Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five interconnected sites.
“What’s past is prologue.” – Shakespeare
What’s past is simply what got us to where we are today. I’m thankful for that.
What’s here and now, is what will be past tomorrow. I’m thankful for that too.
What lies in the future is the choice we get to make. Our story is being written one day, one moment at a time.
To be or not to be, I mean, to be thankful or not to be thankful, that is the question.
And starting tomorrow, December’s question is, “Am I joyful and do I spread joy?”
“This is true joy in life. … To be a force of nature, not a feverish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” – George Bernard Shaw
If I focused on my ailments and grievances, that’s all you’d hear me talk about.
Instead, I’m thankful that my feet hurt after a long day of standing and teaching others.
There are people who wish they had sore feet. Well actually, they simply wish they had feet. Not everyone does.
This reminds me to be thankful for everything. Everything. Ya with me?
“I have a confession”, our son told me last night as I was checking in on my social media routine.
His confession was nothing alarming. You see, we recently made an agreement that if he reaches a certain goal (with one of his daily chores) by the end on this month, he can pick out some Lego pods from the Lego store at Disney World (we live next door to Disney World).
However, while I was in Anchorage, Alaska this week, my wife got him one of these Lego pods. They are small and inexpensive, in the big picture.
He was worried that he broke some sort of deal with me. He did not. Not as far as I’m concerned anyway.
What he really did though, was remind me how thankful I am to have placed so much time and energy (worry) on developing honesty as a core value. “You will never get in trouble for telling the truth”, is the mantra he’s heard over and over again.
This also makes me thankful for repetition. Over and over again. Repetition is the “mother” of all learning. It is the root of evil and the root of goodness. But only if we focus on it, over and over again.
I have to be the most patient person in the world, so that our son (9) will understand how patience works.
I must also be the most thankful person in the world so our son will understand how thankfulness works.
Celebrating Thanksgiving every November, or going to Church once a week to give thanks simply doesn’t cut it.
I must become the most thankful person in the world.
There is no other way.
Yes, we should “roll with it”, mid life, that is. There is no avoiding it. Is there? Maybe if our lives are cut short, we could avoid mid life, but that’s really the only way. Who wants that?
Not me. So what can a person do? Why not “roll with it“. A phrase I learned a long time ago. It means to take whatever you are given and “roll with it“, or make the most of it.
If you can’t change what you are given or presented with, why not make something good from it? Because if we don’t, then we are destined, it would seem, to complain. Who wants that? Here, let me demonstrate how simple this concept is. Please pay attention, it’s over in ten seconds.