David McNally

"The circumstances of our lives have as much power as we choose to give them."

— David McNally

American Speaker/Author

The circumstances that we find ourselves in — being poor or rich, educated or high school dropout, being married or single, being published or not — only have power to influence how we feel if we choose to give them that power.  We did not have control over the fact that we were born into a family that was poor, but we do have a choice about how we will respond to our circumstances.  We have no control over how others respond to our painting or writing, but we do have a choice about how much influence the opinions of others have on us.

I had an opportunity to hire David McNally to speak several years ago.  I was impressed with his story about making a documentary film about Terry Fox, a young Canadian who ran 3/5 of the way across Canada and raised 24 million dollars for cancer.  McNally had no experience making a film but was inspired to tell Terry's story of purpose.

At the age of eighteen, Terry Fox was diagnosed with cancer and had his leg amputated.  Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he decided to find some purpose in what had happened to him.  His goal was to run across Canada and raise a million dollars for cancer research.  He made it 3/5 of the way before he became too sick and had to stop.  He died a short time later.  McNally movingly tells Terry's story in the film, The Power of Purpose.

The circumstances that we find ourselves in — being sick or healthy, employed or without a job, homeless or with a roof over our heads — only have the power to influence how we feel if we choose to give them that power.

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Zig Ziglar

"You never know when one kind act, or one word of encouragement, can change a life forever."

Zig Ziglar

American Speaker/Author

1926 -

Words are very powerful.  A few words here or there can change a life.  Who have been the encouragers in your life?  Maybe it was a parent, a teacher, a friend, a child or a preacher? What did they say to you?  How did they touch your life?  How did they change your life?  

Many motivational speakers have inspired me over the years.  Driving to Texas from Illinois in December of 1982 to start a new job, I discovered Zig Ziglar, the grandfather of motivational speaking,  on the radio.  I didn't know who he was or the impact he would eventually have on my life.  I have since met him and seen him on several occasions speak.  The last time I saw him speak was at the 2000 National Speakers Association annual convention in Washington, D.C.  Like many speakers that I enjoy, I have listened to him dozens of times on tape.  I, with his permission, actually tell some of his stories.

One of my favorite Ziglar stories is the story of the man who had an opportunity to visit heaven and hell before he died.  St. Peter asked the man where he wanted to go.  He told St. Peter to take him down to hell.  There he saw a beautiful banquet hall with the finest food and drink you could imagine.  When he looked at the people he saw that they were skin and bones and that they were cursing and swearing at each other.  He told St. Peter to take him up to heaven.  In heaven, he saw the same beautiful banquet hall filled with the finest food and drink.  When he looked at the people, he saw that they were healthy and robust and that they were laughing and singing.  The man asked St. Peter what was going on.  St. Peter responded, "Did you see the silverware."  Strapped to each arm was a four foot fork and a four foot knife.  Now, we all know we can't eat with such large silverware.  The people in hell were so busy getting everything for themselves that nobody got anything.  Up in heaven each person would feed the person across from him and that person would feed him back.  The message is very simple but powerful:  if you help other people get what they need and want you will get everything you need and want.

As creative leaders we have the opportunity to touch the lives of the people we meet through our books, paintings, songs, photographs and stories.  Whose life did you touch today?




Here is Zig Ziglar telling his famous primp the pump story.

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William Holman Hunt

Self-portrait
(1867)

"Art is love."

— William Holman Hunt

English Painter

1827 - 1910

Do you love what you do?  If you can't answer yes to this question, then you need to find something else to do or learn to love what you do.  Failure to love what we do brings about despair and unhappiness.  Creative leaders love creativity and their chosen medium of expression.  Creative leaders have a deep, burning passion for their art, their writing or their dancing.

Life is too short to waste time doing something you don't enjoy.  Yes, we all have a need to make money and we may not make money from our chosen artistic endeavor, but we need to find a way to love the job that pays the bills.  We need to pay the bills so we can do what we love to do.  

Do you have an attitude of gratitude?  Do you say thank you every day for the gift of self-expression that you have been given?  Do you say thank you for being alive?  For breathing the air?  For family and friends?  For your health?  For the food on the table?  For the muse on your shoulder?  We have so much to be thankful for?

Isabella and the Pot of Basil
(1868)

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Sharon Olds

"Poems come from ordinary experiences and objects, I think.  Out of memory — a dress I lent my daughter on her way back to college; a newspaper photograph of war; a breast self-exam; the tooth fairy; Calvinist parents who beat up their children; a gesture of love; seeing oneself naked over age 50 in a set of bright hotel bathroom mirrors."

— Sharon Olds

American Poet

1942 -

From where does your art come?  As Sharon Olds says, it often comes from the ordinary experiences and objects in our lives.  Poets often find the smallest moments from which to form their poems.  It may be a simple conversation between two people, or a flower laying on a gravestone, or meeting an old friend at the supermarket.  The common place and the everyday is what forms the basis of art.




Where does your art come from?  Is it rooted in reality?  The everyday?  Do you take the smallest of moments and build on them?  Painters capture moments in time?  A brief look at reality?  What holds your attention?  Not everyone paints the same subjects.  We choose different subjects.  Some people paint fields and others paint people.  What fascinates you about the world in which you live?  What demands that you paint it again and again?




Here is a poem by Sharon Olds.  




Grandmother Love Poem

by Sharon Olds




Late in her life, when we fell in love,

I'd take her out from the nursing home

for a chaser and two bourbons.  She'd crack

a joke sharp as a tin lid

hot from the teeth of the can-opener,

and cackle her crack-corn laugh.  Next to her

wit, she prided herself on her hair,

snowy and abundant.  She would lift it up

at the nape of the neck, there in the bar,

and under the white, under the salt-and-

pepper, she'd show me her true color,

the color it was when she was a bride:

like her sex in the smoky light she would show me

the pure black.

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Harley King

"May your heart be lighter today."

— Harley King

American Poet, Speaker

1949 -

One year ago tomorrow I wrote my first blog entry.  Today's entry is the last entry of that first year so this quote is my wish for those who have read my blog and stayed with me.  Life is challenging and difficult.  There are many events that can break our hearts and make us want to give up on life.  I don't know what is on your heart today as you read this — maybe it is a terminal diagnosis, a divorce, the death of a loved one or maybe something as simple as a spouse who said something that hurt you. My hope is that you do not let the negativity of the world around bring you down and that you will lighten up.  The world is not coming to an end despite all the doomsday prophets who forecast the coming of the last days.  The world will go on with us or without us.  So don't fret.  Don't worry about what you cannot change.  You are still above ground and there is still hope.  

Mask 15

Pen and Ink

(2008)

I have been teaching people about the importance of touching and hugging for over 20 years.  Experts say we need 8 - 12 hugs a day to be emotionally healthy.  Four hugs is minimum.  Have you received your quota for the day.  If not, go out and give someone a hug.  It can change your life one hug at a time.  And here is a blog hug from me. 




I also teach people about the importance of giving people compliments.  I teach the S-O-S technique of giving a compliment.  S = Sincere.  O = On-time.  S = Specific.  I challenge you to pay 10 different people compliments today.  About 5 years ago, I was in the hospital recovering from surgery.  My nurse was grouchy and grumpy.  I complimented her on her ring and she suddenly brightened up and said it was a gift from her husband.  She also shared that her husband had passed away five years earlier.  You don't know what is on the hearts of the people you meet, so give them a compliment and lighten their hearts.

Here is a poem that I wrote on my 62nd birthday.




A Visitor




Early this morning I opened

the front door to my home

to retrieve the daily newspaper

and found a bearded old man

asleep in a corner of the porch.

I shook him awake and

invited him in for coffee,

an omelet and buttered toast.

As he swallowed the food I had

prepared, he shared the story

of his life and I saw the years

slowly fall away until he was

young again.  In his blue eyes I saw

myself some thirty years earlier

when I too stood at a crossroads

and had decisions to make.

I gave him a thermos of coffee and

a few ham sandwiches before I bid

him farewell.  He shook my hand

and a tear rolled down my cheek.




— Harley King

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Maria Shriver

"Poetry can startle you, awaken you, make you fall in love, take your breath away.  When those words sink in, you'll never look at your life or your journey the same way again."

— Maria Shriver

American Journalist, Author

1955 - 

When you find the right poem, it can open up new worlds and change the way you look at life.  And so can a painting, a novel or even a play.  That is the power of art.  Planted within each story, painting or poem are the seeds of awareness that when they sprout in the heart of the reader or observer will change his or her life.

Unfortunately, in the American society, poets and poetry get the short end of the stick.  Fewer and fewer people read it while the number who claim to write it continues to grow.  I am amazed by people claim to write poetry but have never picked up a book and read any.  

One of Maria Shriver's favorite poets is Mary Oliver.  Maria's interview of Mary appears in the April 2011 edition of the Oprah Magazine.  If you haven't read it, you should.  Here is a poem by Mary Oliver that Shriver keeps on her desk. Very inspiring.

The Journey

by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save. 

Here is Maria Shriver reading The Journey in 2010.

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Tomas Karkalas

"The shadows define the light and have nothing in common with the darkness."

— Tomas Karkalas

Lithuanian Artist

1955 - 

Without shadows, we can not define the light.  Without light, we can not understand the darkness.  Artists understand the importance of light and shadow in the creation of a painting or drawing.  Writers understand the importance of light and shadow in the telling of a story.  Without evil, we would never understand the power of good.  If we can't experience the good, we won't ever see the evil.  Some would say they are the opposite sides of the same coin.  One cannot exist without the other.  Creative leaders understand the importance of light and dark and the need to see both sides.  Celebrate the light.  Celebrate the shadows.  They are one.

Earth Remembers Everything

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