If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. Meister Eckhart
Last week was the first time I began adding quotes to the weekly gratitude posts. I’m always looking for new ways to make it a little more interesting. If you have quotes you’d like to share for future gratitude posts, please let me know.
Every situation, especially the challenges we face, has a silver lining behind it and that’s something to be grateful for. There are those who claim that no matter how many times they say thank you in gratitude, they continue to attract bad things into their lives, making it seem as if this practice was nothing but mumbo-jumbo.
I disagree.
I would ask them one simple question: “Have you really taken a look at what’s going on inside you that might be attracting whatever (bad or uncomfortable) circumstances you’re experiencing?” Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned. I learned one such lesson this week.
Ghandi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” In order to change your outer circumstances, it means you need to go within and make some internal changes first.
People Who Don’t Value What You Have to Offer
Yes, I’m grateful to those who don’t value what I have to offer.
WHAT?!@?
Let me explain.
A former subscriber sent me an email asking me to share my thoughts about a personal problem he was having with a lady friend. I won’t go into detail here but I wrote back saying I’d be happy to but added that if he wanted to pursue things further, we could discuss my life coaching services. I wrote a thought provoking response and sent that off.
A few days later he replied, thanking me for what I had to say and asked how much I charged for coaching services.
When I heard back from him, he was a completely changed man. As soon as I saw that he was no longer ending his emails with “Fondly,” I knew the mere mention of money triggered something in him. He went on to imply that I did not know what I was talking about because, after all, this was HIS best friend and more or less said, “How dare you to charge something that is out of reach for me?”
My first thought was, “How DARE he?”
I had to resist my ego’s temptation to defend myself and bite back but I forced myself to hold my tongue and waited until I cleared my mind. After I cooled down, I sent a polite but brief reply that essentially said, “I’m sorry you feel that way. Best wishes.”
I figured that would be the end of it. But it was not to be.
He sent me another email with a tone that was considerably more accusing than the first, essentially telling me I had no right to give him such advice, especially for money.
Of course, that triggered a tape recorder inside me. Thanks to increased awareness of those hidden recorders, I came to realize that this man was a divine angel, sent to me to teach me a lesson. He was my mirror. Anytime someone pushes your buttons, it is a call to look within.
The question is why was he rejecting my coaching services? Was it because in my mind I would not have paid someone else who offered the same coaching services at the price I quoted him? Or was it a way for the universe to tell me that I was undervaluing myself?
Despite the unpleasantness of it all, this was a divine gift for me. It really didn’t matter whether or not he really could afford my services. What mattered is that he brought something to my attention that I needed to clear up internally. So even though this subscriber is no longer a part of this community (his choice), I thank him for coming into my life and making me look at deeper issues within me.
The lesson? Twofold:
- One, is for every person who doesn’t value what you have to offer, there are ten others who will gladly pay you what you say you are worth (this has been my experience in the speaking business).
- Two, for every person who asks you for advice and then doesn’t want to pay for more is probably not a good client for you anyway (I learned that when I was a stockbroker on Wall Street).
PR Bonanza Continues to Ripple Across America
In last week’s gratitude post, I announced that Anita Bruzzese, a syndicated columnist, crafted a very accurate article about how I overcame adversity and went on to achieve my dreams in business and in aviation. I’m excited to share with my faithful friends, fans, subscribers, visitors and everyone else that this article has since appeared in 7 more cities (with many more coming):
I see this as God’s way of helping me plant more seeds as I continue to advance towards my dreams. Thank you God for this unexpected bonus. I know you have a plan for me and I’m excited to see where you lead me and my friends at Adversity University.
Major Publisher Invites Me to Submit Proposal
When the first article appeared in AZ, I received an invitation from a major publisher to submit a book proposal. It came directly from the executive editor of that house. Publishers love authors who attract media attention and so how could the timing of the PR bonanza have been an accident? Because of the precise timing between the articles appearing and the editor contacting me, I was able to mention it in the promotions section of my book proposal, making it even stronger than it was before this happened.
Former Editor of Harper Collins, Now a Literary Agent, Also Wants to See the Book Proposal
Right around the time the third article came out in Salt Lake City, I received another invitation to submit my book proposal, this time from a well known literary agent who I had queried months ago. After months of waiting to her back from her, she suddenly sent an email saying, “I’d love to see your proposal.”
Whoa.
Again, timing. The universe is very precise, it’s amazing.
Patrick Combs Invites Me to Participate in a Teleconference Call
A very good friend of mine, Patrick Combs, who I did a profile on months ago (Meet Patrick Combs), is a very successful speaker, author and coach. We met several years ago, the story of which is in that profile. For several years, we kept in touch and watched each other’s career grow and prosper. Every so often, we’d email one another but that’s about it.
Last week I sent him a link to one of Anita’s articles as a way of keeping him apprised of my progress. Suddenly an idea thundered through his mind (from the divine, no less), and he asked if I would be interested in participating in a teleconference call with his subscribers this coming Saturday (May 31).
What Patrick didn’t know was that I had recently just installed a new telephone system allowing me to communicate on the phone in a new way (via live operator who appears on the screen, interpreting what the other party is saying). That means for the first time in my life, I can say YES to anyone who wants me to jump in a teleconference call!
This is proof that the universe is benevolent in nature. It will help you reach your dreams if you keep going and stay focused. Stay faithful and the right people, circumstances will begin to appear to help you get there.
I mean, Patrick knows I’m deaf. In the past, we used the old cumbersome method of communicating through an operator who had to type everything he said back to me. If he knew this then why did he ask me to participate in an upcoming call?
Because he probably forgot! God planted a powerful thought in his mind, temporarily making him forget that the old way would not have worked! If he had let fear or ego get in the way, he would not have bothered to ask. But he did and because of that, I’m about to experience a new way of connecting with others in the world!
Chris Garrett Helps Me Celebrate Gratitude and Causes a Movement
Chris Garrett, a major force in the blogging world and co-author of the Problogger book, surprised me by giving me top billing in an article called The Productivity Secret of Positivity and Gratitude. Not only did he link to one of the newspapers but he also helped me generate a nice buzz around the blogosphere about the value of being grateful, possibly setting off a new movement.
Imagine if every single blogger wrote one post a week about gratitude. That would be over 100 million people saying, “thank you” every single week. Imagine that!
Thank you Chris for helping me spread the power of positivity and gratitude!
Social Media Applications
For the longest time I resisted the use of social media applications because I always assumed they were time wasters. The last thing I wanted to do was to add another distraction in my life.
Or so I thought.
When I went to SOBCon08, literally everyone there was Twittering away! My partner in crime, Karen Putz (we sat at the same table throughout the conference) was Twittering like crazy. She kept telling me she couldn’t put down the wireless device she was using to send 140 character messages to her Twitter friends. Well, that got me curious.
When I arrived back home after the conference, curiosity got the best of me and I ended up a Twitter convert. Oh Good Lord, what did I get myself into?
Thanks to Twitter, I am in touch with a lot more people that I might not have gotten to know. I was surprised to discover that some well known people use Twitter. People like Larry King and Anderson Cooper, both of CNN, are among them. Whereas it was nearly impossible to reach A-list bloggers via conventional email, you have a chance of getting on their radar through Twitter.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sjhopson
And then there’s Facebook. I made the assumption that this was another time waster. I just figured it was a bunch of friends connecting and nothing more. But again at SOBCon08, I learned that many of the bloggers there had FB profiles. So, I figured why not? I might as well give it a shot.
So, I’m on there too. If you have a FB account, simply do a search of my name “Stephen Hopson” and request to be added as a friend. I’ll return the favor. Okay?
Food for thought: What are you grateful for this week? What do you really think of the meaning gratitude? Is it mumbo-jumbo for you? Or is it a tool you use? How often do you say “thanks”?
This post (see link below) was written and copyrighted by Stephen J. Hopson at: Adversity University Blog
End of the Week Gratitude Theme #30
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