The Caring Catalyst

Who Cares - What Matters

Begin Again

By Leave a Comment

I just recently watched it

a       g       a       i       n.       .       .

I often do that with movies I really enjoy:

WATCH   THEM

over and over and over again.       .       .

Have    you    ever    begun    again?

The 2014 movie, BEGIN AGAIN with Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo is hardly Academy Award winning in any aspect, but,  just the same, this is my favorite scene where Ruffalo’s drunken record producing character imagines instruments playing.

“That’s when the magic happens,”

his character tells us.

And you. . .when does the magic happen for you–in your head. . .in your heart. . .in your soul. . .?

The greatest stories

The worst stories

The greatest speeches

The worst speeches

The greatest pep talks

The worst pep talks

The greatest motivational insights

The worst motivational insights

come  from   Y     O     U. . .inside  of   you

Just because we don’t say IT out loud doesn’t make it any less powerful.

Forget Churchill

Forget Ziglar

Forget Tracey

Forget Robbins

Forget Canfield

Forget all of the great speakers you thought were awesome, or motivational, or inspirational or inciteful. . .

YOU ARE THE MOST POWERFUL SPEAKER YOU’VE EVER HEARD

What we tell ourselves

What we imagine

What we convince

What we think between our ears is more herculean than any other message heard or read.

Dare you harness THAT  imagination?

Dare you leash THOSE  thoughts?

B      E      W      A      R      E :

Your imagination is the most influential force you’ll ever encounter. . .

or you’ll ever need.        .        .        

Wow.      .      .listen to that music

It’s the greatest symphony ever composed;

It’s the greatest orchestra ever assembled;

and    it’s    all    inside    of    you

Shhhhhhhhhhh.        .        .
Listen.         .         .

let your eyes close slowly. . .

see.         .         .

hear.           .           .

Y     o     u,

The Conductor,

have already tapped your baton on the podium.         .         .

your   arms   are   raised

and shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.    .    .

  The      first      notes      are     about    to

B  e  g  i  n      A  g  a  i  n

Your Graduation Speech

By Leave a Comment

The News isn’t good,

Class of 2016

The Word is

You won’t have five jobs.     .     .

You’ll have  S I X   Careers;

The Word is

Only 27% of you will actually get a job related to your major;

The Word is

You will greatly enhance and most likely increase very quickly the 43% of Americans who have significant debt due to your student loans and quickly adding up credit cards;

The Word is

n     o     t          g     o     o     d

Well.   .   .

Speaking of

 W  O  R  D  S

Do  you  remember?

Do you remember the any single word or cleverly arranged phrases at your Graduation?

What’s the most memorable graduation speech you’ve ever heard?

One that happened whenever you graduated?

One from when one of your children or grandchildren graduated?

From a Movie?

One you’ve given yourself for any one of the ga-zillion

G    R    A    D    U    A    T    I    O    N    S

you’ve experienced in your personal life

from job to job

relationship to relationship

health to illness

year to year

life phase to life phase

life lesson to life lesson

life to life’s many different slow deaths

You’ve given the greatest Graduation Speeches the World has ever known

most of all without speaking one audible word.

S     E     L     F  —  T     A     L     K

will do that for you

without a syllable ever being uttered.

Do they match Robin Williams

from his movie
J     A     C     K  ?

No

They far exceed it

The most powerful words you’ve ever heard

aren’t those spoken to you during any Graduation Ceremony

but the ones you continually speak to yourself

because they’ll either have you

settling

or

exceeding

not the world’s expectations

or predictions

but the only ones that truly ever

c     o     u     n     t  :

Y          O          U          R            S

Congratulations

Class of 2016

Go out and conquer the World :

Y          O          U          R          S

Make your Life

S          P          E          C          T          A          C          U          L          A          R

Make   T  H  A  T

Your Life’s Work

and the World will never be the Same

Y          O          U          R        S

.         .          . O            U             R            S 

Drinking from the Saucer

By Leave a Comment

tea-overflowing-213x300

Have you ever done it before?

If you were at a Five-Star Restaurant and had just had a very expensive, satisfying dinner and the waitress, who has addressed your every whim and need, is now pouring your coffee to overflowing perfection so it’s a small moat in your saucer around your coffee cup.

Q   U   E   S   T   I   O   N :

Are you an    A P R I L     F O O L     enough

in front of all the guests,

enjoying dinner as you are,

going to    S  L  U  R  P    from your saucer?

Not even if it’s the best coffee ever,

Right?

Well, not many of us take notice

and might not readily admit it,

but the good stuff   I S   in the Saucer.    .    .

the Overflow is  always/ALL ways

where IT’S at.      .      .

Any Real   April Fool   knows that, don’t they?

A few weeks ago,

I conducted the small memorial service for Charles.

I never met him before.

He was a hospice patient in a group home near Santa Barbara, CA.

He was 92 and had been there most of his life,

but his life was never defined by that little fact.

Charles was an April Fool every month of the year.    .     .

Charles drank from the saucer,

u n a b a s h e d l y,   o f t e n,

with a smile on his face

and a pure, unadulterated happiness in his heart.

I learned that Charles had friends,

found true love,

traveled extensively,

had a job he took pride in,

and led a stress-free,

h   a   p   p   y           l   i   f   e !

Saucer slurping high living, huh?

The truest of  April Fools

S     e     r     i     o     u     s     l     y ,

if given the chance IN or OUT of a Group Home,

if at our last breath,

we could KNOW,

not hope,   wish,   dream.      .     .

K           N           O           W

that we had friends,

found true love,

traveled extensively,

had a job we took pride in,

and led a stress-free, happy life

—-S a u c e r – S i p p e r—–

Class   A   April Fool,

would you turn it down,

walk away?

Don’t feel bad.       .       .

M a n y    d o !

Pssssssssst:

D o n ‘ t      b e      M  A  N  Y !

Most don’t have the chance to drink fully from The Cup,

let alone the Saucer.     .     .

Most would turn down voluntarily being an

A P R I L      F O O L

any day of the year,

let alone on April 1

Look again.

There’s not only a Full Cup we have

but a Saucer for the Overflow

Hmmmmmm  of  the  Day:

Now Noticing would be one thing.

Drinking from them both. . .Quite another!

One. . .Two. . .Three:

S    L    U    R    P       Deeply

You April Fool

Get  Charles’d !

The Hardest Compassion

By 2 Comments

images-1

 

“YOU BIG JERK. . .”

“YOU SUCK. . .”

“YOU STINK. . .”

“What an Idiot. . .”

“U N B E L I E V A B L E. . .”

You ever utter or literally SCREAM out those words to

Y O U R S E L F

and mean it more than any other words you’ve ever mouthed off?

We go to sleep with the enemy every night. . .

And rarely ever wake up fully satisfied with the awesome wonder of WHO WE ARE!

Those old words come back to hack away at our very essence more than we realize or admit:

“WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND IT IS US!”

Sadly it’s more than often:

I HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND IT IS ME.

I was SHOCKED when I read a recent article from A POINT OF VIEW of the BBC that 99% of those with Down Syndrome say they are happy with their lives.

CAN. . .

DO. . .

ARE YOU HAPPY with YOUR LIFE

Right here,

Right now,

The way it is?

It’s true, isn’t it?

We’re not happy with Our Shapes, Our Likes, Our Dis-likes, Our hair, Our faces, Our Clothes, Our Jobs, Our kids/grandkids, Our Cars, Our homes, Our bank accounts, Our Retirement Funds, Our state of health,
OUR__________, OUR__________, OUR__________, OUR__________, OUR__________, OUR__________, OUR__________

Seriously–when’s the last time you gave yourself a break?

When’s the last time you didn’t bad mouth YOU?

When’s the last time you were nice to yourself?

When’s the last time you gave yourself a HUG?

When’s the last time you were your own Best Friend?

I’m not so sure I want you as a NEIGHBOR the way I’ve seen you love yourself. . . .

Out of all the lack of Compassion in the World, maybe the greatest lack is the GENUINE Compassion you actually show yourself?

It’s true.

I am the biggest jerk I’ve ever met.

I am the biggest hypocrite there ever was.

I am the stupidest, most inconsiderate, selfish person that walks the streets.

I    A M. . .

Heartbeats guarantee those moments, those thoughts, those FICTIONS!

Pssssst: Write yourself a letter–LITERALLY!
What would a compassionate friend say to me right now–write it, send it, RECEIVE IT!

Pssssst: Write your self-criticisms down.

A S K:

Would I ever, even on my worst, meanest day, ever say these words to a friend?

What would a friend tell me right now?

Pssssst: Write yourself a little Mantra:

“I’m not perfect and neither is the moment–but it’s JUST A MOMENT and I’ll be here after it like I was before it–GOOD! I WILL BE KIND, FIRST TO MYSELF SO I CAN BE COMPASSIONATE TO OTHERS!

There. . .that wasn’t so bad, was it?

The hardest kind of Compassion to dole out is to yourself.

We go to sleep with the enemy every night. . .

It’s time to

WAKE UP!

You don’t have to hit the SNOOZE BUTTON or pull the blankets high over your head. The World has some tremendous needs, that yes, only the Unbelievable, Stupid, Idiot, Jerk YOU can meet, can actually
handle. . .

Bring your Flawed self to this Flawed World

You’ll be totally amazed just how perfectly the imperfect pieces fit together like they wouldn’t/couldn’t if they were, in fact, PERFECT!

B  R  I  N  G      I  T. . . .

BULLY

By Leave a Comment

Sometimes. . .

The Bully gets

B     U     L     L     I     E     D

Most of the time, we’d stand up and cheer when we actually see or hear of this happening.

It is, actually, what makes this video so viral. . .

WE   LOVE    CHEERING     FOR    THE    BULLIED. . .

The Underdog.

Here might be the question of the year. . .maybe even the decade. . .maybe this Century and

CENTURIES PAST:

What if the BULLY  and the BULLIED

are one and the same. . .

What if

The Bully and the Bullied are actually

Y          O          U   ?

The worst Bully you might ever encounter is the one that stares you down in the mirror

. . .there just might not be any more of a Brutal Bully.

I’m Fat. . .

I’m a Loser. . .

I’m Lazy. . .

I suck. . .

I’ll never get this right. . .

I’m not meant to be in a relationship. . .

I’ll never kick this habit. . .

I_________________________________. . . .

Whatever you believe about negative Self-Talk

YOU  BETTER  NOT  BELIEVE  THAT  IT’s  JUST  IN  YOUR  HEAD !

The Research shows that  HAPPY  people have a way. . .a habit. . .of putting bad days behind them and LEAVING them there. . .

or

Head-butting the over matched, huge, big, bad Bully and not only standing up against that Bully

but actually

BACKING IT DOWN

Knock  THAT  TRAIN  off it’s tracks.

We all do Self-Talk

We all do  NEGATIVE  Self -Talk

We all have the capability of doing  POSITIVE  Self-Talk

HOW?

Three Words:

C     O     N     F     I     D     A     N     T

S     M     A     R     T

E     F     F     E     C     T     I     V     E

Go ahead, Bullied,

Test it out. . .

The next time the Bully starts the trashing of  YOU

Get  YOUR BULLY  on

See YOURSELF as Bullying the bully by being

Confident. . .Smart. . .Effective.

Hmmmmmmm of the The Day:

I bet that’ll get your Goat!

Professional Speaker, Author, Assurance Man