Inspiration
"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
~ Oprah Winfrey
For more quotes like
this,
click here.
Speaking Schedule
Below is a list of where and when I'm speaking for the next few months. Most of these events are for my corporate or organizational clients (i.e. not open to the public). The ones in blue, however, are public events. I hope to see you at one of these!
10/2: Berkeley, CA
10/4: Cleveland, OH
10/5: Cleveland, OH
10/6: Alameda, CA
10/7: Lake Tahoe, CA
10/11: Muncie, IN
10/13:Sacramento, CA
10/19: Napa, CA
10/21: Modesto, CA
10/27: Mountain View, CA
11/2: Boston, MA
11/3: Vallejo, CA
11/10: Palo Alto, CA
11/13: Anaheim, CA
11/16: Mountain View, CA
11/17: San Jose, CA
11/19: Raleigh, NC
For more public event details, click here.
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September 29, 2010
In This Issue
Featured Article: The Importance of Celebrating
Announcements
Daddy's Little Girls
Happy fall! I hope you're doing well and enjoying the beginning of this new season of the year - although it feels like it's still summer here in the Bay Area with the heat we've been having.
Last week's article, "What We CAN Change," got lots of positive feedback. If you'd like to re-read that piece, feel free to check it out on my blog or on the Huffington Post. Also, if you're interested in listening to last week's audio podcast, click here.
Have a good rest of your day and week. Thanks for being on my e-zine list!
With Gratitude,
P.S. For those of you who live here in the Bay Area, I'm the MC at an inspiring fundraising event for the Peace Alliance this Saturday, 10/2 at 11 AM, in Berkeley. If you'd like to attend this event and sit at our table, let me know (by email). For more info, click here.
The Importance of Celebrating
(For this week's audio podcast, click here.)
How do you feel about celebrating? If you're anything like me and most of the people I know, you probably enjoy it.
However, I notice that as much as I like to celebrate, I sometimes find it challenging as well. Here are some of the reasons that I use not to do it:
- I don't have the time or money to celebrate right now, there's work that needs to get done
- Things aren't yet as good as they "should" be for me to stop and celebrate
- People will think I'm weird, naive, or obnoxious if I celebrate too much
- With so much suffering in the world and people having a tough time these days, it's not appropriate for me to celebrate
- I'll celebrate, for sure, but not until everything turns out exactly as I want it to
Can you relate to any of these?
We were recently at Disneyland with our girls. We love it there! One of the many magical aspects of Disneyland is how they fully embrace the power of celebration. Every day at Disneyland feels like your birthday, favorite holiday, and New Year's Eve - all wrapped into one. The parade down Main Street is even called "Celebrate You."
I was really struck by this focus on celebration when we were there most recently and realized that one of the main reasons people come to Disneyland (and keep coming back, like us) is that it's an excuse to celebrate. And while they do an amazing job at Disneyland with the rides, the characters, the shows, the fireworks, and more - the real magic behind it all is the power of celebration.
Too often in life we think we have to have a "legitimate" reason to celebrate - a birthday, winning an award, an anniversary, the completion of a project, the accomplishment of a goal, taking a vacation, or some other "special occasion." While all of these things can be fun to celebrate, we don't have to wait for them to happen to feel justified in our celebration.
At Disneyland they celebrate just to celebrate - on Tuesday mornings and Thursday nights, on special occasions and holidays, and on every single day throughout the year. What if we did more of this in our lives - even and especially when things get tough?
While it may seem counter-intuitive, celebrating for "no reason" and counting our blessings when things are hard can literally transform our experience of being alive.
I was in a cab in Houston a few years ago, heading back to the airport after speaking at an event for Chevron. The cab driver and I got into an interesting conversation about life, family, and the state of our culture in America. The driver told me he was from Ethiopia originally, but had been living in the United States for about twenty years.
I asked him, "What's your take on American culture, given that you didn't grow up here." He paused for a long time; then asked me, "Can I be honest with you?" I said, "Of course." He then said, "I think most people in this culture act like spoiled brats."
"Why do you say that?" I asked, a bit surprised by his response. "Mike," he said, "I'm from Ethiopia...every day here is a good day. I don't understand why people just don't walk around here with their hands in the air saying 'THANK YOU'."
Regardless of what's going on in our lives right now, we have so much to celebrate and be grateful for. We don't have to wait until we close the deal, win the game, finish the project, get to retirement, fall in love, reach out goal, or whatever else it is we feel we need to accomplish in order to celebrate.
Sometimes the best thing for us to celebrate is the mere fact that we've made it to this point in life, especially if things have been challenging, which for many of us they have been recently and/or at times in our lives.
Celebrating is not only an after-the-fact phenomenon; it's a way of being and can become a way of life if we choose to live that way. Stop for a moment right now and think of all the things (big and small) that you can celebrate about your life right now. As Oprah Winfrey says, "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
How much celebrating do you do? What can you celebrate in your life right now? How can you expand your capacity for celebration? Share your thoughts, ideas, insights, and more on my blog here.
To listen to this week's audio podcast, including additional thoughts, ideas, and tips, click here.
Tackle Your Inner Bully - Free Tele-call on October 2nd
 You may have just seen the recent announcements I made about Inner Mean Girl Reform School, which is a powerful telecourse for women focusing on self care and self love. Many of you asked me, "what about the men?" Well, my friends and colleagues Chris Kyle and Noah Martin have created a powerful new program just for men called Tackle Your Inner Bully. If you're anything like me and most of the men I know and work with, you can be your own worst enemy...you hold yourself back from what you really want, putting pressure on yourself to be perfect, and getting too caught up in the daily grind. This is why I'm so excited to let you know about a FREE virtual event FOR MEN only this Saturday, October 2nd at 10 AM PT that you're not going to want to miss. Chris and Noah are experts at helping men remove their subconscious blocks. They've figured out how to get the Inner Critic or "Inner Bully" as they call it (because let's be honest, that harsh voice is personal!) off our back and out of our way, and now they're holding a tele-class to share their secrets. For more info and to register for this free call, click here.
Great New Book - A Juicy, Joyful Life, by Linda Joy
 Now more than ever women are experiencing an awakening of the soul, a call to remove the masks that they wear, step through their fear, to claim their authentic self and live the life they are meant to live. In A Juicy, Joyful Life, an inspiring new book put together by Linda Joy, the publisher of Aspire Magazine, you'll meet 41 extraordinary women, from housewives to radio hosts; from coaches to healers - women who stepped forward to share their inspirational and heart-felt stories and authentic truth with the collective intention of encouraging ALL women to embrace the truth that "where you've been does not define where you will go. You CAN create a new personal story filled with love, hope and purpose." For more info and to purchase copies of this new book, check out www.JuicyJoyfulLife.com
You are invited to join this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a grassroots movement of how one person (you) can make a huge difference in the world through gratitude. Project GratOtude started with one person - my friend and fellow author Janae Bower - with the "big dream" of inspiring one million people to join the FREE Project GratOtude Challenge. This project is dedicated to honor Oprah and launched at the beginning of her farewell season, a few weeks ago (on September 13th). Are you up for the challenge to BE MORE GRATEFUL by the end of Oprah’s 9-month season in May 2011? For more info, to join the challenge, and to bring more gratitude into your life, click here.
"We love to celebrate - especially at Disneyland!"
- Samantha and Annarose Robbins
To see more photos of us and
our mommy and daddy, click here.
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