Last night while working as a dj i was greeted by the company of one of my favorite couples. Both are amazing people and have such a positive light around them. the young lady in this couple came up to me with a very sweet birthday card she had created for me. Inside included a limerick she had writen herself. Gifts created from the heart always mean the most to me and while telling her how touched I was we began discussing special days. Turns out they were celebrating their ten year anniversary that night. Then she said something that caught me a little off guard. She mentioned it was also the anniversary of her father’s death. This wonderful woman is full of charisma and energy and I couldn’t imagine what would have prompted her to choose this day to celebrate her love on. As most emotionally sensitive people tend to be able to do, i believe she picked up on what I must have been thinking. “this way, i was able to turn what was a negative into a positive and I felt as if he was there to give me away” i almost had to stop and take a breath. Taking a day that reminds you of things that may fill you with sorrow and grief and being able to turn that around and fill it with a celebration of love takes both creativity and a large dose of emotional strength. It is easy to hide from days like that and relive the pain, but turning their memory and that day into something positive is extremely difficult, but certainly can increase the joy in your life. This lady is an inspiration and I am honored to be able to call her and the fabulous man in her life my friends.

Recently I moved back to the city i grew up in after 15 years away. It started me thinking of another neighborhood i enjoyed growing up, Mr Rogers neighborhood. Feeling nostalgic i looked up some episodes on YouTube.  The first of which was entitled “be yourself that’s the best” it was very basic in its approach and language as you might expect a children’s show to be. Still in the world we live in of people trying to appear to be something different or “more” than they are, the lesson was deep and valuable.  It started me thinking of how important the basics of self-improvement are. If you are to study the greats in any profession, music, sports they never forget their fundamentals.  Kobe Bryant,  one of the best players of his time takes 300 free throws in practice. Why? Because fundamentals are something we need to be able to do in clutch moments. You cannot hope to master algebra without an understanding of basic math. Much like learning to add joy to your life should not wait until you find yourself depressed or sad.  If you get the fundamentals of happiness down, when life throws you a challenge you will be far better equipped to handle it. The lesson to be learned from all of this? Discover the basic things that make you happy and life joyous, then practice it every day. Make it a part of your life. Then when troubles come knocking you will already have a practice in place to keep the emotional sun shining and it will be a ‘ beautiful day in the neighborhood ‘

WRITE YOUR OWN EULOGY: https://youtu.be/zNbCRVd1TR8

The most powerful thing I have done to date. Please watch and share with anyone you think this may help!

FINDING YOUR PASSION: https://youtu.be/Bkl9vxwgmMI

DAILY GRATITUDE: https://youtu.be/aYCO3GYsePg

LIVE LIKE YOU’RE ON VACATION: https://youtu.be/ZXvmEDIwu10

GIVE YOURSELF A CULTURE SHOCK: https://youtu.be/Z8xZieOj51U

My latest YouTube video. Feel free to check them all out and follow me. Tell your friends and let’s bring some light to the world!

A photocell…do you know what one is? In simple terms, because i am no expert on lighting,  it is a device that turns lights on when the surrounding atmosphere becomes dark. I appreciated third wonder of technology when i was entering the men’s room of a diner I happened to be eating at. This one had some sort of delay on it and while looking for the light switch and almost falling in the toilet a few great ideas occurred to me. One, never close a bathroom door before the light goes on. Two, what a difference a small amount of light can make in a dark situation.  While using the room for its designed purpose i was struck by how close this event served to mirror life in general. Quite often i find myself wondering what to do when a period of darkness has descended upon the love of a friend, or even my own life. We have all been there. Be it the passing of a loved one or just one of those streaks where everything seems to go wrong. It may seem like our life resembles a rest room with the light burned out and we even are at the risk of having our love fall in the toilet. Much like our friend the photo cell, when in a period of darkness we need to become the light. Going through a period when life seems to be kicking you when your down? Wave at a stranger, compliment the boss after they finish yelling at you, or tip your bartenders little extra. When life turns out your light, become the light! It may literally save your life from being flushed down the drain!

What problems self improvement tip can we gain from a box of childhood craft items? Two very important ones. Try this experiment with me. Find two crayons you are not using. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. They need to be two different colors. Let us say you choose blue and purple because they are my favorite colors. Take the blue crayon and write your name on a piece of paper. Next, take the wrappers of both of the crayons place the purple wrapper on the blue crayon.  Write your name again. Now, break the blue crayon in half (hopefully these were not your children’s crayons) now write your name a third time. Look at all three of your names. I’m guessing they all look fairly similar.  So what does this tell us? We know how to write our names three times? Yes, but not exactly. You see crayons are like people. Before you start thinking of your family members that may smell like a Crayola factory let me explain what we learned here. First we wrote our name with the blue crayon. Then we put the purple wrapper on the blue crayon and wrote our name again. Did it change color? No. Much like people, if we label them, or ourselves, we still are what we are at our very core. Then we broke the blue crayon in half and wrote our name again. Still the same result. Even when people are broken, it does not make them less than. Often people go through a very tough situation and they feel broken. We need to remember this lesson from a crayon. We may be broken, but we can continue to color the world in our own magical way.

If I were to invite you to play a game would you do it? Most of my friends love games and would be happy to say yes to this question. Now, what if I were not going to tell you how to win the game? Would you still want to play? Most people might decide against it or decide  they could figure out the goal of the game. Now what if I also told you I wouldn’t tell you the rules of the game? Most people would not be interested in playing a game with me under those conditions. I could not really say that I would blame them for not wanting to play. Now what if I asked you to wager your very life on the outcome of this game? You would probably think I’m nuts! While my sanity is always in question, this is actually what most of us do every day when we wake up. What is your reason for getting up in the morning? One of the great secrets to an amazing life is having a great answer to this question. Is it to pay the bills?  Make it to the weekend? Let us face it, if your goal five days a week is to make it to the 48 hours,some of which would be filled dreading the return of Monday, you are my living the dream. One of the great secrets is deciding what winning the game means to you. Attach yourself to a purpose greater than yourself. This is a secret to the happy, to the motivated, to the accomplished. So ask yourself, what is the goal of my game of life? Attach yourself to a purpose bigger than yourself. Do you want to bring more joy to the world? Reduce domestic violence? Your purpose should ideally be something you can do in the course of your life of as well as profession.  Tomorrow we will discuss rules of the game and how to know you are following the rules of your game