The Power of Inspiration
The WALK THE TALK Company has a new version of their popular 212 Degrees movie out today. I have it linked in my right-hand column and you can also review from here … the NEW 212 Degree Movie. If you liked the original 212 movie, I think you’ll like this one, too. Like the other inspirational movies I have linked, this one is short but carries a powerful message. It’s all about how one degree more can make all the difference. Water is hot at 211 degrees. It boils at 212 degrees. Boiling water creates steam and with steam one can create power. One degree makes a lot of difference. Watch the movie - you’ll understand.
I DO NOT have any connections with the Walk the Talk company but I really like what they do, promote and offer. I can say that after reviewing their website, I agree with their business philosophies. They state that they can help you turn shared values like Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Customer Service, Trust, and Commitment into workplace realities. I’m all for that. We could use more of all of this in our world today.
I love these inspirational movies - maybe you do, too. If so, pass the link along. Review the Walk the Talk website - maybe there is something there you can use or maybe you’ll decide to contact them. If so, let ‘em know we sent you.
Thanks - R@
The Secret - Not So Secret
“The Secret”, by Rhonda Byrne is HOT right now. It’s been featured recently on Oprah and other national shows and I hear the book is in another printing - the book is flying off the shelves all across the world. And this is good. Good for the Law of Attraction and good for followers of the principals of the Law of Attraction.
I haven’t read the book or seen the DVD but I get a lot of people asking me if I have. I probably won’t read it. I’ve known the “secret” for a very long time. But I do follow the hoopla surrounding the “Secret” and I find it amazing. It really is more about very good marketing … and being in marketing myself, I also observe with a marketing eye.
Supposedly, Rhonda states on the DVD that she was inspired to create The Secret after reading the 1910 classic The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. I haven’t read this book either but it is now on my list to read soon. However, I suspect I will discover much of what I have already learned by studying The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill and the smaller version Think and Grow Rich. Both are with me at most times of my life for reference purposes and I read them regularly.
There really is no secret. It is all about “thinking.” Too many folks just don’t bother to think these days. Back in the early 1900s, the business greats like Carnegie, Edison, Ford, Firestone, Bell, and others that Hill researched and wrote about in his books, they took time to think. They surrounded themselves with smart people. They built Master Mind groups. They practiced what they preached. And they put the power of the Law of Attraction to work for them.
If The Secret helps some folks figure it out, all the better. But there really is no “secret.” It’s all been out there for any of us to use forever. Just start thinking.
Have a great day and send more cards.
Richard
Making Money and Meaning
In the right-hand navigational bar I have a link to The Money & Meaning Movie. I encourage you to watch it. I have no affiliation with the person who produced the movie … just someone I follow and subscribe to their email newsletter. I do think the movie sends a powerful message in a very simple way. I agree with the message.
You can build a business, make money, and have meaning.
It’s all about relationships. And relationships, business or personal, have a lot of do with the Law of Attraction. I don’t care if you’re selling burgers at Wendy’s or running a dry cleaner business or dealing with C-level people all day - in the end, it is about relationships. It’s too bad that the majority of people and businesses don’t get this simple message.
Treat customers as friends (what a novel idea). Listen. Give more than expected. And as Dale Carnegie would say, “Be geniunely interested in other people.” It really does work.
You can make money and meaning.
Are you sending enough greeting cards? It’s easy with SOC.
Take care - R@
Cochon de Lait: The Attraction of the Pig
I just spent a most beautiful New Year’s weekend in Melville, Louisiana, a small farming town on the Atchafalaya River. I helped a good friend of mine, Grant Cannatella, put on his 6th annual New Year’s Eve Cochon de Lait party. Let me tell ya … life doesn’t get much better than this. You may be asking yourself about now … “What does this have to do with the Law of Attraction?” If has everything to do with the Law of Attraction.
Oh, before I forget. The photo above is some of the Cannatella clan (me in the foreground with back to the camera) just getting ready to cut the pig up after he came off the fire. From the back … that’s Uncle Buddy (not a Cannatella - Grant’s momma’s brother), then Charles, Grant’s older brother, and then Vincent, Charles’ son, junior at LSU. They are ALL Tiger fans in Melville. Go TIGERS (they made me say that!)
Melville and Cochon de Laits is what America is all about. Small town, USA. I know a lot of city folks who have NEVER, EVER experience small town America. They think America is big city life. See, I grew up in Atlanta (now a big city … TOO big) when it wasn’t so big. Maybe we weren’t Melville then, but it was a lot more fun when Atlanta was smaller. I love being around small towns and their people.
I just get a good feeling in Melville. And my wife does, too. And we took our best friends this year and they had a blast. This was their first Cochon de Lait … I’m betting it won’t be their last. By the way, that’s Grant at the fire pit right after we got the pig going on Sunday morning at 7 am (started the fire at 5 am).
The Law of Attraction is about friends and people who come together for a common cause … sometimes not even knowing what the cause is. It just happens. I have had the pleasure of knowing the Cannatella family since the late 80’s. And whenever I go back to Melville, I feel like I am coming home. Grant’s wife, Pam, grew up in a bedroom community outside Atlanta … in the country back then. She fits in well in Melville. Pam really makes us feel at home when we come down for the annual party. She understands the Law of Attraction. In fact, she understands it so well, she just got elected as the Mayor of Melville and I expect big things will start happening soon in this small town.
If you know folks in small towns or have relatives there, go see them. Spend some time there. I believe it is a great way to recharge the old batteries. Kind of puts our hectic city life in perspective. These folks love family and friends and will do anything in the world for you. I just wanted to recognize them and let them know we had a great time this year and look forward to the 2007 Cochon de Lait.
Thanks Grant, Pam, Charles, Denise, Walterine, Pete, Brian, Quentin, Erin, Anna-Maria, Vincent, Paige, Barry and the whole Melville gang. You guys are great!
If you are ever headed west on I-10 out of Baton Rouge, drop off on LA 190 and head out to the Atchafalaya River and then ride up the river to Melville. Stop in at the Cannatella store and say hello to Pete and Grant and Brian at the store. The Cannatella store has been in business since the early 20’s - they know the grocery business!
And if you come down for the Cochon de Lait and New Years, be sure to stay for Barry’s (he is the grocery manager at the store) AWESOME fireworks show … UNBELIEVABLE! Barry and his family must spend a fortune on fireworks but you will never see anything like it. And FUN? The whole town comes out to see Barry’s fireworks show. Just another tradition in Melville, LA. Don’t die not knowing.
Take care,
Richard
Taylor’s Closet: A Teen Making a Difference
Taylor’s Closet: An inspirational story about an extraordinary young lady.
This is a great story. The fact that it is Christmastime just makes it better. Then again, maybe it is because it’s Christmastime that the story is getting some exposure.
I saw this story on ABC Nightly News on Monday night (you can search Taylor’s Closet at the ABC News site). It’s about a young teenage girl named Lindsay Giambattista. Lindsay knows what young girls like … clothes and shopping. Lindsay is an extraordinary teenager who helps change the lives of young women in South Florida. She planned, coordinated and opened a clothing store for girls in foster homes to pick out clothes. At 15 years of age. Make note … Lindsay is a special person and I doubt we have heard the last of her.
For Lindsay, it isn’t just about the clothes but about the way the girls feel about themselves. “They don’t really have a lot to look forward to, so I just wanted to give them a place that they could come and hang out, get cute clothes and feel like a girl likes to feel — feel special,” Lindsay said. Every girl who visits Taylor’s Closet gets to take home three outfits and it doesn’t cost them a thing.
It’s taken a year to turn Lindsay’s dream into reality, but she said this is just the first of many. “I probably have to graduate high school first because I’m a sophomore, but I want to get a Taylor’s Closet, or some form of a Taylor’s Closet in every state — maybe every county in Florida right now. That’s a smaller goal. I want to get lots of them so many girls can be blessed.” Lindsay said.
Read a December 8th story on Lindsay here.
Maybe you want to help Lindsay meet her goals. Visit the Taylor’s Closet website and help her out.
Way to go Lindsay! I wish you much success.
R@
Sending Christmas Cards is a Team Sport
Well, the Christmas cards are addressed in calligraphy, signed (some with notes), stamped and mailed. I think we’re ahead of the game this year. I can already feel the Law of Attraction working as those cards head out on their journeys to our family and friends. When they arrive at their destinations, the LOA power really starts working.
We’ll touch base with old friends. There will be great phone calls. Some super emails. Mostly, good thoughts - some spoken, many upspoken. Doesn’t matter which way - the thoughts are out there working and doing good.
I told my wife the other night when we finished up that sending our Christmas cards is a team sport. I do the calligraphy addressing over the span of a week or so. When I’m done, we sit down and sign each one - together. It’s fun. Then, we stuff and seal. It’s a team sport. And if there was an Olympic event, we’d win. Alas, it is not an Olympic event … however, we win anyway. The power is working now and multiplying as we speak.
Merry Christmas and I hope you have your cards out, too. If not, get busy. It’s right around the corner!
R@
Most Inspiring People
I learned of website today that I had never heard of or visited - read about it in the AJC newspaper today. The site is Belief.net - a little heavy on the religion for my taste but otherwise, a very nice site and more importantly, spreading some good messages. Take a minute or two to visit.
The story that caught my eye was about the most inspiring people of 2006. Belief.net is conducting a poll to let their visitors vote. It’s down to six (6) people now. Go to the poll here. The story in the AJC was about one of the six … Charles Moore. With a strong sense of values, this homeless man put others’ needs ahead of his own. You may have heard his story back in the summer.
Moore, a 59-year-old Detroit homeless man dug into a garbage can for returnable bottles and came up with $21,000 in U.S. savings bonds. Homeless for the first time after losing his job as a roofer, found the bonds in a white envelope. He knew what they were, because in better times he had owned some himself. But instead of running off with his windfall, he took the bonds to a local homeless shelter and turned them in. A staff member tracked down the family of the owner of the bonds, who had died.
Moore said it never entered his mind to take the bonds, whose face value was $9,000, and sell them on the street. “They were not mine,” he told Beliefnet. “And I knew whoever they belonged to would miss them.” Actually, they did not. The widow of the owner was unaware of their existence. When the bonds were returned to her, her son tipped Moore $100.
The story of the son tipping Moore $100 is what set people off. And the story I read today told of all the donations that have come to Moore from perfect strangers who just wanted to help this man. To date, he has received a little over $10,000 and this has given him a new start on life.
This is a great story that I believe has a lot to do with the power of the Law of Attraction. About the good in people. About how when we help others, good things will eventually happen to us. Pay it forward.
And read the stories on all 6 people up for the vote. You may know about some and others you may not have heard of before now. Either way, it’s reading that will make you feel good.
Have a great week!
R@
