Daily Inspiration 11-22-12

"Believe that giving up is the same thing as being realistic. . . Reject the tyranny of picked. Pick yourself." -- Seth Godin    Seth Godin Week This week I will explore his marketing and business wisdom      [This piece was pulled from the archives in 1998 and seemed appropriate] Since I was just a kid, I've wanted to change the world. You too? Wow, I thought I could, then I tried and became very frustrated. Then I finally decided to just give it up and join the world. That didn't change anything and the frustrations didn't go away either. The frustration might have even expanded, because I knew that I had thrown in the towel. Finally in the past couple of years, I've been going through a change, and I think I'm finally seeing how to change the world. Call it a bit of wisdom, but the only way that I have seen to change the world is to change me. After all, the world is a huge challenge that would consume my life span easily. I've tried changing others-I've tried real hard-to no avail. There's only one thing left: me. Call it deductive reasoning, wisdom or enlightenment, but what else is left? I can only change me and how I think; how I respond; how I act and interact with others. In giving a short speech to a group of employees, I said that all of my life I have wanted to work for the perfect company where everything works well for every one. Where the boss cares about us and we care about each other. Where we encourage each other and help each other. Where it is satisfying and even fulfilling to be a part of a whole. I then said that the perfect company is wherever you are currently working because the perfect company starts with you. Until we each start treating each other with love, respect, dignity, the perfect company will continue to be an illusive dream. We must start and we must change, then the company will change. A company is a non-entity without people, so the people create the company. It is not what happens to us that matters, it is how we react to it that matters. At work this last week I reacted to a co-workers conclusion that another employee was sabotaging our efforts with an account. It was easy to agree with this conclusion because this person has been known to be less than helpful; however, after my reaction, I later found this supposition to be without merit. Indeed, I once again felt ashamed at my quick judgement based on rumor instead of fact. Once again, I get the learning opportunity of being humbled. Once again, I get the opportunity to choose a different reaction next time I'm offered a situation. If I am to continue on my journey of changing the world, I first must change me.

Accepting Responsibility For My Own Thinking And Actions Is Not A Burden, It Is Move Toward Power.   Spread Some Joy Today--Choose joy today. Give plentiful thanks. Start with speaking of it to yourself. Selfish joy is a wonderful things. Selfish gratitude is a life changer.

Daily Inspiration 11-21-12

"If you don't know how it works, find out. If you're not sure if it will work, try it. If it doesn't makes sense, play with it until it does. If it's not broken, break it. If it might not be true, find out." -- Seth Godin Seth Godin Week This week I will explore his marketing and business wisdom I think this quote speaks about the vast majority of my life. It seems that I've always learned things this way. I wanted to learn how to play guitar. I tried this and that and bought one thin book, and didn't even take a lesson until about 15 years later, and then only to learn figerstyle playing. I wanted to learn about songwriting, so I just jumped in and started messing around with it and then at one point created a songwriting class and taught it. I wanted to learn about music recording, so I jumped in and bought a little recorder and played around with it for hours. I bought better units and ended up with about 8,000 hours of recording experience and owned a recording studio. I wanted to learn how to sell, so I took a job selling. I wanted to learn how to be a sales manager and it became me. As I look back, having just read this quote, it is funny how without any formal training, classes or tutoring, I was able to do these things and even excel at one or two. I never really thought about it this way before, but I think I just like figuring things out. My latest gig is Internet marketing and what I've learned would fill a few books. Again, I created a business doing it with only an idea and desire and almost no knowledge. Now I can teach it, and we do. Some people are really stuck on the institutional idea of learning. They want to go to a class to learn how to do something before they are willing to do it. I never had that much patience. Some people even think you have to have a degree in something to make it real and valuable and important. It's not an idea that ever caught my attention. Having someone else give me a piece of paper that says I'm now qualified never appealed to me. Although, had I the parents with the money for me to go off to college for a bunch of years might have been interesting, but for the learning?. . . it's not necessary. I really like what has become the Nike slogan: Just Do It!

Works For Me! And, A Few Others I Know. . . Spread Some Joy Today--Realizing that everything is a choice is a very powerful place to arrive at. Realizing this, choose joy. Others will follow.

Daily Inspiration 11-20-12

"Change isn't made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later." -- Seth Godin Seth Godin Week This week I will explore his marketing and business wisdom A willingness to make a decision on our own is admirable and praiseworthy when it works well, and when it doesn't well. . . blame is the name of the game for so many and who doesn't love to blame someone who obviously didn't follow protocall, and went off on their own, away from the norm, and away from safety. In the typical world that we see around us, very few are willing to go out on the limb of initiative. It is a lonely place to be.   In fact, the list of those initiators is worthy of note, just so we can keep the record straight. You see it is the ego, or the lizard brain as Seth Godin makes it out to be that keeps us in conformity. But, back to the list. . .   Let's see. . . Seth Godin, Abraham Lincoln, Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Franklin D Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Mark Twain, Harry S Truman, Walt Disney, Walter Chrysler, Abraham Maslow, Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Winston Churchill, Anthony Robbins, Paul McCartney, Mother Teresa, Napoleon Hill, James Cash Penney, George Bernard Shaw, Jack London, Leo Buscaglia, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Mahatma Gandhi, Harland Sanders, Henry David Thoreau, Jimmy Carter, John Wooden, Booker T Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Esther & Jerry Hicks, Carl Sewell, Charles A Lindbergh, R Buckminster Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, just to name a very few.   Seems like wonderful company to me. I'm in!

Go Ahead! Get Some Practice In. It Will Only Get Better.     Spread Some Joy Today--How often do you say Thank You! each day? It's an easy way to bring joy to others, and you get an extra dose for yourself.

Daily Inspiration 11-19-12

"Crash diets don't work. They don't work for losing weight, they don't work for making sales quota and they don't work for getting and keeping a job. The reason they don't work has nothing to do with what's on the list of things to be done (or consumed). No, the reason they don't work is that they don't change habits, and habits are where our lives and careers and bodies are made." -- Seth Godin    Seth Godin Week This week I will explore his marketing and business wisdom    Many of us have a love-hate relationship with habits. We've been told that there are good habits and bad habits. It also seems that the bad habits are way more fun--or, at least that is the way it is portrayed on the TV. Heck, it is the fodder for hundreds of fix it, psychological, and emotionally-oriented shows with millions of viewers every day of the year. In that, it seems that we can not get enough of bad habits and the decisions that make them function. Then the good habits are the virtues that so many of us want and dream of and follow guru's for and can't quite seem to get to fully. It's those dang bad habits that are always coming back to life to interfere with my progress. . . It's like the want and need dilemma where we need something but don't really want it. This is helpful for the bad habits to keep returning. However, when we want something and it doesn't really matter that we need it, we find a reserve of power within ourselves to find a way and this creates good or better habits to help fulfill the desire. I guess you could say that if you wanted it bad enough, you would get it. Conversely, when we don't care that much even though our need is real, complacency rules. Making sales quota and losing weight are something we might want so quickly and maybe even in big chunks, and the reality is that it is the little bites every day, every meal, that become habitual and cannot be denied success.

I'm Changing My World One Thought, One Action, And One Habit At A Time.   Spread Some Joy Today--Look around. Is there something you don't use or need anymore that you can give to someone that will benefit them. Don't sell it, give it.

Daily Inspiration 11-18-12

"The end of should.   Banks should close at 4,  books should be 200 pages long, CEOs should go to college,  blogs should have comments. . . Find your should and make it go away." -- Seth Godin    Seth Godin Week This week I will explore his marketing and business wisdom    Should. It is a far too powerful word. It is also the major cause of another all too powerful word: frustration. We're only frustrated because we think a thing or experience should be one way, but it is not, hence, the frustration. I think that many, if not most of us use the word should internally far more than externally. In other words, we should ourselves by saying to ourselves, or intimating it that we should do something, we should have done something, and often those do not come to pass as planned, and then we become frustrated with ourselves. Seth suggests in the quote above that we create the end of should by making our own shoulds go away. The best way I know to do that is to allow things to be the way they are without any insistence that they be something they are not. This requires letting go of your rules. There are no rules. There just is what is. Let it be. If you want something else, then make it happen on your own, but don't expect things to be a certain way from others. You might even find as I have the gentle peace that comes from not having to be in charge all the time. I gave up the throne. Now I only direct myself, but without the should word. Well. . . it's a hard thing to completely let go of, but I'm very close.

I Let The World Make Any Decision It Wants. It Will Go On Nicely Without My Advice.   Spread Some Joy Today--You should spread some joy today. . . just kidding. . . you may choose to go forth and be joyous. . . or not as you choose.

Daily Inspiration 11-17-12

"Change always comes bearing gifts

 

-- Price Pritchett

I love it when people say something so smart and so deep and profound and only use a few words to express it, as in the case above with Price Pritchett where he uses only five words.

His quote instantly made me consider quite a number of changes in my own life and that of the world around me as I have seen it, and in just a matter of a moment, I was completely agreeing with him. Of all the scenarios that I can think of, change has always come bearing gifts, and it didn't matter how good or how bad I thought it was at the time. As soon as I could get to a place where I might look down on the change from a larger point of view, it not only came bearing gifts, but came in perfection.

It seems to be only ourselves that prevent us from seeing this by holding on to something in the past. Think of that as if we were chaining ourselves to a post. We just can't get away from it. It becomes such a part of us holding ourselves from moving on, growing, and experiencing the new.

Some even fear change so much, yet it could be something to get truly excited about once we realize as the quote indicates, that change always comes bearing gifts.    

 

Maybe It's Time To Embrace And Accept The Gifts!   Spread Some Joy Today--Give the gift of your own joy. There are plenty who want and need it. You are the perfect person to give that gift to them.

Daily Inspiration 11-16-12

"Study the art of taking a lemon and making lemonade." -- Albert K Strong        In my business we are exposed to a wide variety of small and medium sized businesses. I have found a number of business owners and managers who are stuck in a thinking pattern that has them constantly looking at problems with little or no hope of successfully overcoming them. The reason there isn't much hope is that the problems are "industry-wide," or it is the local, city, regional, state, or national economy, and more. All of these are much larger than the business owner, so the odds are overwhelming. This makes for a good excuse that almost everyone will accept as real, or reality. After all, what's a small business to do in the face of such odds? I said almost everyone, because I don't accept it as real, or even seriously legitimate. I say, there's always a way. And there is if people are willing to step outside of their own thinking and situation for a short spell and take a look from a refreshed and different perspective. I'll quote a piece from John Mayer's famous song: "Now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it. We just feel like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it, so we keep waiting. . . waiting on the world to change." Of course, all you have to wait is a nanosecond and it is changed. The reality is that it is constantly changing, but somehow we want to stand still and have the world change for us. Getting outside your routine for a bit and looking in on your business instead of being inside looking out is a requirement to see things differently. There is such an advantage to this. Hiring a consultant to do this for you can be even more beneficial. Fresh eyes and attitude can make a world of difference. It surprises me how many people I find in business who are negative about their business and/or industry. It surprises me that they stay in business. I'm asking why? If it is that bad, why do you remain? Only you can choose. But, I do get it. We are around a thing long enough and some things rub off and become part of who we are at the moment. So, here's the deal: Wake up! Get a new perspective. See if there is a better way, a more profitable way, get some excitement going again. This may require jumping out of your routine, hiring someone from the outside, going off to a retreat with your team as examples. Whatever it is, get into it and on with it! Life is way too short to not like what you're doing, or who you've become. Shut off the outside negative influences such as the news, newspapers, talk radio and such. Avoid those negative friends for a while. Get a new lease on your life and your business and watch what happens!

I Predict You Will Be AMAZED At The Possibilities!   Spread Some Joy Today--Be bold enough to be a friend. Lead by example.

Daily Inspiration 11-15-12

"Selling is not manipulating; selling is harmonizing." -- Jeffrey Gitomer       I heard it again today in a meeting of sales people. Someone mentioned an opening line to get past the "gate keeper" in a business, and it was just made up and bogus. Right. So, let's start this great long-term business relationship with lies. . . Sorry, it doesn't make any sense to me. I cannot be that desperate to find someone to talk to! The quote above says it well: "Selling is not manipulating; Selling is harmonizing!" So many sales people I think are focused on the former and not the latter and that means that they are focused on themselves and not the potential client. It's all about getting in, get the deal, get out and collect the commission to some. Jeffrey Gitomer says, "questions lead to answers. Answers lead to harmony. Answers lead to productivity. Answers lead to customers." Before we would ever have an opportunity to earn another person's business, we must find out if they even want anything! The best way to do that is with questions. I think sales people need to think more about how they would feel with these kinds of "tactics." Would it be okay for someone to lie their way in? Or, how about cold calling your business and trying to manipulate the conversation to get information? Or trying to sell you anything without taking the time to get to know you, your business and your needs?

All Is NOT Good In Love And War, Or Sales. . .     Spread Some Joy Today--Listen!

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.