What My Mom Taught Me ...

As Mother\'s Day approaches I am grateful to have had a mom who modeled so much that I find I have incorporated in my own life and has supported me in a myriad of ways. The most impactful memories of my mom for me was her strength and perseverance, her love for music in particular the violin and piano. As a young woman she loved her violin but the opportunity for her to pursue a musical career as a poor black girl seemed remote. My grandmother who was a proud teacher in Oklahoma was unable to get a position teaching in California after relocating the family and to take care of her family she became a maid to a loving prestigious family in Beverley Hills Ca. That family heard my mom play the violin and were so impressed they graciously offered to sponsor a recital at their home to raise money to send her away to school to The Rochester School of Music in New York where she finished school. No one in her family had ever been away to school, this was an amazing opportunity. Later my mom shared her passion as a concert violinist touring across the US playing for Black churches and ultimately had the distinction of being the first black person to be hired as musician in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. My mother passed away at 95 so you can image the times she lived in and what a major accomplishment this must have been for she and her family. We were never a wealthy family but always a family of service and sometimes struggle. My mom formally left her music to raise my brother and I. Eventually she went into social work but there was always the sound of music in our home. Even as a tiny infant I remember her giving violin and piano lessons in our home and this became a practice all the way through her nineties. In her 60\'s she opened a preschool which was indeed was a labor of love and here again she focused on the Arts making it available to the children living in Inglewood and surrounding areas. 100\'s of children graduated over the years from that little preschool and one thing for sure they each receive loving discipline, basic rudimentary learning of the basics and each one left with a strong appreciation for the Arts, piano, violin, karate and ballet. Mom was almost 80 when she retired from her preschool but she continued giving lessons to students and then started a new project of writing music. She created several albums where she wrote the music and lyrics and she called her albums Vickie\'s Sacred Gems. Those she never really sold any just creating music and listening to her creations gave her great joy and satisfaction. Happy Mothers Day .. Mom. What are your memories of your mom or mom figure in your life? My mom wasn\'t perfect she had flaws like all moms but there was so many wonderfully positive aspects of her that I have had the honor to make my own ... such as the ability to see all people as the children of one God. One of the last songs she wrote and was very proud of .. was What Color is Love .. A Child Wants to Know" I miss you mom..

If We Don't Make Any Changes ...

If we don't make any changes... There won't be any changes I heard a speaker say one day. It seems fairly trite .. but isn't it true?
I applaud those courageous souls in my and other Best Year Yet coaching program all over the world who have made a decision that this is their year! This year, whatever it takes, that goal, achievement or transformation is going to be something they can look back upon December 31,2013 and with pride say these words "I did it"! These courageous souls are ordinary people like us who have come to realize that success is scheduled. They have learned that neither talent, skill, knowledge or desire is enough by themselves without a process. In other words a goal without a process is a slogan. Even the most comprehensive business plan without a strategy for accomplishment is a simply wish .. a dream. One of most important awakenings these individuals share is the awareness that they deserve to live a quality life .. to be healthy .. financially stable .. enjoy quality relationships .. be a success business owners .. to have lives worth living. The other awakening is with just 4 key processes they have the power to make it happen!

Those 4 key processes are ... #1- to create plan #2 - to engage in weekly/monthly/quarterly tracking and 3 - to arrange for accountability.

What's the main reason people fail to get what they want in business and in life? The answer is simple; lack of focus, it's not surprising. We are all mired in "stuff". Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt - The Power of Focus
Join me Thursday, May 18th at 10am til noon at the Keller Williams Rancho Cucamonga training room 8250 White Oak Ave Ste. 102 Rancho Cucamonga for a free Best Year Yet workshop. Create a plan to live your life .. by design not by default. Your life is so worth it!

It's Baaaack .. If you missed the last one .. you missed a transformational 3 hours!! Here's another opportunity to make this Your Best Year Yet !!! You are invited to start your complimentary 2013 online Plan and then join us at the workshop and really tweak it. Life is short .. Start your plan RIGHT NOW !! Workshop is my gift to you ..https://www.bestyearyet.com/index.cfm?referral_code=2907

What Goes Around ...

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, ‘I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson .’ Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

 As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, ‘And think of me.’ He waited until she started her car and drove off.

 It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight. A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan ..

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: ‘You don’t owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you.’ Under the napkin were four more $100 bills. Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.

That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard…. She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, ‘Everything’s going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.

There is an old saying ‘What goes around comes around. Random acts of kindness never go unnoticed, many times and almost always the recognition comes un-expected sources.

Share an act of kindness today .. it will fill your soul.

Wanda / Life-Energized.com

Don't Let Your DREAMS ... Slip Away

Sometimes in the seemingly challenging circumstances of the day, heart wrenching events in our lives and others and frankly, the need we feel to survive, we have a tendency to forget the substance and the reason behind our original Dreams. There is something within me that is screaming "DON'T LET YOUR DREAMS SLIP AWAY!"

Why is it so vital that we keep out dreams alive? I believe our dreams energize us and keep us motivated and inspired. Sometimes just visualizing the manifestation of our dreams ignites us from within. We've all experienced that tingle in our gut as we contemplate what our lives would be like when our dreams become reality. I've coached agents and others and watched their eyes light up (even through tears) as together we go on an imaginary journey of their life as they see it through their "dream" eyes. I believe our dreams give us purpose .. a reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward regardless of the perceived circumstances in our lives.

Here are 5 strategies which can be very supportive in invigorating those dreams that may need a little CPR.

First, go back and pull up those dying dreams and dust them off and begin to breathe new life into them. Live them in your minds eye as if they are realty now, feel the excitement and joy that exudes from the vision. Let it embrace, stimulate and embrace you.

Next, remain open to receive inspired or inspirited ideas as to how to move close to the manifestation of your treasured dream.

Then, journal the inspired feelings you are experiencing and anchor them. Include any new ideas that swirling around in your mind.

Now it's time to go into action, regardless of how insignificant you may feel these action steps seem to be, do it anyway. This is part of giving it life. Here is where an accountability partner may be helpful.

Lastly, HOLD THE VISION! Create a vision board to look at everyday and to be a reminder of your BIG WHY? Stay in gratitude and focus on what's working, for there is always so much more working than not.

Live in the glorious NOW ... the present moment. In other words find ways to be happy NOW, find joy and appreciation wherever and whenever you can, rather than putting happiness on hold while working on manifesting dreams. When we can practice living in the joyful NOW .. a funny thing happens, the reality of our dreams are expedited and we can enjoy the journey.