Walk in the Rain

I received an email from Rachel Snyder after I sent her an email regarding campaign and political posts on her blog. She was nothing but positive and respectful in return. It confirmed to me that for true leaders, even if we disagree we can do so with grace, compassion and respect.

I encourage all to read through Rachel's blog and certainly to post.
~stacy

Less About Rain and More About Attitude

"some people walk in the rain...
others just get wet..."
-Roger Miller

Appreciate by Rachel Snyder

Every day of the year (not just as Thanksgiving!), appreciate everything you've been given-especially the chance to be a mother. consider yourself lucky, even during those times when baby is cranky and none of your clothes seem to fit.

Slow down for a second and appreciate a moment of silence. Be grateful for the stillness. Appreciate just how blessed you truly are--that you have friends and family you can count on, that your home is warm and your child is loved.

Appreciate the people who make your life a bit easier: your baby's day care provider, your pediatrician, kind strangers who hold open doors for you while you struggle to maneuver your little one's stroller. Find a way to show your thanks, even if it's as simple as a word.

Rachel Snyder lives in boulder, Colorado, and is the author of 365 Words of Well-Being for Women (Contemporary Books, 1997).

This was found in American Baby - November 98 edition.

Appreciate.

“Every day of the year (not just at thanksgiving) appreciate everything you have been given,” says Rachel snyder. She goes on, “slow down for a second and appreciate a moment of silence. Be grateful for the stillness. Appreciate just how blessed you truly are.”
Come on Rachel, aren’t there times when the complexity of life overwhelms your basic sense of appreciation?
just the other day my son approached me with the kitchen magnet in hand and asked if “it was THIS kind of day”. Note: the magnet reads “I try to take one day at a time, but lately several days have attacked me at once.” I appreciated the interruption, the laugh we shared and the big hug and kiss before he left.
But, that is not always how this Gemini reacts. My sister sent me an email about a videogame programmer named Matt. When I first received the email, I resented the interruption. “Another thing to do,“ said my overburdened mind. But, I watched it. I watched it to understand why she had sent it. Matt didn’t like his job, so he quit and decided to travel. A travel buddy encouraged him to videotape himself doing this funky dance during their journeys. The video was placed on a website to keep family informed of his travel. Somehow Stride Gum found him and the rest is history. Matt now travels the world introducing the world to his dance. My lesson? Appreciate the sentiments sent my way. Appreciate the unique dance I bring to the world.
When I think “appreciate”, two children books come to mind: the velveteen rabbit and Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse. In the first example, the rabbit didn’t know that being worn = loved = real and in the second example the mouse didn’t know true friendship until he thought he had lost one. The common theme in both is loss. Loss = a realization of what was before them all along and regret for not appreciating it when they had it.
I do not want to be a could have, should have, would have kind of person. I want character building opportunities. The ones that others see as obstacles or challenges. I want the people I meet and choose to call friend to always know the authentic me. I want to live a life with my family that isn’t dependent on words, because my actions say it all. My struggle is getting the “I want” into the actionable “I will.”
But back to the Rachel Snyder question. Does she have days? I bet so, I bet many, but I also bet her attitude and approach get her by. My wish for you is this: that you enter today appreciating you are a better person then yesterday, appreciating the treasures that surround you and celebrating the unique dance you bring to the world.
-Stacy

Velveteen Rabbit can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_m054tLKvs

Leave a Legacy

Developing outstanding leaders is fundamental to any company's success. Strong leaders have a positive, profound, and measurable influence on retention, but more important inspiring commitment through demonstration of leadership in action.
From Leadership Challenge we are reminded that there are five practices of exemplary leadership™:
1. Model the Way
Do you set an example through your actions? Do you attempt to unravel bureaucracy or create it? Do you create opportunities for victory not just for yourself, but the team that you lead?
2. Inspire a Shared Vision—
Do you passionately believe you can make a difference?
3. Challenge the Process—
Do you search for opportunities to change the status quo?
Enable Others to Act
Do you foster collaboration even with dissenters and build spirited teams? Do you create an environment of mutual respect where trust, authenticity and dignity are the most important tenets?
5. Encourage the Heart
Accomplishing the extraordinary is hard. Do you keep determination alive by rewarding team members for their efforts? Do you celebrate accomplishments even the small ones?
Some of you may remember the story that my mom would tell me of the mighty oak tree. It is a story about leaving a leadership legacy, not about mass acorn production. It is about the added steps in helping others take root, find their path, to enable discovery of their own unique power. Helping those who choose to work with you find something that matters, something to care about at work or a place where they can excel, that is the leadership challenge. Whether or not you leave a legacy depends on if you have succeeded at becoming an extraordinary leader.
To help leaders develop their full potential and leave a leadership legacy, my compnay is committed to using Extraordinary Leader (Zenger Folkman) as their leadership model.
I share this book with each of you as the next step of your leadership journey. If you were measured by your actions today, what leadership legacy would you leave?
- Stacy

Ignite A Fire

Candles have been used for more than 5,000 years, yet little is known about their origin.
I read that the first candles were developed by the Egyptians, who used rushlights made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in melted animal fat. However, the rushlights had no wick like a true candle.
The ancient Romans are generally credited with developing the wicked candle by dipping rolled papyrus repeatedly in melted tallow. The resulting candles were used to light their homes, to aid travelers at night, and in religious ceremonies.
Historians have found evidence that many other early civilizations developed wicked candles using waxes made from available plants and insects. Early Chinese candles are said to have been molded in paper tubes, using rolled rice paper for the wick. In Japan, candles were made of wax extracted from tree nuts, while in India, candle wax was made by boiling the fruit of the cinnamon tree.
Today, lighting candles signals celebration, marks romance, defines ceremony, and accents décor. Candles certainly mark milestones in my own life. Playing cribbage under candlelight with Bruce in our first home (which we weren’t suppose to occupy until the next day) or years later, three young boys in tow, candles lit a Jenner vacation house during a terrible rainstorm that knocked the power out.
But what about unlit candles? Do they signal the same? My response is no. An unlit candle takes space – it gathers dust - and is not serving the purpose that it was created to serve.
Don’t be an unlit candle. Ignite. Fill whatever room you are present in with light. Whether it is for celebration, romance, ceremony or merely décor. Glow for all to enjoy.
-Stacy

Intrigued by the history of candles? Read more here at the National Candle Association: http://www.candles.org/about_history.html

Live with Intention

Walking through the streets of Cannon Beach as an adult was much different than as a child. With my adult eyes, I now was aware of shops and restaurants that were never my concern before.
After my grandmother’s death, a trip to Cannon Beach proved significant for many reasons. One that I will share is the discovery of a little shop near the bakery which contained the poetry of a local artist. I wasn’t committed to walking into the shop, even though it was raining. So from the window I peeked in and the first thing I saw was “Live with Intention.” It was enough to get me out of the rain and into the store.
Months later, I came across the card I had purchased from the shop with the poem on it. I read it over and over. I even looked up the word intention in the dictionary and found that it means “a determination to act in a certain way”
Mary Anne Radmacher made living with intention sound so simple. And the more I thought about it, the more I resolved that it is simple. Living with intention is a personal choice.
The shop no longer sits across from the bakery, but Mary Anne Radmacher’s writings continue to have a powerful effect on me. When I find one that is significantly important, I put it in my journal or the story line (as Anne Warfield calls it).
I read somewhere that Mary Anne credits her inspiration from hearing a leader named Ray Stedman say that people have three different kinds of effects on others: some provoke no impact at all; some make others bitter and some make others better.
Commitment allows us to truly live with intention. Intention allows us to “begin each day as if it were on purpose.” Purpose allows for reach, collaboration and celebration.
Which effect will you have on others? None, bitter or better?
-Stacy

Live with Intention by Mary Anne Radmacher

live with intention.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this is all there is.

Darksly and Hell's Demon by Devon

It was a beautiful night.
I looked out at the night sky and saw some stars. It was nine o’clock and it was warm. I felt a perfect breeze of air blew on my face and I put my head down and quickly went to sleep.
“Is it him? Is he the one?” Said a voice.
“It has to be. He has the birthmark just like the Lightsly did!” Another voice said.
“Wake him.” The first voice said, “He needs to know who he really is.”
I woke up. I tried to open my eyes, but it was so bright and overwhelming. I opened my eyes just a little to see what was happening. Then I noticed that I was not in my bed, but I was in the sky. As I was looking around there were bubbles in the sky and I was being carried on top of one. They took me to a city in the sky. I could tell because the clouds were forming houses, gates and trees.
Suddenly there was a small smoke screen and a man came out of it. I looked at him for a second or two and then I realized that before me stood Michael – the angel who bound the devil down in Hell!
I backed away in fear but the floating bubble stopped me.
“Stay Darksly,” Michael said, “you need to know what has happened.”
“Darksly?” I said, “My name is not Darksly, it is Kekoro!”
“Darksly! Calm down,” said Michael. “We need to tell you something.”
“Okay, Okay!” I said.
“The devil has created a monster so deadly that if it breathes any where near you – you die instantly.” Said Michael.
Then he took me to a house and when he opened the door there was a table inside. On the table there was a little bottle full of blue stuff.
“This is a Nonfoger Elixir,” said Michael picking up the small bottle. “If you drink this you will be able to survive his breath without dying but it will only last for 24 hours.”
Suddenly a door appeared in front of where they were standing.
“Go Darksly, you must slay Hell’s Demon!”
I walked to the door and Michael gave me a glowing yellow sword.
“Slay the beast with this.” Michael said. “Cut its throat and it will die immediately.”
“Why can’t you fight with me?” I said.
“My job is to bind the devil back down in Hell.” Michael explained. “I’m not supposed to slay his demons.”
I opened the bottle and drank it. Then I entered the door it was a foul place with spiders crawling all over. I looked through a window on a door to my right. It was the devil himself drowning souls in a pot of boiling water. I snuck past and went through another door.
“Gggrrrrrr!” growled a beast.
I kept walking until there was a room full of darkness. A beast jumped out of the darkness and attacked! Luckily, I dodged it and took a look at it. It was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. It had jagged and sharp teeth. It also had four eyes and legs like a centipede. The beast attacked again and this time I stepped aside before it hit me. Its head hit the ground so hard that it got buried into the dirt. While its head was stuck, I drew my sword and sliced its head off.
I knew my job was done. I left and opened the door that lead me back to heaven. Then there was a light brighter than any of the lights I had seen before.
God appeared and sent me back down to earth and dropped me back at my house. He raised his finger and awarded me with health and money. Then I knew who I really was. I was Darksly, the slayer of Hell’s Demon.

Pause and Reflect

This weekend the bookshelf spoke to me. I had finished The Alchemist: A Fable about Following Your Dream and was not wanting to start Born on a Blue Day. Walking by the bookshelf, Onyx’s tail knocked over the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff trilogy and the work version poked out from the sleeve. Whether you believe it was a coincidence or omen doesn’t matter, however the book reminded me of the need to stop, reflect and celebrate.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work discusses this in chapter 36. Richard Carlson, the author, says “At times, it’s important to stop what you are doing and pat yourself on the back. Take a few moments to reflect on what you’ve been doing and on the nature of your intentions and actions. Mentally review your accomplishments. Think about how hard you work and how much you are contributing to your goals, and to the people you are working with.”
With midyear premiere performance reviews complete, I wanted to take a moment to pause and reflect and celebrate the 1Q, 2Q and 3Q of this wonderful year.
-Stacy

My Haunted House by Devon

It was dark and stormy. The wind was blowing seventy miles per hour. It was raining hard too.
I peeked out the window. There was a tornado coming towards the house. It was huge! I went down to the cellar of the house. I set up my bed and turned on my alarm to go off at eight o’clock in the morning.
“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,” only two hours had past and my alarm went off.
“Huh?” I moaned.
“This is your worse nightmare,” said a mysterious voice. “Welcome to the midnight realm.”
The wallpaper started disintegrating. I went into the other room even though it was pitch black.
I felt something grab my leg. I found the light switch on the wall and turned on the light. On the floor was a man grabbing my leg.
“Get off!” I yelled.
“Shhh!” he whispered pointing to the darkness of the other room.
Suddenly a humungous hand came out of the room he was pointing to. It grabbed him and pulled him into the room.
I was terrified. I ran for the door, but the door turned into a mouth. I ran and grabbed a chair and stabbed the mouth. As I expected, the mouth yelled in pain. As the mouth was open, I ran through it and out of the house.
I got into my car and drove as fast as I could away.

What Science Means to Me by Brandon

Science is the ultimate attempt at discovery. From discovering what makes soda explode, to discovering how to plant hundreds of thousands of trees in a day. From discovering how to create stable environments for experimentation, to discovering what make the body work. This is what science is to me.

Discovering what is true by making a hypothesis and then testing the hypothesis through repeatable and verifiable experiments. For example, last year my friend and I saw a You Tube video on Mentos and Diet Coke explosions. We didn’t believe that simply putting Mentos in Diet Coke could create the soda to explode. We decided we wanted to do it, so we asked our parents if we could test it and we did. But coming to the conclusion that it would work wasn’t good enough...we wanted to find out why it happens and would it work on other sodas.

Discovering and increasing knowledge based on facts about how the world works. Science is watching Discovery channel on topics like global warming and effects of Hurricane Katrina on the coastal shores of Louisiana. Did you know that there is an island 30 miles out at sea that lost all of its mangroves due to the hurricane? Did you know that it takes two men and two full days to plan 20 mangroves? However, a regular person came up with a creative idea - let go of mangrove seeds from a helicopter in order to plant 150,000 mangroves over the whole coastal shelf in one day.

Discovering how to conduct experiments including creating stable environments where you can do your discovery and document your findings. I love the network show Dexter. While I know it is only a TV show, it also tells the importance of having the right environment to completing experiments. Things like temperature, humidity, moods can alter the results of an experiment. Science is creating an environment where you can feel confident in the results of your experiment.

Discovering how to research and collect data in order to learn how different things work. While I have never dissected any living thing, I do enjoy learning through hands on application. For example, taking apart a computer or learning to play golf and improving my swing by better understanding how my body moves.

Discovering what is true, discovering and increasing knowledge, discovering how to conduct experiments, and discovering how to research, are the biggest parts of science to me. To me knowledge is gained through discovery and you have to do something first hand to really understand it.

The Rope Rocket by Brandon

Awesome and scary too, I was the third one to jump. Actually it wasn’t really a jump, a fall maybe, but it didn’t really matter. What I’m talking about is a ride at the Alliance Redwoods Science Camp, called the Rope Rocket. It’s so hard to describe, but I’ll do my best.

As soon as I saw it I wanted to go, but I wasn’t fast enough. It was excruciating watching the others going and having so much fun, and then it was my turn. When I went up into the tree I was nervous and excited. There was a lady waiting for me at the top of the tree. She put the harness and cords on, and told me to sit on the edge of the tree. Then I panicked.

I started telling her I wanted to get off and standing up, but she just reassured me and told me to sit down every time I did so. “These cables can hold up a bus, now I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure you don’t weigh as much as a bus,” She said. “And I was scared the first time I went too, but in the end it’s all worth it.” So I calmed myself down and told her if I hit the 30lb cables she had strapped onto me, 3 times, she could let go.

1.....2........3! I started falling down faster, the air was escaping me. I couldn’t breathe. Then I went up, hitting a few trees in the process. Back and forth, again and again as if I were on a giant swing it felt so good, the wind rushing against my face. I had lost myself, falling and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. That’s what it’s like to go on the Rope Rocket; awesome, and scary too.