inspiration: lessons learned - from a to z - 11/28/12 12:23 AM
a  Aristocrats who do not know they are aristocrats are the real ones. Beware of those who try to walk the walk and talk the talk without having the class to back it up. They can waste your time and smudge up your belief in human nature a wee bit.
b  Boxes come in all sizes and the biggest ones don't always hold the greatest treasures. The same goes for homes.
c  Christmas comes but once a year. Do your best to be with those you love. Life is fleeting and some of them might not still be with us next … (11 comments)

inspiration: Trust and the Roads That Lead to Wisdom. - 11/12/12 10:08 AM
It's a drizzly, cool night here tonight. The sound of tires on wet pavement travels across the field and in through my open doorway. While working on a new real estate designation, I found myself stopping many times and gazing at the wet windows and wondering.  Wondering what it is that brings some people in business to become so untrustworthy. Is it money alone? I think not.If we trust ourselves, we tend to trust others and exhibit that trust by being trustworthy. When we trust someone, inherently and deeply trust them, it matters not what they say, we don't immediately question … (2 comments)

inspiration: Bedazzled. And All it Took Was One Man, Some Rocks and Gravity. - 09/19/12 12:13 PM
Bedazzled. I like that word. I've never used it much; in fact, I've never used it before in my entire life, however I've learned and seen some things in the past couple of weeks that demand nothing short of a word such as this to describe the impact they've had on me.They say amazing things come in threes, or something like that. Perhaps it's bad things usually come in threes. Well, this time the three things were nothing short of amazing.
The first is to do with 'gravity'.  Yes, plain old gravity. The stuff that keeps us firmly planted here on … (17 comments)

inspiration: FOCUS - The Key Element to Success in All Things - 05/16/10 09:49 AM
F  For
O  Optimum
C  Concentration
U  Use
S  Self-discipline
How often we get mired down in a litany of small issues that eke their invasive tendrils through the tidy garden of our thoughts. The result is a tangled mess where even the most beautiful aspects of our lives begin to resemble gnarled weeds.When I find myself in this negative state of mind, I pause to recall an old Ojibway saying,
"Sometimes I go about pitying myself and all the while a great wind is bearing me across the sky."
When I remind myself of this saying, a warm tingling sensation … (60 comments)

inspiration: Home. It's Never About the Bricks and Mortar. - 03/08/10 03:18 AM
Home. Just the word evokes a cosy, safe feeling where we can let out a sigh of relief as we let down all pretenses and settle back into our world-weary skins.Home has been many places to me, over many years. Physically, home has been some 30 structures speckled across a map stained with the intangible sweat and tears of a wandering soul. A soul who somehow eked out the feelings of 'home' where ever it temporarily found itself.Always, always, this soul had a hard time saying goodbye and to this day when it thinks of those red dots on the map … (28 comments)

inspiration: The Nature of 'Trust'. - 02/21/10 01:13 PM
A few days ago I was unpacking more of my books and found The 8th Habit by Stephen R Covey.Becoming a bit distracted from the task at hand, I sat down for a bit and began to flip through the pages.I came across a part in it that talked about a concept his son, Stephen MR Covey, had come up with called The Speed of Trust. I became intrigued with this concept once I read the principles behind it and behind trust itself. If we trust ourselves, we tend to trust others. When we trust someone, inherently and deeply trust them, … (10 comments)

inspiration: The Nature of the Heart - 02/14/10 12:06 AM
Antoine de St Exupery, the author of 'The Little Prince', understood about hearts. His understanding of the heart is partly what caused his book 'The Little Prince' to rise to fame and become one of the most popular and well-loved children's books of all time. In fact, not only children love this book, but the adults who read it to them find themselves deeply touched as well.My favourite part of the book is when the little prince is leaving earth and, as a parting gift, his newfound friend , the fox, says this to him, “It is only with the heart … (23 comments)

inspiration: A Dedication to my Mom, Yvette. - 02/07/10 11:29 AM
With Family Day a little over one week away, I've decided to begin my own yearly Family Day tradition by writing a dedication to each of my closest family members and sending it to them. This will remind them of how much they mean to me and how much it has meant to have them in my life.
So I begin with a dedication to my Mom, someone who has always been there for me, through thick and thin and during all of the inbetween times.I have a very hard time with 'letting go'.  I've had to learn to be strong … (12 comments)

inspiration: The Things We Miss......Usually Seem Insignificant at the Time. - 01/18/10 02:50 AM
...and most often are attached to the people that we love. This is the reason that we miss them. They remind us of how much we miss those people.
I've often heard it said that when you are old, and you sit on an old creaky rocking chair on a shady front porch, you will reminisce about the moments of your life; not the days, not the hours, not the years...just the moments.
Since my early days in Active Rain, back in the summer of 2007, so much has changed in my life. I was never more aware of that than … (35 comments)

inspiration: This Year I'll Be Slower to Judge..... - 01/01/10 03:08 AM
The snow is falling softly outside in a dancing kind of way and I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the new year in a positive and active way. As I turned on my computer and made my coffee, I reflected back on the year that's passed.  Something had changed in my thinking process and I found I was no longer thining about the negative things that happened.Instead the only things that came to mind were the positive transitions that had happened; the changes that had occurred in my life that were difficult at the time, however culminated in … (24 comments)

inspiration: 7 Things You Can Do Today to Increase Your Blog Readership Plus 40 Blog Article Ideas To Supercharge Your Blog for 2010! - 12/26/09 03:44 AM
 
 
1.  Sign up for a writing course! One of my favourite Christmas gifts this year is a 10 week writing course taught by  book editor, writer and creative writing instructor Brian Henry . The course starts in February and for a few hours per week of my time, I'll be polishing up my writing skills and learning new ones. I can't wait to start!2.  Make it a habit to carry your camera with you everywhere you go. Of course, many of the new phones have fairly good cameras built right in so you can always be at the ready … (105 comments)

inspiration: All the Smiths Down in Smithville, the Tall and the Small.... - 12/21/09 01:06 PM
All the Smiths Down in Smithville, the Tall and the Small....

Yesterday we spent a wonderful afternoon and evening at my brother Curt and sister-in-law Wendy's home in Ajax, Ontario. Many of my family members were there and we had a grand time telling tales about the old days and roasting the odd family member over things they had done in the past.

My nephews and neice enjoyed the day playing ping-pong, computer games, drawing (home-made cards from Trevor and Tyler that were just beautiful!!) and catching up with their cousins.
My Dad, always one for making sure everything … (12 comments)

inspiration: Cherish the Moments and People That Fill Your Christmas and Hold Them Close to Your Heart. - 12/19/09 12:12 PM
With Christmas once more soon upon us, my thoughts turn to Christmases past when my Grandparents were still alive and I find myself drifting off in revery to visits north on snowy two laned roads in winter and dusty, gravel strewn roads in summer. A soft quietness comes over me and with a heavy heart, I think upon all of those who still graced my life in those days and are now gone.
A distant train whistle lulls me out of my complacency as I am carried back to an early evening many years ago and to the house my great … (14 comments)

inspiration: Act Now to Make 2010 Your New Year of Personal Power! - 12/18/09 11:40 AM
As 2009 draws to a close, we begin to set goals, write plans and make changes with an aim to make 2010 one of our best years ever.
It's within our reach to attain these goals as long as we make a plan and follow the plan. I've heard that self-discipline is a key to a healthy self-esteem and when we think of the consequences of being self-disciplined, we can easily see why having strong self-discipline is one of the keys to success. Self-discipline leads to accomplishment which leads to pride and increased self-esteem which in turn leads to greater accomplishment … (30 comments)

inspiration: It Costs Nothing and Yet It Is a Gift Whose Value is Beyond Measure. - 12/13/09 04:03 AM
Sometimes in life you meet someone who changes your life and through some hidden alchemical reaction taking place deep within your cells, you are never the same again.
I heard a quote once, possibly about 7 years ago, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle". No one seems to know who was the original sayer of that quote. Some say it was Plato and some say it was someone else. It matters not, for it's an eternal piece of wisdom that holds true no matter what era the human race finds itself in.
Kindness softens a heart … (70 comments)

inspiration: The Keepers of Our Stories. - 02/06/09 12:20 PM
Stories. We all have one. Some of us have many. They hook together like an unending game of Barrel of Monkeys never letting us pause long enough to reflect on the pattern, or whether or not there even is a one.Some of us live in constant chaos. Such is the nature of life. It's messy. This is the way life unfolds. Our lives unfold in a deep mystery that is often only seen by someone looking on. The one in the midst of the chaos is too tangled amidst searching branches and stubborn roots to be able to see clearly the … (27 comments)

inspiration: It Costs Nothing and Yet Can Make All the Difference in the World to Someone. - 02/05/09 10:57 AM
Sometimes in life you come across something that stays with you and changes who you are. It doesn't just change you momentarily, it changes you permanently, and through some hidden alchemical reaction taking place in the invisible places between your neurons, you are never the same again.
For me it was a quote I heard once, possibly about 7 years ago, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle". No one seems to know who was the original sayer of that quote. Some say it was Plato and some say it was someone else. It matters not, for … (38 comments)

inspiration: Taking Notes - A Greatly Under-used and Under-rated Business Success Tool - 01/30/09 08:32 AM
When I think of people who carry around small notebooks and are constantly scribbling things, I think of someone who means business. Columbo comes to mind...Columbo always got his man/woman and a big part of his success was the notes he was constantly taking.What makes you stand out in a potential client's mind? Is it the way you dress? Perhaps it's the way you carry yourself or the colourful brochure you hand out. Perhaps, it's all of these things and a little more. That little more could be the deciding factor in whether a potential client decides to go with you as their choice or not....and that … (48 comments)

inspiration: 'Pass the Lemonade' Hits Here Twice in One Week...Are You Next? - 01/19/09 07:47 AM
Recently I received emails from two of the first Active Rain friends I ever made, Bill Cherry and Tom Braatz.Glancing at Bill's email subject line and seeing 'lemonade', I wondered just what he was up to now.Bill has contacted me a few times in the past with contest ideas for the Inspiration Group, so I thoughtthat perhaps he had come up with a new contest idea that somehow or other involved lemonade (you never know with Bill).I was very touched and honoured when I read the email body and saw that Bill had chosen me as one of his Top 10 … (32 comments)

inspiration: Books, Blue Skies and Snowflakes.... - 11/20/08 06:25 AM
 
I awoke to a beautiful, winter wonderland and a soft blue sky where cottony, white clouds drifted serenely across. Winter doesn't bother me the way it used to...in fact, I love the contrasts of the seasons more with each passing year of my life on this breathtaking planet we call home.
My to-do list for today is comprised of a lot of errands here and there....taking 43 wine bottles to the Beer Store for recycling (no, I'm not a wino, I just had this very good intention once upon a time on a long ago Frosty Friday, of making a … (35 comments)