Search Results for: gifts

Entertainment Talent

Backstory – Entertainment Talent

Curious, I looked up the show business careers of several winners of America’s talent shows. Not many stayed at the top, after being discovered. Just having a good voice or being a good musician was not enough. So what does assure the path to stardom? Let’s take a look.

Consider This Show – Talent

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Talent – #423

Who could have guessed that there was so much untapped entertainment talent out there in our country?

When you watch early auditions on talent shows like American Idol, you have to wonder what some people were thinking when they decide to try out. How could they possibly believe that the screechy voice or the bellowing screams they emit qualify them as singers? Who told them they sound good? Nasty friends? Kind parents? Wishful thinking?

But once the nincompoops are weeded out, oh my, what a field of talent.

Of course success will involve so much more than simply a good voice. Will they have the stamina to keep up with the demands of stardom? Will they have the right professional guidance to help them choose the right songs, the right auditions, the right looks and quotes and publicity?

Will they avoid the temptations that take so many fine artists down the road to destruction?

Will they manage to keep close, those who love them and treat people fairly? Do they really know what they are getting into when they decide to accept celebrity? Is it worth it?

We cheer them on and wish them well and watch them evolve right before our eyes.

Destined for stardom, tragedy . . . or both.

[Show #423]

Retirement – A Second Chance

Backstory – Retirement

Looking around at retired friends, I marveled at how active and involved they are. No rocking chair sitters, these. Taking a better look, I thought about what an opportunity retirement is to reinvent yourself. That thought inspired this week’s show.

Consider This Show – Second Chance

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Second Chance – #621

You know what’s great about retirement? It gives you a second chance at having an authentic life.

Thank goodness baby boomers are strong and healthy, well into their sixties, seventies and even their eighties – something our grandparents could not even wish for. They were tired at 50 and spent at 60. That’s not the case today.

So when folks retire, they have a second chance to have an authentic life, if it didn’t work for them the first time around. And they have the wisdom of experience, to enhance their success.

I have many friends who are enjoying a new authentic life, since retirement.

A non-profit executive from NYC – opened a flower shop in California, something she had always wanted to do.
A retired nurse became a care-giver.
A retired public speaker started writing a 90 second radio show. You’re listening to it right now.
A physicist started studying the Russian language. He traveled to Moscow to test his linguistic skills. There he found access to opera and ballet at the price of a box lunch in NYC. He keeps going back for more.

Whether your work life was authentic or not, in retirement, you could start out on a new path, if you want.

Psychologist Carl Jung told us, “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” And life after retirement offers that privilege, a second time around.

[Show #621]

Raising Honest Children

Backstory – Honest Children

I was wrestling with versions of the truth as reported on the news. Which truth does one believe? I feel for children growing up in this chaotic time. How do we teach them to tell the truth and stand by the truth in an age where truth is as steady as Jello thrown against the wall? What a daunting task.

Consider This Show – Honest Children

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Raising Honest Children – #426

Raising honest children today, I believe, is really difficult. There are times I think there is no more truth. Everything has a spin on it that benefits one group or another.

Telling the truth can get you into trouble. It can make your friends mad at you. It seems people want you to say what they want to hear, rather than what is honestly the truth.

If we are to teach our children to tell the truth, we have to create room for candor – for an authentic voice. We have to allow children to speak their mind, even if their thoughts or values differ from ours.

But when the value they are moving toward is not the truth, we need to show them how to grasp the truth and face it.

What happens when a child is caught in a lie? I believe we have to hold them responsible. We need to set firm, fair consequences and limits.

The child who lies must suffer the consequences.

Discuss honesty in words the child can understand. Stories of rewards for telling the truth are effective.

The best lesson is MODELING honesty. Be willing to admit your own mistakes with the truth. Beware of hypocrisy – Don’t preach one thing and do another. Avoid calling the child a liar. Teach rather than scold. It works better . . . and that’s the truth!

[Show #426]

One Gift

Backstory – One Gift

We were talking about beauty. Standard wisdom is that beauty fades. Actually, it depends on what you consider beautiful. And that depends on whether your eyes are on something or someone who is loved or simply seen. This story was the result of that reflection.

Consider This Show – One Gift

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To Whom Are You Beautiful? – #458

I heard a wife tell her husband, “If I could give you one gift in life, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes. Only then would you realize how special you are to me.”

It truly is a gift to be seen through the eyes of love. We are beautiful, in the eyes of those who love us. And if we’re lucky, that person tells us often how much we are loved and cherished, and how beautiful we are – man or woman.

I so enjoy when you can see, just by looking at them, how much a couple care about each other. It is particularly true when they have been together for a long time.

At a recent community meeting, someone announced that a couple was celebrating their 45^th wedding anniversary. The husband stood up and added, “And I am still in love with her!” The spontaneous announcement was so touching, as his bride blushed at the public attention.

But he didn’t even need to say it out loud. You could tell by the loving way he treated her, that she was still that beautiful, flirtatious young woman who had captured his heart so many decades ago. That’s what HE saw when he looked at her, regardless of the whitened hair and wobbly knees that had become today’s reality.

To see them together was to believe in love all over again.

[Show #458]

Evening

Backstory – Evening

Retirement, with all its opportunities, can also lead to a life that is quieter, safer, softer. Can that lead to boredom? That was the concern of my beloved, when retirement was new to me and well experienced by him. This is the conversation we had about that.

Consider This Show – Evening

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We were sitting on the porch, watching the early evening clouds change color as sunset approached. He turned to me and asked, “Do you enjoy sitting here quietly, just taking it all in?” He referred to the mountains that rose from the other side of the road…the flowers in the swaying trees…the birds twittering happily in the evening shadows. “Sometimes I wonder if this is too staid for you,” he added.

How could I possibly express to him, all it meant to sit next to him and take in the daily miracles that so often go unnoticed in our hurried world. To hear the sounds of nature instead of the ringing of the house phone, the office phone, the cell phone. To sit there knowing this is the final destination of the day. No more need to wedge my way into the traffic and claim my share of blacktop to get me home. The most peaceful time of day when my heart sings and my hand touching his is divinely intimate. It is the essence of every love song.

“This is my favorite part,” I shared softly, tears of joy gathering in my eyes.

And I believe he understood everything expressed by those few little words.

[Show #198]

Something Bad Could Happen

Backstory – Something Bad Could Happen

Something bad could happen. There’s no denying it. Turn on the news for proof any time. How can you possibly keep from worrying in times like these? That thought inspired this story.

Consider This Show – Something Bad Could Happen

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It’s easy to get swept away by the bad news: someone is treated badly; someone is swindled out of their life savings, the life is savagely snuffed out of a good person, a young life is lost.

Knowing about the bad things that could happen can sometimes be scary. It can get us to a place where we are waiting for the next shoe to fall. When will it be OUR TURN to experience something bad? It could be around the next corner. And it COULD!

But most likely, there will be something good around the next corner. Remember that the media has to pull bad news from all around the country and the world, just to keep us informed.

It’s not news that 16 million school children arrived safety. T here’s no headline in knowing that 45 million husbands chose to come home to their families and share their lives tonight. The fact that 34 million of them were met with a hug and a smile; you’ll never hear Fox News report it.

So take the news with a grain of salt.Something bad did happen to them. It could happen to you.

And if it does, you have the strength and courage to figure out how to handle it.

In the meantime, enjoy the everyday good times. Treasure them. Don’t let them get by without celebration. They are what this good life is all about.

[Show #322]

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