You Always Have A Choice

Everything we do boils down to the choices we make, including whether or not we choose to accept our own success. 

It will always be easier to point out circumstances that seem to leave us with "no choice".  To do so though is simply wrong as there is always a choice to make. 

Granted, sometimes the options in front of us are not ones we wish to choose from.  However, they are choices and therefore we have some form of control over how we deal with every situation, even if our first instinct screams otherwise. 

Believing in choice and recognizing the inherent power we have when we exercise our own personal choice, is the cornerstone building block for claiming and accepting our own success. 

Think of the word ACCEPT as a personal reminder that there is always a choice if we but consider: communication, education, persistence, and thrift in our quest to accept success.

It is our choice.

The bloom is off...

Any person who can build a business empire the likes of what Michael Bloomberg has done over the course of his career, can teach all of us a few lessons on the value of capitalism.  And, when that person transitions into public service in order to "give back to the community", the action is seen as admirable.

However, when the lessons being delivered from the public pulpit run counter to the tactics leveraged so well in the person's earlier capitalistic efforts, something is just not right.

Perhaps it's as Lord Acton said more than 100 years ago, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Why else would Bloomberg be pushing so far and so intrusively into people's live to first strive to ban large soft drink servings and now to suggest that the police go on strike until gun ownership is banned?

Yes, obesity is a problem among our population and yes, guns will sometimes be used for terribly destructive ends as was the case in the Colorado tragedy, but how does a former stellar capitalist turn so far away from the root principles that built his business, to believe he can now "rule" with such moral authority and validity?

Et tu Michael?

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Solo across the Atlantic in 1932...

Even today, the idea of flying solo across the Atlantic in a single engine airplane is an awe inspiring idea (some may even say it's fear inspiring).  That Amelia Earhart accomplished the feat way back in 1932 speaks volumes of the strength of her pioneering spirit and offers us all a lesson or two for consideration.

Today, July 24, as she's honored by Google's search page with her own Google Graphic, we remember the 115th anniversary of her birth and more importantly, the hopes and dreams she can still inspire.  Amelia went against the odds, made tongues wag, and still today reminds us that we can fly as high as we can dream.

Happy birthday Amelia!

Want to learn more about this amazing individual?  Check her official biography HERE.

Rethink What You Thought You Knew

This review is from: Taming the Violence of Faith: Win-Win Solutions for Our World in Crisis by Jay Stuart Snelson (Paperback)

The business world is full of win-win strategy talkers. This however, is not a book of talk, rather one that paints the clear need for swift action within the business world and beyond, to cut to the heart of activating win-win approaches for all to pursue.

The term "win-win" is used as a matter of course in many a business meeting, even though most business deals end up as win-lose arrangements whereby the acquirer reigns supreme over the acquired. As such, it seems we could all benefit from understanding anew what win-win really means.

In "Taming the Violence of Faith", Jay Stuart Snelson walks you through the futility of our historical and nearly default mindset of win-lose, in such a way that the true destructive nature of win-lose approaches become totally apparent. Jay uses numerous examples from religious and nation state history to mine an extensive set of win-lose examples, in a way that will have you rethinking things you thought you knew, or recalling times when you underestimated the negative impact of a win-lose approach to life.

In doing so, the true value of win-win rises to the surface as never before. By the way, Jay's prescription for practicing win-win is as simple as The Golden Rule itself - another phrase we all know well, but rarely practice based on abundant evidence in the real world.

Understanding the value and need for embracing win-win strategies, not just tactically, but as the required way to save us from our current destructive habits, is the reader's reward. Jay's clear writing on the subject will leave you feeling the need for urgency in spreading the value of the win-win approach far and wide.

ORDER IT TODAY Available from Amazon

An Inspiration - Reagan Presidential Library

Cheryl and I visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, CA today.  Regardless of one’s politics, it is an inspiring place to spend an afternoon. 

Many of the issues of Reagan’s day were similar to what we face today; high unemployment, wars and skirmishes, government run amok, and more.  However, we could not help but come away from our visit with an uplifting sense of the great communicator’s ability to speak to the heart, in pragmatic language that rings true even today.  

Here are a few of the quotes I enjoyed during our visit.  Maybe they’ll resonate and give you something to consider as well.

• I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life. (Carved in stone at his graveside.)
  
• There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
  
• To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will.
  
• We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
  
• Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
  
• Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Inspired?  Ready to drive real change forward again?  Anyone else want to run for office?

PS boarding AirForce One, and seeing a real piece of the Berlin Wall, a steel girder from the Twin Towers, and many other historical mementos was also good cause for the trip.