As we serve others on a daily basis, there is an essence of a virtual currency, and there is a feeling of reciprocity associated with this virtual currency. Everything we do has an energy around it. Likewise, each person has developed, or was blessed with, certain gifts and traits. Because the things that we have been blessed with are so easy in our lives, we take them for granted. By the same token, things that are easy for others may seem difficult for us. This is where the concept of...

  "Stress, anxiety and depression are caused when we are living to please others." - Paulo Coelho "Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner." - Lao Tzu   In our lives, our thoughts and actions come from one of two places; love or fear. One of the most common fears that people have is our fear of what others think of us. Many times, we choose to act or not act based on our opinion of what others will think of us. This is extremely limiting because we are coming...

True love engenders passion. Passion engenders motivation. Motivation engenders action. Therefore, if we can learn to love, we can learn to act. Work ceases to be work when one’s heart is involved. But how does one learn to love? Where is the source of learning for such an emotion? Does one just choose to love? Does it just show up? Where does it come from? Alternatively, when one acts in service towards others, one learns to love. You cannot serve somebody without learning to love them. If you can’t find that...

All of us get the opportunity to deal with difficult people. Whether they be managers at work, family members or even neighbors, we are not immune from having to interact with people that are so different than us that they rub us the wrong way and make it difficult to even be around. One of the things that I’ve learned is that these people can be ‘master teachers’ for us. We are told in an number of scriptures to love our enemies. It’s easy to love those who love us, but...

My 24 year old nephew and his wife decided to live on the road for the past seven months. They wanted to see the country and live life deeply. I recently asked him how things were going and what were the biggest things he's learned out on the road, and this is what he shared with me (sharing with his permission): "We started out on Sep 1st of last year, so 7 months now? We plan on doing this for about a year, but we’ll see. Living like this definitely has it’s pros/cons,...

In my coaching business, I have clients that ask me how to find their purpose in life. What's interesting is that when I ask them what they're doing to find their purpose, most people say that they think about it a lot, but rarely has anybody told me what actions they are taking. It seems like many people are waiting for their purpose to find them, instead of them looking to find their purpose. Here are four suggestions: Try new things, and lots of them-- How did you find out that you like...

It’s not about you…. Your customers don’t care about you… they care about what you have to offer them.  What they really care about is the total experience that you provide.  It’s how they feel after their interaction with you.  If it’s great, they’ll tell 2 people.  If it’s horrible, they’ll tell 10. Service has become a huge differentiator in winning companies. In a world where so much is commoditized, the entire experience is what’s valued.  When you can make a mid-range coffee for about 18 cents, yet Starbucks can sell it...

Life is magical.  We make plans.  Some happen, some don’t, but we can find purpose, education, and opportunity in anything that happens to us.  Some of our greatest examples, like Mahatmas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Ann Frank forged through the trials heaved upon them, to show us a higher way. As we embark on our own personal paths of greatness, let us be aware that these paths may not be as we planned, but they are ours nonetheless, and we should fully embrace every experience along the journey.  As we watch...

We never do truly understand the impact or effect that we have on others.  There are so many things that combine to affect our perspective and create an experience, including  our past, our beliefs, and our current situation.  Two people can pass through the exact same circumstances and have completely different experiences. Our actions create ripples across the universe.  The results of these ripples may be instantly visible, delayed, or completely unknown to us, yet they have an impact.  I remember writing a Facebook post on my wall a couple years...

  When I evaluate my life’s path, and realize that I’ve wandered ‘off course’, I realize that many times, it’s not because of some huge change, but because I’ve neglected a lot of little things.  I’ve compiled a quick list of items that I call Daily Habits, that help me immensely to maintain perspective, stay connected, and enjoy life.  Here they are: Daily Gratitude List– Simply put, I write down 5 things that I’m grateful for, usually from the previous day.  Sometimes it’s big things that have happened, but most of the...