1. Something I reflected on this week…
The events of September 11th, 2001, rocked everyone. We all remember exactly where we were that day. This week, I found myself thinking about the 2,977 people who died on that day… the 2,753 at the World Trade Center, the 184 that died in the crash at the Pentagon, and the 40 that died on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania (these numbers don’t include the terrorists that died that day… because I gave them NO thought). I also found myself thinking about the fact that it was the ONLY time in my life that I remember, as a country, everyone coming together. We forgot about political parties, race, and religion… and united as AMERICANS. Divided, we are weak… together, we are strong. As we get more and more divided, we will see more and more hatred, violence, and weakness. I do believe that there are forces and people working to cause the divisiveness, as it serves them, and so I try to be cautious about where I get my information and to whom I listen. The other thing that caused me to reflect heavily this week is the shooting of Charlie Kirk. I was hoping that such a senseless, horrific, and cowardly act would bring people together. Unfortunately, it won’t. It looks like even the brutal assassination of a fellow American… a human being… isn’t enough to bring us together. Sadly, it appears to be creating even more divisiveness. Lastly, I spent some time these past couple of days pondering my own biases, resentments, and strongly held beliefs that might be creating divisiveness or separation between me and others. I DISTINCTLY remember how good it felt to have our country come together back in 2001. We NEED that now!
2. Great reminder I had this week…
There is a myth that we should be able to avoid negative emotions, such as anger, guilt, frustration, and even hatred. These emotions, left unchecked, can destroy us and affect the quality of everything in our lives. The truth is, these emotions are part of being human. The key is… don’t let those negative emotions linger… don’t get stuck in those emotions. Here is the 30-second clip I saw this week that reminded me about this…tennis player Novak Djokovic explaining it to podcast host Jay Shetty. GREAT info!
3. A thank you…
The number of people who read my Friday’s Findings has grown and grown over the past five years… thanks to you passing these posts on to family and friends and telling others. I am grateful for your continued trust and your help with getting this information to more people. PLEASE share Friday’s Findings with as many people as possible. It will help with my goal to impact as many lives as possible. You are able to repost anything that I post… so feel free to repost anything I share. My friend John DiJulius (on Instagram @johnrobertdijulius), author of six books and THE authority on the customer and employee experiences, recently made a post quoting one of my blogs. So grateful for posts like this, as it exposes me to his huge following and allows that information to get to more people. A HUGE thanks to John! Click on the image below to be directed to that Instagram post…
