Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise choices today!

I’m sending this from Mexico City, where I’m working with a team of engineers and suppliers to the auto industry. Yesterday, one young woman shared an old Mexican adage her grandfather shared with her:

I never ask God to give me anything; I only ask to be put where things are.

Hum . . . I immediately thought that might be one of the many reasons I love to travel to parts of the world I’ve never experienced before. It consistently places me in front of gracious, glorious people and sacred adventures that continue to define me. It makes me feel grateful for the gifts of learning, blessed for the human capacity to transcend and privileged to share what I learn on life’s journey.

The last time I worked here, a beautiful elder held my hands, looked sincerely into my eyes and said,

As you see yourself, I once saw myself; as you see me now, you will be seen.

As I returned the gaze and caught a glimpse of her soul, I thought – I sure hope so!

Life is calling . . . Today’s the day!

Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.
http://www.marilynnsemonick.com
To read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit http://www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.com
Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)
Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker
Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

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Wednesday Wisdom

Today is the beginning of forever!

I’m writing this from the National Speakers Association convention in Orlando, Florida. It’s been an exhilarating and exhausting 4 day gathering of an incredible community of practice, designed to reconnect and share best practices with professionals who diligently work to achieve excellence in the craft of professional speaking.

Yesterday, Karen Cortell-Reisman shared lessons she learned from two critical sources in her life: her cousin, Albert Einstein and her grandparents. Just before World War II, her grandparents put their 3 children on 3 different trains to travel from Germany to 3 different locations around the world. Who would do such a thing? Parents who desperately wanted to keep their children safe and alive.

In a letter to his Aunt Leena (Karen’s mom) in response to her decision to move her children to safety, the physicist, Albert Einstein wrote:

It’s never easy for anyone to jump out of deeply rooted habits.

Aunt Leena left her familiar, comfort space and had her young children do the same to change their fate forever.

Later, Einstein wrote an admiring note to Aunt Leena stating:

You do not look away when the view is gray.

This welcomes me to ask myself questions about how effectively I rise above situations to make wise choices, no matter the color of the sky on any given day. With choice comes responsibility. May we all make choices today that move us beyond our habits – especially the difficult ones.

Life is calling . . . Today’s the day!

Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.
http://www.marilynnsemonick.com
To read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit http://www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.com
Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)
Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker
Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

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Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise choices today!

Last week, at the start of a hectic and confusing boarding process at Detroit Metro airport, a gate attendant, with disgust in her voice, announced that the plane had been “downgraded” so several people would have to wait for the next flight. Through the microphone we all loudly heard, “Don’t bother arguing with me about how you have to get where because of why . . . there’s nothing I can do about that.” As you can imagine, those who were yanked from the roster did not happily skip their way out of line.

I was intrigued with the look on the face of the other gate attendant at the word selection and tone used in the announcement. Then, even more impressive, was the patience and kindness she extended as she dealt with the mess the first attendant had created.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. – Mark Twain

As you can imagine, she was initially approached by outraged voices and threatening words. Though it all, she maintained a calm demeanor and listened with what appeared to be genuine empathy. She didn’t create the mess, yet she cleaned it up with dignity, honor and grace. A great lesson for me. In any situation, even the ones I don’t create, I can help to make them work out better in the end.

Life is calling . . . Today’s the day!

Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.
http://www.marilynnsemonick.com
To read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit http://www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.com
Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)
Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker
Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

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Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise choices today!

As a young facilitator, one of the first tools presented to me was the necessity of well-crafted questions. And, as with any new skill, I struggled to ask ones that didn’t seem trite, inappropriate, ineffective, or useless since they led to nowhere. It took a while; however, I finally realized how important listening was to the process. Duh.

Have you ever listened so intently that you could even hear what wasn’t being said? The silence, attentiveness and compassion of everything, including the spaces between the words can organically lead to the next natural and effectively penetrating question. How I wish I would have realized this when I was younger, as a mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter and business owner. Albert Einstein said it best for me:

All of life’s answers are available, if we just knew what questions to ask.

Today, I will be more inquiring. I will ask more questions, listen louder and not be so quick to jump to immediate assumptions, conclusions or think I have to know the “correct” answer. And, I will remain available to the still spaces.

Life is calling . . . Today’s the day!

The Success Studio . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.
Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)
Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker
http://www.marilynnsemonick.com
Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

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