Happy Thanksgiving Throwback Blog! :)

The Night Before Thanksgiving By Tara Michener Twas the night before Thanksgiving and look at my house this place is so messy hope there is no mouse The dishes are piled all the way in the air and I still have so much food to prepare The guests will help themselves to pies and breads While thoughts of more gym time will be in their heads I need my hair done but I threw on a cap maybe while I'm under the dryer I'll take a short nap I started banging pots and pans and made such a clatter I lamented that after Thursday I would surely be fatter The day will come and go like a flash Then on Saturday I'll be signing books in a dash When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, Lots of little kids who want their books signed so dear I'll sign at the mall and try to be quick I'll be sure to have my sharpie never a BIC But until Saturday I'll focus on dinner and try to stay lucid Now potatoes, now rolls now tofukey and all I hope I have enough to feed them all My crock pot was boiling over like a brew A house full of food and so much to do And then, in a twinkling, I thought of my roof and happily felt blessed to serve in spirit and truth As I drew in my hand, and was turning around, I noticed all of the blessings around. I had great things and they would get done I needed to stay put I said a small prayer and stopped tapping my foot A bundle of food lay still in it's pack And I smiled as I lined up the to-do's in a stack My eyes -- how they twinkled! I no longer felt scary I began to prepare the pies apple and cherry I made things fancy adding a bow and wondered if tomorrow would bring our first snow I dug out our decorations and found our wreath Now I was grinning and showing my teeth I ignored my diet and embraced my little round belly That shook, as I laughed like a bowlful of jelly. The turkey looked pretty and plump, like art on the shelf And I laughed when I saw it in spite of myself; A tasted the gravy and tried out the bread Yep I realized I had nothing to dread; I stopped feeling bad and finished my work And wrote cards so fast I felt like a clerk Laying the bread in the dish that I chose I gave a nod, when I saw how it rose My hubby came in and looked impressed and gave a whistle I gave him a kiss as I held up the toe of mistle But I heard him exclaim, as he ran out of sight I can't wait to watch the game tomorrow night

Thankful for you!

As the season rolls around to TG-it is easy to rush through the week and go straight to the presents without realizing the gits that I have. I get impatient and sometimes I can forget to be grateful. This time of the year is a great reminder for me of where I've been and where I am going. It also is a great refresher to remember who helped me to get to where I am now. I am grateful for each and every one of you that reads my blogs, my books and my tweets. Your consistency calls me higher. You hold me accountable and you are my inspiration for doing the work that I do. This past weekend we had a thankful breakfast for our group "I Love myself Because..." The goal was to think about what people see in us when they have a first impression. Primarily we went with what people see on the outside. Answers ranged from big eyes, smiles, outgoing, shy. Next we talked about the hidden things. These answers got really interesting. Birth order, sensitive, kindness and other answers were revealed. What do people see in you when they 1st encounter your presence? Do they see a person who smiles? Who has kind eyes? When they get to know you better does their impression get better or worse? I hope that you see me as thankful inside and out! Because I am truly am blessed to have you as a reader! -Read Something Great

Taking a moment

I could use more time to reflect. I run...all of the time. I write. I present. I research. I counsel. I develop. I drink coffee. Reflection? sometimes. Today-I am deciding to take a moment. In that moment-I remembered dreams from years ago. I recalled wanting to be published. Wanting to be a speaker. Wanting to use my creativity in my job. Today I am doing that. I need to do my life and my audience justice by being mindful and grateful. You see as a child I had this dream to write and speak. I was told that I was not very smart. I heard often that I was not pretty enough. Skinny enough. Light enough. People laughed when I said that this was my career path. So now that I am doing what I dreamed of...I need to be in the moment. As an entrepreneur it is expected of me to be on the go and burning the midnight oil. It should also be expected of me to recall my small beginnings as I live out and continue to build my purpose. My journey has been hard-fought and I speak on bullying because I understand what it is like for a child to be told that their dream is to big. I know what it is like to be told as an adult that my dream is too big and I also know what it is like to be told that I should just settle down and be normal. I'm not settling down. But I will take a moment. A moment to thank you! My readers have bought books, shared referrals, sent emails, letters, pictures. My readers have told me their stories and their secrets. Without you-this journey would not be the same. So in this moment I am taking to be grateful-please know that you are in my thoughts and that you are making me smile! -Read something great

Hi Readers! It has been a long time and I hope this post finds you doing well. I have thinking about success a lot lately. Success is kind of like beauty in the way that it can be defined differently by different people. Values, skills, personal benchmarks all play a role in success. I was sitting in a meeting the other day and a quote resounded in my head. "Your success is not for you." I had no idea where it came from or why it was so blunt. I wanted my success to be for me. Sure I love giving back and having a charitable arm of my business-but I wanted to claim a bit for myself. ON exploring this thought-I had an epiphany. Success is something that inspires, motivates and holds others accountable. It encourages, it uplifts and it makes a statement. I know that my accomplishments have meant a lot to others. I have met people at book signings that have shared their own aspirations with me. I have talked to kids who have said-if you can write books-I can one day too. My own success affirms people that have come from similar backgrounds that the doom and destruction that others statistically predict for them-is false. They can be an author. They can own a business. They can give back. They can rise above.

My success is not for me. What is success to you? What does it mean? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. -Read something great