Folks, not only is it the end of yet another week, but summer is drawing to a fast close. It’s been an amazingly quick year. I know they say the older you get, the faster time flies but THAT FAST? (Photo Credit: labutle)
WOW.
Let’s start with a gratitude quote:
See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC – 65) Roman philosopher and playwright
Even wise men of long ago recognized the value of perception. This is why I believe polarity exists. You could not possibly understand the value of what you have if you weren’t aware of what you didn’t have. Having an attitude of gratitude has become a powerful tool to reprogram our minds to fish out the good in life.
Even the “Peace Pilgrim” lady who walked over 25,000 miles (I highly recommend her book by the same name), saw goodness in everyone. While she was certainly aware of the bad things that were happening at the time (war, poverty, crime, etc.), she chose to focus on the possibilities and be grateful for them. Her testimony proves that yes, we can make a difference as grateful individuals.
Just imagine if all of us cultivated the attitude of gratitude. Oh my. The world would be such a starkly different place, don’t you think? That’s why I do these weekly gratitude posts – trying to do my share, you know? Many people read it and are in some way affected by what I share. It then goes on from there, causing a ripple effect around the world.
A few things I’m exceedingly grateful for this week:
My Body is Adjusting Rather Well
*Stammer, cough, stammer*
By now you probably know about the…..gaseous experience…..I had at the end of the first week with the “Tim Ferris Diet.” Well, I’m excited to say that riotous incident has not since returned to the same levels.
Wait! Wait!
I meant to say it has not returned at all!
Beans, three times a day, yeah.
Comment Ninja
Like any blogger who cares enough about his/her community, I get excited when this place comes alive with conversation in the comment section. It’s always been my intention to respond to each individual comment, giving everyone the attention they deserve for taking time out to share their thoughts with me and everyone else.
However, as you can imagine, the busier we got around here, the more of a challenge it was for me to hold this intention intact. I sometimes found myself overwhelmed with the sheer volume of comments. Not that I was complaining! Believe me, your comments are absolutely vital to the survival of this blog and they keep me going.
But it did get to the point where I almost dreaded the task because I kept having to go back and forth between the WP Administration panel and the blog itself. It was a trying experience to keep track of who I just responded to and what they said. Despite that, I was fiercely determined to keep up with it.
Even though I’ve already mentioned about Comment Ninja in a previous post, I want to emphatically express my gratitude for this very useful Firefox script (not plug-in). It has made responding to your comments not only manageable, but FUN again!
I urge you to check it out if you use Firefox and WordPress.
Ignored the Bathroom Scale This Morning
In my last update on the “Tim Ferris Diet” experiment, I told everyone how difficult it would be for me NOT to step on the bathroom scale upon waking up because I’m so eager (alright, OBSESSED, there satisfied?) with how much weight I might have lost.
Well, this morning after responding to Mother Nature, I made a mad dash for the kitchen and got real busy making breakfast. As a precaution, I gulped down a glass of water, just to tell my brain that it was no use to even try.
My ego feebly gave up and sighed.
Tomorrow morning? Ah, I can’t promise anything.
Penn State and Frito Lay Speaking Engagements Finalized
We are in the midst of finalizing travel and program details for my upcoming speaking engagements at Penn State (September) and Frito-Lay (October). I’m so excited and grateful that I am not only receiving what I asked for (speaking fee) but that both want me for a program that I am a perfect fit for. I feel I am in perfect alignment with my divine purpose with these two gigs.
Thank you God.
Chris Brogan Does It Again
I’m telling you, if you don’t know who he is, it’s only a matter of time before you do. You may recall that I did an interview with him earlier this year. You can learn more about him in Part I and Part II of the “Stephen Hopson Interviews.” He’s a social media superstar who I met at SOBCon08 in Chicago earlier this year (blogging conference). When I met him, I immediately warmed up to him because he’s the real deal. Chris genuinely likes to help people. From time to time, he’ll surprise me by telling his 10,000 plus Twitter followers about a post I wrote that he liked, sending an influx of unexpected traffic.
When I wrote the follow up to my “Tim Ferris Diet” earlier this week, he surprised me by telling his community about it. Just a brief mention on Twitter sent loads of tanilizing traffic to Adversity University. In fact, it resulted in the most amount of traffic I’ve had in a long while.
So, I want to tip my hat to Chris for his incredible generosity. Thanks Chris! I appreciate it when you help me (and others) like that. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to meet you earlier this year.
A Dear Friend and I Took a Long Walk The Other Day
Sometimes I forget to be grateful for even the smallest things like taking a simple walk among nature with a good friend. My friend and I were talking about how it isn’t necessary to have a “million friends.” (Photo credit: sven.dressler)
The only exception to that might be my dream of building 1,000 True Fans on Facebook. I also have the “Stephen Hopson FanClub” thanks to Jennifer Abbott, a subscriber here at Adversity University.
Nevertheless, only one good friend is all you really need.
We talked for hours non-stop. Sometimes when it’s time to split and go home, we find ourselves wanting to gab even more. There have been a number of occasions when I’ve had to say to my friend, “Alright, I love ya but get the heck home, will ya?” (Yes, I can be a bit blunt sometimes but it’s all said in love).
No, don’t misunderstand me. Cherishing a few hours with a special friend is critically important to me and I hope to you too. In fact, we should never underestimate the power of a good friendship.
Hey, that reminds me…….
Have you read A Friendship Story? I think you’ll enjoy it.
According to my blog stats, this story has become one of the most read pieces here. It’s had an amazing number of hits from Google searches for months now.
Food for thought: Why do you think gratitude is so powerful?
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7:58 am on August 22nd, 2008 1
Wow!!! I get to be the first commenter today. Thanks for the link to your friendship story. You posted it before I found your site so I hadn’t read it here. That internet story is one of my favorites.
Why is gratitude so important to me? Being grateful can turn my day around. Appreciating people and events in my life can bring happiness and smiles to my day. Appreciation can remind me of the important things and people in my life. Friends are a very important part of my life. They give me joy and support and kindness. They remind me to be kind. I am not always kind.
8:13 am on August 22nd, 2008 2
@ Patricia – Spiritual Journey Of A Lightworker:
I’m smiling because I know how it feels to be the first at anything. Cool! That means throughout the day today, many people will see your name over and over again.
I love the friendship story – it’s powerful, timeless and worth its weight in gold. Last night I watched “The Kite Runner” and it was a friendship movie between two boys who formed a bond through kite flying. One of them constantly stuck up for the other while the other cowered in the corner while his friend was being picked on. It was a powerful story of a friendship, one that I place tremendous importance on in my life.
You’re ABSOLUTELY RIGHT – being grateful has the potential of turning any moment around in an instant. OMG, how true that is! I’m blessed to have such wise, powerful people participating in this community.
Really, you’re not always kind? How interesting to see that side of you that we don’t know about. Well, perception is everything, isn’t it? Even though the last interviewee, Sharmaine Hobbs, cringed at the question, “What’s your dark side?”, I suppose the “sometimes unkindness” would be yours?
Your comment truly cheered me up this morning – how thankful I am to have a powerful platform that allows me to interact like this.
11:18 pm on August 22nd, 2008 3
I love your thoughts on walking with a friend…and I know exactly what you’re talking about. My best friend and I drove to Kentucky last summer for a spiritual weekend getaway. It was a 14 hour round trip and we talked the entire time! We never turned on the radio or a CD or had any moments of awkward silence. I’m convinced that if the trip was twice as long, we still would have talked the whole way! That is a mark of a true friendship.
Thanks for helping me remember that incredible time!
7:55 am on August 23rd, 2008 4
@ Jim Cermak:
That length of a drive with someone is certainly proving grounds for the strength of a friendship of whomever you’re with. That’s a long time to spend with someone in none other than a car!
But seriously, you’re right – never having any moments of awkward silence is a sign of a good friendship with a person but I also think that it’s okay to have long moments of silence without any feelings of awkwardness. That is also the test of a good friendship.
I haven’t yet had that experience with my friend – it seems that every time we get together, we never stop talking. I am planning to ask my friend to shut up for ten minutes, just to see if it’d work. LOL.
8:06 am on August 23rd, 2008 5
I was brought to your blog via SUZEMUSE Happy reading is right I enjoyed the book you noted also!
“Step Into the Spotlight: A Guide To Getting Noticed” by Tsufit (funny name I know but that’s her name).”
Gratitude removes one from the bog of doubts to appreciation and joy in all things.
8:12 am on August 23rd, 2008 6
@ Robin Maria Pedrero:
Thanks for telling me how you found me here. Welcome! I’m enjoying the new influx of visitors who leave comments like yourself. Thanks for taking a moment to say hi and introduce yourself.
You said it – gratitude indeed helps us remove doubts and brings deeper appreciation. Very true.
So you also enjoyed the “Step Into the Spotlight….” book too? The whole book was a simple reminder that we have to do what we have to do if people are to find out about us and what we do. It doesn’t pay to sit in the dark corner, hoping to “be discovered.” That’d be awesome but it isn’t reality. They key is to find ways of tooting our own horn tastefully. Tsufit does that rather well.
11:16 pm on August 26th, 2008 7
Ah, comment ninja! I was quite impressed at the time you took to craft personal comments, as well as link to the original comments.
While I’m still impressed that you read and respond to each comment so personally, I now know your secret for getting the cool links
. I use DISQUS so I can’t take advantage of that script, but I bookmarked it just in case I can later =)
10:41 am on August 27th, 2008 8
@ Sid Savara:
Yes Comment Ninja – saved my hide, for sure. It makes responding directly to you so much enjoyable because, after all, the response box pops up right beneath your comment inside the WP Panel. That way I can read the comment while typing away my response, point for point, without shifting back and forth between the panel and the comment section. It’s a huge timesaver, not to mention a very effective way to keep track of who said what and who I responded to. Love it!
You need to try it if you ever switch to Firefox. What is DISQUS? I never heard of it.
1:43 pm on August 27th, 2008 9
@Stephen
Oops, I apologize for not explaining it. I do use Firefox as my browser, but I don’t use the built in WordPress commenting.
DISQUS is a system that takes over your WordPress comments – it’s what I use on my blog. I am trying it out because I have seen it on other blogs that I like, and I enjoy using shiny new things =). They have a nice interface where I can see all the comments on my blog in one place (http://sidsavara.disqus.com/), but even better I can see all the comments I have left on any other blog that uses DISQUS – so I don’t need to email and/or RSS subscribe to comments, I can just go check my DISQUS account and see replies. I can even see comments other commenters have left on other blogs, if I want to “stalk” someone on DISQUS
The killer feature it has is if someone comments on my blog (or replies to my comment on any DISQUS powered blog) it shoots me an email with the comment, and I can reply directly to that email, and it shows up as a reply to that comment on whichever blog the comment was. This is awesome for me, since I can use my blackberry to interact with commenters on any DISQUS blog.
I hope this doesn’t come across as a sales pitch or anything of the sort. I use DISQUS, and so far I like it (though the javascript has not always played nicely with other plugins). I don’t own any stock or anything of that nature =).
6:49 am on December 26th, 2008 10
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