My old friend who's now my new friend

I was recently invited to link into a page on Facebook of all the 1969 graduates of Topeka West High School. I know many of you will not be able to believe that that was MY graduating class, but yes, I AM that old!!

The friend who invited me also "friended" me on Facebook and when I realized who it was, I gasped aloud. We hadn't seen each other in nearly 42 years and yet here we were re-connecting through the blessing of technology. I could see her kids and grandkids and husband. Wow, what an amazing blessing!

We chatted back and forth a bit, even set up a date to meet up with each other. Wow, it was exciting to anticipate. Then suddenly yesterday I needed to be in Topeka where she still lives, so on a whim I texted her to see if we could have dinner together. So, by the time the day was over I had seen a friend I hadn't seen in almost 42 years. Just saying it here makes the chill bumps come up on my arm. We spent 2 hours together and we could have kept going for much longer, but that will keep for next time. It's just nice to have an old friend be a new friend. Thank you Debbie Swenson Davis for the invite!!

Here's to an amazing 2011

I can only IMAGINE how amazing 2011 is going to be! I am amazingly blessed and have so many wonderful things to be grateful for that give me a strong foundation to start every day with.

I think my greatest need is for wisdom. No, I know it is. Ever since I learned in my teens that God has promised to give wisdom to anyone just for the asking, I've asked for it with regularity. (James 1:5) At times, I've cried out for it as if the giving of it would give me my next breath to breathe. Other times, I just simply acknowledge my need because of my inherent understanding that I need more every day. Regardless, it's always top of my list for requests from God who is my Source.

I've been given the privilege of owning my own business and it involves working with a lot of different people and I absolutely LOVE what I do. Last year was a year of identifying leadership in some people and helping them develop it. This year will take all of that to a new level and in order for all that to happen, I have to stretch and learn and read and listen to those who've had more success that I've had. I must always remain the student!

I don't have a problem with knowing and admitting that I don't know it all - that others have traveled any given path ahead of me with success and that they've either written a book or they're someone I have access to and they're willing to be my coach! I always seek that out first and foremost at whatever I pursue and it has served me well. Why try to figure it all out myself when someone successful just might be willing to take me under their wing? It may come from laziness, but I really think it comes from raising children. To a degree they have to learn from doing. Some lessons are best learned that way, but some lessons I endeavored to have them learn from me because I had lived longer, knew better, and was willing to teach them the ropes. That's what the learning/teaching/coaching process is all about - learning first, then being willing to turn around and teach it to others.

2011 will be amazing - have a new grandbaby on the way -due next month. That's enough to make it amazing! Elisha Joel Willson will be here around the 11th of February and so I'm heading to Baton Rouge in or around that date. Another little life to love and be an influence in. Grandparenting has to be the best thing ever!

Trusting that 2011 gives all my friends and family everything they want. Don't forget to be specific about it. God has a way of being very specific with His answers.

Flying Solo

This year has been a banner year for me as far as decisions go. I mean real decisions. The ones that stick. That's because I made some real hard ones when noone one else was around. It wasn't anyone else's idea that I was jumping on a bandwagon for. Some of them have been profound enough in their ramifications that the results were very noticeable and others have just led me down a better path with no outward manifestations. It's all about decisions. Like my friend Troy Brown says, "It's in your moments of decision that your life is shaped."

I've been in a lot of group environments in my life. Lots of church revivals, special women's events, business seminars. Most of them move me to make decisions and at some of those events I've made some very significant decisions. Where I make the ones that REALLY matter, though, is when I'm staring at the ceiling as I'm waking up in the morning. There are so many voices that speak to us to be less than we can be - and listening to those voices causes us to live up to their prophecies over us. But to catapult up past all those limiting thoughts and choose to live on a higher plane where the voices can't be heard as loudly, is a solo flight. Noone can make that choice for you. If you choose to be all you can be, you might make some people feel uncomfortable - because you don't match their perception of you anymore and that's hard for them. Can you feel that heat and not snap back to the "normal?" It's a solo flight.

You Can't Get There The Way You Are

One of my mentors said this in so many words when addressing a group of us at a business gathering and so lest you think he said it to me personally - as much as it would have been ok, he said it to a group! :)

What do I aspire to? AND can I get there being who I am? Or is some very valuable tweaking a good idea? This isn't about "being yourself," but it IS all about being the best "you" you can be, and that involves never-ending change and growth.

I marvel at some observations since I'm an avid people watcher. Here they are.

The people who I notice, who really stand out in the crowd and are the people I want to be around are the "readers." They actually read books, ON PURPOSE, and they're not all fiction. For my reader friends, the one on my nightstand now is "Influencer."

They talk about principles and ideas and never about other people in a negative light.

They purposely put themselves in situations where they have opportunity to learn, grow, and change for the better. They hang around people like that, too.

Other observations: Your income is the average income of the 5 people you spend most of your time with. For that reason, I've been seen lounging on the lawns of the rich and elite of Wichita lately. :)

We do become like the people we are around the most, like the TV shows we watch the most, like the the books we read, like the groups we belong to. It's always a good idea to check our progress in these areas. If we don't like what we see, we can always change it! That's the good part. We aren't stuck without hope of renewal or change.

So, back to the original thought, if I can't get "there" being the way I am, what changes are a good idea? How about changing just 1% a day for 100 days? Will that make for 100% improvement? According to performance experts it will make more like 300-400% improvement because of the compounded effect of change on top of change.

CANI - Anthony Robbins' acronym for Constant and Never-Ending Improvement is my mantra for the day! Change can be painful, but choosing to NOT change is even MORE painful. I choose change!

God Gives Us What We're Prepared to Receive

Does anyone else do their best thinking while they style their hair and put on their make-up? This morning I had a thought come to me while I was doing those mundane chores. Side note here: perhaps I do my best thinking then because I really don't like the getting-ready process and so my mind wanders to other more exciting territories. Here we go.

A widow came to Elisha one day all in a dither because a creditor had come to her since her husband died, she couldn't satisfy his demands and so he was going to take her sons as slaves. She was totally helpless and came to Elisha looking for guidance.

He asked her a very important question. "What do you have in the house? What do you all ready possess? What are your current resources?"

She replied that all in the world she owned was a small flask of olive oil. Wow, she was in bad shape! Elisha then told her to go do something very strange. She was to borrow all kinds of vessels from her neighbors and friends. Little ones, big ones, tall ones, short ones, anything they had available. Then she was to take all of these behind closed doors at her home and with her sons' help fill all of the vessels from the small flask she now owned.

I'm afraid if I had been told to do such a silly-sounding thing I might have missed out on what this lady experienced. Without questioning Elisha she "did as she was told." Her sons brought her jar after jar, vessel after vessel. She poured and she poured and she poured. She stood and watched the provision of God flow from her tiny flask out into the empty vessels she didn't even have access to when she woke up that morning.

Then something very unique happened. She asked her sons to bring her the next vessel and they told her that they had filled all that they had previously gathered for the project at hand. At that point, the small flask she started with went dry. She received what she had prepared to receive. Not one vessel shy; not one vessel too many. The rest of the story is that by selling the vessels full of oil, she was able to satisfy the demands of the creditor. The rest was to provide for their living expenses in the future. Did they gather all of the vessels they possibly could have or did they quit when the task became hard and the heat of the day made it difficult to go on? If they had gathered more, could they have had more? All of these unanswered questions caused me to have a very different focus on my day.

What am I ready to receive? What vessels do I have ready for the Lord to fill? Am I anticipating much so I bring my best preparations and energy to the task at hand? The Lord will fill whatever we bring. He gives us what we're prepared to receive.

Positivity

Takes a lot of personal growth to have the wisdom to choose to be positive. There are so many victims and whiners in the world! I despise that - I don't want to hear it! Yet, if I don't consciously choose to do otherwise, I can sure slip into it myself.

I've learned that everything has a flip-side. There are always up to the downs, advantages to the disadvantages. To choose to only look at the dark side and not even look for the light side is so limiting. ie So many people complain about their jobs, what day of the week it is. Wishing every day was another day. How can you be present in that situation? Wonder what job productivity is like when all one is thinking about is wishing they weren't there and wishing it was any day but this one. On Monday it should be Friday. Yeah, it's Wednesday-hump day. Paaaaaalease!

What about doing this: being grateful for the job even if it's not the end-all, dream job you'll have some day. Waking every morning saying, "THIS is the day that the Lord has made. I WILL rejoice and be glad IN it."

Negativity is so contagious. How about this experiment - see how many people we can affect with positivity!

"Hey, how ya doin'? Great rain out, huh?"

"Report done by 4:00? You bet! Would 3:00 be better?" I know what you're thinking on that one, but get the point?

I think good performance, though often labeled as "brown-nosing" or "sucking up" is just not in rich enough supply. My son, Jon, has an interesting spin on "brown-nosing." He says that some people might think that that's what he does, but he says that he notices that all they do is think thoughts like that and he gets the promotion and raise! Gotta love that boy! He's got it figured out because he's not afraid to bring his best game to the table and he doesn't worry about the naysayers who will criticize the producers. Walking the high road has its own rewards, but it certainly is not where you find most of the people. Most of the people are in the mediocre crowd- mediocre attitude, mediocre productivity, mediocre results. Wanna stay comfortable? That's where it's at. Wanna have a greater impact and massive results? Live above that.

Colossians 3:23 "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." Wow, what a marvelous, refreshing perspective.

I guess it's slightly abnormal to be walking the high road and not caring about the interpretations or spins others might put on your choices, but to have what most people have, do what most people do and above all, be concerned about what they think about you. To have more, be more and do more. In that regard we need all need to be "abnormal." Being "normal" is highly overrated!

We're talking about "Positivity!" That is in opposition to the very accepted and popular style of thinking - negativity. We have to remember that we attract more of the same to us from whatever well we choose to drink from. I'm not sure we make that connection, but it is one of the greatest truths in life that what we focus on expands and multiplies.

What should we choose to attract today and what do we want to attract in abundance next week? It starts with our thoughts today. Try "positivity."

Knowledge That Has Served Me Well

1. When forced to chose between what someone SAYS and what someone DOES, I chose
their behavior every time. I don't hear nearly as well as I see.

2. We live with amazing power - the power to choose. I can choose whether to get pulled into the drama of life or not. I can choose to get mad at the airline ticketing agent who tells me that my flight has been cancelled or delayed. Or not. Watch the reaction when you choose to roll with the punches instead of venting on the innocent. So much of life is out of our control - the behavior of others, the weather, circumstances -- except for our own reactions. Why not choose to rise above the downward pull of natural human responses, the downward pull of what could be understood
as "normal" and choose instead to be the refreshing one, the positive, up-beat one? The world needs that, you need that, others need to see that modeled.

3. I choose my path and that automatically determines consequences. We can choose to be grateful, for instance, and more things come into our lives for which we can be grateful. We make the right kind of friends and we don't have nearly the challenges we would have if we made friends with people of poor character. We work hard and the fruit of our labor abounds. There is this equation in life of _______ = ________. You don't see inequity there. It's called the law of sowing and reaping. I love it that I get to choose my path. Even good friends don't always understand my choice, but here's the good part. Their understanding isn't necessary for my choice to be a good one. The one God has for me. The real good friends don't understand my choice but love me all the same. That's their choice. And I personally think it's a good one! :)