“Today is a new day. Don't let your history interfere with your destiny! Let today be the day you stop being a victim of your circumstances and start taking action towards the life you want. You have the power and the time to shape your life. Break free from the poisonous victim mentality and embrace the truth of your greatness. You were not meant for a mundane or mediocre life!”

                                                                                       - Steve Maraboli

 Are you being a victim or are you an owner?  

I first heard this question posed several years ago by super coach, Steve Chandler when I was attending one of his great seminars.  

The concept is really quite simple. 

As best we try, we may not be able to control what happens to us in our lives, but we can always control how we respond to it.  The choice is ours; we can live as if we are victimized by our life circumstances or we can own each of them and use the lessons they teach us to prope...

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see" 

                                                                                          - Henry David Thoreau

It feels to me that we are currently living in a very reactive world. 

In our technological age, information comes to us at warp speed and it seems that many times our reactions, both verbally and physically, happen so fast that we are not even conscious of how we are responding. 

One may look no further than our current political environment to see this each and every day.  Regardless of what side of the spectrum you find yourself on, reaction, often of the inflamed sort, seems to be the order of the day. 

I believe most of you would agree that we are a much better representation of our best selves when we refrain from unconscious reaction and move into mindful creation. 

What this means to me is before we speak or take action regarding any situation that causes us to feel anger, fear or ...

“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of.  There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

                                                                                   - Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

Impact.  Whether we know it or not, each one of us has the ability to impact others in profound ways. 

This is usually recognized for those who positively affect the masses through speaking to large audiences, television appearances or internet posts that go viral. 

But most of the time it is done in ordinary ways, by ordinary people.  It comes in our interaction with others, usually one person at time, when we show kindness and interest in another person and authentically share ourselves and help to make someone’s life just a little better by our presence.

There is probably nobody in my lifetime that I witnessed de...