Remember last week’s gratitude post where I indicated how the power of gratitude should extend to recognizing the success of other people? Well, I’m doing it again this week.
Peter of Iwillchangeyourlife.com is to be congratulated for being selected as the new editor at PickTheBrain. It’s a plum assignment for anyone willing to step up to the plate and carry on the enormous editorial responsibilities for such an awesome blog. Upward and onward to your success Peter!
Around the blogosphere, I’d like to thank:
- Michael of Remarkablogger for inspiring me with his post, Start Video Blogging in Five Easy Steps, because while I plan to buy altogether different equipment, I am finally on the verge of getting a new camcorder because of his encouragement. His article was a direct result of the willingness to listen and respond to his readers. I was the one who asked if he would write an article for scaredy cats like myself who are positively intimidated with the technical aspects of video blogging. Michael’s message was basically, ”Hey, it’s so easy to do a video post - don’t get all worked up over this - you can do it - JUST DO IT!” Thanks to you Michael, I’m very close to making my first video post and the credit is ALL YOURS in infinite glory!
Ever since my interview with John Wesley went live at Adversity University earlier this week, an amazing series of events have unfolded, the likes of which I would never have predicted. Check this out:
A young man named Tejvan Pettinger of Sri Chinmoy left a very nice comment telling me how much he enjoyed my first interview with John. His name was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on who he was. Grateful for his comment, I visited his blog and roamed around for a bit. Still unsure of why and how I knew his name, I made a mental note to do some more research on this guy.
I had my work cut out for me because on the very next day, I found myself reading 10 Effective Productivity Tips for Writers at PTB.
Guess who the author was?
That’s right, you guessed it - Tejvan. By now my brain was like a beehive, for I knew I was closer to solving the mystery man puzzle. Suddenly I had an idea - I went to the About page at PTB and there he was - officially listed as a regular PTB contributor. Mystery solved.
Okay, here’s another one. Yesterday I was at soupornuts, reading my buddy Chris Melton’s article, Meme: 7 random or weird facts about me, when I noticed his response to a commentator named Peter. Chris was congratulating him for becoming an editor at PTB. Shocked and surprised that I was only “one degree away” from Peter, I fired off a congratulatory email. Interestingly enough, I had also seen Peter’s name floating around the blogosphere for he hosts a well respected blog of his own.
But that’s not all.
Are you sitting down?
Peter is a finance trader - something I used to do during my Wall Street days! What a coincidence.
Finally, one morning I found an email from a woman identifying herself as a meeting planner for a tractor parts organization. They were having a conference this summer and did I want to be their keynote speaker?
Apparently she followed her intuition to check out John Wesley’s blurb about our interview, which led her to discovering that I was a motivational speaker who happened to be deaf from birth.
The funny thing was that John didn’t say much about who I was nor did he say anything about the interview except that readers were invited to come if they were interested. She must have felt an invisible nudge - she came over.
Imagine the look of surprise on her face when she learned more about me.
- This lady once worked for a school for the deaf in Texas many years ago.
- Her boss is currently at Gallaudet University, America’s most famous educational institution for the deaf. (I’m not yet clear how he is affiliated with the university but that’s something I’ll clarify with her in the coming weeks).
Divine intervention? Coincidence? You tell me.
In summary:
- First I submitted a guest article to PTB several months ago.
- Then I interviewed John last week.
- Then I got a nice comment from Tejvan yesterday, not realizing that he was a regular PTB contributor.
- Then I discovered my blogging friend from soupornuts congratulating a commentator (Peter) for becoming editor of PTB.
- Finally I got an email from a meeting planner interested in hiring me as a keynote speaker who once worked at a deaf school years ago. She found me via John’s blurb about our interview. Then of course, there’s her boss’s affiliation with Gallaudet.
My head is spinning in gratitude, let me tell ya!
Okay, moving on, here are a couple other things I’m grateful for this week:
- This winter has been rather lackluster for me physically. I gained 20 pounds over the holidays and had zero desire to workout the last several months. Looking at the mirror everyday has made me acutely aware of the need to exercise, but I’ve paid no heed even though I knew my checking account was automatically being debited every month for the gym. Three days ago, a miracle happened. It was one of those drag-myself-to-the-gym days but suddenly I felt like going back the next day and the day after that and the day after that. Whoa, what was happening? Suddenly I’m motivated to workout again? Where did that come from? Whatever it is, I’m grateful for it because it feels GOOD!
- Never does a day go by that I’m not grateful for people from church who I can call up anytime and say, ”Hey, wanna go to a movie this afternoon?” That’s exactly what I did yesterday. We met at the theatre only to learn that they were not showing a captioned film - they must made an advertising mistake. Not wanting to see a caption-less movie, we walked out and headed to Borders for a gabfest over coffee and a muffin. It was fun!
- I’m thankful that there is a 30-day money back guarantee for this camcorder I’m about to purchase. The store has one of those “return-for-any-reason” policies. Because of that, I’ll have 30 days to play with my new camcorder and if I don’t like it, I can take it back and try something else or get a full refund. YEAH, I’m PSYCHED!
- Check out Liz Fuller’s wonderfully inspiring article, Do You Have What it Takes To Write a Blog? She reminds us that we don’t need to write a masterpiece, be original or be an English professor to write a great blog. Many of us, myself included, stop ourselves short of writing a post because deep inside we think we need to be brilliant or something. Hogwash! Liz of Business and Blogging gently and lovingly encourages us to be ourselves and do the best we can - nothing more and nothing less. Thank you Liz for a gem of an article! It truly reinvigorated me today.
Food for thought: What are you grateful for this week?
This post (see link back below) was written and copyrighted by Stephen J. Hopson at: Adversity University Blog
End of the Week Gratitude Theme #14
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