ChuckBehrens

Feeder Goldfish ‘DO IT’

December 4, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

It was purely a chance meeting–If there truly is such a thing.

Michelle Brown is a Team-Leader at Hospice of the Western Reserve. We ran into each other and after asking how we were doing and the recent Thanksgiving Holiday, she paused and then with a tear in her eye that was half-twinkle she told me about feeder goldfish. Hmmmmm…where can this possible go, right?

How about a Direct Hit to the Heart!

She told me that she and her husband didn’t go out and buy expensive, exotic fish, but ‘RESCUED’ feeder goldfish, who in this case weren’t in the greatest shape. They had somehow caught some kind of disease, that not only seemed to be killing them, one by one, but actually with fish parts falling off, were seemingly dying painfully.

In fact, just when she thought she was exceedingly adding to their suffering and was about to euthanize them she noticed something. . .something quite remarkable. The goldfish that were in the worst shape were actually being nurtured, by those who were in less bad shape. She stated that she saw how they would take turns, literally siding up besides the sickest and showing an overwhelming amount of compassion as they provided, dare I state it: PRESENCE!

Absurd?

I once saw two squirrels chasing one another and one inadvertently had run onto the street and got hit by a car even though it swerved to miss it. The car didn’t stop. I did. I actually saw the squirrel that was chasing the one now hit and killed, ran into the street and pull it off the road. I was paralyzed.

I’m sure there’s some YouTube/Google-ifric posts that would verify even much greater ANIMAL acts of Compassion.

Michelle wondered out loud about the WHY of it all…was she doing more harm than good, even though her intention was quite the opposite?

We then both wondered, maybe IT was to Teach. . .Teach her The Lesson, to Teach me the Lesson, to Teach You The Lesson, for you to Teach others The Lesson. . .I mean, isn’t that Life at it’s best and how it’s been handed down, benefited and handed down again?

It’s all about this Compassionate Presence isn’t it?

Maybe what SHOUTED OUT to me the Loudest is, if a Feeder Goldfish can show that kind of compassionate presence to one of it’s own, suffering and dying, then. . .then what about Me–You–Others?

Hmmmmmm for $10,000.00, Alex

December 2, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

WARNING: G R A T I T U D E ALERT!

IF Thanksgiving is all about family gathers and feasts upon feasts that last entire weekends. . .

IF Thanksgiving is all about huge football rivalries that have you sitting on the edge of your chairs…

IF Thanksgiving is all about Pilgrims and Indians re-enactment of cute plays with moral meanings…

IF Thanksgiving is all about Gray Thursdays, Black Friday’s Pewter Saturdays, Cyber Mondays. . .

IF Thanksgiving is all about short vacations and getting out of work and school. . .

IF Thanksgiving is all about fine wine, cocktails, the first of holiday parties. . .

IF Thanksgiving is all about leftovers. . .

THEN IT IS O V E R!

But. . .

IF Thanksgiving is all about Gratitude. . .

Then it hasn’t begun. . .

Then it hasn’t concluded. . .

Then it HAS only C O N T I N U E D!

Pass me a Slice of Sincerity and a Cup of Compassion and let us proceed on the Gratitude Trail picking up others along The Way. . . .

http://thecaringcatalyst.com/224/

The Two Most Under-Heard-Words

November 27, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

I get a Standing Ovation after every talk I give!

Maybe you’d never know unless you were actually There!

Many times near the end of a presentation, as a way of THANKING folks for their attendance and their attention I usually have them stand up all together. I tell them that there are two words they never hear ever enough:

THANK YOU!

And then, because none seldom do, and THEY never would, standing there, I tell them to give themselves a long over due, sincere, well-deserved Standing Ovation. And they do! Loudly! Exuberantly! With Smiles, Whistling, Yaaaaaaaa-hooooooing included…and, and exactly to the penny, what did it cost? What did it deposit in their respective emotional 401k’s?

You can Suppose about it all you want, but it’s more than mere theory or hunch now. Studies have been done and documented with not so surprising results: IT WORKS! IT’S LIFE-CHANGING!

These studies have actually concluded that the expression of sincere gratitude can have some fairly profound and positive effects on our health, our mood and most definitely our relationships. Shocker, huh?

Ok, don’t believe the Studies from the University of Texas Health Science Center or the University of California at Davis or the University of Miami or the University of Washington…use yourself as your own laboratory.

Keep a daily journal of just three things you are thankful for and why.

Make it a practice to tell someone that’s significant to you something you appreciate about them every day.

Look in the mirror when your combing your hair or brushing your teeth and think about something you have done well recently or something you like about yourself.

Maybe it’s true: If you’ve forgotten the language of gratitude, you’ll never be on speaking terms with happiness.

The world doesn’t always have to have a reason to kick you in the teeth every time you smile, but it does. Still, walk in your field and cultivate this attitude of gratitude, and PRESTO: things don’t just look better–THEY ACTUALLY GET BETTER!

Thankfulness feels good, it’s good for you and it’s a blessing for the people around you. It’s such a win-win-win that I’d say we have a cause for gratitude…even without a day just for THAT.

Please, Stand, Give yourself a Standing Ovation! And. . .

Thank You!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Spelling C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N

November 25, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

So often we don’t think COMPASSION is an Inside Job or our Responsibility–It’s Someone Else’s job or at least their turn and it’s something, at the least, just mystically happens.

WRONG!

It doesn’t matter if it’s Health Care, or Education or Politics, or the Arts. It doesn’t matter what Gender or age or weight or height. Compassion is more than a Feeling or even a glancing high-tech Touch.

Enough!

Sympathy says, “I’m sorry,”

Compassion Yells, “HOW CAN I HELP?”

Studies actually show that when we feel most in tune with another, even our autonomic nervous systems join a in a harmonious rhythm.

Compassion is more than a “Good Thing.” “A Nice thing to do” “A Good way to be.”

Our world has never been in more need of this one simple, consistent Act as it is right now.

Compassion is the least expensive, less evasive, most powerful non-pharmological means to actually change, heal, complete another’s life.

You really want to know how to spell C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-0-N?

It’s this simple: Y-O-U!

Y O U have the ability to not only enhance and actually change a life. . .but actually SAVE ONE!

Now! Do this now!

Even reading this has wasted precious time for Someone you can help with a word, a deed, a look, a smile, a touch, a hand attached to an arm you could drape around a shoulder and hug a little closer.

Y-O-U. . .”The Answer!”

What Gets You In The Barrel?

November 22, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

June 30, 1859…check that date! A little before any of us could ever read or write a Post, huh?

June 30, 1859 was the day that Charles Blondin tight-roped himself across Niagara Falls. He crossed it about five times, way before Nik Walenda did back on June 16, 2012 WITH A SAFETY TETHER!

Blondin said, “To cross the roaring waters became the ambition of my life.”

Now crossing the Falls, Safety Tether or not is a feat. Blondin made it seem simple..he just didn’t cross it, uhhh, NO! He owned it. He crossed it once, NORMAL. Once on a bike. Another time on stilts. He crossed it pushing a stove in a wheelbarrow and actually cooked an omelet and then, are you ready for this, he crossed it with a man on his shoulders! When asking the crowd who would take on such a dare, only one was heard to volunteer. Harry Colcord, Blondin’s manager took the ride.

Absolutely amazing.

If we were living and in the surrounding area, I have to believe we would have been there with each feat Mr. Blondin performed, if for no other reason just in the chance he would have fallen to his death as we “Ohhhhhh” and “Ahhhhhhed” with his each step and challenging feats.

Question:

As we would have stood on either side of the Falls, cheering, jeering and omelet, er, egging him on, would you have ever been tempted to get in the wheelbarrow and be pushed across by him?

Seriously what would have gotten you into the barrel? Fame? Money? Death Wish? Ambition? Notoriety? What would have made you go all Harry Colcord and accept the challenge, take the risk?

What makes you go ALL IN on anything? When’s the last time you went all in, on YOU?

Hmmmmmm…maybe the THAT’S the biggest question? Not, What gets you in the barrel, but WHAT KEEPS YOU IN?

No nets. No tether. No crowds. No promise of riches or fame.

Just You. . .and IT!

See you on THE OTHER SIDE!

Hearing What I Didn’t Say

November 18, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

Well?

Everyone has a story that not only desperately needs to be told, but absolutely, unequivocally needs to be heard. Are you THAT Person? Or do you make sure person after person walks past you without caring, ever really trying to even begin to hear, understand, wonder if indeed, this is the worst day of their life?

Did you hear what I didn’t say? Many don’t. . .but DID YOU?

I might not want to share. It might not feel safe. I don’t want to waste your time or bother you.
But. . . .

Wait, linger a second or two longer and you might not, in fact, hear what I didn’t say, but actually understand, empathize and even make the story lighter, easier to carry, tell, hear.

And. . .and yes, if it hasn’t happened yet or many times over, there will be THAT time when your story needs to be told, desperately heard by another defeated, unsuspecting Someone who too has a untold, unheard Story!

If we truly could see in the Hearts of another, we’d better hear what wasn’t said but needs noticing.

Be THAT Someone. . .Often. And repeat, always, more than necessary!

Your Garbage

November 15, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

Everyone has it: GARBAGE!

Garbage day is never missed is it? We all have THAT day, and we, in a strange sort of way SAVE up for it all week, don’t we? All week long, we bag, pack, haul our garbage to place where it finally can get picked up and shipped away for good. . .or, or does it?

Imagine taking piles of garbage to the curb and as the Garbage truck comes down the street and is just about ready to pull up and haul your garbage away, you frantically run out, STOP, prevent them from doing their job and in fact, bring all of your garbage back into the house again—the whole week’s worth! Plus, you have the truck back up to your front door and have them dump all they’ve collected from their daily pick up right there in your LIVING ROOM!

Absurd? Unheard of? Ludicrous?

It is, isn’t it. . . until we bring back all that garbage we’ve allegedly long discarded to find out we’re worse than Hoarders keeping out of date fliers and junk mail piled to the ceiling.

It’s THIS simple: When you throw out YOUR Garbage, KEEP IT OUT. There’s a reason it’s garbage and IT STINKS! Why keep it or worse, Still Carry It Around?

To the Curb!

Leave IT!

Don’t Bring IT back in again.

Carry Yourself. . .and NOT IT!

I Believe / I Know

November 13, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

What’s the big deal? What’s the Difference?

I Believe! I Know!

Semantics?

There’s never a time I stand before an audience; never a time I walk into a patient’s room; never a time I walk into a facility; never a time when I’m one-on-one with a person and not with all of my heart believe that I’m the absolute BEST PERSON to be there! I believe it with all my might, strength, heart, my whole life–I Believe it!

Egotistical?

As much as I Believe it with my whole Being. . .I KNOW it’s not true. . . .

And that, that’s my greatest source of motivation every day, in every situation.

Unblinkingly, may IT ever be so!

Fix You

November 11, 2013 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

Is there a worse feeling, EVER?

You want to help, but there seemingly is nothing you can do. No word to speak, no phrase to utter, no deed to do, no wish to be granted. A painful helplessness. Terrible.

But all is not lost. There’s the absolute one thing, maybe the only thing that’s better than any prescription, therapy, intervention, or experiment.

YOU. Just You. Your Presence. Not your words. Not your deeds. Not your, “There, there’s. . . .”

Just YOU.

Show up and watch the healing take place!

It’s the most curing, the most compassionate, caring thing you can ever share.

You! Show up! Watch the healing begin. . .and forget to end!

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