1.    The ability to absorb. This means taking in the atmosphere, the color, the scenario, the sounds, the smells.  Most people are just trying to get through the day.  Change that around and get FROM the day.  “Join the University of Life!”  Wherever you are, be there to absorb it, picture, capture it and take it in like a sponge.  “Casualness leads to casualties.”

2.    Learn to respond.  Let life touch you.  Let the feelings strike you.  Our emotions need to be educated as well as our intellect.  The Blind Side, a poignant movie about reaching out, making an enormous difference in someone else’s life, made me laugh and made me cry.  (If you haven’t seen it, please put it at the top of your Netflix Queue.  You won’t be disappointed).

3.    Learn to Reflect.  Go back over your day.  Take a few minutes to reflect so you capture that day.  “A day is a piece of the mosaic of your life.”  Take some hours at the end of the week to reflect.  Capture that chunk of time.  At the end of each month repeat the process.  Take a weekend at the end of the year to establish that year firmly in your consciousness bank.  Remember the emotions, the complexity, the highs, the lows.  Lock in the day, week, month and year.  Review what worked well and what didn’t.  “Make the past more powerful to serve you in the future.”  Become more valuable in your marriage, as a parent, or as a business partner.  In addition to having some solitude for reflecting, take an opportunity to reflect with someone else by stating:  “I’ll take care of me for you if you will please take care of you for me.”  Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.  Become better than you are!

4.    The ability to Act. Act when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.  Action has to be as soon as possible.  The law of diminishing intent applies here.  If you don’t translate that idea into action very soon, a month from now it is cold and a year from now it can’t be found.  Good health?  Is that your goal?  Get the process started immediately.  Capture the disciplined activity now!  “All disciplines affect each other.”  If you say this is the only place I let down, that’s not true.  Everything you do has a cumulative effect.  “Every new discipline affects the rest.”  The first little action will inspire you to go forward.   The greatest value of discipline is self worth.  “Neglect starts as infection.  If you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease.”  How many people have a library card?  3%!  “A guy specializes in happy hour, but doesn’t have a [library] card.”  Why be part of the 97%?  Do the BEST you can do.  “The objective of life is to ACT.”

5.    Sharing. When you pick up a good idea, pass it on.  If you share a good idea with ten different people, you probably learn more than they do by repeating the concept.  “Sharing makes you bigger than you are.”  Can a full glass of water hold any more water?  Yes, but for it to hold more, you have to pour it out.  Then more will be poured in.  Humans have an unlimited capacity to grow.  A child will learn as many languages as you will teach them.  Expand your capacities by sharing with others.  “Pour out so your capacity grows.”  Then you can hold more of the next experience.  If you are too small in your thinking, you’ll not have the ability to share.  Some people have their cup turned upside down, so they can’t receive anything.

When asked about his personal actions, Jim Rohn said to follow his teachings, not his example.  Nevertheless, he inspired me to move forward EACH day and be a better, stronger servant than I was the day before.

To Our Continuing Growth,

Dar

Settling into the back seat, I noticed that the driver felt lonely and pretty depressed.

Mother Teresa’s story flashed into my mind. She was being interviewed by Pat McMahon in Phoenix. Elated that he was in the presence of Mother Teresa, he repeatedly asked her what he could do for her. After multiple attempts, this 80 pound 4’10” woman tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Patrick, if you really want to do something for me, get up at 4:00 tomorrow morning. Go out on the streets of Phoenix and find someone who is lonely. Make them feel that they’re not alone—that they do count.”

Employing the essence of her story, I started talking with the cab driver. His story was painful to hear.   He was driving a converted police car twelve hours a day for six days a week. He shared the cab with another guy who drove it the other twelve hours. Each Monday morning they paid the cab owner $600 for the use of the car. He went on to recount his journey from Ethiopia to the United States seven years ago and he shared some of his life experiences.

As I left the cab he smiled and it seemed that his shoulders were a little straighter. We shook hands and went our separate ways.

We never know what burden the person next to us is carrying. As Dr. Wayne Dyer says, “The peace that you want for yourself, want it more for someone else.”

The message that rings loud in my head is give, give, give!  A small gesture can go a long way to helping the brother or sister beside you.

Do you feel that power, that mindset? Whew! It gives me chills …

With an Attitude of Giving,

Dar