Spring Has Sprung!

Spring Has Sprung

First the clocks spring ahead, then there’s the first day of spring. Everyone around here gets all excited when there’s one of those great sunny and warm spring days and then it snows again. But this isn’t about the weather; it’s about groaning and moaning when the weather disappoints. It’s about hoping for something different and maybe missing what you already have. And it’s about accepting what is and making the best of it.

Everywhere I hear: “I am so over this” – and while of course people are referring to the weather when they say this, I suppose they could have lots of other things in mind also.  I’m so over my job – how often have you heard that – and in this economy doesn’t that seem a bit selfish? I’m so over my family – sure there are squabbles but hey, they’re family (and what’s that they say: blood is thicker than water). I’m so over my car - what’s the difference, wheels are wheels? I’m so over my kids – take 2 seconds to think back when you were a kid and how your parents said the same thing.

Stop and reflect on what you do have – health, a roof over your head, food in your stomach, a good pair of shoes – in reality, they’re all pretty good. It’s certainly more than many others have. Those pictures from Japan certainly puts things in perspective – I’ll bet those people would trade what happened to their lives in the blink of an eye for bad weather. The plight of homeless people should give pause – they’d probably trade the streets they sleep on for bad weather. People in ambulances speeding to an unknown destiny – they’d trade their misfortune for bad weather.  A flat tire – would you really trade the car for having to walk (in bad weather)?

Truth is, whatever we have, it’s never all good or bad and there will always be something we think is better (hence that old fable about the grass being greener on the other side of the road). But these are natural thoughts that creep into our minds in the quiet times between responsibility and obligations. It’s okay to want but I suspect it’s not okay to allow your ego to push want beyond good sense. In reality, all the things we have are good enough, especially if we look at them honestly, use them wisely, share them judiciously, take care of them responsibly and cherish them humbly. And if you look at all you have with clear and unselfish eyes, you probably can’t help but be satisfied with and even proud of, what makes up your world. If not – look around, and then think again.

My message this week is about pride – in yourself, in what you have and in what you’ve accomplished.

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.  -Agnes Repplier

Agnes Repplier (1855 –1950) was an American essayist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her essays are esteemed for their scholarship and wit.

How can you be proud of who you are and what you do if you’re not happy? Not unhappy – that would mean you were the opposite of happy but rather not happy – meaning you just couldn’t find happiness. Everyone wants to me happy - it’s important for your sense of well-being and self worth – but that’s easier said than done. First, you have to like yourself and that means being comfortable with who and what you are. Second, you have to love the things you do and the reasons you do them – that means you approach them all with enthusiasm, commitment and energy.  And third, you have to exude a pride in all of what you are and do – that means you’re complete in your heart and body and mind and soul. It’s critically important that you find all of this happiness in yourself because what you find elsewhere is not as important. So stop looking around and start looking inward – and realize and rejoice in all that you are. 

That’s pride.

Stay well!

 

A Wold of Wonders

A World of Wonders

As kids we learned about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria as depicted by 16th-century Dutch artist Marten Heemskerk. Other than the Great Pyramid, the rest are mostly unknown in the modern world.

And then there’s the Brooklyn Bridge – this has been referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World; it was built in the late 1800s and epitomized inventiveness and industriousness and innovation in a growing modern world. Unlike the other Seven, this wonder was built when mass communications were starting to spread news about things farther and faster than ever before. Google this, or watch the Ken Burns documentary sometime for a fascinating story about this amazing accomplishment.

So, here I was in Brooklyn last weekend and decided to do what thousands of tourists apparently do – walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Not knowing what to expect, I put on my coat, took the subway and followed signs for the “walkway”. The farther we went, the more crowded it got; when we finally got onto the bridge there were two lanes – one for foot traffic (like us) and the other for bicycles.  And those thousands of people were all there. The lane for foot traffic had people going in both directions and since everyone was walking two or more abreast it was like swimming upstream. And forgetabout veering into the bike lane – those people had another agenda and it didn’t include watching out for, or trying to avoid, people who were walking. But once we got the hang of walking and avoiding all the other people on the bridge, we were able to focus on the view: the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, the East River, and the six lanes of traffic below – these all competed for our attention – and the view was spectacular.

But that’s not the point. Think about how creative and innovative John Roebling (the original designer) and his son Washington and Washington’s wife (they finished the bridge when the elder Roebling suddenly died) had to be to complete the construction of this wonder (that’s a story in itself). Think about the naysayers who didn’t believe that something so new and inventive and spectacular could be designed and actually built. Think about the fact that men and women worked tirelessly without computers and machinery to build it.  Think about the fact that dreamers really did rule the world back then. Even with all of our stuff today – technology and engineering prowess and globalization – there aren’t a lot of projects like this on the world’s drawing boards. We should all remember to dream big, to collaborate well, to work smart, to try hard, to care a lot, to do good and to never ever give up.  Who knows: one day you may create the next wonder of the world. I gotta believe there are countless Brooklyn Bridges in the future – all it takes is the freedom to move, the strength to stand, the power to dream, the courage to innovate and the will to continue.
 

My message this week is about innovation and the impact it can and does have on the world around us.  This week’s quote honors women’s history month and celebrates St. Patrick’s Day.

“To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.” 

-Bernadette Devlin

Bernadette Devlin, a radical feminist and Catholic activist in Northern Ireland, was a founder of People's Democracy. After one failed attempt to be elected, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Parliament in 1969.

Innovation sometimes takes giving everything you have to accomplish your goals.  That’s right – everything, as in all you’ve got with nothing else left to give.  If that’s the case then you have to decide what your dreams and goals are really worth to you. If a goal is worth achieving then you should be prepared to have it consume all of your time, energy, knowledge and skills; you should commit all of these and whatever else is needed to reach that result; you must be willing do everything to succeed. The results of this kind of effort could and should be something very creative and innovative, something that you can be proud of, and something that benefits your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors, something that can really make a difference. If you want to gain anything that’s worth having then you should be willing to give up and lose everything to make that happen. That kind of commitment can help lead to serious innovation today!

Stay well!

The Mighty Wind

The Mighty Wind...

It’s been a long time since I’ve had or used an umbrella. And let me tell you, these weather-related accessories are important when you live in the Big Apple. So how hard can it be to get one that works? I mean, you go on the Internet, type umbrella into your search engine and in seconds there are literally hundreds to choose from.  Sounds easy until you start to see all the dead umbrellas lying around the landscape after the last wind and rain. And let me tell you, those umbrella carcasses make a big impression.

But it’s not just the umbrellas lying in the gutters and against the gates that you start to see when your eyes begin to focus on things like this. While I understand the mountain of trash that goes out for pickup regularly (after all, there are a lot of people living here), it’s all the things that get discarded along the way that are a more interesting (and potentially troubling) commentary on society. It’s one thing to buy cheap stuff that’s never going to work – between the advertising BS and trying to save a buck we all get trapped owning stuff that’s somewhere between useless and worthless – but it’s another to get hoodwinked by unscrupulous advertising and sales techniques.

What can you do?

•    First, stop being so impulsive and go back to really checking things out like you used to before the Internet became a shopping habit. There really is no substitute for checking things out thoroughly, asking others about their thoughts and experiences with things and then looking for the best rather than the cheapest thing.
•    Second, don’t accept poor quality in anything – either in the answers you get, products you buy or the service you expect. The more we accept mediocrity the more we enable poor quality to exist. Maybe we should post more feedback (good and bad) online – the Internet’s reach can certainly be leveraged to modify unscrupulous attitudes and behavior…and these just may force quality improvements in lots of things.
•    And third, use the Internet (and any other source of information) to learn more – about the way things should be made, how they really are made, the advantages of one thing over another, the feedback that’s already out there and the comparisons that should always be made before you buy anything.

My parents used to say “you get what you pay for” and “buyer beware”; these are still true today – maybe more so – because there’s so much available and much of it can be pretty complicated. But you don’t have to be the victim; you don’t have to be the one who tosses something away because it just wasn’t good enough. Stop buying poor quality stuff or falling for it because you were attracted to a trend or a catchy phrase or because you got lazy and didn’t do your homework – these are the kinds of excuses that fill landfills and gutters. In the end, I suspect a mighty wind may overwhelm a good umbrella – but the gusts haven’t been that bad here lately; certainly not bad enough to result in all the broken and discarded ones I’ve seen on the street lately. Take a little extra time today to look before you leap when it comes to purchasing any of the stuff you want or need at home, work or play. And then maybe the people making stuff will become more scrupulous and honest in how they promote the things they want you to buy.

My message this week is about integrity and how it can, but shouldn’t be, blown about in the wind.
 

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”

-Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928) is an American autobiographer. Angelou and other female writers in the late 1960s and early 1970s used the autobiography to re-imagine ways of writing about women's lives and identities in a male-dominated society.

Nobody said life was easy.  Every day there are so many things that happen, and not all of them go the way you want.  In fact, if you were to add up all that you’ve done, you might find that more things have been less than successful, more have been more frustrating than not, more have left you wanting, and more than you’d hoped have set you back.  But in the end, you still have to keep going, you still have to pick yourself up and look at the positive side of things, you still have to see the glass as half full or more. You can’t use the unfairness of things as an excuse to give up because you and all the other people who rely on you need you to keep going. If you’re defeated, then you let all those other folks suffer defeat too – and you never want to do that. Keep telling yourself that while you may encounter defeats, you will never be defeated!  That’s how the strong keep getting stronger.

Stay well!

I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Ever wonder what keeps the trains running on time? Baby boomers like me don’t truly understand this question since train travel has either been declining or non-existent in our lifetimes. But now that I’m riding the rails to work every day I am becoming keenly aware of both their schedules and how closely they’re adhered to. And the people who make that happen.

We’ve become accustomed to: rare on-time takeoffs in the chaotic airline industry, and disrupted commutes in increasingly heavy traffic and frustrating bus trip through crowded urban streets. Riding bikes and walking are potentially attractive options but the distance between points makes these modes of getting around unrealistic.

So how come trains get such a bad rap - maybe it’s because there aren’t enough of them in enough places for enough people to have enough experience with them. But there are lots of trains here in New York City and they move lots of people around every day, mostly on time. And there are lots of professional conductors and engineers and brake-people and announcers and ticket takers who work in this low-tech but well-oiled transportation system. And, by golly, the trains do run on time.

All those people ‘working on the railroad’ (isn’t that a song??) look hard-boiled but they’re of warm hearts and good intentions and high spirits. They punch our tickets and answer our questions and announce the stations, all with a great deal of pride and professionalism. And, because they do, the trains generally run on time and all the people who depend on them and ride them faithfully are able to enjoy a really great way to get where they’re going without much stress and hassle.

Now don’t mistake this as just another blog about trains and mass transit and big cities; this is a tale of pride and professionalism and how regular people doing regular jobs can have a big impact on a lot of people. These trains are full most of the time – full of people who ride them because they can rely on them. And they can rely on them because the good people who’ve been ‘working on the railroad’have been doing so with purpose and pride and professionalism. And that’s what keeps the trains running on time!

In every business and industry, in all walks of life, in all of life’s daily endeavors, things get done on time and on budget and up to standards when people act with pride and professionalism. And that’s what keeps all the proverbial trains that we rely on running on time. Make sure you’re doing all you can, by acting as professionally as you can, to keep the “trains” in your world running on time.

My message this week is… (big drum roll here)

…about professionalism.

“Humility makes great men twice honorable.”  

-Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) invented the lightening rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.

Can you go to school to learn how to be a professional? Schools can teach you a profession – like computer science or auto mechanics – but there aren’t many classes that focus on the art of professionalism. While you can certainly learn some of that by watching others, more often than not the examples you see aren’t the ones you want to model: like those professional athletes who strut their stuff after making a play for which they’re paid an unbelievable amount of money; or the celebrities who frequent the tabloids as though they’re as noble as the characters they play; or the bankers who take bonuses in excess of most people’s lifetime earnings. They’re not the types of professionals that you want to be like. Look to be like the quiet and unsung heroes who do good because it’s the right thing to do and whose reward is in knowing they’ve done good deeds. That kind of behavior and humility makes great professionals twice honorable.

Stay well!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday!

I’m in Las Vegas this weekend to celebrate my Mother’s 90th birthday. And while there were so many other things going on in the world this week that I could be writing about (like the amazing events sweeping throughout the Middle East and Valentine’s Day), for me this one takes the cake. Because no matter how old we are, we’re still and always our mother’s child.

90 years is a long time – think about the events that occurred during that time: the roaring 20s, the depression, World War II, baby boomers, the interstate highway system, the rise of suburbs, air travel, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, the Beatles, Roe v Wade, a man on the moon, Woodstock, Watergate, Reagonomics, the dot.com boom and bust, the Gulf War(s), the Internet, the Hubble Space Telescope, the end of the Cold War, Bush I and II, the Great Recession, electric cars, the iPod, and Obama (just to name a few). And through it all, my Mom (and every other Mom) stood steadfastly for the simple proposition that each of their children should be all that we could be.

Moms everywhere are amazing: they seemingly know all, they’re always there for us no matter what, they all share an amazing ability to have the right thing to say at the right time (“I’m only doing this for your own good”), they cook and clean and toil endlessly without much complaint and they love without question. And all they ask in return is that we be good kids (and wash our hands, clean our rooms, stand up straight, comb our hair, etc.). Did you ever bring home a boyfriend or girlfriend that your Mom thought was good enough for you? Were your grades ever high enough?  It seems their role was and is to always tell us we’re the best while still challenging us to be better. It’s that balance between unconditional love and a gentle push to do and be more that’s the great lesson given by every Mom to every child.

Mothers never come right out and ask that we love and respect them in return – that’s not in their nature. But they know (because it happened to them) that in the end we do love and respect them. Because we know (or at least suspect) that they did their best to give us what was needed to have the life we wanted. That’s every mother’s gift to every child. And again, in the end, we children realize that the things our mothers say and do really are for our own good!

So Happy Birthday Mom – thanks for all you’ve done and, hopefully, will continue to do for a long time to come!

My message this week is dedicated to my Mom and Moms everywhere – they are and always will truly be the greatest and grandest things in our lives.

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.”  -Art Linkletter

Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter (1912 - 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of radio and TV shows on both NBC and CBS for more than 40 years. Linkletter was famous for interviewing children on House Party and Kids Say the Darndest Things, which led to a series of books quoting children. I have a feeling this quote was somehow inspired by his mother.

In order to make great things you must have a positive attitude. It’s no longer good enough to do just enough to get by – sure you can make that work, but if you have hopes and dreams of a good reputation and a lasting legacy then you have to do more to get more.

A positive attitude helps you to see things in the best light and to think clearly about how to best approach tasks and people and life’s daily challenges. And while things often turn out to be less than expected, it’s your role with your family or friends or work colleagues or neighbors to appreciate the good and help others to do the same. This reflects an inner strength to make the best out of the way things turn out. Do that and see if things turn out the best for you today.

Stay well!

It's Like Riding a Bike

It's Like Riding a Bike

How many times has someone said to you that something is “like riding a bike”? That usually means it’s something you never forget. There are lots of things like that: eating taffy, typing, singing an old favorite song, cooking a family recipe, playing a musical instrument, snow skiing, recognizing a long lost friend’s voice – all of these can come back to you immediately, even after a prolonged absence. Not so with tolerating cold weather!

Ok – so I said I wouldn’t write any more about the weather – but c’mon, it’s all over the news and for those stuck in this wintry grip, it’s a grim reality. Getting and staying warm is not like “riding a bike" - I can’t seem to remember how to tolerate and react to this kind of cold weather.

But this isn’t just about cold weather.  It’s also about remembering all the other things your mother taught you that you may not have thought of or been practicing lately. Sure, it’s about remembering to wear a hat and mittens but also about helping people who may be stuck in something (like this cold) or helping someone who is having trouble (like on the ice) or stopping whatever you’re doing to help or with anything. And not just on the ice but at home and work and anywhere else when others are confused or struggling or just in need of a helping hand or a moment of kindness; it’s about being there for someone to help with one of life’s challenges.

I remember when I was in college – my friends and I got lost and stranded in a blinding snowstorm and the people in the first house we came to were more than happy to let us spend the night in their home. Ya think that would happen today?  Would you open your doors and do that?? I think it’s time we again started to open up our hearts and minds and homes to people in need. That would sure make it easier to deal with the stuff that life throws at us. I want to believe that getting back to that kind of thinking would be “like riding a bike”.

I feel pretty strongly about this and so my message this week is about passion:

“We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.”  

-Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888) was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women, set in the Alcott family home Concord, Massachusetts and published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters.

What are you pursuing today?  Whatever it is, you’d better be into it all the way – not half in or distracted or less than prepared or lackadaisical or iffy.  Nothing you do should be less than the best you’re capable of – that would be unfair to you, your reputation, the people who’re counting on you, those who need whatever it is you’re doing to be as good as it can be and anyone else who might somehow be affected. And to be that good, you’ve got to be passionate about making all those wishes come true, weaving all those dreams into reality, turning all those hopes into beliefs. And if you’re a believer, then everyone around you will be one too.  That’s the deal: it’s your life to pursue, so keep on believing with all your passion, and make life great.

Stay well!