting so that it seems like a decision will never come. I did that over some dressers for the bedroom once. It's all so worrisome and wearing. Seth's advice is sound and I know it because I've used it. There is nothing quite so powerful to psyche than making a decision. Any decision seems better than no decision. And, a decision and then movement or action is the best of the best. It doesn't really matter what the direction is, one can always change direction without too much bother, but getting moving is the key. Seth says, "you might not end up with perfect, but it's significantly more valuable than being stuck."

If We Can Let Go Of Decisions Being Right Or Wrong, We More Readily Will Free Ourselves To Decide.   Spread Some Joy Today--Find a way to encourage someone. It's the best!

Daily Inspiration 11-4-12

"Who idolizes you will crucify you. Whom you idolize you will crucify. Remain equal to all and you will empower yourself and others." -- Alan Cohen       I never used the word idolize much but instead used the phrase of putting people on a pedestal. I did that a lot, whether it was special teachers, movie stars, sports stars, and others. I remember those old cartoons when I was a kid of watching the person with the halo have it pushed down over his or her body paralyzing their arms against their body now being powerless having fallen from grace. Not a good place to be in the case of the paralyzed or the creator. There are a lot of recent examples of this superhuman treatment. Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, the people who supposedly brought you the latest recession-depression, failed religious leaders, and the list goes on and on. I used to play that silly game and have learned to practice accepting people the way they are instead. It takes a bit of practice, but it isn't rocket science. Jesus taught it. It is called unconditional love. When we love people conditionally, it is perfectly simple for them to "fail us." We expect perfection from them and the higher they go, the more perfection we expect. Oh, we are able to take a few hits here and there and still believe, but as the evidence mounts, we turn tail and run as fast as we can so the stink doesn't befoul us like that of the smelly white-tailed skunk. Then from a safe distance we hurl loser scripts at our new victim with carloads of blame and pain and deceit. Heck, we might even bar them from being a human ever again. I knew a major league catcher like that, but of course, he wasn't his own best friend either. Truth is, we probably all have so-called skeletons in our closets. If people really knew the real us, they might have second thoughts about even liking us. Who knows all the silly things we do when we think no one is looking. In their presence we tow the line and in their absence we may burn the line. Yet one thing is ultimately clear: we are all human. We all have issues, some larger, or even more interesting than others. We try, we fail, we succeed, we dream, we live. The best scenario I can imagine is to not put people on pedestals, nor idolize them regardless of their stature in the human community. When we strip everything on the outside off, we are all made of exactly the same elements--every last one of us. How many times did Jesus say to forgive? He was asked that once thinking it was seven times, and He stated seventy times seven as I recall. Wow. That's a serious line of forgiveness. Probably enough to last several lifetimes. Yet, there is no need of forgiveness if we just treat each other as equal with equal understanding of ourselves and of each other. If we expect 'I'm sorry' apologies and remorseful explanations, we are being so judgmental. When treating each other as equal, 'I'm sorry' is merely a courtesy. If we ever really loved Lance or any of the thousands of other fallen heroes, we would still love them the same. Even as we love ourselves equally.

I And My Brother Are One.   Spread Some Joy Today--Celebrate the joy of loving others as you love yourself.

Daily Inspiration 11-3-12

"The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires."

-- William Arthur Ward

Note: It is extremely rare that I repeat a post, but I ran across the quote above and checked to see if I had used it before and found this piece from November 2009. Since it said pretty much what I was thinking, I'm sharing it again:

In one way or another, I have been teaching all my life. As the oldest of five, I was thrust into this role at an early age. As a teacher I have evolved through the levels as shown in the quote above. I learned from watching other teachers and how they did things and how people responded to them--especially how I responded to them. You see, as a teacher, I am also a life-long student. The more I know, the more I see there is to know.

Considering all the teachers I've seen, the ones I even remember well were inspiring. Oh, they taught the curriculum, but they did it in a way that had me owning it, immersing myself in it, and loving it. My aim was to inspire others as they inspired me.

What I learned was that inspiration is not a tool in a tool belt, like explaining, telling or demonstrating. It is more a gift that is given to others because you are inspired. I guess it takes one to know one. . .

I don't try to inspire people. I seek inspiration every day in every way that I can. I seek to be inspired. I think it comes from delight and wonder. I might see it in a scene in a movie, a line in a song, a guitar solo, words on a page, looking at nature, the joy of a photograph, or a hundred other ways. I seek it and am open to it and it just comes right in and I am delighted, and in awe of how that happened.

If I could teach anything well, I would love to teach people to be open to and even to seek out daily inspiration. It is life-transforming once you get hold of it. Inspiration is so much fun!

Close your eyes. Think of someone you totally love. Picture them in your mind. See their smiling face. See your love reflected back at you. Let that thought pour over you like a pitcher of it being poured over your head. You are immersed in it. Enjoy it for a few moments. You've just been inspired!

The next half hour will be AWESOME!!!

Inspire Yourself! You Know You Want To!

Spread Some Joy Today--Feel The Joy In Your Love To Others Being Reflected Back To You!

Daily Inspiration 11-2-12

"Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate." -- J. R. R. Tolkien I've given up hope.   Yes, I've given up hope, and although it is a recent release in my life, I expect it to last the rest of my life. Hope really hasn't done anything for me anyway that I can think of. If you think about it, that word is what I want to call an if-come-maybe. It seems like a place of desperation when all else fails. We say, 'well, at least we have hope.' Now I can say, 'no thanks. I've given up hope. I've given it up for something far better!'   Instead of hope, I have embraced curious excitement. I'll explain.   Standing where I am today and looking backward at my journey, there is a turning point that overshadows all the rest. It was when I began to do as yesterday's Daily Inspiration stated by the 15-year old dancer, 'to just dance.' That's why that video spoke so loudly to me because that is exactly where I have come to. For the most part, I have given up judging and evaluating and have begun to just enjoy myself and dance.   This is a very important place for me to get to because now I look on what will come next with curious excitement and anticipation of life being fulfilled in whatever way it comes. It reminds me of the story quote from Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth, "This is my secret," he said. "I don't mind what happens."

This Is Truly A Place Of Release And Trust.   Spread Some Joy Today--"Whenever there is inspiration. . . and enthusiasm. . . there is a creative empowerment that goes far beyond what a mere person is capable of." -- Eckhart Tolle

Daily Inspiration 11-1-12

"[I'm] authorizing myself to be great today!" -- Juliet Doherty I watch a lot of TED videos. If you aren't familiar with TED, go to www.Ted.com and see some of the thousands of great videos. In recent years, they expanded to a program called TedX allowing and encouraging people all around the world to use their format to hold their own Ted conferences and videos. Many of them are priceless. I found yet another today that I thought I would share with you because I thought it was a powerful idea and use Ted's theme of ideas worth spreading.   Below is the video link if you would like to watch it. It is a 15 year old ballet dancer named Juliet Doherty and in the six minute video she talks for about two and a half minutes, then shows some of her great dancing skills. It was her words that got my attention and the idea that jumped off the screen at me was to stop competing and just do, enjoy, be yourself, be great. Here is the majority of the text of her awesome talk with text in bold that stood out for me:   She begins with two photos of herself and stating, "this is me being great when I'm at age 2. Here I am again at age 4. You may not see it, you may not recognize it, but I'm being great. We are all great. We are all born that way. . ."   She trained from a very young age and her mother was her coach. She was about to go to a big competition and it was at this point that her parents told her this:   "It's time for you to stop competing. Now is the time for you to just dance; to just perform; to enjoy yourself. You will still be in the competition, but now it is time for you to go and just dance.   It's time for you to stop judging and evaluating yourself. That's not your job. Everyone else in the world can and will continue judging and evaluating you. It's just what people do. Especially the judges. That's their job.   But you are the only one that can authorize yourself being great. You are the only one who can own your own greatness. That's your job.   So this is what I've come to understand: I love dancing, but if you love to paint, then go paint. If you love science, go experiment. If singing is your thing, belt it out. Be yourself and be great.   We all get so busy playing this excellence game that we forget that. We have all bought into excellence. Now while it's important to work to achieve what we want, excellence isn't greatness and it never will be, like red will never be blue.   Our satisfaction doesn't lie in our achievements or our rewards (though they are fun!), it lies in remembering who we are; when we connect; when we see ourselves in each other; when we remember who we are.   So if I have something to leave you with today, it's go remember who you are, and who you are is GREAT!"   Here's the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShswlNMaUSA

Who You Are Is GREAT!   Spread Some Joy Today--by being yourself and being great.