Weekend Getaway with the Girls...Destination: IDAHO

Mom, Billie and I got to ride together to the District 15 Toastmasters Conference. What an uplifting and energizing adventure! This time, mom and I were wise enough not to volunteer for the decoration committee...so we got to enjoy our entire weekend!

Here are some of the golden nuggets I took away from our weekend:

1. WHAT I THINK MATTERS.

What I think about myself AND others has the power to weaken or strengthen them.

***Send positive thoughts to everyone--INCLUDING MYSELF--
(this will strengthen them AND myself.)

Don't Believe Me??? TRY IT.

Tell yourself negative things with your arm out to your side and have a friend push your arm down. You WILL be weaker.

Try remembering a time when you felt truly loved, and send those positive thoughts through your mind. Strange, but you become unbreakable.

Now, try sending negative thoughts to someone else...If you were to test their arm strength, they would be very weak in their strength. Interestingly enough, if you were to test your arm strength while sending hurtful words to someone else you would appear just as weak, if not more so.

THERE IS STRENGTH IN POSITIVE THINKING!

2. ACT on the promptings I feel. Small talk is not small. Talk to people. You may save someone's life.

No act is too small or insignificant. It is NEVER too late.

3. BE WHO I AM.

"The freedom to be myself is the freedom to be my very best."


4. No one can make me mad--It's a CHOICE I have to make.

If I am mad for more than 5 minutes, I am the one with the problem.

5. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

We met an amazing blind man named Fred again at this Conference who has changed my life.

You would never know he was blind...except for the fact that he walks around with a walking stick. But he was always the first person up to escort someone to their seats, the first one to respond when difficulties arose, and the person who got mom and I out of our comfort zones--talking and meeting people. He helped me realize how important it is to just be me and open my heart and mouth to the wonderful people that surround me.

He says he meets more than 50 people a day. He is a master of his thoughts, his actions, and he does dare to be different.

"Give ALL of myself and receive even more in return." -Fred