Real Estate Blog - Chicken Soup or a Home for the Soul

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Chicken Soup or a Home for the Soul

Many years ago motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen launched a book called Chicken Soup for the Soul that sold something like 2 million copies. It was essays and short stories that were inspirational in nature. Since that time if you walked into bookstores over the last ten years there have been so many spinoffs of that book it constantly amazes me. Not only imitators but even parodies of the books. Like the books for "Dummies" I think whole industries develop over one winning idea.

The point is people are searching for something. Something to make their lives good, whole, fun, inspired, fresh, exciting, worthwhile for all the breaths we take each day.

I contend from matching the right home to a buyer, that a home, the right home, is like Chicken soup. Chicken soup is great grandma's magic elixir for making you "feel better", and warding off the effects of that cold or flu bug in no time flat.

So what is good for the soul? Obviously good family, friends, security (as much as we can in this world), faith, health, a good attitude, etc. But also an environment called home, that is our shelter from the world. Find or make a home, a nesting place, that is your shelter from the world.

A CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL!!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by every moment that takes your breath away.

Posted by Gary Woltal - Associate Broker REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth on 04/05/2008 09:28 AM

Comments (18)

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18 Comments on Chicken Soup or a Home for the Soul

APR

2008

Gary, great post - a house can make or break your happiness. For example, a home in a quiet, peaceful area with a garden would be heaven for some and boring for others. A place in the city might be where the action is for some, and a noisy place where someone else feels claustrophobic in their tiny dwelling and they miss the trees, nature, etc.

Gary - You are relentlessly positive, and I like that about you. Keep up the good work!

Gary. That is so true. Thanks for posting. Royal..

Lisa: You bring up a super point about one man's junk is another man's treasure. It is all relative about what home is the right one for you. That's why as Realtors we have to pull back and not tell the buyers what home is right for 'them'.

Jason: Cool phrase, "relentlessly positive." If I had a huge cabin cruiser boat I think I would paint Relentless on the back of it, cause it is in my nature to stick with something. Kind of like bulldog with its teeth in you. Thanks for the term. I think it has its roots in my stubborn nature. Every single person in my family is a stubborn one. Made for interesting dinner conversations (fights) in a nice way.

Royal: You will see those eyes light up on the buyers when they find that Chicken Soup home.

Nice blog and there is that magic moment when someone walks into a house and you can see it on their faces that they are home

Great point about life. Jack Canfield has a great story on how they became that top seller too. If Realtors would do daily what Jack Canfield did for 2 years.......we would be able to be just as successful.

Gary - A home provides a foundation for comfort, a place for love to grow, a haven from the stuff that the world throws your way, and a shelter from the outside elements. It IS just like chicken soup. Great analogy.

Charlie: I'm going to keep watching for those magic moments. They are amazing, aren't they?

Dave: One step at at time, and we get there, you are right.

Lynn: I like what you said about love to grow. In a good home you should feel safe.

Gary:

Home

a warm refuge
safe and protected
free to be
to rest, to be renewed, to remind myself who I am and what I love
a resting place for the heart
a place where your soul can take off its shoes and put up its feet
heaven for beginners
my territory on earth
shelter for the spirit
my anchor on earth
warm center of my life
holds me steady
regroup
heal
belong

What a great set of books, the Chicken Soup Collection. They can make you laugh, smile or cry. Thanks for a great reminder.

Good points Gary...most people don't realize everything they are looking for is right under thier nose.

Donna: What a great description of home to give to us all. Thanks.

Karen: The collection is pretty broad isn't it, starting from that one book?

Vern: It's all in our backyard. Very true.

You are right.

Our home is so much more than a house . It is a refuge frome all the rest of the universe. It is a place to relax, even though we are too busy to really relax as we spend most of waking hours outside with pets, hobbies, and each other. I start every morning with a cup of Columbian just watching the birds from our kitchen. It beats the T.V. news to start the day.

Trey: Sounds like you've made your little nest Home Sweet Home. That Columbian sounds tasty! : )

APR

2008

It is hard to describe that perfect feeling of contentment, but you know it when you've got it. You feel it when you walk through the doors for the first time of the house that was meant to be your home.

Gary, a whole industry has been built on the Chicken Soup series, after being turned down multiple times, they kept at it. Home is where the heart is, our refuge from the storm. The house is not the American Dream but the home is.

Rosario: I think contentment is a very good word to describe a house that you have determined to be your home.

Missy: I very much like how you have defined the American Dream.

APR

2008

Gary: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by every moment that takes your breath away.

Wow. No comment can possibly compete with that Quote. It is so perfect and beautiful.

Thank you.

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