Don't Seek Success - Be Happi!

Linden Wolbert Finds Her Profitable Passion as a Professional Mermaid with a Purpose of Ocean Education and Preservation

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 28 May 2014 06:41:00 +0000

Mermaid Linden Wolbert
Photo by REUBEN E. REYNOSO

Years ago, my little niece, now grown was all about the Disney classic film “The Little Mermaid.” You simply could not go wrong buying her a “Little Mermaid” gift for Birthdays or Christmas. My niece loved the ocean, swimming, and of course mermaids. If somebody would have told her back than you could grow up to be a real professional mermaid, she would have said sign me up! Of course, there isn't such a thing as a professional mermaid or is there?

That would be “silly” to use one of my niece's favorite words as a toddler.

Linden Wolbert does not think being a mermaid is silly and has created her own career doing just that. Linden is a professional mermaid!

How do you become a mermaid?

Linden tells the Huffington Post, “"I just kind of dreamed up this idea of what I wanted to do."

Now that is profit by imagination!

Los Angeles based Wolbert became a full time mermaid in 2005.

Linden Wolbert
Photo by MATTHEW ADDISON

“My day-to-day as a mermaid is never the same thing. It can involve working on maintaining and designing tails, doing training, editing my “Mermaid Minute” videos for children, which is my passion, booking events like Hollywood parties or working with people to come up with neat fund raising ideas for ocean causes I believe in. I’m pretty much a one woman show. Overall, I’m wearing about 50 different hats. I get hired very frequently to do really high-end celebrity events in swimming pools at hotelsor at people’s private mansions. I just did a huge party for a certain celebrity’s little girl. I do all sorts of events where you don’t even know who’s hiring you. I’ve sort of become a mermaid to the stars and mermaid to the stars’ kids. I have pinching-myself moments frequently. (Huffington Post.)"

Indeed, Linden Wolbert is an excellent case study in how to find your profitable passion and create a career through what I call “Profit by Imagination.”

First, Linden was aware of what her passions. In her Huffington Post interview she explains that while a residence director for a local college, she was “becoming increasingly distracted by the oceans and scuba diving and free diving. Swimming is my favorite thing in the world.” Linden is also passionate about the ocean, ocean preservation, sea life, and ocean education and advocacy.

She says, “There was one day where I got emailed to come down to the Grand Cayman Islands to do a shoot for free diving. When I came back I thought, “Why am I sitting in this office in A/C wearing uncomfortable shoes when I could be doing something more meaningful for the oceans.” At that moment I knew I had to pursue my underwater career. I didn’t realize I would become a mermaid yet -- that happened organically over the next few months.

Mermaid Linden with Children
Photo by REUBEN E. REYNOSO

Add some Disney style imagination and a friend who happens to be a Hollywood special effects artist to help design her silicone tail and presto, Mermaid Linden was born and ready to swim. ((Sidebar: If you can be a professional mermaid, why not Merman? Yes, there is such a thing, some 3000 miles from Linden Wolbert in Florida, Eric Ducharme supports what he calls his Merman lifestyle with a creative business selling mermaid and merman wetsuits. Read that story on Yahoo Shine here.)

Linden's passions for swimming and all things ocean drive her life purpose;

“The main core of what I do is sharing the ocean with people. Kids are my main target audience. That’s why I started [being a mermaid]. My “Mermaid Minute”series was born because I wanted to be a mermaid to be a vessel for education for the oceans and conservation for our oceans.”

According to Linden's website, The Mermaid Minute is a completion of short videos featuring “Mermaid Linden” in a series of what she calls ocean “ 'edutainment' for children to enjoy at home or in the classroom!” Linden's goal is for “any child with computer access may enjoy free ocean education programming which teaches them to explore, love and protect our oceans!”

View one of Linden's Mermaid Minutes below;

Linden Wolbert followed the profitable passion and profit by imagination formula perfectly. It is really quite simple;

Passion + Imagination + Action = Purpose + Success

When you incorporate the other core principle of the Don't Seek Success – Be Happi model of belief, enthusiasm, heart, and attitude to passion, purpose and imagination, genuine happiness and fulfillment magically appears in your life.

Make no mistake, it is not always easy, personally, professionally or financially as Linden readily admits; “...It’s a very inconsistent profession. I’ll go for weeks where I am booked straight. And then there are other times in the winter where it’s a lot slower. I’ve learned to weather my way through the storm. That’s just part of creating your own career.”

Mermaid Linden
Photo Courtesy of www.mermaidsinmotion.com

Wolbert understands that pursuing your profitable passion and purpose is not about the money. There will be times, especially in the beginning when following your profitable passion results in financial struggle and other frustrations. Is it all worth it in giving up a 9 to 5 job and a stable paycheck to pursue a career of passion and purpose? I am positive Linden Wolbert would answer unequivocally yes! Indeed, virtually everybody that I have ever met or interviewed who has found and pursued their profitable passion and purpose says the same thing, it is more than worth it in terms of happiness and fulfillment.

For more on finding your profitable passion, profit by imagination, and the entire Be Happi model, see Don't Seek Success – Be Happi. Also stay tuned for the upcoming series of books, entitled Profit by Imagination, scheduled for release in early 2014.

Be Great!

Loss of Daughter's Hand-Made Earring Leads Shelly Fisher to Profitable Passion and Purpose Creating Jewelry to Save Lives.

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Thu, 22 May 2014 23:35:00 +0000

Every parent who has ever lost something made with love as a gift from a child knows the panic Shelly Fisher felt when she lost a beaded earring made by her 7 year old daughter while the family was vacationing on the Jersey Shore. What Shelly did not know, is the loss of that earring would result in a profitable passion and purpose which quite literally saves lives.

In an article for the Huffington Post, Fisher tells how she found a bead store on the boardwalk and thought the owner of the store could quickly make a replacement earring and her daughter would not be disappointed with her Mother losing her special gift.

Fishers says, “I just thought she’d make me something but instead, she said ‘I’ll show you how, but you have to make it yourself.’ At first I thought, You’ve got to be kidding. But actually, it was a great marketing technique. Once you try it and see the results of your work, you’re hooked and you buy more beads!”

Shelly was hooked and after some art classes and a house full of beads and crystals, she was the one making jewelry for her daughter and her friends.

At that point destiny was about to set in for Shelly. As she explains to the Huffington Post, “My friend Lisa showed me a pink crystal bracelet she was going to buy for her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. It cost $120 and 10 percent of the proceeds would go to breast cancer research. But I knew it really only cost $25 to make. So I convinced her to let me show her how to create one. I knew her mother would love the fact that she made it herself and that way she could take that extra $100 and donate it directly to the charity.”

That is when Shelly and Lisa, both of whom had been active in their children's school and local charities had an epiphany and realized they could use their jewelry making talents to help charities and other groups raise money. Shelly and Lisa “began designing awareness bracelets -- jewelry that the charities could sell as fundraisers.”

Shelly Fisher and her friend Lisa had found their profitable passion and purpose helping charities raise money and having the time of their lives doing it, but their purpose was about to evolve in a way they could have never expected, that would result in saving lives.

Shelly recalls how it happened, ““I was at a meeting with the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,” Shelly remembered, “and one of the other moms stopped me and said. ‘I think what you’re doing is really nice, but it would be great if you could create a medical bracelet that younger people would want to wear.’ Her daughter Kristen was 16 and she was diabetic. She was about to start driving and her mother was concerned that she could be pulled over and end up at a police station, rather than a hospital, because an officer would mistake a drop in blood sugar for drunk driving. But her daughter wasn’t willing to wear the traditional silver medical alert bracelet. She thought it would make her stand out -- to be defined as the girl with diabetes.

“As a mom, I instantly said yes, as long as her daughter would help us design it, so we knew she would wear it. But I walked away thinking, 'What do I know about medical bracelets?'”

Kristin models the Medical Alert Bracelet
She Helped Design with Shelly Fisher

Shelly immediately began making phone calls to find out what needed to be included in a medical alert bracelet. With that information, She and Kristin began brainstorming design ideas.

It wasn't long before they had come up with a leather watchband bracelet, replacing the actual watch with a medical insignia that matched the band. Kristen chose two colors -- neon green and pink. And it was at that point that Shelly thought, if Kristen was willing to wear a bracelet like this, maybe other kids would too. So once the mold was made, she ordered 400 more and posted them on a website a friend’s son created for her.” (Huffington Post).

Shelly says, “We thought if we could just make back the money we invested and make a difference in even one person’s life, we were doing a good thing. Lisa and I were doing it from our basements and maybe selling ten a week. If we sold more than one in a day, we were doing a happy dance around the table!”

Soon they were getting requests for other types of medial alert bracelets and Shelly and Lisa realized they could help others with all types medical conditions where an alert bracelet would be appropriate. Shelly says, “And then I walked by a kiosk at the mall,” Shelly recalled, “where a young person was using an engraving machine and I thought, 'How hard could it be?' So we ordered one. Let’s just say the lesson that was supposed to take five hours, took nine hours with us. We weren’t as bright as we thought!”

They did however catch the attention of a sales rep who thought he could get their unique medical alert bracelets on pharmacy shelves. He left his name and number and Shelly tacked it to a bulletin board and left it there for two years!

Shelly explains that sometimes timing in everything; “This was just a hobby for us. Lisa really didn’t want anything more from it and I was raising three children. I knew it was a big leap and the time just wasn't right -- so with the engraving, maybe we were selling 30 bracelets a week and we thought that was great! But then one day it occurred to me that I no longer had to feel guilty about working between three and six o’clock, since the kids were all involved in after school sports -- and that’s when I took the piece of paper off the board and called him.”

Shelly and the Sales Rep took the concept to a Pharmacy trade show and when the buyers began asking for custom bracelets for themselves or members of their families, they knew they were on to something.

The designer medical alert bracelets caught the attention of the media too. Shelly recalls, “Just as things were taking off, I got a call early one morning from someone in our office. He said, ‘Did you know we’re in the Wall Street Journal?’ And I laughed. I thought he was kidding. But we were on the front page! A reporter had discovered our bracelets on the internet, ordered four styles and featured them in an article called The Jewelry Prescription. That was my real 'aha' moment, when I realized we could change the way people looked at medical alert bracelets.”

According to her website, Medical ID Marketplace partners with Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Make A Wish Foundation, and many others. Other corporate customers and partners (current and past) include The Coca-Cola Corporation, The McDonald's Corporation and The Hershey Foods Corporation. The company has more than 150 styles that can be customized for any medical condition or simply with emergency contact information. (Medical ID Marketplace ).

"The little bracelet that once brought on a celebration, when more than one was sold in a day, is now flying off the shelves -- with as many as 11,000 going out in any given week. The first year it hit pharmacies, Shelly’s hobby became a million-dollar business.

“This all began with the hope that I could help one teenage girl fit in with her friends -- so that she wouldn't be branded by her illness,” Shelly said, “And while I feel really fortunate, it’s important for people to know that success doesn't have to be on a grand scale, it just needs to be something that fulfills you.

“Find something that makes you feel like you’re contributing and take the first step. You never know where it will take you.” (Huffington Post).

Shelly Fisher is living the Don't Seek Success – Be Happi model. For more on finding your profitale passion and purpose in life, see Don't Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB.

Jen Rozenbaum Finds A Profitable Passion and Purpose Helping Woman See Their Beauty with Boudoir Photography Starting From Her Bedroom!

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 21 May 2014 06:13:00 +0000

Jen Rozenbaum

In 2008, Jen Rozenbaum left her job with a family business to have her first child. With what little time she had as a stay at home mom to an infant daughter, she taught herself how to take photos. Turned out she had quite a knack for it and her passion photography was born.

In an AOL video profile, Rozenbaum says shortly thereafter, she discovered Boudoir Photography and fell in love with the genre, telling her husband, she knew what she wanted to do when she grew up and that was to become a Boudoir Photographer. Forty Eight hours later, Jen started her business out of her bedroom!

Rosenbaum explains to AOL that she perceives Boudoir Photography as an opportunity for woman to explore their sensuality, intimacy, and femininity through an amazing experience of dressing up, putting on make-up and above all, stepping out of their comfort zone.

Jenerations

Jen wants woman as clients that want to participate in the boudoir session for themselves, but can also serve as a gift to husbands or boyfriends, Rosenbaum’s passion for Boudoir Photography drives her purpose which is to make a difference in women’s lives by encouraging them to feel “confident and desirable by showing women they are beautiful, worthy and can be a little fearless” through photos that are tasteful and sexy at the same time.

She has worked with women who have survived breast cancer, woman who have lost everything and woman trying to save their marriages.

In the AOL Video, Rozenbaum says she believes every woman is beautiful. Her job is to help them find their particular beauty and to empower woman with a side that they may not show every day, but is inside of them.

Jen coaches her clients every step of the way, saying she does not just tell them to stand there and look sexy. Posing has become a specialty of Rozenbaum.

Jenerations

In a Q & A with the Boudoir Forum, Jen explains her love of Boudoir, “I love the transformation. There is nothing better than when a client sees themselves all done up and how awesome their bodies look and they say ‘WOW – that doesn’t even look like me!’ Except it totally does! It’s such a thrill to show them the beauty that they behold.”

In a mini profile for Entrepreneur Magazine, Jen says that “She meets personally with every client before a shoot. During the session, she makes sure to focus on both taking compelling photos and making her client comfortable. She tells them about her kids, makes fun of herself and makes it clear that her studio is a ‘no judgment" zone’”

In response to many requests, future plans call for couples shoots. Rozenbaum tells Entrepreneur Magazine, “We'll just have to set up boundaries and make clear what people can and cannot do together during the shoots," she says. At the end of the day, boudoir needs to be about beauty and sexuality, nothing else."

In November 2011, Jen Rozenbaum opened a studio called Jenerations in Long Island City NY.

In Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi, I write about passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion in great detail. Passion means what interests you the most. We all have unique passions in life separate and distinct from anyone else. By giving it some thought, you can easily figure out what your passions are. Many of our passions, however, may yet to be discovered. Jen Rozenbaum did not pick up a camera until 2008 and quickly discovered a new passion which she has turned into a profitable passion with her Boudoir Photography business. Don’t be afraid to try new things, you may discover a passion you never knew you had and turn it into a profitable passion.

Passion and/or a profitable passion drives purpose. In Jen Rosenbaum’s case her purpose is to empower woman by showing them they have a sensual and sexy side they may never have thought they had.

When you add the other principles in the Be Happi model to passion and purpose; belief, enthusiasm, heart, attitude and imagination, success cannot help but to find you!

On her website, Jenerations, Rozenbaum says, “I believe in hard work, doing what you love, and challenging yourself in any way that you can. If you do those three things with all your heart - you will learn and grow in ways you can't even imagine.

Well said.

To learn more about passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

Finding Passion and Purpose Regardless of Life Situation

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 15:21:00 +0000

Christopher Renfro found his passion and purpose in life three years ago in 2009 and has since turned it into a profitable passion in a big way in spite of suffering from a severe disability.

Christopher creates art though what he calls light painting.

In a recent interview with The Weekly Flickr, Renfro said;

“When I first found light painting in 2009 it just completely blew my mind. I have spent my entire life really not knowing who I am, what I am supposed to do, or why I am here and when I found light art photography I knew instantly who I was.”

“I have a mental illness called borderline personality disorder, and it has created a lot of challenges in my life. When I’m having a rough day I can just go off and create art. And just the act of creating something is very therapeutic to me.”

Watch Christopher's Weekly Flickr interview below.

Christopher posted his initial photos to Flickr and was quickly invited to join a community of fellow light enthusiasts. He says, “I wouldn’t be here and have gotten this far with them and their support.”

Take a look at Christopher Renfro’s stunning photos on his Flickr Photo Stream, here.

According to The Weekly Flickr, Renfro’s advice to others with disabilities is to never give up. “You don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring,” says Christopher.

Denis Diderot said, “Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.” Passion is where the magic happens. Passion is the engine that drives purpose.

Christopher Renfro found himself when he discovered his passion for light painting and it gave his life purpose. He disability could have left him bitter, angry and lifeless. Instead, Christopher chose to live a life of passion and purpose.

It doesn’t matter, whether you suffer from a disability like Christopher Renfro, or are a teenager like Olivia Bee in yesterday’s post, it doesn’t matter what your past is, where you come from or what your educational background is, everybody has one of a kind passions and a specific purpose to fulfill in life. Find them and your life will be fulfilled and meaningful. You will truly discover who you are.

For more information on discovering your passions and purpose in life, including your profitable passion, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

Veronika Scott Empowers Homeless Women in Motor City With Jobs Making Sleeping Bag Coats To Keep The Homeless Warm

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 04:41:00 +0000

There is a lot of talk these days about the decline of values in our youth and their self centered nature. From my vantage point I believe those theories are either overstated or just plain wrong. In March 2013 I posted an article about 6 year old Dylan Siegel who wrote a book to help his friend suffering from a rare illness. Our future is in good hands if the two new examples below are representative of today's youth and young adults and I believe they are.

Yesterday, as I entered an Albertsons grocery store in Boise, an 8 year old girl named Emily and her 6 year old brother were near the entrance selling cups of Kool Aid (Peach Mango and Strawberry) to raise money for a classmate with cancer. She explained to me that her friend was undergoing Chemo Therapy and had lost all her hair. Emily wanted to buy a wig for her friend so she would not be self conscious about her appearance. Emily and her Mother went to a wig shop and the owner told her that if she could raise $30, the wig shop owner would contribute the rest of the money for the wig. I am happy to report that as I left this young entrepreneur with heart and purpose, she had made almost $80 in just one day. That is a lot of Kool Aid at 50 cents per cup. Many people gave Emily up to $10 to support the cause.

Perhaps Emily will grow up to do something similar to 23 year old Veronika Scott, a remarkable young woman filled with passion and purpose.For Veronika's “Design Activism” class at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Professor Stephen Schock charged his students to “Design to fill a need” that wold benefit the disadvantaged in their community. Students had to design a project that was doable.

Veronika Scott
Founder of The Empowerment Plan

Veronika decided to do something to help the homeless, a group that tugged at her heart and for which she was passionate about assisting in some way. One in every 42 people in Detroit are homeless, some 20,000 people. Scott's passion stems from her own family situation. She tells ABC News, “I was raised in a situation of poverty. It wasn't abstract as it is for most people. So knowing that can happen to my family means that can happen to anyone."

Veronikawent to the Neighborhood Service Organization, a community development center in Detroit and started talking with the Homeless.

Scott tells the New York Times what she was able to glean from her research; “I noticed that there were people sleeping outside of shelters even when they could have been inside. There are many reasons why people are homeless, but I could see one thing all of them needed: warmth.”

Ultimately, Scottcame up with the idea to design and produce a coat that would double as a sleeping bag. Now that is imagination!

According to a blog post for ABC News, “For five months, and even after her class ended, Scott worked with the homeless at the shelter Neighborhood Service Organization in Detroit to develop the first prototype of the coat.”

Sleeping Bag Coat
Photo by Brittany Thomasson

The result is a self-heated waterproof coat that transforms into a sleeping bag at night.

“I became known as the crazy coat lady,"Scott said.

Scott says her original concept was to offer comfort, warmth and pride to the homeless, but one homeless woman's words would not only alter the concept, but propel Veronika Scott in a direction should could never have anticipated.

"This Homeless woman told Veronika, “Your coats don't matter, jobs matter. We need jobs, not coats.”

"It was then about who I could employ." said Scott. At that point the coats became a creative and worthy by-product to aid the homeless, but her true mission became to give the homeless what they needed most, a job.

As for the coat/sleeping bag itself, Veronika probably did not even realize what she was on to. “The truth is Veronika’s garment has great international ramifications,” Imre Molnar, a dean at the College for Creative Studies tells the New York Times, “Her coat could be used by refugees or for disaster relief operations.“She came up with a great idea that is simple, but well researched. Because of her passion for the homeless, I can’t see her not succeeding.”It has been reported that the Red Cross in interested in the coats as well.

In December of 2011, Veronika Scott founded a non-profit organization called, “The Empowerment Plan.” The Empowerment Plan's mission is;

“We're a Detroit-based nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the homeless community. We hire homeless women from local shelters to become full time seamstresses. These women manufacture a coat that transforms into a sleeping bag, which is then given out to homeless individuals living on the streets at no cost to them.

We believe in giving second chances to those who want it, and providing warmth to those who need it.”

"At the end of the day, people gravitate to the coats because it's easy to understand, but the uniqueness in what we do is who we hire," Scott said. "That woman really changed the whole direction." (Source: Crains Detroit Business.)

Scott encountered her share of people suffering from what I call Negavitis in Don't Seek Success – Be Happi. The Empowerment Plan website explains it this way;

Veronika Scott with one of her Employees
Photo by Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times

Veronika started the Empowerment Plan as a 20 year old product design student at The College for Creative Studies in Detroit. It started as a class project and became a non-profit organization when she graduated in December 2011. During the creation of the project, she was told over and over again that this organization would never succeed. Not because the person running it had no business experience but that the homeless women she hired would be almost worthless, that she would be lucky to have anyone show up, let alone make a coat.

"Everyday I enjoy proving all of those people wrong. The homeless women I hire are powerful, driven, and I am privileged to be a part of their lives."

Veronika is quite proud of her first employee, Elisha, a homeless woman living with her children in a homeless shelter. Veronika and Elisha started making their coats in a room the size of a closet at a Detroit homeless shelter, where they did not even have enough room to layout the coats. Today, The Empowerment Plan has a staff of 14. As for Elisha, she learned new job skills, earned money and was able to move herself and her family out of the shelter and into their own apartment after just a few months. (Source; Forbes).

In 2012, The Empowerment Plandistributed more than 1,000 coats to people in need, and Scott said it plans to hand out 4,000 coats nationwide through other organizations.

Veronika tells Crains Detroit Business, "I never in my wildest imagination and dreams ever expected it to become like this," Scott said.The non-profit raised $25,000 last year with a goal of $700,00 this year. Contributors include companies like General Motors which also donates materials that allow the coats to self heat.

Veronika is not resting on her laurels. Next up is a For Profit company based on a one for one model. Scott explains her vision of the For Profit Company to the New York Times this way;

Veronika Scott models the Sleeping Bag Coat

“For revenue, I want to sell them online to individuals who can afford to buy them,” Ms. Scott said, explaining that anyone purchasing the coat will automatically be given a second one that can be sent to various shelters and charities anywhere in the world.”

Veronika Scott found her profitable passion and purpose through her desire to help the homeless. She came up with a very imaginative and creative idea to provide a practical garment which would provide comfort, warmth and pride to the homeless. But as one insightful homeless woman bluntly told her, pride and self worth come from jobs, that is what the homeless truly needed. Veronika could have ignored that advice and continued on with her coat/sleeping bag design, but Veronika listened and her mission evolved to not only produce a valuable asset for the homeless but to empower them with a job giving them a sense of purpose, a second chance and a way out.

When brainstorming and researching your profitable passion, keep your eyes and ears open, your original idea may very well evolve into something you did not initially imagine. In last week's post, Shelly Fisher was making costume beaded jewelry to aid various charities, but when somebody asked her to design a attractive custom designed medial alert bracelet, she listened and her passion evolved into something spectacular to help save lives.

To learn how you find your own profitable passion and purpose in life, see Don't Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

Unusual Passion Leads to Great Purpose for Ocean Ramsey

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 01:27:00 +0000

Ocean Ramseybelieves sharks need love too. The poor reputation and demonization of sharks is unfortunate and ill-founded according to Ms. Ramsey. The Hawaii based Scuba Instructor is passionate about improving the horrible image of sharks around the globe. To prove the point, Ocean, who could not have a more appropriate name, recently swam with a Great White Shark in a stunning promotional video for an HD camera company.

In a post on the ocean conservation site Water Inspired, Ramsey says “A lot can be said between two creatures that don't speak the same language. Even without eye contact, hanging on to the dorsal fin allowed me to feel the sharks’ subtle unseen movements; feeling the way the water displaced as we glided together, and the gentle but strong swaying of the sharks’ caudal fin (tail) so careful not to kick me as I released my hold.” (Source; Huffington Post, Ocean Ramsey, Shark Diver, Swims With Great White Shark.)

Watch Ocean Ramsey swim with a Great White Shark Below;

In video interview for the Huffington Post, Ramsey who “free dives” with the sharks, and can hold her breath underwater for almost 6 minutes, says she is not so much nervous when swimming with sharks as she is excited to observe them.

Ramsey, who has been swimming with sharks since she was only 14 years old, notes in the video that shark bites are so rare in comparison to other tragic events and that most of us have probably been around sharks in the ocean and just didn't realize it. “That's a testament to the animal that you haven't been attacked,”

For Ocean, swimming with sharks is far more than just an unusual pastime or as a vehicle to improve their reputation of the sea creatures she loves. Her purpose is to educate us on shark conservation. She notes, that with films like "Jaws" and television shows like “Shark Week,” these amazing creatures of the deep blue sea get a bad rap. Many species of shark are endangered or close to it, and she says, “…people don’t want to protect things they are afraid of.”

Ocean Ramsey has found purpose through her passion and love of sharks, proving passion and purpose can be found anywhere, even underwater. Indeed, Ramsey has turned her passion into a “profitable passion” too. She is a stunt woman and stunt double for underwater scenes in film and television.

For more on Passion, Purpose and finding your “profitable passion,” see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.”

Be Great!

MB

Kim Airs Finds Passion and Purpose with Sex in the City of Boston.

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 22:46:00 +0000

Boston may be a liberal city when it comes to politics, but in many things, the city is culturally conservative, especially when it comes to bringing sexuality out in the open, even more so in 1992. That, however, would not stop Kim Airs.

In an article by Claire Gordon entitled “Kim Airs: From Harvard University To Sex Toy Entrepreneur” for AOL, Airs discusses her career transformation from an assistant to a Harvard University administrator to opening a sex shop in Boston.

Married young, Airs says “her sexual curiosity made her husband uncomfortable.” After that marriage ended, Airs eventually started dating a disc jockey she calls, “Smut Hound,” who “"totally supported everything I wanted to do and learn about sex."

Never having used a sex toy until she was 30, Airs curiosity about sex and her acquired knowledge made her a kind of “in-house” expert to the Harvard administrative staff. Airs says, “…co-workers would ask her to help them pick out their first vibrators, or suggest a porn movie to watch with their boyfriends.”

Good small business ideas can be found anywhere if you keep an open mind, your ears open and have vision and imagination. That is exactly what Airs did. In the article “Kim Airs: From Harvard University To Sex Toy Entrepreneur” outlines out Kim came up with her idea;

“Then one day in 1992, she had a conversation with a woman running a G-spot workshop, who had struggled to find a space willing to host her in Boston. "We could really use a women's sex toy store in Boston," Airs remembers her saying. And like so many entrepreneurs, she spotted the opportunity. "I could do that," Airs thought. "The clouds burst open and the lightbulb went off.”

Kim Airs did not just let the idea sit in her mind, however, she took action to bring her idea to reality.

In spite of plenty of people telling her it would never work in Boston, Airs persisted, raising $14,000 from a co-worker and opening her “Women’s Boutique” with little fanfare. According to the article;

“Airs rented a 225-square-foot, second-floor former insurance agent's office in Brookline, a few miles from Harvard. She tried to be low-key and didn't advertise, while working part-time at Harvard in the morning to keep her benefits. The only way you'd know her store existed was through word-of-mouth and her subtle outside signage: "Grand Opening: A Woman's Boutique.

The first year, Airs grossed $50,000; by 2004, she had $1.6 million in revenue, a 1,000-square-foot store at street level, and a dozen employees.” Airs takes pride in what she accomplished, saying “I can't tell you how many people had said, 'Boston, that's so conservative. It'll never fly there.'”

In 2006, Airs sold the business and moved to Los Angeles. Today, Kim Airs is a sex consultant, “writing reviews, speaking about sex toys, consulting for sex toy companies and advising doctors on how to treat conditions like vaginismus (a tensing of the vagina that makes penetration painful) and erectile dysfunction.”

Kim Airs has turned her passion for sexual curiosity and fulfillment into her profitable passion and a life purpose, “to help people have better, happier, and more fulfilled sexual lives.” You can find Kim Airs website at http://grandopening.com.

As for all the naysayers that told her she was crazy in trying to turn her passion into a profitable passion, Kim lives by this motto; “I care what you think about, but I don't care what you think about me.”

She also has a tattoo which says, “I don't sleep, I dream.”

For more on finding your passion, profitable passion and purpose in life, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

12 Year Old Ansleigh Adkins Finds Passion, Purpose and a Whole Lot of Heart in Wake of Critical Illness.

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 19:02:00 +0000

People with passion, purpose and heart can be found everywhere and at any age. In Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi, I write about how many individuals find passion and purpose through a tragic event in their lives. Take the inspiring story of 12 year old, Ashleigh Adkins as an example.

Ansleigh has been through a lot in her short life. AOL’s Everyday Life reports that Ansleigh suffered from an inherited condition called FAP (familial adenomatous polyposis) which meant she had a 100% chance of getting colon cancer. Thus, her only option was to have her colon removed.

When she was in the hospital for the colon removal surgery, Ashleigh brought her teddy bear along for comfort. In spite of the serious nature of her condition and a difficult surgery, Ansleigh was not thinking of herself and what she was going through, instead she asked her mother if she could raise money to give other children at the hospital teddy bears and she did just that.

Ansleigh raised more than $2,000, enough to buy and distribute 70 bears to children at the Cleveland Clinic where she was also being treated. The Build-a-Bear Foundation saw a story on Ansleigh and sent her another 100 teddy bears, which Ansleigh recently distributed. Watch a video on Ansleigh below:

“Children in a hospital can be bored or scared. Getting a stuffed animal makes them feel more normal and comfortable in an unfamiliar place.” “It just really brightens their day,” said Andrea Rapport, a child life specialist at Cleveland Clinic. (Source: AOL’s Everyday Life.)

Ansleigh’s experience at the hospital has inspired her to have a career goal of helping children in hospitals.

Ansleigh Adkins is a remarkable young woman. Today Ansleigh is healthy and happy, wise beyond her years and filled with passion, purpose and heart!

For more on passion, purpose and heart, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney Lend Expertise, Blood, Sweet, and a Whole Lot of Love (Heart) to Help Homeless Moms Gain Work Skills

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 23:17:00 +0000

Photo by Randall Benton for the Sacramento Bee

Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney own a traditional for profit restaurant in Sacramento, California, Mulvaney's B&L. That has not, however stopped them from venturing into social entrepreneurship by volunteering to help launch an intriguing concept that helps homeless mothers learn job skills and gain a work history to lead them on a path of self-sustainability.

These busy restaurateurs definitely have passion, purpose and a whole lot of heart.

Three years ago, the St John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children in Sacramento, California launched a restaurant called simply “Plates,” guided by the expertise and help of the Mulvaneys. The difference here, is that the casual eatery employs homeless mothers that often have little or no work experience.

The Mulvaneys are totally committed to the concept. Bobbin Mulvaney tells Cathie Anderson of the Sacramento Bee that they “put a lot of "love and Elvis" into it.”

The experiment has been more than successful. Plates now grosses about $650,000 in revenue. $45,000 of that revenue helps to pay for other programs.

Diners at Plates to Go
Photo by Randall Benton
for the Sacramento Bee

With the success of the original Plates, St. Johns Shelter is expanding with the addition of “Plates to Go” in midtown Sacramento. Again with the blood, sweet, and love of the Mulvaneys.

St. John's Shelter CEO Michele Steeb told Anderson, “There's not a word in the English language to describe how instrumental the partnership with the Mulvaneys has been. That came in loud and clear the week that the original Plates restaurant opened. We had a chef, but it worked for only about a week. We opened the first week and Patrick was on the line cooking for three out of the first six days."

Plates to Go Executive Chef
Stu Edgcombe & Kitchen
Manager Tamara KafkaPhoto by Randall Benton
for the Sacramento Bee

Apparently the Mulvaneys hire people at their own restaurant with a lot of heart too. Stu Edgcombe, a former chef at Mulvaneys B & L, volunteered to help out and liked the concept so much, he stayed on as the Plate to Go Executive Chef.

At the new Plates to Go, Kitchen Manager Tamara Kafka escaped domestic-violence. A graduate of the St. Johns Shelter Program, Kafka tells CBS 13 in Sacramento, “It was not a good time in my life,” she said. “The environment wasn’t healthy for me and my kids, so that’s what made me homeless. You can’t let the past define you. We all have a past, we all have a story. We just have to move on and motivate each other.”

Tamara is no longer homeless. That makes it all worthwhile for the Mulvaneys.

For more on passion, purpose and heart and how to find your own passion and purpose in life. See Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

Life is Good continues Optimism and Heart in the Wake of Boston Bombing Tragedy

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Bert and John Jacobs believe life to good. So that is exactly what they named their now thriving company, but it was not always that way. In 1989, the brothers began selling t-shirts door to door and on the streets. As they tell it on their website, the early years were something less than profitable. They lived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and as two single guys at the time, they say “chicks were not impressed.”

Searching for an answer, but ever optimistic, they found it in the form of a drawing on their apartment wall that served as a kind of early brand and logo called “Jake.”

Bert and John recall;

“Jake's contagious grin, simple as it was, seemed to express everything the Jacobs brothers believed in.

One fateful September day, they printed up 48 Jake shirts for a local street fair in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They laid the shirts out on their rickety card table. By noontime, all 48 of those tees were gone. A star was born.

Soon Jake was introduced to local retailers, and his simple message of optimism was embraced like nothing the brothers had ever seen. As demand for product soared, Jake's team grew, and the Little Brand That Could began to spread across America.”

Today, Life is Good has 260 employees and continues its emphasis on simplicity, humor and humility.

The more you learn about this company, you will find, they have a whole lot of heart and an abundance of love.

Life is Good is based in Boston and during the Boston Marathon, the company had several employees in the crowd promoting the company’s brand. One was seriously injured.

In a story for Inc. Magazine Chief Optimist Bert Jacobs says, their employee was badly burned, but grateful he survived and knew that others were much worse off. (Sounds like a perfect employee for Life is Good to me.)

Bert continues; “The day after the attacks, our employees started asking whether we could do something to raise money for the victims and their families. I said no. I felt like we had to get our own house in order, to feel like it was OK to get back to work, before helping somebody else. But we're a brand about the power of optimism. We should be leaders of the spirit when bad things happen. So by Sunday, I changed my position and said we should make a T-shirt.”

Make a T-shirt they did. Bert tells Inc., “We looked at what was already out there. A lot of "Be Strong" and "Boston Strong," that tough Irish mentality. I don't knock that. But it's almost like they're suppressing emotion: We're so strong, let's just move on. Life Is Good focuses on what's right in the world.

No matter how you slice it, this was a hate crime. But instantly afterward, all these people--the first responders and the people who helped people on the street and opened up their homes and ran to the hospitals to give blood--performed acts of love. So we created a shirt that says "Boston" on the front and "There is nothing stronger than love" on the back.”

The company’s sales plummeted after the attacks, and Jacobs says the T-shirts helped to head the company and sales bounced back because of the t-shirt. “We have 260 employees, and there is not a single person who did not touch that shirt. From start to finish, we got it out there in just under 30 hours. We're not built to turn something around that fast, but our people figured it out. They worked day and night. We're proud of their hustle,” said Jacobs.

In fact, according to Jacobs, the T-Shirt may be their fastest selling product ever with over 70,000 units sold in the first week. Life is Good had a goal of raising $50,000 to $100,000 and now it looks like they could hit a half a million. All proceeds are going to One Fund Boston.

Life is Good’s good works are not limited to the tragedy in Boston. Fox News reports, has raised over 9 million for kids in need.

Without a doubt, Bert and John Jacobs and the entire Life is Good team emulates the Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi model. They focus on core principles like Belief, Enthusiasm, Heart, Attitude, Passion, Purpose and Imagination. What they call optimism. They believe that by focusing on and staying true to their core values, that success will find them and it has in a big way.

Life if very good for Life is Good.

Click here to learn more about the Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi model.

Be Great!

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Sesame Street's Abby Cadabby Puppeteer Makes a Difference with Passion, Purpose and Imagination

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:31:00 +0000

I was watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno a few weeks ago and one of the guests was Chris Jenner, the Matriarch of the Kardashian family. Apparently, Jenner is slated to begin hosting a new daytime talk show. In promoting her new show, Jenner said they would be sponsoring a content in which the winner will get to spend a whole day with the Kardashians. Oh joy. Leno quipped that maybe the prize should be not having to spend a whole day with the Kardashians.

Fast forward a week or so down the road and in a local promotion for the same contest, a 13 year old girl was asked why she wanted to win the contest and spend a day with the Kardashians. Her response; because they are beautiful, rich and famous. Unfortunately, she is not alone. A year or so ago, I received an email promoting a television show entitled “The Next.” The logo graphic’s tagline was “Fame is at your Doorstep.”

We live in a culture that pushes fame and fortune as the key to the good life, the key to happiness. We buy it hook, line and sinker. Whether we are Kardashian Krazed or just celebrity crazed in general, we hang on every word, every outfit and every move celebrities make. We dream of being just like them.

It is hard not to believe that being rich and famous is the answer to happiness when society in general and the entertainment media in particular bombards us with that notion 24/7. The problem is we are buying off on a big lie, a myth.

In Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi, I document in detail how fame and fortune, in and of itself is not the answer to happiness and argue that we will only be truly happy once we discover are passions and true purpose in life. When you discover passion and purpose (the fifth and sixth core principles in the Be Happi model) and combine them with Belief, Enthusiasm, Heart, Attitude and Imagination, you do not need to seek success, success and happiness will find you!

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, street artist, performer and Sesame Street puppeteer is a perfect example of somebody who is living the Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi model. Leslie says, “You can only really measure success by what you contribute to the world.”

Leslie is the creator of "fairy-in-training" Abby Cadabby and the puppeteer behind the Sesame Street character. In a profile and video interview for Yahoo Shine, Leslie says that she started “cartooning and drawing when she was a child with a big imagination. She even told her sister that she was moving to Sesame Street, because she knew she belonged there. But when Leslie was 11, her brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. After, she says her family dynamic changed, making the arts even more important to her.”

Leslie designed her own major at San Francisco State University in Child Development through the Arts. After college, Leslie worked at a street artist and performer before landing the gig with Abby Cadabby on Sesame Street in 2006.

Leslie explains to Yahoo Shine, that shortly after she came up with the idea for "fairy-in-training" Abby Cadabby. “Sesame Street was looking for a strong, female role model who could have a different perspective on what it's like to be new on Sesame Street. Leslie, a fan of fairies, put on the puppet and knew exactly who she was. "Well, I'm a wish fairy," says Leslie as Abby Cadabby.

“She is actively involved in Sesame Street's outreach programs that focus on problems kids face. Leslie says she's helped kids with everything from divorce to food insecurity. "It's an honor to be doing what we're doing," she explains. "The way your characters reach is beyond what we could possibly imagine.

Leslie is also working on a side project called Wake Up Your Weird, featuring a puppet named Lolly Lardpop. Lolly deals with self-esteem issues and bullying, Leslie says. She recently took Lolly to visit a high school. Nervous to pull a sock puppet out in front of a group of teenagers, Leslie says Lolly received a warm welcome; the teens took it as a "permission slip to feel joy and empathy." (Yahoo Shine.)

As a result of her bothers fatal motorcycle accident, Leslie has learned that everyday counts. She believes one person can make a difference and Leslie is doing exactly that with her passion, creativity and imagination. She says, “I'm really grateful that I've found a place that I get to keep giving."

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph may not have the degree of fame and fortune of a Kardashian, but through passion, purpose and an amazing imagination, she has found the true key to happiness and fulfillment.

For more on passion, purpose, imagination, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

Karen Bostick has Passion and Purpose with Petspage.com

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 16:18:00 +0000

Karen Bostick and Tinks
petspage.com

I have not posted in a couple of weeks, not for a lack of inspiring stories worthy of the Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi Model, but rather because I have been helping my friend Karen Bostick with the media for her new website, petspage.com. So this week, I am doing two blog posts. See also, Seattle Mom Robyn Rosenberger Uses Heart, Passion and Purpose to Create Tiny Super Heroes.

If there is one thing I know about Karen, she filled with passion, purpose and incredible energy. Indeed, it is easy to be energized when you have passion and purpose in your life.

The primary mission of Karen and petspage.com is to make pet owners aware of a higher level of veterinary care that can often save pets' lives when all else fails. This higher level of veterinary care comes in the form of veterinary specialists, which most pet owners don’t know exist. These vet specialists can literally save a pets’ life when a primary vet is stumped or does not have the expertise to treat a dangerous life threatening illness.

Petpage.com is not however, a dry pet health education website.

Petspage.com is a social community designed to connect pet owners with other pet owners as well as vet specialists, and other pet professionals in a fun, friendly and interactive way!

Petspage.com is in the final week of a beta launch and will officially launch on July 15^th.

Check it out at petspage.com. You will love Tinks!

Look for a more detailed post in the Profit by Imagination Blog during the petspage.com launch week, July 15th.

For more on passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion, see Don't Seek Success - Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

Seattle Mom Robyn Rosenberger Uses Heart, Passion and Purpose to Create Tiny Super Heroes

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 07:56:00 +0000

Robyn Rosenberger
and some of her Tiny Super Heroes

Seattle Mom Robyn Rosenberger is using Heart, Passion and Purpose to turn children suffering from illness and disability around the world into tiny super heroes. "I want the world to know we think of kids with illness as different. Truth is, they are extraordinary because they overcome things we can't imagine and they do it with a smile," Rosenberger told ABC News.

After a move from St. Louis to Seattle, Robyn renewed her interest and passion for sewing. She sewed a super hero cape for her 2 year old nephew. She had also been following a blog of a brave little girl named Brenna who was born with a rare skin disease. Rosenburger decided that Brenna needed a cape too. So she sewed a special cape for Brenna with a big “B” on the back and “Super Brenna” was born. Needless to say, Brenna loved the cape.

Super Brenna with her Cape

Robyn tells ABC News, that she “...quickly realized there were other kids out there who actually were tiny superheroes."

After featuring “Super Brenna's” cape on her Blog, Rosenberger received dozens of requests for other tiny super heroes who needed a cape.

In six months, she's sent 700 personalized capes to sick children in 45 states and 11 countries. Each cape comes with a handwritten message.

Rosenberger now gets 10 to 20 requests a day. She quit her job and has pulled friends in to help.

Super Hero KE, a 10 year old suffering froma severe gastrointestinal
disorder never takes his cape off.
According to his mother, He has taken it to his biopsy, to the emergency room,
showed it to other patients,
'it gives him a sense of comfort," she says. ABC News

“We are building a Tiny Superhero squad. Together these kids can make a difference. We cross-reference their stories," she said. "Then, by sharing them we can help raise awareness. Raising awareness brings funding, funding leads to more research, and research brings cures.”

Rosenberger has mailed capes to children affected by Oklahoma's recent tornadoes.

She hopes to establish contacts with children's hospitals and ultimately have a Tiny Superheroes center “that takes our relationship with the children outside the virtual world.” (Source: ABC News for GMA on Yahoo.)

Robyn Rosenberger used her heart in finding a way to turn her passion for sewing into an incredibly worthy cause helping young children suffering from rare and life threatening illnesses find courage and comfort as tiny super heroes. In a nutshell, Robyn found her life purpose through her heart, passion for sewing and imagination in wanting to help a brave young girl named Brenna become Super Brenna and it snowballed from there to create hundreds of tiny super heroes.

Rosenberger says, “If you would have told me six months ago that this would be my life, I would have paid a million dollars to make this my life, but I wouldn't believe you,”

Do you have a passion in which you can use your imagination to create a life purpose to help those in need in your community, country or even the world? We all do and it is up to us to find it and implement it. All it takes is a little heart and imagination!

For more on heart, passion, purpose and imagination, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

Lacombe, La Residents Show Heart by Helping Orphaned Teens

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Cheyenne and Tyler Osburn
Photo by Mark Asnin for People Magazine

Teens Tyler and Cheyenne Osburn have suffered tragedy and hardship throughout their young lives. Their father died when they were infants. In 2007, there mother was permanently disabled in a fire and died of a heart attack around Christmas time in 2011. Suddenly, Lacombe, La residents, Tyler and Cheyenne found themselves all alone and scared.

In an article for People Magazine, Cheyenne says, "I was so scared of not having a mom, having no one to come home to, having to deal with grown-up things like bills, I felt so alone."

Cheyenne and Tyler soon found they were not alone after all. People Magazine reports that friends, neighbors and total strangers came together to help the newly orphaned teens stay in their childhood home.

“Their mom's friends Gwen Babin and Karen Labatut agreed to be the children's legal guardians and started a rotation with family friend Pam Taylor, taking turns cooking dinner and staying overnight at the teens' home. A men's Bible study group mowed their lawn. A local pizza business donated meals. And Jackie Dantin, head of the local nonprofit Community Christian Concern, Inc..set up a fund to help pay their monthly mortgage, groceries and other bills through this summer.”

The community efforts on behalf of Cheyenne and Tyler have allowed them to stay in their home and finish high school. The teens still worry. Tyler is committed to making sure they can stay in their home. "I think about [my mom] every single day," After she passed away, I felt really lost. My sister gives me hope. It's my instinct to protect her. I'm going to be there for her no matter what."

The siblings are doing well. Tyler, 19, is working in construction, and Cheyenne,17, will start college soon. They are grateful for the support of their community.

Cheyenne adds, "I never thought all these people would want to help so much. It's been amazing."

The residents of Lacombe, La could have easily gone on with their busy lives leaving the teens to deal with social service agencies and fend for themselves. Lacombe would have none of that. The town came together and rallied to the aid of Tyler and Cheyenne.

The residents of this small town of 8000 have shown the country and the world how to do did the right thing when nobody is looking by not turning a deaf ear and blind eye to two of their community residents that needed them.

Lacombe, La has heart!

For more on the principle of “Heart,” see “Don't Seek Success – Be Happi.”

Be Great!

Share Some Enthusiasm in Honor of Fathers Day

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:08:00 +0000

In “Don't Seek Success – Be Happi” I define “Enthusiasm, the second core principle in the book, as “The cheerful giving of one’s time, attention and energy to particular activities, causes, goals, or persons.”

For Fathers Day yesterday, Marlo Thomas recalls a story about her legendary father, entertainer, Danny Thomas. In a touching video, she recounts how her dad was always on the road while she was growing up. At 12 years old in the 4^thgrade, Marlo wrote an essay that basically said she wished her father was home more, not tomorrow, but today. She entitled it “Viva Today.” When her father called from the road, she read him the essay and it changed Danny Thomas and his families life forever. Thomas called his agent and told him to get him off the road. He returned to Beverly Hills and his family and became a television star with his long running comedy series, “Make Room for Daddy” which aired for more than a decade in the 1950s and 1960s. Watch MarloThomas tell the story on the video here. She recounts an interesting story of how the show got its name.

Marlo missed her father. She was wishing he would cheerfully give her his time, attention and energy on a regular basis and he simply could not do that on the road. Mr. Thomas got the message and found a way to share his enthusiasm with his family by returning home and staring in his own television series. Danny Thomas also found time to share his passion and enthusiasm for helping children with cancer by founding St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 1962, passing that passion and enthusiasm on to his daughter who has championed the cause since the death of Danny Thomas.

My Father, Charles “Chuck” Brooks is also an excellent example of sharing enthusiasm. Whether it was coaching my little league team, spearheading a community fund raising drive and ballot initiative to build a new community swimming pool in his home town, Chuck was always cheerfully giving of his time, attention and energy. He also had an incredible gift for making everybody he came in contact with feel special and worthwhile.

I tell the story in Don't Seek Success – Be Happi about how it did not matter whether it was a waitress at a restaurant or a blackjack dealer at a South Lake Tahoe casino; by the time his visit was over he had made a new friend out of a complete stranger and knew their entire life story. He would listen and learn about their aspirations, challenges, joys and sorrows.

Years ago, I accompanied my father to his favorite Tahoe casino. As we were walking through the casino floor on our way to have dinner, I was amazed at the warm greeting he received by what seemed like every blackjack dealer working that night. My father was not a high roller or an especially big tipper by any stretch of the imagination, yet the dealers who were not busy wanted him to stop and talk. They all had a story they wanted to share. He listened, asked questions and encouraged them.

You could see, from their expressions and demeanor that they enjoyed him and appreciated his interest. He was sharing his enthusiasm with them by cheer-fully giving them his time, attention and energy and they loved him for it. Over an hour later we finally arrived at the restaurant where he immediately struck up a conversation with the young hostess.

My Father passed away several years ago, but his enthusiasm did not go unnoticed. Today, Charles “Chuck” Brooks has a park and swimming pool named for him in our home town of Woodland, California.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad. I miss you.

In honor of Fathers Day, why not share your enthusiasm with family, friends, and total strangers. It will make their day and yours too.

For more on the principle of “Enthusiasm,” see Don't Seek Success – Be Happi.”

Be Great!

Cameron Lyle has Heart! Shortens College Athletic Career to Donate Bone Marrow and Save a Man's Life

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 03:54:00 +0000

University of New Hampshire Track and Field athlete Cameron Lyle was looking forward to his senior year conference championship meet when he received a one in five million phone call that would ultimately cut his college athletic career short.

That call informed Cameron he was a potential bone marrow match for a complete stranger in need of the transplant. After more tests, the match was confirmed. Lyle had a huge decision to make, end his college track and field career early to save a strangers life or decline the donor request. Transplant patients are not told of a potential match until the donor agrees, so the stranger would know any different if Cameron Lyle declined.

Cameron tells Good Morning America/Yahoo News, that the decision was easy, "It was kind of a no-brainer for a decent human. I couldn't imagine just waiting. He could have been waiting for years for a match. I'd hope that someone would donate to me if I needed it."

Watch the GMA Video with Cameron Lyle here.

After saying yes, Lyle slowly realized his season was over and he had to tell his coach, a conversation he was nervous about and not looking forward to having. After the procedure, Lyle, a Shot Put and Hammer Throw specialist will not be allowed to lift more than 20 pounds over his head, effectively ending his season. "It's just a sport," he said. "Just because it's Division I college level doesn't make it any more important. Life is a lot more important than that, so it was pretty easy." (Good Morning America/Yahoo News.)

It turns out there was no need to be nervous about telling his college coach that he would no longer be able to compete. UNH Track and Field Coach, Jim Boulanger was supportive and proud of his athlete whom he had coached for four years.

"Here's the deal," Boulanger told Lyle. "You go to the conference and take 12 throws or you could give a man three or four more years of life. I don't think there's a big question here. This is not a moral dilemma. There's only one answer. “

“I don't have any doubt that he's very compassionate and it was just a given that he'd do it. "You can't ask for any more out of a person than to help another person," said Boulanger.

Cameron's mother, Chris Sciacca is more than pleased with her son's choice too. "I am beyond words proud. He is my hero," Sciacca said. "When your children inspire you to be better people, you know it's come full circle and he's inspired his mom to be a better circle." (Good Morning America/Yahoo News).

Cameron competed in his final event in April and a few days later he was in the hospital to complete the donor procedure. The transplant patient is a young man with leukemia. Lyle was told that the man only has six months to live without the transplant.Lyle and the recipient have to remain anonymous for at least a year, but can then sign consent forms to release their identities should they choose.

"I really want to meet him," Lyle said, "and I hope he wants to meet me."

Cameron Lyle has “Heart” in a big way. He sacrificed his senior season college athletic career to save a man's life whom he had never met. Cameron used his “Moral Heart” to do the right thing.

In a self centered world Cameron Lyle is truly an inspiration.

Do you think most people put in a similar situation would do the follow Cameron's lead? What would you do? Comment below.

For more on the principle of “Heart,” see Don't Seek Success – Be Happi.

Do you know of an inspiring story that exemplifies one or more of the core principles of Don't Seek Success -Be Happi (Belief, Enthusiasm, Heart, Attitude, Passion, Purpose and Imagination), email me at pbi2012@aol.com.

Be Great!

MB

Disabled Vets Dale Beatty and John Galina Find Passion and Purpose Helping Other Purple Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:38:00 +0000

In Don't Seek Success – Be Happi of write of many individuals who have found a new passion and purpose in life as a result of a personal tragic event in their lives. Veterans Dale Beatty and John Gallina are a perfect example of this.

In 2004, North Carolina National Guardsmen Beatty and Gallina's Humvee was blown up by a homemade bomb in Iraq. Beatty lost both his legs and Gallina suffered traumatic brain and severe back injuries. Upon their return home, among the many issues they had to deal with (Gallina also suffers from PTSD) were homes that did make dealing with their injuries and disabilities any easier.

Beatty tells Yahoo News, “Before I had a house that was accessible, I crawled around on the floor, or my knuckles scraped on the door every time as the wheelchair was going through.”

Beatty was fortunate to have a community that cared and built an accessible home for him and his family. “After all the build and project was done, John [Galina] and I sat back and kind of looked and said, 'Is every veteran receiving this best-case scenario?”

The answer was of course no. Thousands of disabled veterans return to their communities and homes that make their lives even more difficult in transitioning back into society. Dale Beaty and John Galina thought they should do something about that. The result is , Purple Heart Homes,a non-profit formed in 2008 to either build or make homes accessible for disabled Purple Heart veterans from all eras.

“Since its start in 2008, Purple Heart Homes has become much more than a foundation that modifies or provides homes for disabled veterans. It also helps bridge them together with their community. Beatty says, 'The community is the key. They are the key hinge point between Purple Heart Homes and the veteran because when Purple Heart Homes is done with this project and we go on to the to the next one, this person’s neighbors are the ones who become their support system.'” Galina added, “A major part of reintegration is not just simply from the veteran's perspective,” Gallina. “It’s also from the community showing that they accept him back.” (Source: Yahoo News.)

Galina also tells Yahoo News that co-founding with Beatty has been therapeutic.“Having post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, it really became a focal point that enabled me to find my own healing. To be able to grow myself and come out of my shell, to not be sitting in the house three or four weeks at a time, and I can have a purpose that was greater than myself."

Watch a video on Purple Heart Homes from Yahoo News below;

To date, the organization has built or modified accessible homes for Purple Heart disabled veterans with 6 more to be completed soon. One of those projects to be completed this summer is on behalf of Staff Sergeant Sandra Lee

Sandra was deployed to Iraq for almost a year surviving four separate roadside bomb attacks. She suffered a concussion and a Traumatic Brain Injury in the first attack, and with each subsequent attack her TBI symptoms increased. Sergeant Lee now has memory problems, constant headaches, and balance issues. She also was sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier.

In her own words on the Purple Heart Homes website, Sergeant Lee says; “From the fire fights, seeing what I saw and had to deal with during combat and from the Military Sexual Trauma, I suffer from severe PTSD. I have night terrors, debilitating nightmares where I wake up in a panic and cold sweat, I'm affected by being in a crowded place, don't handle stress very well, depression, suffer from panic attacks, severe muscle strain from constantly being vigilant and more. At one point, I was on 14 different medications on a daily basis. When I finally was able to get help from the VA and other organizations like the DAV, I was able to start recovering.”

Her new home built by Purple Heart Homes volunteers from her community in Manchester, CT, Staff Sergeant Sandra Lee's recovery and transition to civilian life will be greatly enhanced.

As I wrote in Dont' Seek Success – Be Happiand previous posts, there are two choices when personal tragedy strikes somebody or a member of their family. One choice is to crawl in a hole and become bitter and angry. The other is to use your personal experience as a result of the tragedy by turning it into a positive and doing something to make a difference in the lives of others. Indeed, as John Galina said, finding new passion and purpose by way or a tragic event in your life can be therapeutic and healing.

A question we often here is why does a benevolent God or higher power allow these things to happen. I do not claim to have the elusive answer to that question, but I do believe that we are all here on earth for a specific purpose and it is our job to discover what that purpose is. Maybe, just maybe, a personal tragic event in your life is a clue as to what direction you should look to find the purpose you were born to complete.

Should tragedy ever strike, rather than displaying a why me attitude resulting in bitterness and anger, use your imagination to bring about something good and positive to help others who may be going through what you experienced.

For more on finding passion and purpose in your life, see Dont' Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB.

The People of Boston and West, Texas Have Courage and Heart!

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:52:00 +0000

The third principle in the Don't Seek Success - Be Happi model is "Heart." In the wake of two horrific tragedies in the United States last week, the Boston Marathon bombings at the hands of two terrorists and a devastating accident at a fertilizer plant in the small Texas town of West, ordinary Americans showed they have "Heart" in a big way.

Among the hundreds of stories of ordinary people showing their "Heart" and taking action to help victims of the bombings in Boston is the story of Ben and Mike. As reported by USA Today;

Darrel Folkert, 42 of Redondo Beach, Calif., says he is thankful for two men named Ben and Mike – he doesn't know their last names. They carried Folkert to safety when he was hit by shrapnel by the second explosion near the finish line Monday.

Folkert was standing on the north side of Boylston Street to watch his wife Jac ,42, finish the race. Jac Folkert never made it there and was instead diverted off the course a half-mile from the finish. Folkert made it across Boylston, but that was it.

"I was able to stumble across the course and I sat down on the curb," he said. "A number of different people offered to help me."

Darrel Folkert said Mike and Ben carried him down a side street to Shaw's grocery store where the two good samaritans stayed with Folkert while employees of the grocery store responded.

Folkert had suffered lacerations and puncture wounds on his lower legs.

"I couldn't have moved without somebody helping me," he said. "What they did was way above and beyond."

Ann Marie McDonough is a bookkeeper for Shaw's and has been with the company for 30 years, according to store supervisor Benjamin Guiterrez. He said McDonough rushed to Folkert's aid with bandages and water, and she got on the intercom to ask if there was a nurse in the store.

Mike and Ben tracked down police officers who called an ambulance, and Folkert was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital and treated for his injuries.

"The staff was amazingly attentive and extremely helpful, not just to my injuries but also helping me get in touch with my wife and family," Folkert said. "It wasn't until an hour after I arrived at the hospital that I knew my wife was OK." (USA Today).

Jerri Milbank lived 30 minutes outside of Boston, but still wanted to do something and she found a way to help;

"I thought, 'What can I do?' I live 30 minutes outside of the city and I have a big home with a lot of room," she said. "In my heart, I wasn't doing anything — all I did was offer my home. But the generosity from all over the world was amazing." (USA Today).

Joe Andruzzi carries Injured
Victim to Safety

Time Magazine wrote about Joe Andruzzi: a former New England Patriots offensive lineman "carried an injured woman to safety, and a photo of the courageous act has gone viral. He did not know the woman’s name; he only knew that she was from Virginia, and that she and her three daughters were looking for her husband, who was running in the race. Just moments ago, he had carried a man covered in blood to the medical tent. Andruzzi’s instinct to help runs in his family; his brothers are NYC firefighters who worked at Ground Zero during 9/11, ESPN reports. A cancer survivor himself, Andruzzi had been at a marathon watching party for his cancer charity at The Forum, a restaurant along the finish line, when the explosions occurred."

According to FOX News, Boston eateries such as Appleton Cafe and Vapiano donated food and let people use their establishments as places to regroup. At one point, El Pelon Taqueria offered free watermelon juice and wi-fi, and let people use its electrical outlets to charge their phones. The Middle Eastern restaurant Oleana volunteered on Facebook to put up anyone who needed a place to stay. On Reddit, a California woman Liz Kosearas organized Random Acts of Pizza, a thread where people worldwide can arrange via GrubHub for Boston pizzerias to deliver pies to needy people or places where people are working around the clock such as Boston hospitals, fire houses and police stations.

Dr. Nancy Stavas

An then there is Dr. Nancy Stavas, a pediatric resident at Boston Medical Center who instinctively rushed into the line of fire to treat victims immediately after finishing the Marathon on a broken foot no less. Dr. Stavas, who broke her foot during training, was running the famous Boston Marathon for charity along with her father Joe, a radiologist.

The UK's Daily Mail reports in the minutes after the explosions, she carried out CPR and used bits of clothing to help stop people's wounds bleeding. 'As a physician, I take an oath to do the best I can,' she told the LA Times.

Dr. Stavas almost pulled out of the race because of her broken foot, but she was determined to run and complete the race because she was doing it for charity. As the Daily Mail reported, had she not been there, victims would not have been treated so quickly.

"I hope I can help us move forward and be a stronger person and overcome what we have been through...and go back out there next year and cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon," concluded Dr. Stavas.

Meanwhile, just a day later some 2000 miles away in the town of West, Texas a fertilizer plant explosion literally destroyed a densely populated area in the small town of 2700 residents. Like the people of Boston, the citizens of West, Texas showed they have "Heart" too.

West, Texas Senior Being
Evacuated After Explosion

CBS DWF reports, "Businesses, homes and churches near West have opened their doors to displaced residents. Reverend James Stevens with the First Baptist Church of Gholson said, “People are bringing food and water and blankets and necessities for these victims, and we’re so thankful for everybody’s generosity in time of crisis.”

“I know we hear a lot about police, a lot about first responders and about firemen rushing into the scene,” said Swanton. “Folks, I am here to tell you that there are some true heroes out there today that aren’t cops, aren’t paid firemen. They are civilians, and they’re going into a line of fire with us as well. So, certainly we appreciate those folks that are showing up in a supportive role. They are saving lives with us.”

Why do people help during and in the aftermath of tragedy? Quite simply because they have "Heart." In Don't Seek Success - Be Happi, I divide "Heart" into there areas, the "Moral Heart", the "Mental Heart", and the "Emotional Heart." The "Moral Heart" is doing the right thing in the face of opposition or even danger. There is something about a tragic event that triggers our "Moral Heart" and we spur to action because it is the right thing to do. Thankfully, tragic events like the Boston Marathon bombings and the accidental explosion in Texas are rare. Most us are not in the wrong place at the right time to allow our "Moral Heart" to kick in, but we can and should seek to use our "Moral Heart" everyday and do the right thing.

In an interview with HuffPost Teen, former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton advises "Ask yourself what you can do for others. " She says, "When [my grandmother and parents] would ask me, 'Well, what did you do today?' part of what they implied was, 'Well, what did you do for others?' It would not have been okay at the dinner table if I just didn’t have something to say ... That was the kind of world I grew up in. And being asked those questions really often helped me to always think, 'Wow, I have a real responsibility to define my life partly through what I can do for others and what I can learn from others.' I’m grateful that they set that example."

In an interview with U. S. News, journalist Elizabeth Svoboda, author of a book to be released in August entitled, "What Makes a Hero? The Surprising Science of Selflessness," says, "To be a big hero you need a big opportunity. If you're not in the middle of a situation like Boston, you might not have the opportunity to be one of these front page of the newspaper type of heroes, but if you keep your eyes open, there are plenty of opportunities to help people on a daily basis. You can attune yourself to what people around you need and develop a mindset where you're focused on others, so you might be more likely to step up if you get into a big situation."

Here is a perfect example of finding opportunities to exercise your "Moral Heart" and do the right thing. Yesterday, I had walked to the grocery store and bought way more than I should have to carry home walking. There is a hill that must be climbed to reach my house. A very nice young couple heading out to dinner saw me struggling with the grocery bags and offered to go out of their way and give me a ride home. Their "Moral Heart kicked in and they felt it was the right thing to do. Thank you Jackie and Teo.

There are rewards for employing your "Moral Heart" too. We feel good about doing the right thing and helping others.

Svoboda says, "...studies have found that when you do something selfless, such as give money to charity, the part of the brain that processes rewards light up on MRI scans. In some sense, when you're giving to others you might feel like when you're getting a gift yourself or winning the lottery. Helping others gives us the feeling we're making a difference and makes us happy because we feel as if we have a purpose. (U.S. News).

Congratulations to the citizens of Boston and West Texas. You have Heart!

And now, I have a challenge for everybody reading this, What can you do today to employ your "Moral Heart" and help somebody in need?

For more on "Heart," see Don't Seek Success - Be Happi."

Be Great!

"The Woman who Saved Britain;" Margret Thatcher, The "Iron Lady" Dies of Stroke; Transforms Her Country with Passion and Purpose.

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:50:00 +0000

A remarkable woman whom many admirers called Great Britain’s “greatest peacetime leader”, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away on Monday, April 8, 2013 at the age of 87. Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990.

Years ago, in a tribute speech, “Maggie” Thatcher said;

“Ronald Reagan’s achievements can be summed up like this: he made America great again, and he used that greatness to set the nations free. Either of these achievements would qualify a President for the political pantheon: but to have succeeded in both marks out President Reagan as one of America’s very greatest leaders.

All his policies were of a peace, and all reflected his own distinctive philosophy. He believed in America, and he believed in people.

When the academics foretold American decline, he replied that there was nothing this nation couldn’t do, once given the chance.

When the economists denounced his policies of tax cuts as simplistic, he didn’t mind if his answers were simple because they were true.

When liberals doubted if Americans were willing to master events and make sacrifices, he replied (and I quote): “No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women”.

Later in that same speech, Thatcher spoke these words;

“President Reagan didn’t just abhor communism, mistrust socialism and dislike bureaucracy, he truly loved liberty – he loved it with a passion which went far beyond anything else in his political life. It was what brought moral grandeur to his vision of America and to his dreams for a better world. It was directed not mainly at earthly powers and principalities but rather at the infinitely precious, utterly unique human being, wherever he or she was yearning to breathe free.”

Mrs. Thatcher could have been looking in the mirror with her comments about President Reagan. Without a doubt Margaret Thatcher, a grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s top political leader made Great Britain great again. While she gives President Reagan credit for the fall of communism, she was the one who told the President, after a trip to Moscow, that they could work with Mikhail Gorbachev.

As the New York Times reports, like Ronald Reagan;

“Mrs. Thatcher, many Britons said, transformed their country, opening the way for sweeping privatization and deregulation, legitimizing wealth and unleashing acquisitive, entrepreneurial passions among her compatriots…”

Mrs. Thatcher’s prescription for Britain in the 1980s — faith in market forces, willingness to impose short-term austerity in the service of long-term prosperity, and skepticism or even hostility to the fiscal and social costs of the welfare state…It is an indelible part of the Thatcher legacy that her success in remaking Britain.”

Margret Thatcher had faith in “the ability of capitalism to spread prosperity in a way that socialist redistribution never could.” (New York Times).

Britain’s the Daily Mail said of Mrs. Thatcher, “It can be said of very few people that their existence on this Earth made a difference. But that claim can be made with absolute certainty for the great British stateswoman who died yesterday. Indeed, Margaret Thatcher changed the landscape of politics, at home and around the world, in ways that reverberate to this day.”

I write in Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi about Passion and Purpose being the two primary keys to happiness, and it is up to us to find our passions and purposes in life. Margret Thatcher lived her passion and purpose.

Her passion was an abiding love of Great Britain and her purpose was to restore greatness to her country that she and much of the world saw as in decline. Most would say she succeeded with a free market conservatism of which Britain was not accustomed.

Current Prime Minister David Cameron remembers Mrs. Thatcher simply as the woman “who saved our country.”

President Obama called her “one of the great champions of freedom and liberty,” and as an example to women that “there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.”

I rarely agree with President Obama, but he is on target here. Margret Thatcher was a feminist in very sense of the word. She rose from humble beginning from a working class family to become the most powerful woman in the world in the almost exclusively male dominated arena of politics.

Thatcher lived her passion and purpose in life. Indeed, as President Obama said, she shattered the glass ceiling where women in politics were often shut out. She has given young woman the ability to dream that they too, someday, could become Prime Minister or President of their country.

The world has suffered a tremendous loss in the death of Margret Thatcher, but I suspect she is in Heaven now reunited with her dear friend Ronnie recollecting on their lives of passion and purpose and enjoying each other’s well known sense of humor. Margret Thatcher and her incredible legacy will be missed.

For more information on finding your passion and purposes in life, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

Phillip Donlay Contiues Lifelong Passion; Finds New Purpose After Career Tragically Ends

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:07:00 +0000

One might say Phillip Donlay was born to fly. His grandfather was a private pilot and would take Philip up and let him steer the plane at 4 years old. Donlay writes for the Huffington Post in an article entitled, “Philip Donlay, Former Pilot Turned Author: 'I Wanted My Swagger Back,'” “I would sit on his lap and he would let me steer. It would scare me to death, but I couldn't wait to get back up.”

Philip’s passion for flying continued through his teens and he became a licensed pilot at 17 and by the time he was 20, Philip was a co-pilot of a jet plane for a Saudi sheik. That experience gave Donlay valuable jet experience and in 1980, he became a corporate jet pilot – a job he loved and held for 28 years.

During the height of his flying career, Phillip started feeling pains and had trouble sleeping in his mid-twenties. By the time he was in his forties, he suspected something more was going on. As a jet pilot, a physical was required every 6 months. Philip writes, “It finally got to the point where I had to find the answers. I didn't want to hear them -- in my mind, jeopardizing my career and not being able to fly would be the absolute worst thing that could happen to me. As it turned out I did have medical issues. It took my career away from me…I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called ankylosing spondylitis at 52 -- it's an autoimmune arthritic condition.”

In an attempt to salvage his career and love of flying, Donaly says, “the quality of life without drugs was just almost unberable. I went to the Mayo Clinic to get a second opinion on this just to salvage my career. They uncovered some cardiac issues. I had arterial blockage. I had a triple bypass heart surgery [in 2008 and] that was the end of my career at that point.”

Phillip Donlay, Corporate Jet Captain working in a job he was passionate about and gave his life purpose was grounded!

Phillip recalls, “It was horrible. I don't like change. I loved my job, I loved doing it and I still miss it. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me at that time. I was a wreck. It took me a while to try to find my purpose again. I think we all need that, and men are even worse at -- we are what we do. One day I was a senior jet captain, the next day I'm just a guy living on the 4th floor.”

With almost unbearable pain and a career cruelly taken away from him by an unfortunate medical condition, Philip Donlay could have easily become bitter, angry and resentful, looking out the window of his 4^thfloor home, wondering, “why me?”

Phillip would have none of that, though. He explains, “When I couldn't fly anymore I really did need a purpose. I was really lost. I needed something that would give me some focus and some drive. I wanted my swagger back. I wanted the swagger that I had as a jet pilot.”

Donlay found his swagger by turning his passion for airplanes into a successful career writing novels with, what else?, airplanes in them!

Of his writing career, Phillip says, “Writing gave me that. [Purpose] It gives me a reason to get up in the morning; I have to use my brain, I have to be useful, I have a purpose now. I have goals and I set them for myself. Everything was rescaled from flying around the world in a private jet -- including the salary. Once all of those issues that I thought were the worst things in the world settled down, it turned out to be the best thing.

Phillip concludes, “I've seen the world at 600 miles an hour and now I get to see it at 60 -- so it appeals to me. As a novelist I can write anywhere. It's a better world now than it was 10 years ago, and I would never have guessed that. I'm healthier and happier now than when I thought I was at the top of the world and where I wanted to be.”

Phillip Donlay did not let the end of his career end his passion for airplanes and flying. Instead, it was a new beginning. Phillip no longer flew around the world and no longer had the big salary, but he found purpose in his writing and a way to continue his lifelong passion for flying and airplanes. He simply found another way.

All of us have passions that can drive purpose in our lives. Sadly, few of us pursue our passions and purposes in life in any meaningful way. If you are passionate about basketball, but playing the game at a high level is not in the cards, do what Phillip Donlay did, find another way to pursue your passion. Basketball teams need coaches, trainers, and the like. Merchandizing apparel with team logos is big business or come up with a new product associated with your passion. Teams need broadcasters and media researchers, bloggers and writers. You could even do what Phillip Donlay did and write a novel about basketball or a true account about a player or amazing game. All it takes is imagination! Don’t let life circumstances get in the way of your passions and purposes in life.

As Walt Disney is reported to have once said, “Think, Believe, Dream, Dare!”

For more on passion, purpose, finding your profitable passion, and imagination, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

Hair Salon Owner Karen Ennis has Heart and Finds Purpose in Allowing Customers to Pay What They Can Afford

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:09:00 +0000

Karen Ennis, a Wrightsville, Pennsylvania hair salon owner started a new price model on February 16 that is sure to drive marketing experts and MBA’s crazy. Karen now let’s customers pay what they can afford.

According to report entitled “Hair Salon Owner Tells Customers, 'Pay What You Can Afford” by Huffington Post and WGAL TV, “customers now leave what they wish in an unmarked envelope in a box. Ennis does not open the envelopes until the end of the week to ensure the payments remain anonymous.”

Ennis, tells WGAL that she noticed some of her loyal customers had stopped coming in for regular salon services over the last three years. They couldn't afford it, she says. "I look around and I see nothing but hurting souls because the economy has put stress on moms," said Ennis.

Watch the WGAL story below;

The pay what you can afford price system is Ennis way of helping to ease the economic hardship in her community. In the interview with WGAL, Ennis said, "A lot of people are concerned I will lose my shirt," but it's a leap of faith."

It is too early to tell whether the unusual price system will work, but early indications are that many pay more than what was originally on the old price list.

Ennis says this is not a gimmick and has nothing to do with competition. She says she does not want to steal customers from other salons, she just wants to do her part to help in difficult times.

Without a doubt, Karin Ennis has certainly found her moral heart by doing what she believes to be the right thing for her community in spite of many telling her she is crazy. Karen also has found new purpose through her business in helping her community through tough economic times. Karen says it is pure joy to see some of her old customers return and not have to worry about breaking their family budget to get their hair done. To borrow a phrase from Master Card, for Karen Ennis, that joy is priceless.

I was struck by a comment to the Huffington Post report on Ennis, Julie99 says among other things, “There are many good people in the world. Success is not measured by dollars, but what you can do for others. Hurray for this woman.” Julie99 knows what she is talking about. Money is not the answer to happiness and personal fulfillment. That comes from Passion and Purpose, along with the other principals in the “Be Happi” model of Belief, Enthusiasm, Heart, Attitude and Imagination. There is nothing wrong with money, but it will not in and of itself make you happy or assure that you feel successful.

Here is Julie99’s full comment to the Huffington Post report on Karen Ennis;

“Ending near 40 years of service in hairdressing, I charged $5.00 a cut for adults and $3.00 for kids. Some people doubled that in tips. If you required a service more and could not afford, we did the bartering system. If they said they could not afford a perm, I asked if they could bake a cake? We fed a lot of hungry people on those cakes cookies or whatever. We traded service of raking leaves and shoveling snow for some kids. Shoveling parking lot, fixing my auto for part price and exchange for hair services. Once some lady brought two plants, and another two old pantsuits, the best one was when one lady brought two live chickens. I had egg farmer I quickly delivered them to. Cancer victims never left empty headed, as, people would drop off old wigs and we fixed them up. Nothing for me to run to a rummage sale before work to purchase boots or shoes for the needy coming in. Not a fancy place, but where I also raised my children. Christmas, I purchased trees that were selling out for a dollar, for people who never had one, bought construction paper and old cards for their kids to decorate, wrapped up things at my shop and dropped them off anonymously. There are many good people in the world. Success is not measured by dollars, but what you can do for others. .Hurray for this woman.”

For more on the principles of heart, passion, purpose and the entire Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi model, visit Amazon.com to read a preview of the book.

Be Great!

Artist IO Tillett Wright Finds Passion and Purpose in Fifty Shades of Gay

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:07:00 +0000

Artist and Photographer IO Tillett Wright found her passion and purpose in life through a personal struggle with her identity while growing up in New York City. In a video for Ted Talks, entitled Fifty Shades of Gay, Wright explains;

“If this was a war with two disparate sides, I, by default, fell on team gay, because I certainly wasn't 100 percent straight. At the time I was just beginning to emerge from this eight-year personal identity crisis zigzag that saw me go from being a boy to being this awkward girl that looked like a boy in girl's clothes to the opposite extreme of this super skimpy, over-compensating, boy-chasing girly-girl to finally just a hesitant exploration of what I actually was, a tomboyish girl who liked both boys and girls depending on the person.”

IO asked hundreds of people she met along the way to quantify themselves on a scale of one to 100 percent gay. What she found was many were just like her…somewhere in between.

This begs the question, if so many are not completely straight or completely gay, where do you draw the line when it comes to discrimination?

Watch the full video with IO Tillett Wright below;

Wright says, “I loved these people, and I admired their freedom, but I watched as the world outside of our utopian bubble exploded into these raging debates where pundits started likening our love to bestiality on national television. And this powerful awareness rolled in over me that I was a minority, and in my own home country, based on one facet of my character. I was legally and indisputably a second-class citizen.

I was not an activist. I wave no flags in my own life. But I was plagued by this question: How could anyone vote to strip the rights of the vast variety of people that I knew based on one element of their character? How could they say that we as a group were not deserving of equal rights as somebody else?

And then it occurred to me, perhaps if they could look into the eyes of the people that they were casting into second-class citizenship it might make it harder for them to do. It might give them pause.”

IO has since photographed over 2000 people who fall somewhere on the spectrum between gay and straight.

“I had spent a year photographing this new generation of girls, much like myself, who fell kind of between-the-lines -- girls who skateboarded but did it in lacy underwear, girls who had boys' haircuts but wore girly nail polish, girls who had eye shadow to match their scraped knees, girls who liked girls and boys who all liked boys and girls who all hated being boxed in to anything.”

IO’s photographs can be viewed at Self Evident Truths.

Wright's ultimate goal: 10,000 portraits and a nationwide rethinking of discriminatory laws.

Whether you agree or disagree with IO’s cause, Ms. Wright has found passion and purpose through an issue that was personal and important to her. She uses her talent and passion for art and photography to portray this group of people that “fall in between the lines” and combines it with her passion for equality for all, giving IO’s life purpose and meaning.

I applaud IO Tillett Wright’s passion, talent and purpose. As a conservative, I believe in personal liberty for all and abhor discrimination is any form and against any group of people. Admittedly and unfortunately, this is a minority view within the conservative community, but to my way of thinking it is the only consistent and responsible position for conservatives to take.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator Ron Portman are shining examples of taking a consistent position of personal liberty for all. They did so after personal experiences with a gay family member, but it should not have to come to that. Conservatives should stand for personal liberty for all and despise discrimination in any form against any group of people, regardless of lifestyle.

For more on passion, purpose and finding your profitable passion, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

A Beautiful Child Inspires Passion and Purpose for Connie Feda

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:34:00 +0000

While browsing a toy catalog Hannah Feda, 9 years old at the time, told her mother that none of the dolls pictured looked like her. Hannah, now 13, has her wish thanks to her mother.

In an article for the Huffington Post by Jessica Samakow and an accompanying video entitled Dolls For Downs: Mom Connie Feda Creates Dolls Inspired By Her Daughter, Connie Feda explains how Hannah’s observation inspired her to create a doll that looked like her beautiful daughter.

Hannah has Downs Syndrome.Connie’s mission and passion is to "represent children with disabilities in an honest, favorable light and give kids with disabilities a friend for life." The article notes “With the help of sculptor Karen Scott, occupational therapists and other parents of children with Down syndrome, Feda was able to create dolls that physically reflect what her daughter and other kids see in the mirror.”

Watch the video below.

Connie’s mission and passion is to "represent children with disabilities in an honest, favorable light and give kids with disabilities a friend for life." The article notes “With the help of sculptor Karen Scott, occupational therapists and other parents of children with Down syndrome, Feda was able to create dolls that physically reflect what her daughter and other kids see in the mirror.”

Connie told WPIX TV, “My favorite thing is the hand. Look at them, they’re so cute and pudgy.”

Connie has designed the Dolls for Downs to be far more than to simply be a “friend” for life. As Feda explains in Dolls For Downs: Mom Connie Feda Creates Dolls Inspired By Her Daughter, the dolls will teach “eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, and tactile input. "Our clothing is easier to get on [and] has friendlier sized snaps and buttons. ... Kids play naturally, so it's the perfect [toy] to practice essential skills like buttons, snaps, ties and zippers, hair brushing and story-telling,”

Connie concludes “I want Hannah to see a doll with Down syndrome and see something beautiful, because that's what I see when I look at her.”

The first five dolls named, Ellie, Nikki, Hannah, Grace and Aziza can be pre-ordered at Dolls for Downs. Connie Feda hopes to launch the project on May 1, 2013.

Connie Feda has found passion and purpose through a simple and sad observation from her young daughter, Hannah. I suspect it will be a profitable passion, indeed.

For more information on passion, purpose and how to find your profitable passion, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB

Heart and Purpose Found on the A/C/E Subway in NYC

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:18:00 +0000

In a New York Times article entitled, “We Found Our Son in the Subway,” Peter Mercurio recounts a heart-warming story of how he and his Partner of three years at the time had their lives changed forever by a total stranger in a New York City Subway – a new born baby boy!

Mercurio writes;

“Danny called me that day, frantic. “I found a baby!” he shouted. “I called 911, but I don’t think they believed me. No one’s coming. I don’t want to leave the baby alone. Get down here and flag down a police car or something.” By nature Danny is a remarkably calm person, so when I felt his heart pounding through the phone line, I knew I had to run.”

Danny stayed with the baby until Peter arrived, still waiting for authorities to respond. Ultimately, Family Court took custody of the infant. As you might expect, the story garnered a great deal of media attention, nicknaming the new born, “Baby ACE” after the A/C/E subway on which he was found. You might think this is where the story ends and Danny and Peter would simply have an amazing story to tell to family and friends on how they found a baby boy on the subway for years to come.

Peter writes, however, “What neither of us knew, or could have predicted, was that Danny had not just saved an abandoned infant; he had found our son.”

Three months after finding “Baby ACE” on the subway, Danny appeared in Family Court to recount how he found the infant. Enter the family court judge, a remarkable and intuitive woman, unnamed in the story, who at the hearing, asks Danny, ““Would you be interested in adopting this baby?”

Peter recollects, “The question stunned everyone in the courtroom, everyone except for Danny, who answered, simply, “Yes.”

“But I know it’s not that easy,” he said. (Danny).

“Well, it can be,” assured the judge before barking out orders to commence with making him and, by extension, me, parents-to-be.

Peter Mercurio

My first reaction, when I heard, went something like: “Are you insane? How could you say yes without consulting me?” Let’s just say, I nailed the “jerk” part of knee-jerk.

In three years as a couple, we had never discussed adopting a child. Why would we? Our lives were not geared for child rearing.” (Peter).

Danny was an underpaid social worker and Peter an aspiring playwright, struggling to make it financially in the Big Apple. Peter ultimately changed his mind about the adoption, writing, “But here was fate, practically giving us a baby. How could we refuse?”

The adoption case worker, told Danny and Peter the process would take at least 9 months before they would be allowed to take custody of “Baby ACE,” enough time to get their lives in order and prepare for the addition to their family.

Enter the Family Court Judge again. A week after being told the process would take several months, Danny and Peter were required to appear before the Judge to state their intentions to adopt “Baby ACE,” just three days before Christmas. The Judge asked, “Would you like him for the holiday?”

Peter recalls, “Our nine-month window of thoughtful preparation was instantly compacted to a mere 36 hours. We were getting a baby for Christmas.”

They spent that year as Foster Parents and again appeared before the Judge to finalize the adoption. At the hearing, Peter writes, “I raised my hand. “Your honor, we’ve been wondering why you asked Danny if he was interested in adopting?”

“I had a hunch,” she just said. “Was I wrong?” And with that she rose from her chair, congratulated us, and exited the courtroom.

Well, you might think this wonderful story ends here and you would be wrong.

Some 12 years later, after same sex marriage became legal in New York State, “Baby ACE,” now named Kevin suggested the Judge who handled the adoption marry his parents. She agreed and with Kevin by their side, Danny and Peter were married.

Peter concludes, “I reflected on the improbable circumstances that delivered all of us to this moment. We weren't supposed to be there, two men, with a son we had never dreamed of by our side, getting married by a woman who changed and enriched our lives more than she would ever know. But there we were, thanks to a fateful discovery and a judicious hunch.”

And now, as the late great, Paul Harvey would say, “You know the rest of the story.”

(I highly recommend reading the entire article by ,“We Found Our Son in the Subway,” it will make you smile and renew your faith in the goodness of many people in this world.) Peter has also written a play on their experience entitled ““Found (a True Story).”

Concentration Camp Survivor, Dr. Victor Frankl said some 50 years ago in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning,” that people can find purpose in a cause, a person, or a work, often all three. Danny and Peter found a life purpose they could have never imagined on a Subway in New York City in the form of an innocent abandoned baby boy in need of nurturing and love. They did so, by using their moral heart to do the right thing and emotional heart to give their love to a total stranger. And let’s not forget the Family Court Judge, who used her moral heart to do the right thing by following her intuition that Danny and Peter would make great parents at a time where adoptions by same sex couples was not widely accepted.

For more on finding purpose in your life and how to follow your moral and emotional heart, see “Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.”

Be Great!

MB

6 Year Old Dylan Siegel Knows How to Be Happi

noreply@blogger.com (M. Brooks) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:19:00 +0000

Dylan Siegel has discovered what “Be Happi”is all about. He embodies each of the core principles of “Be Happi,” belief, enthusiasm, heart, attitude, passion, purpose, and Imagination and Dylan is only 6 years old!

The first grader wrote a book entitled “Chocolate Bar” to raise money for his best buddy, Jonah Pournazarian who suffers from a rare disease called glycogen storage disease type 1B.

In an article entitled “Boy, 6, Writes 'Chocolate Bar' Book To Raise $30,000 For Friend With Rare Liver Disease” Ron Decker of the Huffington Post reports that sales from the book and chocolate bars donated by Whole Foods have topped $30,000.

When Dylan approached his parents with the idea, they suggested a more traditional method of fund-raising like a bake sale or lemonade stand. Dylan quickly rejected those ideas and had the first pages of “Chocolate Bar” to his parents in less than an hour. Chocolate Bar is the term used by Dylan to mean Awesome.

Here is how Dylan is living the “Be Happi” model;

Dylan has belief. He believes his friends disease can be cured and his friend, Jonah will someday be able to live a normal life so buttressed by the success of “Chocolate Bar,” Dylan has a goal of raising one million dollars for research to find a cure.

Dylan has Enthusiasm. He is giving his time and energies to helping his friend.

Dylan has Heart. He has a Moral Heart by doing the right thing in helping to find a cure to help Jonah and others with this rare disease. Dylan shows a Mental Heart by having the discipline to stick with the project and produce the first pages of his book in less than an hour. And of course, Dyan is showing his Emotional Heart in his concern and love for his friend.

Dylan has a positive Attitude. He knew what he wanted to do and did not let anybody steer him in another direction.

Dylan has Passion and Purpose. Dylan is passionate about helping his friend, Jonah become healthy. This has led Dylan to his purpose of helping to find a cure for Jonah and others with the disease by raising money for research.

Finally, Dylan has Imagination. He envisioned writing a book called “Chocolate Bar” which was different and unique. He did not want to do something that had been done before.

Dylan Siegel is living the Be Happi model at 6 years old.

For more on the Be Happi model, see Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!