It's In Your Heart

“If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa



She was only in 3rd Grade, but she had already learned to be a ‘giver’. (Actually, I think it’s natural and most of us are born that way, we just become desensitized, look outward less and inward more.) She recognized a fellow student in need financially; something the young boy in her classroom whispered to her.

It wasn’t much money she had saved up from Christmas and birthday’s, but she knew she had $80 dollars, and when on the way home from school she told the story of the boy in her class who had a need and she wanted to give him her money, it gives a parent a warm feeling that your daughter’s heart is in the right place. But in the quiet of your mind it can also make you think if you have been so kind. Do I do enough?

I think back on that day, I think back of the child who had put a pair of socks on her Christmas list, and the little girl who asked for a bed. There are so many folks who need US to help. I CHALLENGE myself, my family and you to find a way to help others this holiday season.

Some of us have time to share, some of us have jackets we haven’t worn in years hanging in the closet that can keep someone warm, and there are those of us who have may have a few dollars to spare to help a charitable organization or church feed someone. The objective is getting out and helping; helping someone get through difficult times…….sending a child to school who has eaten a breakfast…..letting strangers know that people do care. Do what you know you should do!

If you read this, I hope it inspires you to help someone, a family, a friend, a stranger. If it does, please pass it on.

May your dreams be filled and blessings shower upon you!

"Run it Out!"

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” Gail Devers


It was about 8pm in early March as I was leaving my daughter’s softball game at Clear Lake High School when I suddenly stopped in my tracks at the site of an unknown high school athlete that started a flood of thoughts. Across the street, just outside the running track was a high school athlete practicing the pole vault in the dark with only the light of a street lamp. The thought of this kids dedication to get better and practice at a late hour after school in the dark impressed me deeply. How could this kid not achieve his goals in life with a work effort like he displayed and a cool breezing night, alone, with only himself, the pole, and the goal to improve his abilities?

On the drive home, and hours afterward, the thoughts of this kid, his determination, and how it relates to being successful in life made me think about how some of us are fortunate enough to be exposed to certain events early in life that stay with us and help us realize our potential.

On the baseball field, I can’t tell you how many times I was told to ‘run it out’. Whether it was a sharp ground ball back to the pitcher with the chances of making it safely to first minimal, or a slow grounder to short where you had the chance to beat it out for a single, it was always drilled in me to ‘run it out’. Run you fastest, no soft jogs, give it your best with the hopes something will happen in the play which will allow you to make it safely to first.

‘Run it out’, ‘practice as if you were playing’, ‘visualize success’ are common themes that condition athletes minds for success. These are the thoughts that separate those who realize their capabilies from those who seem not to get anywhere in life.

As we look at ourselves, our co-workers, family members and friends, the effort we see people put in what they do is sometimes pretty evident in where they are at. There are those who feel like they are accomplishing goals, while others are somewhat miserable wondering how to get from here to there. The answer lies within each person’s decision to ‘run it out’ or lightly jog down to first base if you think out automatically. It’s in the effort; the continued unceasing effort.

I will never forget that image of the lonely teenager practicing the pole vault on a cool chilly night with only the light of a nearby street light. It stirs the memory and emotions of ‘desire’ and ‘giving it all you got’. It’s about the passion to do you best, improve, and improve from there. Whether it’s improving a relationship, business, or other personal goals, if you don’t learn to ‘run it out’ you’ll watch the game.

Life's Thought Provoking Moments

“The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, she becomes an adolescent; the day she forgives them, she becomes an adult; the days she forgives herself, she becomes wise.”






Those defining moments in life…..the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a marriage, and in this moment in my life Sarah’s high school graduation. It’s these moments in our lives where we wonder where the time has gone and reflect on how we have spent it.

I think it’s these moments in life the core of our inner being is touched and we are given the opportunity to redirect our lives to spend our time more wisely. Like a sailboat with nobody at the helm, we can drift off course. That inner feeling pulling you to get back on course is only there for a brief time until you lose yourself back to the current forces pulling you along.

It’s this time we need to ride that wave of emotion and reach outside ourselves, break out of our routine, and begin travelling to the place we know we need to be so that when we have that next event in our life we are not wondering where the past few months or years went, wishing the time we spent was spent more wisely.

Did you ever have that empty feeling, wishing you did something you know you should have done? Maybe you read the obituary of a good friend who unexpectedly died, someone you have been thinking about contacting for months or years.

Why do we let time go without keeping those close to us close to us? Why do we let close relationships die? Does not our heart still care?

Life happens and we tend to listen less with our heart. We protect our emotions and guard ourselves. We get busy being busy.

Let’s challenge ourselves to live from our hearts…..call someone we haven’t talk to in a while but have been wondering how they have been doing. Tell our neighbors their yard looks good if we’ve been thinking it.

Live outside yourself today and you will not be worried you haven’t tomorrow.

NOTE: Picture of Sarah and Mom at Pete's house.

SARAH's VIDEO: Link under Links as well.
http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3002388750100508277LxncRw

MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE'S LIFE TODAY

"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all." ~Leo Rosten









"Make a difference in someone's life today."

If you are around my house on a Saturday morning you will often hear me say that to Sarah, our high school senior, as she leaves the house at 8:30am on the way to gym to teach young girls gymnastics. As I said this yesterday our youngest Rebecca was listening and I turned the conversation to her and we discussed how "it's the little things we can do that can make a difference."

Now that Sarah drives herself to the gym, I miss those 20 minutes there and back having these discussions in more detail and in a captured setting. But I know the thought has sunken in as today, Sunday, she is leaving to go back to the gym, normally she has Sunday off, to run a birthday party for one of her students. Sarah asked me for a few bucks to buy the girl a birthday present saying "this little girl loves me."

How do we make a difference? We make a difference by caring and giving. We make a difference by consciously deciding to leave someone feeling better through our engagement than hoping to take something from it. It doesn't necessarily mean a tangible act, but could just be kind words of encouragement, hope, or love lifting someones feelings, thoughts, and emotions about themselves.

Whether it's with friends, coworkers, family, or strangers we meet at the store, coffee shop, track meet or wherever, what we do and say can "Make a Difference in Someone's Life Today."

PICTURE: Stan and Cynthia Myslenski canoeing down the Farmington River with their kids and grandkids making a difference.