In his book The Automatic Millionaire, David teaches how to put your entire financial life on autopilot, and in today’s hectic world with busy schedules, anything that can be done without additional effort that brings peace of mind is welcome and helpful advice! In David’s book, Start Over Finish Rich, he updated The Automatic Millionaire Plan and guess what I discovered!! You can receive this book in its entirely from David’s website for FREE! Now that’s a dollar amount I can afford! Just to make sure this was the real deal I went to David Bach’s website www.finishrich.com to see for myself and sure enough within 60 seconds I was reading the book and kept reading it, engaged in its helpful advice and feeling hope for improved financial balance until I finally needed to stop reading to write this blog to tell you all about my FREE find.

So in a nutshell this is David Bach plan for automating and building your financial freedom and independence.

1- When you earn money, have it deposited automatically into your bank account.

2- Pay Yourself First!  Automatically put a percentage of money (at least 10%) into a Retirement Account ie: IRA 401K

3- Automatically transfer at least 5% of your gross income into an emergency account. This is for true emergencies ONLY. You should have 6 months of expenses; ideally make it a goal to have 24 months of expenses set aside in this account.

4- Automatically transfer money into a DREAM account, for things like buying a home, or a second home, a college account, a vacation account. What ever you dream of, create an account for this.

5- If you have credit card accounts, set up automatic payments to be paid from your bank account. At a bare minimum pay the minimum payment every month on those accounts. And when should you schedule these payments? BEFORE it’s due! People are busy or sometimes out of town and they miss the bill, getting hit with $30 $40 or even $50 late fees, avoiding late fees can save you hundreds of dollars a year.

6- Pay all of your regular bills like phone, utilities, cable etc. automatically every month.

7- Charity, giving back is important to your well-being and contributes to a common need for good. Automatic contributions to charity can be made every month from your banking account.

If you think you don’t have time to set all of this automatic stuff up, David says that it takes less than an hour to get things set up allowing you to breathe with a sigh of relief knowing it is all being cared for, this sounds like an hour well spent to me. You can set up automatic payments for all of these with any major bank with Bill Pay.

All of these strategies are laid out in detail in David’s FREE book, Start Over Finish Rich found here: www.finishrich.com.

Happy Financial Success to you all in 2012!

And now… Back to reading!

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1. Negative Thinking -  We have 80,000 thoughts per day, and 95 % of those are generated by our subconscious. Our belief systems and thought patterns are revealed here, and most people struggle with pre-dominantly negative thoughts. Our thoughts directly affect our emotions, actions, and ultimately, results. The key is to pattern interrupt the negative thoughts about our spouse, and insert positive statements so that you are reprogramming your brain to frame into a more positive mindset.
2. Financial Infidelity – Whenever you over spend, spend money secretly, hide money, have accounts your spouse doesn’t know about, etc. you are creating financial infidelity. If you are not transparent about your money, you are sabotaging your relationship. Come clean, get clear and honest with each other.
3. Focus on “Don’ts” vs. “Dos” – I’m seeing an epidemic of people pointing out the 3 things their spouse didn’t do, and not focusing on the 17 things they did do.  Acknowledgment goes a long way, make sure you are balancing your attention to both sides of your loved ones actions.
4. Structured time – I highly recommend that you have time planned into your day to nurture your marriage and family relationships. With so many things vying for your time, many people fail to carve out time to date their spouse, or hold weekly mastermind meetings to go over your schedule, budget, and problem shooting. You need “boyfriend/girlfriend” time every week to keep the romance alive.
5. Roles & Boundaries – In a business it’s natural to have a defined role and job responsibilities laid out, and it’s very beneficial in marriage as well, especially if you work in business together. When you outline the tasks that need to be done to keep your home running, and agree on who is doing what, then it eliminates the daily confusion or tension around getting tasks done and our expectations met. This is also a great way to identify and delegate tasks that can be done by others, relieving the two of you to do what’s your highest priority; being a spouse, parent and provider.
6. Enrolling conversations – I’m shocked at how many people are making significant decisions in their life, and expect their spouse to be on board, without really enrolling them to the new changes. If you want to play bigger in life,  great- nd make sure you share your vision and strategies with your partner so they can support you, and not resist you.

These are small, but significant tweaks you can make in your relationships so that you experience more harmony and success. As a bonus #7 tip, I suggest getting ongoing education and support for your marriage. Marriage is the #1 investment you make in life, and it needs continual nourishment.  I’ve created a powerful 2 -day event, focusing exclusively on women entrepreneurs so I can support them in growing their business without sacrificing their marriages and families in the pursuit of success. In my Making Love & Money Work event, we will be addressing 2 of the biggest areas of your life; your love and your money relationships.

Education + Accountability= Results. I will show you how to set up systems to increase the results in your marriage, create a unique mindset about how to view and approach your spouse, enroll him in what you are doing, and create harmony in your home. Evidence shows that a firm foundation at home is directly proportionate to the success of your business. When your marriage is functioning well, you make more money, period.

In your Lifevision you’ve written segments on what you want to have in your love and money relationships, now you have the opportunity to create it.

As a friend of Ann’s, I’d like to extend to you a crazy-amazing invitation to attend this event for FREE.  It’s happening this week, in the Salt Lake Valley, so you have to act fast in order to secure your seat. We only have 15 available, and when they are full, the offer is gone.

For more details, and to register, go to: www.mlmw.eventbrite.com

Use Discount Code: vision for your complimentary admission ticket.

Thank you for letting me share some training with you, and I hope you use the lessons of the 6 pitfalls to improve your marriage and money situations today.

Health & Happiness,

Shannon Watt

www.TheBizofMarriage.com

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• Success Story – Enhancing Relationships – Jon Davis
• In marriage, a LifeVision can be the “Beacon Of Hope.” – by Dino Watt

Setting goals with clarity ignites an inner compass that guides your focus on purposeful living and joyful fulfillment, attracting into your life all of the things you envision.

The act of committing in writing with clear intention of what you want to be, do, and have serves as a magnetic attraction, inviting great things into your life.  Research has shown that people who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them than those who merely keep it in mind.  Why?  One reason is that they must clearly define what it is that they want before they can write it down. Rarely can success be achieved without uncertain intentions.

Writing your goals automatically engages the Law of Attraction. The Universe will begin the energy and motion that will allow circumstances, people and opportunities to become present before you that will support you on your path towards success. And this is absolutely why I love Ideal LifeVision so much – because it gives you THE TOOL to get minutely clear on what you want  to achieve and then guides you in articulating what you desire with very specific and clear detail in all areas of your life.

Here’s an example of an unclear goal:  I’m going to participate in a bike race this year.

Ideal LifeVision Style that brings in both the clarity and focus:

I am a bike racer. My competition goals for 2008 include 3 major bike races.  I ride the Little Red Riding Hood race on June 4th, the Utah Lake Century on July 28th and the Lotoja on September. 8th  I complete both of my centuries in under 6.5 hours.  To get ready for these bike races, I train consistently.  I know that by riding 150 miles a week from April to Sept, I am in my best shape.  I have speed and I have endurance.  I typically ride with Katie on MWF from 6 am until 8:00.  Twice a week we ride Emigration and pace each other to stay on target of 13.5 MPH. On Wed, we climb Big mountain.  That is MY mountain and when I hit the summit, it’s feels incredible – the athletic rush.  I know that training on hills only makes the flat – fast and furious.

I’m ready for Lotoja- I finish in less than 14 hours and ride across the finish line before dark.  Hearing my name over the loudspeaker is what drives me.  I ride with Katie, Scott and Julie.  Our pack has our drafting down….

And so on and so forth.

This is about action, it’s about detail.  It’s about strategy and it’s about emotion!

So my call to action today is to go back and look at your goals or LifeVision.  Is it clear enough that you can actually visualize it in minute detail?  If not – you now have an assignment! 

~Ann

Related posts:

• Clear Intention

Just imagine, you do a favor that really helps someone and tell him or her not to pay it back, but to pay it forward to three other people who in turn, each pay it forward to three more. Does it seem like an overly utopian idea? Can we really make a difference? Could it really work? Is it possible?

The real beauty of the success of Paying It Forward is that it can be the small things that make the biggest differences. Open a door for someone, smile, or help someone needing a helping hand. Those small acts of kindness will create a shift in the minds of people all over the world and it is happening now.

A heart centered movement focused on bringing the attention to the vital importance of the human connection has been organized and launched by Charley Johnson: An entrepreneur and former Owner/Executive V.P. of a Manufacturing company with over 250 employees has a deep passion for Pay it Forward.  Believing in Pay it Forward so much so he left his company, career & millions behind to change the world and how people view humanity.

Charley Johnson is now the President of the Pay it Forward Foundation and creator of the Pay it Forward Bracelet, a physical reminder to do good that has been sent to over 1 million people in 112 countries. Find out more how you can join the movement that can and must change the world at the Pay It Forward Experience. http://www.pifexperience.org/

Can we really change the world by helping people three at a time? The answer is simple…you do the math.

Think Big. Start Small. Pay It Forward.

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• Failing Forward – John Maxwell – Book Review

Genshai, the word and what it looks like will soon be sweeping the globe with the launch of genshai.com this week.

Genshai is an ancient word from India meaning to never treat another person in a manner that would make them feel small, including yourself. In the book Aspire, author Kevin Hall features the word Genshai and how he came to learn of it and its meaning after meeting Pravin Cherkoori, the proprietor of the store INDIA while visiting with the family of Dr. Viktor Frankl in Vienna. Kevin is asked by Pravin to sign his Book of Greats and with feelings of inadequacy upon seeing the signatures of Viktor Frankl, Mother Teresa and members of Mahatma Gandhi’s family, Kevin declines saying “I do not believe I am one of the greats, I’m sorry, but I cannot sign your book.” Pravin comes around the counter, places his hand on Kevin’s shoulder and says “I have a word to teach you, would you be so kind as to join me for dinner?” It is there that Kevin first learns of the word Genshai.

The ancient teachings of this word could and can change the world. Some may say that those that believe the world can be changed through acts of kindness; compassion, service and love simply are hanging their hat on the false hope of a utopian dream, they believe that the world is doomed with self-centered people filled with guile and hate…but the reality is this, there is good everywhere you look, it is ever present undeniably so and not just a delirious fantasy. You can see it; it is everywhere, if you choose to look for it. You can create it with simple acts of love and kindness…each and every day. You can BE it by practicing the art of living Genshai. The possibilities exist right now to make and BE the change you wish to see in the world.

Genshai.com is a community of people wanting to make a difference one act at a time. Genshai is reaching out to those who may feel small, it is treating yourself with respect and love; it is quieting the voice that tells you that you are not good enough.

In the Genshai community there are no religious, racial, class, educational, or monetary boundaries – the greats of this world are living Genshai, they are found in every corner, in every home, and in every nation. Find out more about living Genshai and the Genshai community at genshai.com and join the movement changing the world one act at a time, making Genshai a way of life.

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• Healthy Living With Joline
• Manifest the “ideal you” living your “ideal life” using a LifeVision

Do you ever wish you had a crystal ball to magically predict your future?

Abraham Lincoln so wisely taught “The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

Setting goals paves the way to creating your future by focusing your attention on the small steps that create what you want to achieve.

Setting goals creates your ideal future and your ideal reality.

All successful people create goals, intentionally creating success in their personal and business lives. They know what they want, they write down their goals and stay focused on achieving them. By setting goals with minute clarity you begin creating the magic of a successful future.

Without a clear vision of what your goals are, you encourage aimless direction, drifting, and limited growth.  Clear goals and focus with a success mindset will create the future you wish for. Goals unlock your positive mind, creating an energy force focused and unstoppable.

10 Mindful Practices and Habits to help you reach your highest goals and aspirations creating your ideal future.

1-Believe that you can achieve the goals you’ve set. Visualize yourself living “as if” you have already achieved that goal.

2- Surround yourself with goal oriented people who will support you and your goals.

3-Manage your environment…your workspace and your living space.

4- Manage how you spend your time, who you spend your time with and what you do with your time.

5- Organize your tasks in a manageable way so that you don’t become overwhelmed. Overwhelmed = Procrastination

6- Everyday, stand guard at the door of your mind. Manage the news, information and music you listen to.

7- Watch the language you use to describe yourself. Listen to your self-talk; treat yourself with the respect you deserve.

8- Evaluate and update your goals often.

9- If you don’t reach a goal, don’t give up….just begin again.

10- Predict your future by creating it with Ideal LifeVision, the revolutionary tool that has helped thousands create the life of their dreams.

Learn how to create your own LifeVision by setting up a 20 minutes Laser Activation Session.  Go here to schedule it.

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• My Story (on Video)
• Success Story – “Balance” – Brent Coles
• 18 days later….How are those New Years Resolutions going?
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• Testimonial of Ideal LifeVision Workshop-Greg Blackbourn

The Duke Wenceslas was known as a kind and generous man, who had been raised by his loving grandmother. One day, on the Feast of Stephen; the second day of Christmas, December 26 Wenceslas went for a walk with his page. While on their walk, Wenceslas see’s a poor man gathering wood. Wenceslas’ heart is stirred; he feels compassion for this man of little means. He asked the page if he knew the poor man, the page tells him that he doesn’t know his name but he knows where he lives. Wenceslas then gathers food, drink and logs and asks the page to take him to the poor man’s home.

It was very cold that day and as the night grew dark and the wind grew strong the page was hesitant as he trod through the deep snow. He became very cold and didn’t know if he could go on.  Wenceslas told the page to walk in his footsteps and he would not feel the cold. When the page stepped in Wenceslas’ footsteps he actually felt a heat from his imprints in the snow…a miracle of love and service.

What Christmas miracle will you create this year with simple acts of kindness, love and service? Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing. 

Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath’ring winter fuel

“Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me bread and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing 

You are in charge of your own happiness.

You may not always like it that way, and sometimes you may wish it weren’t so. Maybe there are times when you want someone else or something else to just make you happy without any effort on your part at all. After all wouldn’t it be nice to just sit back and relax and let someone else just serve you up a whole lotta happy? But like it or not…happiness is a decision and its yours to make.

Most of the time it feels good to be in charge of something but when things aren’t going right, or if someone spews insensitive or hurtful words or things take a turn for the worse at work, or a family member causes turmoil in the family, or a loved one becomes ill, it is hard to find happiness in the darkest moments in life.

In the darkest times of life we wish there was someone that would ride in on a white horse and come to our aid and slay the dragons of worry, fear and doubt, the demons of sadness, hopelessness and pain to make everything all better again. Sometimes you just have to be your own hero.

It is no one else’s responsibility to “make” us happy, not our spouse or our children or our friends or the balance in our bank account, or a number on a scale.

Abraham Lincoln taught “People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”  Sometimes you just have to fight for happiness, strive for it and insist upon it because real life is tough sometimes and real people feel discouraged, sad, hopeless, and fearful. All of those emotions are part of life’s journey; happiness is the choice we make about “how” we want to travel on this journey, it’s not just the destination.

You get to choose what you allow into your life, you get to choose how circumstances will affect you; you get to choose how you react. Happiness is a choice, it s up to you, because you are in charge.

Do you need some happiness help? Try one of these ideas:

Gratitude is the fastest way to find peace of mind and happiness again. No matter what is going on around us, there is always something to be grateful for.

Make someone else happy. It doesn’t have to be a big display, make it small, make it real, and make it count. A smile can change everything for someone.

Set a Time Limit. Everyone has discouraging or frustrating days, so give yourself permission to feel the emotions for a limited time, perhaps 2 hours more or less, you decide because you are in charge. Then take a deep breath and move on.

Take a break.  Sometimes stepping away from the situation is the perfect solution to regaining happiness. Take a bubble bath, call a friend, write in your journal, take a walk, sip a favorite warm cup of whatever tastes happy.

Hang out with happy people. Misery loves company; make sure you are in good company. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

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Of course a sound and reasonable person believes that eliminating a bad behavior is for our own good and progress but just thinking about breaking a bad habit can invite feelings of anxiety or reluctance at the thought of parting with something that has become a familiar part of who we are. Those pangs of discomfort when thinking of replacing a bad habit can leave one feeling in a weird and twisted way… deprived. Even when fully aware that in doing so would be a positive asset to their character, an improvement to their heath or the key to preserving a relationship.

There is no potion, lotion, or pill that will make a bad habit fade away in 30 days or an industrial strength spray that will eliminate the stench of negative behavior. And unlike a quick visit to the local home improvement store to replace a bad fuse there are no habit improvement stores to replace a bad habit. In order to consistently grow and progress towards living your most ideal life we must be willing to consistently change and improve ourselves and at times well… that is just hard to do and as creatures of habit we typically don’t like to do those hard things in life even when they most often lead to grow and self improvement.

The key to changing any habit and making it stick is to get clear about what it is that you want to change and why you want to change it. Then with small and simple adjustments bad habits dissolve, replaced by habits that invite success. Even a small effort can create big changes. Ideal LifeVision is a tool that has helped many of those somewhat reluctant habit changers create their ideal lives by helping them to clearly identify the habits they wish to develop in all areas of their life for over two decades. LifeVision simplifies the process of habit implementation and makes replacing bad habits with good habits a manageable endeavor.

Steve Pavlina teaches, “Habits are memorized solutions.” Everything we do reading, writing, brushing your teeth, driving, and eating are all memorized solutions. So habits are really just how your brain approaches time management. Your mind has better things to do than solve the same problems over and over, wasting its time so it delegates problems to your subconscious mind in order to recall and apply the memorized solutions.

Unfortunately, the way our subconscious mind handles habits can have its drawbacks. It can memorize ineffective solutions just as well as effective ones. Some minds learn that over-eating is a good way to handle stress or that complaining is the perfect way to gain attention.

Changing these memorized solutions can be broken down into a simple process with Ideal LifeVision. Many have used this same tool to eliminate the behavior that has held them back from living their best life. New habits are written in minute detail in 5 key areas of your life. Your LifeVision is then recorded in your own voice with specific music often called accelerated learning music added to the background; this allows your brain or your mind to be in an Alpha or meditative state. Because of the unique recording method used with LifeVision even when daydreaming or when you are not particularly listening to your LifeVision, your subconscious mind still hears it and responds. The gap between where you currently are and where you want to be will narrow. By listening to your LifeVision daily you are focusing on what you want to achieve, you are listening to the person you are becoming, your beliefs about yourself will begin to change. These beliefs will in turn create habits and begin to give way to new beliefs, thus creating new habits.

First assess your current habits, begin by creating three lists. The first list is for your best habits; those that serve you well in positive ways. These habits are those you want to keep or strengthen. The second list is for your negative habits; those you want to eliminate that are holding you back from living your best life. The third list is for new habits that you would like to incorporate in an area of your life. Consider any new habits you would like to develop or enhance in one or more of these 5 key areas of your life.

1- Spiritual

2- Relationships

3- Health and Physical

4- Professional and Financial

5- Personal Development

Be honest with yourself when creating these lists. Ask yourself a lot of questions, especially the hard ones. This will help you get at the core of what you really want to accomplish and why.

• Which habits do I hide or lie about to others or myself?

• Do I have habits that are detrimental to my health?

• What habits are preventing me from doing my best work?

• What habits are preventing me from reaching my business goals?

• Does this habit move me forward or backward everyday?

• Does this habit serve my highest self?

Keeping asking more questions and add the answers to your lists, making these lists of habits will help you gain clarity in what new habits you need and want to incorporate bringing you closer to your goals and aspirations.

• What is one thing I can do to improve my relationship with my companion,

my child, or those I work with?

• Am I living my life according to my authentic self?

• Would I like to become an early riser or exercise regularly or improve my

eating habits?

• How would my life improve if I decreased the time I watch TV, or time

mindlessly spent on the computer or checking my emails?

• What would I do with that extra time? Would I read more or write my own

book I have been meaning to get around to?

• Would I learn a new language or take a painting or self defense class?

• Do I engage in present, engaged and unrushed conversations with my

spouse, my child, or my friends?

If you successfully add just one new habit in the next month, how would your life be different in the next year, in 5 years or in 10 years? How would you feel?  What would your life look like next year, in 5 years or in 10 years if you changed nothing?

Because we live in a fast paced world, it is easy to get mindlessly caught up in life with responsibilities and deadlines. Habits are often formed without being consciously aware of them. With demands and responsibilities often our core dreams and aspirations get lost in the crowd and the blur of daily life. Life is sometimes lived on autopilot with habits that just get us through the day, leaving us with a life unfulfilled and in a rare quite moment when the emptiness of living life on autopilot or by someone else’s agenda begins to weigh heavy the choice is given… Do I want to continue to live the life I am currently living or do I want to start creating my ideal life? Do I choose a life lived fulfilled on path and with purpose?  What habits am I willing to let go of that would allow me to life the life I dream of? It has been said, “We are all one adjustment away from making our lives work.” One adjustment. One new habit… can make all the difference.

Related posts:

• The Slight Edge of Habit – Part 1
• Habits

The busy sights and sounds of its streets vibrate with a rhythm all its own, stunning and overwhelming the senses. There is no quiet escape except if one can retreat inside oneself.  The once vibrant chatter from the eager travelers is slowly silenced as the narrow winding streets of Calcutta web and flow deep into its slums. The reality of its existence begins to slowly reveal itself.

Nothing you have ever read, or heard, or researched could ever fully prepare you when seeing the reality of life lived as a pavement dweller in the slums. Until the face of extreme poverty looks you straight in the eye, it is still possible to dismiss its existence.  The evidence is endless in this scattered, dirty, chaotic, and broken city.

The people of Calcutta wash dishes in dirty buckets. They lay the harvest of the morning on the streets to sell. They pick up the worn handles of their rickshaw with scarred, gnarled and weathered hands. They bathe their children on the street corner, some of them with soap. They sleep on sidewalk steps amid the bustle of the day and the swarming flies. They are packed in tight and on top of trucks, young and old to the fields to work for a few precious rupees.  They are sorting through piles of garbage and filth looking for even the smallest morsel to eat. They are straightening the walls of their homes made of blankets, metal scraps, and torn paper. They sit on the ground and lovingly brush their daughters hair.  They help the tiny ones make their way through the highly functioning chaos of honking horns, cows and camels, and scooters transporting as many as five. As I watch the young and the old, the hungry and the poor, move through the noisy streets I feel the heartbeat of their stories and the heaviness of their burdens and remember that “they” are all my brothers and my sisters.

On this day in Calcutta, we make our way to a small school in the slums; this particular school is one of eight sponsored by the Towards Life Foundation committed to educating and empowering children of the slums. Today, I would be teaching the children the basics of health and hygiene, something new and fascinating to them. A teacher who selflessly dedicates her weekends to educating these eager students accompanies us as my translator.

As we get closer to the school I try to process the foreign gripping images pulling at my heart as we pass by the never-ending scenes of poverty. My breath grows shallow and clenched as I try to hold back the tears. Images of heartbreaking extremes relentlessly present themselves with every turn. Before coming to India I saw pictures of it’s slums, even researched them intentionally to prepare for this moment… but to see the actual existence of them; I could scarcely take in the presence and realness of it all. I could have never imagined the depth and the enormity of the daily reality of so many. I couldn’t find the words to speak, it was overwhelming. I didn’t know how to process what I was seeing or feeling.

How do you heal the pain of poverty?

The teacher shared with us the average family monthly income for those who live in the slums is $12.00- 14.00 and the level of literacy among all age groups is close to zero. I asked the teacher how she managed the emotions of what I was feeling for the first time… again and again, week after week. She responded by telling me this story…

Twice a week each of the children in the school receives one egg to take home to their family as a reward for coming to school. The children look forward to this day and proudly take their one single egg home to share with their family, usually consisting of multi-generational members living together in a “house” made of sticks and torn pieces of cloth or paper, bent metal or mud. One day as the teacher was giving the eggs to the children one by one, she placed an egg into the hands of a small boy, the egg slipped through his tiny hands and fell down into a opening covered by a dirty grate cracking as it fell to the bottom of the dark hole.

The responsibility of bringing home this seemingly insignificant egg to his family weighed heavily on the shoulders of this young boy and the loss of his egg was more than his tiny shoulders could bear. The small boy cried out with incomprehensible desperation as he realized the treasured egg had cracked and now rested below the streets black and dirty surface. Gently the teacher tried to console the distraught boy, his tears washed down his dirty cheeks leaving a trail of life’s familiar ache. The teacher reassured him that she could find another egg for him. Slowly the boy’s cries were quieted, a sense of relief was evident on his face as she smiled at him and gently placed another egg carefully in his hands wrapping his tiny fingers securely around the fragile egg.

As the children were preparing to return to their families, the teacher noticed the small boy down on his hands and knees looking intently deep into the grate where the broken egg remained. She watched the small boy lean down, tears were streaming down her face, she knew the weight of the world rested on his shoulders with the responsibility of helping to provide food for his family. She watched as he reached down through the grate into the dirty hole below to scoop up what he could of the broken egg. She watched his tiny hands carefully guide the egg through the grate and then she watched as he washed off the dirt from the broken pieces of what was left of his once lost egg.

It was at that moment she said that she learned… what true poverty was.

This teacher of the once forgotten carries with her the emotion of what she saw and felt that day, it is that emotion that ignites her desire to help create change and inspire hope and it is that emotion that drives her to return again and again, week after week with dedication and with love.

This story, what we all now affectionately call  “The Egg Story” touched our hearts to the very core. We had all grown to love these precious and priceless street children of Calcutta, India. We fell in love with their beautiful smiles, their curious minds and their vibrant spirits.  We wept when it was time to leave them, they had left their handprint on our hearts forever, we knew we would never be the same after meeting them and singing with them and dancing with them and learning from them. We learned that day it took hardly any money at all to buy an extra egg for each of the 1000 children to take home to their families…..about the same amount as going out for dinner and to a movie back home, in a land and a reality so far, far away… something these children could not even begin to comprehend. So with gratitude and sweet joy we each contributed and rejoiced in the opportunity of learning and playing with the children we all fell in love with from the slums of Calcutta with the simple gift of love, expressed with one significant egg.

I learned many things that day in that tiny, hot, dark schoolroom without desks or chairs and dirt floors… much more than I could ever teach those beautiful street children with smiles that will melt your heart. I learned that people most often are doing the very best they can…. even the smallest of us. I learned that when things are tough and I mean really tough, families and communities join together to work together …and to love together. I learned that even in the most meager surroundings that a little crepe paper streamer makes all the difference.

I learned that the children of the slums of Calcutta have dreams… big dreams within them. They want to be dancers and doctors, engineers and artists. I learned that we are all more alike than we are different. I learned that the Hokey Pokey is truly what its all about. I learned that you don’t have to speak the same language to express what is in your heart, that your eyes will say what your heart cannot. I learned that there is nothing better than placing a purple paper crown on the head of a precious child from Calcutta. I learned that in India, they never say goodbye and I like that.

I learned that when love is the reason, there is no limit to what can be achieved and I learned that true joy comes from giving. Sometimes it is giving someone a smile, a helping hand, or a second chance…sometimes it is giving your time, giving your best or giving up the last cookie…sometimes it is holding the hand of someone who is hurting so that they know they are not alone, sometimes it is a tender word, a note of encouragement or a compassionate response and sometimes…. the true joy of giving is even as simple as….. one tiny egg.

Laurie Baum Olson

Related posts:

• An Afternoon with Arthur by Laurie Olson
• The Joy of Giving