Keep It SIMPLE

"Dreams are the seedlings of realities." - As A Man Thinketh

Look slowly around you. All that you see at this moment was one day but someone's dream - a "seedling of the reality" it was to become. In our lifetime we have benefited greatly from the dreams of so many.

Mandela, Mother Teresa, Einstein, Gandhi, Spielberg, Disney, Gates and the list could go on and on and on -- all began with a dream. Who could forget one of the most powerful speeches of all time by Dr. Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream". While we haven't become the color-blind society we should be, go back and read the speech and see how far we've come since Dr. King first spoke those "seedlings" into reality.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Celine Dion performed a song called The Power of the Dream.

"Deep within each heart,
There lies a magic spark,
That lights the fire of our imagination…

Your mind will take you far
The rest is just pure heart,
You'll find your fate is all your own creation."

Sounds a lot like James Allen, doesn't it?

So maybe you don't see yourself as a Mandela or Mother Teresa. But if you haven't already discovered it, deep inside you there is a dream. It was put there by the one who created you.

Ralph Marston, whose Daily Motivator has brightened my day for some time now, writes,

"On a regular basis, take time to imagine the very best that life can be. Step aside for a moment from the day-to-day concerns of life. Re-establish contact with your highest goals and most treasured dreams. Remind yourself of the beautiful possibilities that life holds for you. Renew your determination to bring them to fruition.

"Spend some quality time with your dreams. They are real to the extent that you value them. To the extent that you commit to them and work for them, they will come true."

The final verse of Celine's song ends with:

"There's so much strength in all of us,
Every woman, child and man,
It's the moment that you think you can't,
You'll discover that you can."

And that's worth thinking about.

by Vic Johnson

POSITIVE vs. NEGATIVE
"Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be."
-- Charles "Tremendous" Jones

"Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his real self that can dare and do and win out."
-- Eleanor Porter

"Keep your face in the sunshine and you can never see the shadow."
-- Helen Keller

"Like taking a morning shower, make the planting of positive thoughts a daily practice."
-- Neil Eskelin

POTENTIAL/POSSIBILITIES
"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."
-- Sir Winston Churchill

"No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities - always see them, for they´re always there."
-- Norman Vincent Peale

"You are infinitely lovable, infinitely desirable, because the One who most desires and loves you is also infinite."
-- Deepak Chopra

"The only limitation in your life is the limitation of your own thinking."
-- James A. Ray

POWER
"If the average person realized the power he wields over his life and destiny, he would live in a perpetual state of wonder and thanksgiving."
-- Earl Nightingale

"Power tires only those who do not have it."
-- Giulio Andreotti

"Power is so characteristically calm, that calmness in itself has the aspect of strength."
-- Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

"The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself. Often well beyond any latent ability previously demonstrated. The mind is the athlete, The body is simply the means it uses."
-- Bryce Courtenay

Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.

For effective communication, use brevity. Jesus said, "Follow me." Now that's brief! He could be brief because of all that he was that he didn't have to say.

You cannot speak that which you do not know. You cannot share that which you do not feel. You cannot translate that which you do not have. And you cannot give that which you do not possess. To give it and to share it, and for it to be effective, you first need to have it. Good communication starts with good preparation.

The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, "Me, too!" verses "So what?"

Learn to express, not impress.

Be brief on the logic and reason portion of your presentation. There are probably about a thousand facts about an automobile, but you don't need them all to make a decision. About a half dozen will do.

Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.

What is powerful is when what you say is just the tip of the iceberg of what you know.

It's not the matter you cover so much as it is the manner in which you cover it.

by Jim Rohn