The weeds will grow!

I'm sure we have all heard of contests at state and county fairs and farmers markets for the biggest/best pumpkin, best begonias, the best petunias or roses etc. I'll bet you have never heard of a contest for the best weeds have you? Probably not. Because it doesn't take much to grow weeds. Anyone can grow weeds. Weeds are very aggressive in terms of their growth and they produce millions of seeds that can lay alive in soil for up to 100 years. So weeds can and will grow in any condition without anyone having to do anything. Weeds can grow through concrete, a piece of wood a weed can basically grow anywhere. And the only way to really get rid of weeds are to manually pull them up by the roots. I f your garden is neglected weeds can/will also grow in your garden. In fact lets just say you had a garden and you were trying to grow some prized petunias or begonias. Petunias and begonias require a lot of nurturing and care and time and attention. But, lets say that you were out of town for a month and you didn't have time to tend to your garden, By the time you got back home after neglecting your garden for a month, your prized petunias or begonias will be dead and the weeds will  have taken over your garden and the weeds will be flourishing. Because of how aggressive weeds are, there root systems run very deep into the soil and are very complex. So, eventually if the garden is neglected and weeds are allowed to grow their roots will steal all of the water and the nutrients that your petunias or begonias will need to grow.

So lets just say our minds are gardens and in our minds, we have planted seeds and are trying to grow CONFIDENCE, POSITIVITY, VICTORY, SUCCESS, HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE, PEACE etc. Now these particular seeds just like roses and begonias and petunias require a lot of nurturing and attention and care all day every day in order for them to grow. SO you need to tend to the garden in your mind all day every day. But just like in an ordinary garden, weeds can/will grow. These weeds that grow in your mind are also very aggressive and obnoxious and don't need any special care in order for them to grow. In fact they grow the strongest when the garden is being neglected. The weeds most commonly in the garden of your mind are FEAR, NEGATIVITY, DOUBT, INDECISION, LACK OF CONFIDENCE etc.  So, lets say you take a month off from tending to the garden of your mind. By the time you get back to it the seeds of POSITIVITY, VICTORY, SUCCESS, HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE, PEACE etc. that had started to sprout will all be dead. And the weeds of FEAR, NEGATIVITY, DOUBT, INDECISION, LACK OF CONFIDENCE, BITTERNESS, ANGER etc. will be flourishing and will have taken over your garden completely because they will have stolen all of the water and nutrients from your intended seeds. As long as those weeds are present in your mind/garden nothing useful will ever be able to grow. The only way that these weeds can be removed from your minds garden is to manually pull them up from the roots. Every time one of those nasty weed seeds enter your mind or begin to sprout in your mind, yank it out. Every time you begin to feel FEAR, NEGATIVITY, DOUBT, INDECISION, LACK OF CONFIDENCE, BITTERNESS, ANGER etc. start to sprout in your mind. It is of the utmost importance that you yank it out!

Put a "keep out" sign on your minds garden and only grow and feed and water and nurture the seeds of  CONFIDENCE,POSITIVITY, VICTORY, SUCCESS, HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE, PEACE Etc. Don't neglect them, for one second. Consistently water and nurture these good seeds with by surrounding yourself with other people who think like you and who are growing the same good seeds in their mind, immerse yourself in positivity and reading and absorbing positive and motivational and inspirational words. But, whatever you do, DO OT NEGLECT YOUR GARDEN, BECAUSE AS SOON AS YOU DO, THOSE NASTY WEEDS WILL START TO GROW AND WILL KILL ALL OF YOUR GOOD SEEDS AND DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE WORKED FOR!

Keep your mind free of the weeds of negativity and you will look up and you will be in next years state fair with prize winning CONFIDENCE, POSITIVITY, VICTORY, SUCCESS, HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE AND PEACE!

ITS OUR TIME!

PEACE!

It's YOUrs! The world, that is!

Often times I hear the phrases "I'm waiting for my man to call me back so I can make ___ happen. I'm waiting for this guy to get back to me so that I could ____. As soon as this person or that person calls me back or "hooks me up" I'm going to make it happen. Now, I'm no statistician or mathematician or anything, but, I have learned that as long as you are waiting for SOMEONE ELSE to make YOUR dreams come true, there is about a 99.9986243% chance that those dreams WILL NOT be coming true!

I have learned not to leave MY dreams and MY future in SOMEONE ELSES hands. Because THEY will get up and leave MY dreams and MY future on the bus or the train, THEY will lose MY dreams under the front seat of their car and you will end up with old French fries and dirt and gum all stuck to MY dreams. It's not that people don't want your dreams to come true and people don't want to help. But, everybody is busy! They have families and jobs and some of them have dreams of their own that they are trying to make come true. YOUR DREAMS ARE NEVER GOING TO BE SOMEONE ELSES FIRST PRIORITY.  I have learned that we must take personal responsibility for making sure OUR dreams come true NO ONE ELSE WILL do it for US. NO ONE ELSE CAN DO IT FOR US!  KEEP IN MIND THAT OUR DREAMS WERE HAND DELIVERED AND GIVEN TO US SPECIFICALLY, NOT SOMEONE ELSE! THEY WERE GIVEN TO US FOR A REASON, FOR US TO MAKE THEM COME TRUE!

Being able to blame someone else because WE didn't succeed in life is an easy way out and an excuse! Hell, we will even say that its a good excuse. But,  Good excuses are excuses none the less. In the end having someone to blame for us not succeeding is NOT the same thing as us succeeding.  Needing help with our dreams is not the same as depending on someone else to make them happen.

 IF YOU LEAVE YOUR DREAMS IN SOMEONE ELSES HANDS, WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY DONT SHOW UP THE DAY THAT THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO COME TRUE? YOU are stuck, NOT THEM!

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.
-Lou Holtz

OUR LIVES, OUR SUCCESSES, OUR HAPPINESS, OUR PEACE OF MIND, OUR DREAMS ARE ALL POWERED BY US!

THE WORLD IS OURS!

ACT NOW!

PEACE!

Life goes on, so should you!

One of my favorite television shows of all time was this show called "I shouldn't be alive" Its a show about people who somehow end up in life or death situations , and they somehow survive. This one particular episode was about this guy who had gone scuba diving with a few other people in the middle of the ocean somewhere miles and miles away from land. They chartered a boat and headed out to sea. Everyone gets out of the boat and starts scuba diving. They go under water and everyone comes back up except for this one guy. After they are done, everyone makes their way back to the boat except this one guy. The staff on the boat did not take a count of everyone they had on board and they assumed that everyone was back on board and a terrible storm was brewing so when they though they had everyone back on board, they headed back home. So by the time this other guy had come back to the surface he looked around and the boat was gone. He spent the first few hours just drifting around the sea, hoping that the boat or some boat would appear to pick him up. hours had gone by and no boat. He decided he was going to try to swim for it.. But, he had no clue what direction to swim in. As far as he could see, all he was so was water. He could see no land in either direction. HE was literally in the middle of the sea. So, he makes a swim for it. He swims as hard as he could for hours and hours. Along the way he is attacked by jelly fish and all other types of sea creatures. Eventually hours turn into a day and he would swim get tired, drift and rest and swim again. He was at the point of fatigue and dehydration from the salt water. Many times he thought of just giving up and just drowning. One day had turned into two. At his darkest and most depressed hour as he was thinking about giving up. a piece of drift wood floated nearby. He thought that it would be his savior, finally the answer to his prayers. He swims over to the driftwood and he goes and leans on it and the piece of wood keeps him afloat. He can finally get some sort of rest. So he leans on this piece of wood and keeps this piece of wood for about a day or so. But, he soon realizes that he can no longer swim as long as he is leaning on this piece of wood.  He will just drift and drift in whatever direction the wood goes. So, now he is faced with a new decision. If he keeps the piece of wood he will be able to rest and lean on it and feel safe and secure. But he knows that he wont make it anywhere and he will eventually die in the middle of the ocean on that safe and secure piece of wood. But, if he lets it go he can now swim and at least try to make it to his destination but he will do so without the safety and security of the wood. He contemplates what he should do, he makes up his mind that he is going to try to save himself. He is going to let the wood go and he is going to try to swim for it. He lets the wood go, but now his safety and security is gone. He decides he cant do it and he goes back and gets the piece of wood. He holds onto the wood for another day or so. By this time about 2 or 3 days had gone by. He realized that he was getting nowhere so he finally decides to let the piece of wood go for good. He lets the wood go once and for all and starts to swim for it. The wood finally drifts out of sight. Once his sense of security is gone it makes him even more determined to reach his destination. He turns the lack of safety and security into the fuel he needs to reach his goal. He swims and swims as hard as he could, he look sup and he can see the coast of some island. Being able to see his destination he swims and swims harder until he finally reaches the island. He survived! He made it! He was alive.

I guess the moral of this story is that sometimes in life we too, hold onto things that we think somehow offer us "safety and security". We hold onto things that make us feel better and more comfortable. We hold onto certain relationships, attitudes, friends, jobs, stuff from our pasts. We hold onto anger and bitterness and memories that make us feel better but, wont allow us to get anywhere because they are too heavy to swim with.  But as long as we hold onto these things we will never be able to swim. And If we cant swim, we will only be able to drift around aimlessly and hope that someday we will reach our destinations or someday we will be rescued. If it is important to us that we reach our destinations, at some point we will have to decide to LET STUFF GO OR ELSE WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO MOVE TOWARDS OUR DESTINATIONS.

After my daughter passed away I was angry at doctors and angry at the nurses and I was just angry. But, it soon hit me that that my anger wasn't going to affect those doctors or nurses at all. It was only going to affect me. My anger was my problem and my problem alone. No doubt it was my right to be angry. But, the ultimate question was is my anger doing me or my family any good. It was only holding me back. Instead of it being dead weight I decided to LET THE ANGER GO, I decided to instead use it as fuel to propel me to my destination, my dreams my goals and to do it in my daughters honor. Letting go turned out to be HOW I SURVIVED!

So its decision time for us. Its time to decide if the things that we are holding onto are really doing us good or holding us back. Once we make a decision that they are holding us back its time to LET THEM GO AND START MOVING CONFIDENTLY IN THE DIRECTION OF OUR DREAMS! LET THEM GO AND THEN USE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE GONE AS YOUR FUEL TO KEEP PUSHING TOWARDS YOUR DREAMS AND YOUR GOALS. IF YOU ARE HOLDING ONTO IT AND ITS NOT BENEFICIAL TO YOU, LET THEM GO AND GET MOVING TOWARDS YOUR DREAMS!

“Life goes on, so should you.”
-T. L. Hines

LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

PEACE!

 

 

Comfort zone aint no place for the successful!

I always knew that I wanted to be successful. I always knew that I had some sort of good stuff inside of me some sort of special gifts or talents inside of me that I would be able to use to help people and in turn make me successful. I just had no clue what those gifts and talents were or how to find them. It was torture, I knew that I wanted to be successful, but that was just about all that I knew.  I was always told and I always thought that I spoke well, and I have always tried to be a positive and motivational and inspirational person who tried to motivate, encourage and inspire my friends to maximize their potential. From time to time a few of my close friends and family would even say to me "hey, you should consider being a motivational speaker". I thought hey, maybe they are onto something. So the thought sat in my head for years and years and I thought to myself that's it, "Ill be a motivational speaker". So, I went on with my normal everyday life thinking man this is going to be great, if my friends and family notice my gifts and skills and talents, and they think that I should be a motivational speaker, surely the world will take notice someday. I will get my big break and success will be mine at last.  So, time goes on and I continue living my daily life. Going to my job and coming home, going to my job and coming home. Enough time starts to go by and I start getting frustrated. "Man, if I have these great talents and abilities and great stuff inside of me, that my friends and family keep telling me about, then why am I not successful"? Why aren't my dreams coming true? Why isn't anyone else noticing me or my gifts and talents. Suddenly it dawned on me that my friends and family alone weren't going to be a big enough audience for me to succeed. None of my family or friends had the connections to give me my big break. I started realizing that my big break would not be found on my couch or under my bed at home. I would not find my big break watching TV. I certainly wouldn't find my big break at my job or at home taking a nap.

I realized that in order for the world to notice me and my gifts and skills and talents, I would need to LEAVE MY COMFORT ZONE OF HOME AND MY JOB AND MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY and step out into the world and BE NOTICEABLE! The real test of how great the stuff inside of me was, was when the world heard my message and not just my friends and family. I needed the world to take notice. But, I was extremely nervous outside of my COMFORT ZONE because I thought, what if the world doesn't think I am as great as I do? What if the world doesn't think I'm as great as my friends and family do? But, I wanted to succeed that bad, and "failure and discomfort" were risks that I was willing to take. So, I started going out and meeting and speaking with people. I started going to this big church and meeting new people, I started doing a lot of volunteer work in my community which gave me more insight into people, I joined an organization called Toastmasters (An organization that helps you to develop your speaking and leadership skills). In Toastmasters I met a gentleman who started mentoring and coaching me with my speaking and presentation skills. One night in Toastmasters one of the members gave a speech on how she started her blog, and that planted seeds in my head about starting a blog. That following day, I started my own blog. I have since landed a speaking engagement or two. The world is beginning to take notice and I am on my way to the success that I have always wanted and desired and knew that I was capable of. 

I guess my point is that if you have an idea, or a business, or a plan and YOU KNOW that in your heart of hearts you have what it takes and that you were meant to be successful. If you have seeds of greatness in your head and in your heart that you want to blossom some day. YOU WILL NEED TO STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE IN ORDER FOR THEM TO GROW. Your friends and family are not going to be a big enough customer base to make you successful. Your seeds of greatness will not grow in your couch or in your bed. You will need to plant them in fertile soil which is out in the world. Don't worry about rejection or if the world doesn't think you are good enough. YOU ARE! if you weren't those seeds of greatness would have never been put in your head and heart in the first place. If you weren't good enough those seeds of greatness would have never been given to you.  Take your chances, go out into the world, learn, grow, get better, get stronger, make new connections, network with other people who also have seeds of greatness in them, establish new relationships. YOU WILL LEARN WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO IMPROVE , OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE! ITS THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE A REASONABLE CHANCE OF MEETING UP WITH SUCCESS! SUCCESS WILL NOT BE FOUND AT HOME IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE!
Remaining in your comfort zone and expecting to be successful is probably like the equivalent of sitting home going fishing in your bathtub and hoping to land the big one. Chances are ITS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! IF YOU WANT FISH, YOU MUST GO WHERE THE FISH ARE!

I spent my life wondering how/if the world would ever notice the good stuff I had inside of me. Now I check my Blog statistics and I see readers and I get comments from readers in Bangladesh, New Zealand, UK, South Korea, India, Philippines, Spain, Croatia Japan, all over Africa, UAE, Mexico and the US etc and I am extremely humbled, grateful, thankful and appreciative and I start to think that maybe the world is starting to take notice. But, it would have never happened if I didn't step out of my comfort zone. 

I THANK AND APPRECIATE YOU ALL FOR READING AND HAVE  A GREAT DAY!


PEACE!

Who are you going to believe, me or them?

You will find the most amazing things when you go looking and searching for positivity, motivation and inspiration. I suppose seek, and ye shall find.

I read this story about this little girl who was born on June 23, 1940 in Saint  Bethlehem, Tennessee.  She was born prematurely at 4.5 pounds, and she was the 20th of 22 siblings from two marriages. her father was a railway porter and her mother was a maid. When she was 4 years old, this little girl contracted infantile paralysis which was caused by the polio virus.

She eventually recovered, but was required to wear a brace on her left leg and foot until she was nine years old. Eventually her leg and foot grew abnormally and was twisted from having to wear the brace. She was then required to wear an orthopedic shoe for support of her foot for another two years. The doctors told this little girls mother that this little girl would most likely never be able to walk.  But, her mother refused to believe what the doctors said and, she continued to BELIEVE and HAVE FAITH and took matters into her own hands. She would routinely drive her little girl from Clarksville, Tennessee to Meharry Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee (About 50 miles) for treatments for her twisted leg. Eventually the doctors taught her how to do the treatments at home so she wouldn't have to travel. She, started treating her little girl at home, and when she treated her she would push her and refused to let her feel sorry for herself, she would encourage her to be her best. She was determined to make sure this little girl could walk and run and play just like all of the other kids. But, despite the mothers best efforts, by the time the little girl was twelve years old she was also forced to deal with  several bouts of polio and scarlet fever, which she ultimately survived.

But, through HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, DETERMINATION, PERSEVERANCE and a rigorous treatment plan and care from her mother. The mother and the little girl both got their wish. The little girl shed her handicap and at 12 years old she could finally walk. Now, feeling a bit AMBITIOUS and CONFIDENT, this now 12 year old little girl wanted to follow in her big sisters footsteps and wanted to play basketball. So she tried out and made the basketball team. In fact she became a basketball star in her high school setting the state record for scoring and she led her team to the state championship.  One day while she was practicing, she was spotted by the Tennessee State track and field coach who, when he spotted her knew that he had found a natural born athlete. He recruited her and she joined Temple's summer program at Tennessee State and trained regularly and raced with his "Tigerbelles" (The name of the team) for two years. By the time she was 16, she earned a berth on the U.S. Olympic track and field team and came home from the 1956 Melbourne Games with an Olympic bronze medal in the 4×100 m relay to show her high school classmates.

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome she won three Olympic titles: in the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 m relay. She ran the 100-meter dash in an impressive 11 seconds flat. She also won the 200-meter dash in 23.2 seconds, which set a new Olympic record. After these wins, she was being hailed throughout the world as "THE FASTEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD". Finally, on September 11, 1960, she combined with Tennessee State teammates to win the 400-meter relay in 44.5 seconds, setting a WORLD RECORD!  In 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games.

So, what's my point? This little girl was told be the "experts", she was given an "expert Opinion" that said she was never going to even be able to walk. That would have been enough information for her mother to give up on her and for everyone to feel sorry for her and for her to start feeling sorry for herself and just give up and never even try. But, her mother would hear nothing of the sort. her mother SUPPORTED her daughter and ENCOURAGED her daughter. She pushed her and told her great she was and how great she was going to be. That SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT far outweighed the "experts" opinions. Wilma Rudolph was quoted as saying " My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.". She was also quoted as saying "My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother."

Every single one of us has some kind of flaw, and we receive plenty of information from "experts" and society and life that says  that we cant accomplish our dreams, and we will never be able to accomplish our goals. We receive information everyday that says we aren't good enough, fast enough, strong enough, smart enough to run our own businesses or to launch brand new careers in fields that we want to be in or to go back to school. Etc. But, There will always be a small voice from somewhere in your life that says "YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH, SMART ENOUGH, FUNNY ENOUGH, STRONG ENOUGH etc to achieve your goals and live the life of your dreams." "YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO ACCOMPLISH WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH!" YOUR SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN LIFE WILL DEPEND ON WHICH VOICE YOU CHOOSE TO LISTEN TO AND BELIEVE. ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS TURN THAT QUIET VOICE THAT SAYS YOU CAN UP, SO THAT IT DROWNS OUT THE VOICES THAT SAY YOU CANT. LISTEN TO AND BELIEVE AND FOLLOW THE VOICE THAT SAYS YOU CAN! And if you don't have a voice in your life telling you that YOU CAN, Well, let me introduce myself to you as that new voice in your life telling you that YOU CAN! Now, who are you going to listen to and believe, me or them?

WHATEVER THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE, THE MIND CAN ACHIEVE
-Napoleon Hill

THE WORLD IS YOURS! GO GET IT! AND THAT'S AN ORDER!

PEACE!

YOU!

When I first started working as a broker, It was very difficult to get things up and running in the beginning. It was difficult to get used to the concept of hearing "NO" over and over again. It was  difficult trying to build a business while being broke with no money and not getting paid anything at all until you can get some clients. It was difficult to have on old clothes or to have to borrow my fathers suits and difficult having holes in my shoes and barely have enough money to get back and forth every day. One of the most difficult things about being broke with no money, would be watching others around me who sat next to me who were successful doing the same. So, one day I get this big prospect on the line, I set up an appointment to call him back. This is a huge opportunity that could change my life forever, so I didn't want to blow it.  I approach the most successful guy in my office and I ask him if he could give me any tips or pointers so that I could land this big client. This guy was one of the most successful brokers in the office, but he was an absolute jerk to clients and prospects. He was rude and abrasive, loud and vulgar and very pushy.  But, it worked for HIM and he was super successful. His clients couldn't get enough of it. He said to me, "I'll tell you what, get the guy on the phone put him on speaker phone, I will listen to him I will feed you lines and you just repeat everything I say and you say it back to the prospect". Cool, this is perfect I thought, I will land this account in no time. So we get the prospect on the phone and right off the bat, the successful broker is trying to feed me lines and he is telling me what to say and how to respond. He immediately starts in telling me rude, abrasive, pushy stuff to say, but because that's not my personality I'm hesitating to say some of the things he is telling me to say. Because, I'm not him I didn't pause when he would have paused, I didn't place emphasis on the same words that he would have placed emphasis on. I didn't raise or lower my voice the exact same way he would have. I couldn't hear some of the things he was telling me to say so there were gaps and holes in my pitch. Plus, I was concerned about the prospect hearing the guy on the other end of the phone. The whole thing just became very awkward and uncomfortable and lasted about 5 minutes. I end up telling the broker who was helping me out, never mind I will do it myself. But by the time I started to be myself, I could tell that the prospect that I had on the line was getting uncomfortable and could sense that something was going on. HE COULD SENSE THAT I WAS NOT BEING MYSELF!

Long story short I ended up losing the prospect and I didn't get his business. Apparently he wanted to do business with ME not ME TRYING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE! (Good thing though, because if I had landed the client I would've  had to spend our entire relationship playing the part of this other broker. I would have had to pretended to be someone else the entire time, and I don't know how long I would have been able to keep up the act). Even though I lost the prospect, I learned an amazing lesson. I CANT BE ANYBODY BUT ME, AND NOBODY CAN BE ME BUT ME.  I have learned that he was successful because despite how rude or pushy or abrasive he was, he was successful because he was himself at all times and he attracted like minded clients that I would have never been able to attract. And my personality attracted clients that he would have never been able to attract. The point is nobody has a monopoly on genius, or good ideas, or skills and talents or abilities or greatness. WE ALL HAVE THEM! We are ALL unique individuals with unique skills and talents and we all have a pool of customers or "fans" out there just waiting to do business with US, not US TRYING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE. NO TWO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD CAN ACT, SING, WRITE, DANCE, CUT HAIR, DESIGN, DRAW, SELL, PAINT etc. EXACTLY THE SAME.. Those gifts and skills and talents that YOU have, have YOUR name on them. YOUR clients, YOUR business, YOUR opportunities have YOUR name on them. So no one can steal business from you or steal opportunities from you. THEY ARE YOURS AND YOURS ONLY.

YOU DONT NEED TO BE OR ACT LIKE ANYONE ELSE! YOU ARE SKILLED, TALENTED, GIFTED, FUNNY, STRONG, COURAGEOUS AND GOOD ENOUGH ON YOUR OWN! BE PATIENT, BE CONFIDENT, BE YOURSELF! THE WORLD IS YOURS! NOW GO GET WHATS YOURS! CONGRATULATIONS!

PEACE!

WHY?

James Buster Douglas was a boxer in the late 80s and 90’s. he was considered to be a bum, a nobody in the boxing world. He was ranked # 7 in the world. He was certainly no match for “Iron” Mike Tyson who was ranked # 1 in the world. Mike Tyson was known to be one of the best and most dangerous fighters in the world. With a majority of his wins coming by knock out most within the first few rounds of the fight. There was no way Buster Douglas would ever be able to beat Mike Tyson and Mike Tyson knew it. To make matters worse, Buster Douglas had gotten out of rehab for alcohol, his wife just left him, The mother of his child was clinging to life and his mother had died 23 days before the fight. Months before the fight, I’m sure His mother was all over town bragging about how proud she was of her son and how he was going to kick mike Tyson's butt. He knew how proud his mother would be of him, he had to win the fight for her. So on the night of February 11, 1990 in Tokyo Japan the everyone knew what to expect. Everyone expected the mismatched Buster Douglas to be knocked out in minutes. But, to the worlds surprise Buster Douglas held his own. He took some stern blows during the fight. There was a point when he had actually even gotten knocked down.  The referee counts 5,6,7 but by 8 Buster Douglas was back on his feet. When he got knocked down, as he was laying there on the mat he remembered 'WHY" he needed to win in the first place. That night Buster Douglas wasn’t fighting for a belt or money; he was fighting this fight for the honor and memory of his mother. He was fighting to fulfill a promise to his mother . He was fighting to make his mother proud. SO when he got knocked down, he had reasons to get back up and keep fighting. His reason "WHY" was so strong that not only did he get back up, but he got back up and managed to deliver Mike Tyson his first knock out. Las Vegas Book makers had odds on the fight of 42 to 1, which made James Buster Douglas's victory  one of the greatest upsets ever in sports history.

I guess my point is, whenever you have an objective or a goal that you are looking to accomplish. Whenever you are trying to succeed at anything. YOU WILL ENCOUNTER BUMPS AND BRUISES, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER OBSTACLES, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER SETBACKS, YOU WILL GET KNOCKED DOWN! What will determine whether you lay there and decide to give up or get back up and keep fighting will be the reason "WHY" you wanted to succeed in the first place. You will need a strong enough reason “WHY” to get back up. Your "WHY" could be your parents, could be your children, it could be your cat or your friends or to prove naysayers wrong. It could be anything. But I have learned that in order to succeed you MUST always know your reasons "WHY"

I recommend you write your list of "WHYS" down. Keep it in your wallet or in the back of your mind or something. When life knocks you down, pull out that list and get back up and keep fighting. If When big tough, mean life is standing over us after it has knocked us down, pull out that list of "WHY"s get back up keep fighting and I promise you that you will beat tremendous odds, and accomplish wonderful and amazing things that no one ever expected us to also. WE WILL BEAT TREMENDOUS ODDS TOO! All it requires is a strong enough reason "WHY"!

He who has a "WHY" to live can bear almost any how.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

 

WHEN LIFE KNOCKS YOU DOWN, REMEMBER WHY YOU WERE FIGHTING IN THE FIRST PLACE AND GET BACK UP!

 

PEACE!

 

  

It takes more than money!

 

 

12 THINGS  THAT MAKE MEN RICH

1.   A positive mental attitude

2.   Sound physical health

3.   Harmony in human relations

4.   Freedom from fear...
5.   Hope for future achievements
6.   Capacity for applied faith
7.   Willingness to share ones blessings with others
8.   To be engaged in a labor of love
9.   An open mind on all subjects to all people
10. Complete self discipline
11. Wisdom with which to understand all people
12. Financial Security (money, cash, "stuff")

-Napoleon Hill


Notice that money is the very last thing on the list of things that make men rich.  I failed so many times in my endeavors over the years to get rich, because I tried to skip straight to # 12 and neglected the others.

But, I'm here to tell you....

Make no mistake, my friend, it takes more than money to make men rich.
A. P. Gouthey

I say, let's get RICH FIRST and then we can get money! 

PEACE!

There is a reason for every season!

You come across and notice the most amazing things when you go looking an searching for positivity and motivation and inspiration. One time I watched the Oscar award winning American actor, Morgan Freeman's biography. He became a star late in life and he did off Broadway plays and some TV shows. He had been putting in tons of work for years and years. Through his travels he landed a gig on a show called the Electric Company (one of those Romper room Sesame street little kid type of shows) He was pissed off and mad because after all the years of work he had done he was doing some damn little kid show. He said he hated it he was drinking heavily and he said he hated the electric company, and where he was in life. But, because the Electric Company was a show designed to help teach kids reading and grammar they made him take these voice and diction classes to improve his own voice grammar skills. A lot of the work and success that Morgan Freeman went on to encounter in his career was because of his voice, diction and his ability to annunciate. He even went on to have tons of voice-over success. Ironically, those skills were developed and sharpened doing work that he hated to do, in a place that he hated being in. Some of his biggest lessons and boosts to his career, he got when he was in a position in life that he absolutely hated. Those skills and lessons, that he learned when he was in a place he hated gave him what he needed to go on and win an Academy Award. I wonder if the academy award would have been possible, if he didn't do the Electric Company.

I guess the moral of the story is.YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE! 
Where you are right now, there are lessons and skills that you are developing that you are going to need for the next part of your journey! Move forward with the full faith and confidence that where you are now is nothing more than training grounds for the mission and life that the UNIVERSE has in store for you! So if you are encountering struggle, obstacles, adversity smile and keep going! Because, that means that the process is working!

If you are currently going through hell..... KEEP GOING!
-Winston Churchill


PEACE!

 

"Failure" is an impostor!

I have a cousin from Wilmington North Carolina, who ever since she was a child always said that she wanted to be an actress. That Is all I remember her ever saying she wanted to be. It was all she ever talked about. She moved off on her own to the Big city of Washington DC to go to college. It was a brand new start and a brand new life making the adjustment from Raleigh, North Carolina. She was in a brand new city all alone. She graduated and got a bachelors degree from Howard University. But, she still had her sights set on being an actress. But, Washington DC was no place for a blossoming actress. She needed to be where the action was. So after working a job in DC for a while, she took the leap. She was so focused and dedicated on making her dream come true that, she decided she was going to chase her dream.  She decided to leave her comfort zone and all of the friends that she made and connections that she had established and move to Hollywood,  Los Angeles California. Again, a brand new start, brand new city to get used to where she didn't know anyone. She was all on her own again, to get used to another whole culture and way of living. She chased that dream down with a vengeance. She touched down in town and took off running. She auditioned and auditioned and she went out for part after part, established contact after contact. She met with a little bit of success and landed a few roles. But it wasn't they weren't the dream that she had been chasing. After a few years of trying to make it, she decided that she would be a television actress and she moved from LA to New York. She never got bitter or negative. She arrived in New York established a lot more contacts and chased and chased that dream and auditioned and auditioned and put in tons of work and took more acting classes and even made her directorial debut in NY. She pushed as long and as hard as she could in NY. But the successes that she had just didn't measure up to the dream that she had envisioned. At this point sensing time was going by she wanted to do something else she wanted to maybe try to go in another direction so she moved back to MD/DC went back to Howard University and got her masters degree. She got her masters degree and started working. Even though she took a brief rest from acting while she was in school, she couldn't shake the calling. After getting her masters degree she moved back to North Carolina and started working another job. After moving back to North Carolina, after chasing her dream across the country and back, she ran into a few contacts of hers that she had worked with and had established in New York and LA. They remembered her and her work ethic from when they had met or worked together previously. When I spoke to her last, she told me that she was had just finished writing 2 scripts just finished shooting in two films that she was acting in. She had just wrapped on a short film that she directed, and has 2 more roles lined up that she is looking forward to playing. After all of the chasing her dreams around the country and working so hard to chase her dream, it was when she decided to get out of her own way and let the universe do the work was when her dream started chasing her. Her acting dreams chased her down and came true in Raleigh North Carolina. Not necessarily one of the cities you think of moving to when you want to be an actor.

She could have taken each of those experiences as "failures", got negative and bitter and decide to give up on her dreams completely and forget all about them. But in the end it was her "failures" that gave her the information and the know how and the contacts and connections to make her dreams come true in the end.

As long as you never give up and maintain a positive attitude, when you "fail" it simply means that you are  just planting seeds for your future success. And all you can do is plant the seed, water it , fertilize it, nurture it daily. But once that seed is in the ground you cant control how quickly it will grow. The universe takes care of that part Your "Failure" is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. With more information, with new contacts, a new attitude, a better idea of what wont work etc.

 

My cousin is indeed on her way to super success and we WILL see her accept an Academy award one day. And as long as we are all diligently working towards our goals and recognize "failure" for the impostor that it really is and we keep planting these seeds, and keep watering them and nurturing them everyday and we continue to have faith and believe, we will ALL reap a huge harvest. They will read about us too! Please don't give up! you have come too far. We will talk about this more in the winners circle!

 

KEEP GOING!

 

PEACE!

 

I told you so!

When the book that you have either written or that's still in your head waiting to be written becomes a New York Times best seller. When your walking towards that stage to get your Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Tony. And when the album that you have been writing or producing or rapping or singing goes diamond, or when the business that you started goes from a small business to a global enterprise, or your ministry grows beyond your wildest imagination or when you become the top producing real estate agent in the City, County, state country When your barbershop hair or beauty salon becomes a national successful franchise , when the children that you gave birth to raised, and or taught go on to become world leaders and positively change the world forever using tools that you gave them. When you make the decision to go back to school and you finally go back, you stick it out and you walk across the stage with your degree in your hand. When you land that dream job that you applied for and have been praying for. When you have touched and saved hundreds of lives as a successful doctor or nurse or nurses assistant or emt worker, when your clothing line or paintings and artwork become global phenomenon's. When your selling out arenas and making the world laugh with your jokes. Etc When your genius and greatness touches and changes the world forever. WHEN YOU KEEP BELIEVING AND REMAIN POSITIVE AND KEEP WORKING TOWARDS YOUR GOALS AND ALL OF YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE

I just want to be able to say I told you so, I told you so! I know immature right?

The world needs your greatness!

Don't deny the world!

KEEP BELIEVING, KEEP GOING!

PEACE!

Master Gardeners

I was like 22 years old I was working on Wall Street, building a business, chasing a dream as a brand new stockbroker And I remember looking out the window down on Wall Street at all of the players wit big fancy cars and big fancy suits and I remember at the time making no money at all holes in my shoes and clothes and all that. I was going home with negative checks. I remember being extremely frustrated looking at how everybody else was living. All of my friends could buy new clothes and had cars and I remember wanting to quit and just give up and get a regular job like everyone else so I could have the regular stuff that everyone had. And just at that moment a very good friend of mine called me and we talked and I expressed my frustration to him. He said don't worry you the rewards of your work aren't coming to you immediately because the universe is saving it up for you, and when you do get yours it's gonna be so much bigger than what you see everyone around you getting now. He told me to hang in there and Keep going! That conversation and his words, at that time planted seeds of success in my mind and I kept going!

 My friend probably doesn't even remember the conversation. But that's my point. The words that we speak to one another can be the very things that can push us to keep pursuing our dreams or sometimes take our own lives whether we know it or not! Whether we are accountants, lawyers, janitors, social workers, teachers, policemen/women, public servants etc. We are ALL gardeners. Every single day with every single interaction with another we ALL plant seeds. The seeds we plant in each others minds can determine a persons decisions or thought process thus, our words, these seeds can determine the course of someone's life. As farmers we also have the task of removing negative or harmful weeds from each others minds (those seeds of doubt, fear, hate, negativity, bitterness, anger) by encouraging one another. If we plant seeds of positivity, growth, strength, encouragement, motivation, inspiration etc. These seeds will take root and grow in each others minds. From that, more seeds of positivity, strength, love and PEACE will grow and can be spread to others and based on the seeds we plant we can create beautiful fields of love, positivity, strength, growth, success and PEACE etc.

Our words to each other have tremendous power. They can build or destroy!
Lets choose them carefully! 

LETS BECOME MASTER GARDENERS! LETS PLANT GOOD SEEDS!

PEACE!

How to save a life!

I remember when my daughter passed away, I went into Stew Leonard's to do all of the flower arrangements and stuff. I was walking into the store and even though there may have been hundreds of people in the store, I felt all alone and numb, It didn't even feel like I was walking, it felt more like I was floating or drifting in a bubble or a world all my own. It felt like there was no one who could relate to or understand  my pain or hurt or sadness or disappointment etc. Feeling so alone made the pain all the worse.

I get to the florists counter and she asked how she could help. I'm trying to keep from blinking so that no tears would fall on her counter. I explained to her that my daughter had passed away and she started to tear up also and she explained to me that she too had lost her son about 2 years ago, and suddenly that lonely bubble I was in opened up and I felt a little better because she was suddenly in there with me and she gave me advice and her number and email address and she created a beautiful flower arrangement and she came to my daughters funeral and all that. She told me that it made her feel better that she made me feel better.

Her ability to function and work and be positive and encourage me was just the inspiration I needed. She showed me that there is laughter, hope, happiness, joy after tragedy or loss. She let me know that it was possible to still be positive again. Without any cape, or superpowers or costume, this lady was a superhero to me. She rescued me from the despair, hopelessness, anger, negativity and bitterness that I could have so easily slipped into. She saved my life.

 

But, Then I started thinking we could all be superheroes just by being as positive and productive and joyful and as encouraging as possible. We have all been through some things and have had tragic circumstances. But if we can remain positive, we will show others that they too will survive their tragedy and they too can someday be happy and peaceful and positive also. We can show them that there is life after tragedy and we too can rescue others from hopelessness, anger, negativity and save others lives just like that florist did for me. We can save lives too.  We don't need capes or the ability to fly or x ray vision or anything. All we need to do is remain positive and encourage!

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

-Mahatma Gandhi

BE THE INSPIRATION AND THE MOTIVATION THAT THE WORLD NEEDS! JUST BE POSITIVE!

PEACE!

Time/Opportunity WAIT FOR NO MAN!

I remember once when I was a little kid, my friend and I were coming home from playing a little league baseball game. It was a really hot and uncomfortable day. We pulled up in front of my house, and the next door neighbor was out watering his lawn. His daughters (my other good friends) were outside also and, because it was so hot he was spraying everyone with the water hose for fun and just to cool everyone off. So, everyone is laughing, having a good time and playing in the water and having fun. But, I didn't want to ruin my baseball uniform and my cleats and stuff. So, I run in the house and take off my baseball uniform and try to change into swimming trunks as quickly as I possibly can. A few minutes go by, and I can still hear everyone outside laughing and playing. "Boy, this is going to be great" I'm thinking to myself as I'm rushing to get my bathing suit on. I finally get my bathing suit on and I'm ready to go play. By the time I get ready and make sure that everything is perfect. I go back outside, ready to go play in the water on this scorching hot day, and all of the laughter had stopped, all the playing and the good time had seized. By the time I get ready to play, the guy had finished watering his lawn. He had turned the water off and I saw him wrapping the hose up. The party/opportunity was over. In my worrying about trying to make everything perfect, I had missed out on all of the fun.  I was a kid, somehow I assumed that he would just wait for me to come back out so I can play too. I somehow just assumed that he would be outside watering his lawn all day and that I could go play when I wanted to.

Even though I was just a kid,I learned a huge lesson that day. If there is an opportunity that you want to take advantage of (pursuing a dream, mending a relationship, going back to school, applying for a particular job, starting a business, making a sale, singing on the spot for an impromptu audition etc) you have a limited window of time to take advantage of certain opportunities. When those opportunities present themselves, often there is no time to worry about making sure that everything is perfect before you take advantage of it, don't try to wait until conditions are just right before you take advantage of an opportunity, don't worry about being uncomfortable, don't worry about looking "silly" don't worry about "getting your baseball uniform wet". Sometimes in order to take advantage of certain opportunities you have to think outside the box and JUST DO! When an opportunity presents itself, If you truly view something to be an opportunity JUMP IN! Because, by the time you go and take all of the precautions and make sure that everything is perfect and just right, the opportunity could be gone, just like that.

“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
― Mark Victor Hansen

 

 

I have learned that TIME and OPPORTUNITY are like beautiful, strong, intelligent, ambitious, confident women. THEY WAIT FOR NO MAN!

 

 

HAVE AN AMAZINGLY POSITIVE, PEACEFUL, PROSPEROUS, SUCCESSFUL, JOYFUL, LOVE FILLED DAY!

 

 

PEACE!

Love like there is no tomorrow!

When my daughter was sick and in the hospital she was taking a lot of medicines. Because of all of the medicines that she was taking, she would be in and out of Consciousness. She would be up and alert for maybe an hour or so, and then she would drift back out for a few hours.  So if we wanted to connect with her we had to love her up and fit as much love and hugs and kisses and I love yous into that little window of her being awake as possible. So in order for her to really feel the impact of our love, we had to take advantage of that limited time we had to tell her we loved her and show her how much we loved her. Towards the tail end of her life as she was getting sicker and sicker we knew that those windows of opportunity may get smaller and smaller. So we had to show her more and more love and give more and more hugs and kisses during those windows of opportunity. We knew that it was possible that she may drift out of consciousness and never wake up. 

The "advantage" we had was that we knew that she was really sick. We were in a hospital with her. So everyday we had a reminder that tomorrow was not promised. So we couldn't say, we'll tell her we love her tomorrow, we'll kiss her tomorrow, we'll hug her tomorrow. As far as we were concerned there was no tomorrow! Tomorrow might not exist! 

Out in the real world we don't have everyday reminders that there might not be a tomorrow. The only reminders we get are after we lose someone. But, by then it's too late.  So it's easy to take each other for granted. It's easy to say I'll call tomorrow, i''ll apologize tomorrow, I'll tell them I love them tomorrow, I'll go make it right with them tomorrow. 

Luckily we did hug and kiss and love my daughter up when we could because she did eventually drift out of consciousness and never came back. But, I find comfort in the fact that I KNOW that my daughter KNEW that she was loved. But I have lost other friends, family members etc where I never got a chance to let them know that I loved them. I assumed I would maybe "tell them tomorrow". 

Not one of us have the unlimited plan on life we ALL got the limited time plan. So we should probably take full advantage of the offers before they expire. If there is somebody you want to apologize to, somebody you want to thank for something, someone you want to tell them you love them or appreciate them, if there is someone you want to show love to, somebody you want to hug, someone you want to say I miss you to, if there is a relationship you want to mend etc. 

TODAY IS THE DAY TO SAY IT! TODAY IS THE DAY TO DO IT! 

The only thing I don't like about the limited time plan is that TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED! 

I LOVE, RESPECT AND APPRECIATE YOU ALL! 

I said it before, but I'll repeat!

SPREAD LOVE LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW! 

And that's an order! 

RIP Boyce "Scoop" Coleman. The world got you marked down as a hero SUN! 

PEACE! 

Spread love!

So, my brother and I were in the supermarket today and we were in the self check-out line. The line was taking an awful long time to move. So my brother and I are getting impatient and wondering, and saying to each other c'mon what could they possibly be doing up there thats taking so long. So eventually, we move up in line and its our turn and we are on the self-checkout line and we can't find the button for red onions so were gong through the pages on the checkout machine and its taking a while. I look back at the Line forming behind us and I start wondering how many people are behind us thinking and saying to themselves and each other "c'mon what could they possibly be doing up there that's taking so long". It hit me that maybe we should all be more patient with each other because eventually we will need someone to be patient with us. Be kind to others because we will all eventually need someone to be kind to us. We should help other people because someday we will all need someone to help us. Lets not judge one another because there is someone right behind us waiting to judge us etc.

No two ways about it, WE ARE ALL CONNECTED! 

Lets SPREAD LOVE! 

PEACE!

Give your troubles, trouble!

After my daughter passed away, we had a really really and I mean really tough time financially. Before she passed I was on FMLA (Family medical leave act) and wasn't getting paid. We had to pay $500 a month cash for a medicine that she needed that wasn't FDA approved. We just paid for a funeral and all of that stuff. Things were really tough financially. We were on the brink of losing our house, car and everything else. We were receiving foreclosure notices left and right. I applied for a mortgage modification and was denied 3 times. I had no clue what to do.they were going to take my house. It was hurtful, shameful, embarrassing. Originally  I just accepted it as defeat. I didn't know what to do. I knew that worrying about it all day everyday would do more harm than good. I made the decision that focusing on my problems wouldn't help. Maybe I should focus on the solution to the problem. I decided that day that I would never let another negative seed fall into and take root in my mind ever again. At the time I didn't recognize it as the law of attraction but that's exactly what it was. Even though my modification request was denied three times prior. I prepared another application packet and sent it off. Every day all day long I repeated the affirmation "I'm so happy and grateful now that my mortgage has been modified" I would hold the image in my mind of the person reviewing my application, I would envision the color of the suit he was wearing. I would vividly envision and would actually in my mind hear him stamping "approved" on my application. I envisioned him putting the application in his outbox bin to send to the next department. I envisioned my approval letter saying congratulations on it. I envisioned him putting my approval letter in one of those long white envelopes. I envisioned the mail room person in a blue uniform as he sealed the letter and he put it in one of those clear United States Postal Service bins with the blue writing on it and I envisioned them putting my letter in the mail. I envisioned what projects i was going to take on once my mortgage was modified. I envisioned how relieved and happy I would feel the day i got the letter. Every day I kept repeating "I'm so happy and grateful now that my mortgage has been modified". I envisioned every single step of the process exactly how I wanted it to turn out. 

 A few weeks later I get to my mailbox at home and I see a letter from my mortgage company. It happens to be in the exact envelope I envisioned. I go upstairs and open it up and the very first word I see is congratulations. It played out in real life exactly as it played out in my mind. 

After 3 failed attempts, I had no reason to believe that it was going to work on the 4th. All of the information in the application packet was the same. The only thing I can think of that was different was my state of mind and my energy. Maybe, you could call it a coincidence. I just don't believe in them. I believe that OUR THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS! We shape our realities and our lives with our thoughts. 

I guess the moral of the story is the next time you have a problem of any size. Don't dwell or focus on the problem. If you do, the problem will only get bigger and you will only attract more problems. Instead focus on the solutions to the problems and you will begin to attract solutions and then problems are no longer problems at all, they become opportunities. Envision every single detail of your victory or success etc. Feel the joy and happiness you will feel when it all works out. Repeat the affirmation. Try it out for yourself. Let me know how it works out!

Give your problems, problems! 

Give your troubles, troubles!

NOTHING IS GOOD OR BAD! THINKING MAKES IT SO! 

-William Shakespeare 

The world is ours!

The only requirement is we gotta THINK it so!

PEACE!

Don't take it personal, take action!

I delivered a eulogy one time and my brother in law said to me "You should get paid for those speeches". I said you think so? Really? Nah, I couldn't!  Nah, not me!  Nooo! You really think so? It was a seed he planted in my head and it took root over night. He gave me just the mental push I needed. So I wake up the next morning and I'm thinking he's right. Lets do this! I'm going to be a motivational/inspirational speaker. I'm hyped, I'm excited, I'm gassed up. I have all kinds of wind in my sails. So I've learned that if you want to learn how to do something, get with people who are already doing it. So I get a list of the top motivational speakers in the country. I pick about 100 of them. I draft up these emails, telling them that i admired there work and tell them my story and how much I respect them as speakers. I tell them I want to be the best so I chose to write to them because I wanted to learn from the best. I just asked if they could give me any advice or tips or pointers or a course of action i should take. I mean, of course they would get back to me. I mean these guys are the ones who tell everyone to "chase your dreams" "never give up" "you can do it" Etc. So I'm thinking I know they will get back to me and I'll be on my way. I'll take there advice, I'll focus and dedicate myself,  i'll work hard, I will be the best motivational speaker the world has ever seen. 

So, I draft up my emails, (all 100 of them) I personalize every single one of them and I explain the impact that they have had on me, and I tell them my story. I click send, I'm done! Now, I wait for the flood of tips and advice and words of wisdom and encouragement and guidance and motivation that I think is coming my way. And I wait, and I wait and I wait and wait. That flood turned out to be 2 little droplets. I got 2 stinking responses.  And One of them was a generic auto-response that said that the person will get back to me. (Even after this he still never got back to me). The other was a guy trying to sell me his new speaker training package. That's it, no motivational messages, no words of wisdom or encouragement, no tips, no advice no nothing. All of that wind that was in my sails just yesterday was suddenly gone. Technically,  I had all of the information I needed to give up. I mean hell, I tried right? I did everything I could right? It's their fault! They never got back to me! I hate them! if I don't succeed in life it's their fault! I could have said all of these things and I could've really tricked myself into believing it.

But, I didn't blame them or get mad at them or anything. They are busy with careers and lives and families and businesses of their own. Plus, I'm sure my email wasn't the only one in their inboxes. I wasn't mad at them at all. Besides what good what being mad at them do. It wouldn't help me or further my dream at all, and it wouldn't hurt them at all. Because they obviously didn't even know I existed.

Instead of being mad, or taking it personally, I internalized it and learned a lesson. My success, motivation, drive, determination PEACE of mind or happiness should never ever ever ever DEPEND ON ANYONE OTHER THAN ME! Instead of taking it personally, I took action. I managed to land my first speaking engagement at a local college to encourage the freshman class to never give up! 

If you are looking to succeed, if you are looking for motivation, if you are looking for happiness, PEACE of mind etc. like it or not YOU are going to have to be the source! What if the person you are depending on to help you succeed or to motivate you or to make you happy calls in sick that day or doesn't show up! YOU are the one left unsuccessful, unmotivated and unhappy! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR ABILITIES! 

The world is ours!

But, it's up to us to go get it! 

It's our time!  

PEACE!