The Gratitude Rock in my Home

I love doing these gratitude posts because when I sit down and think about the things I am grateful for, I always come away feeling lighter, happier and more content.  I also end up learning a little more about myself.

We all know the gloom and doom being touted on TV and in the newspapers these days.   Even if we are directly affected by it, the question we should ask ourselves is:  “Will we subscribe to the negative hoopla or take time out to focus on what we still have going for us?”

It’s a choice.  I’m choosing not to allow it to affect my inner spirit.  No matter what happens, I am optimistic about my future.  I believe that on a cellular level  - therefore that will become my experience.

I can only wonder what will show up in the life of a person who is constantly entertaining thoughts like “we’re heading for another depression.”   The more you focus on something, be it positive or negative, the more it’ll manifest on some level in that person’s life.   Thoughts have been proven to manifest in reality - they’re that powerful.

So even in the midst of an economic crisis, I’m choosing to be grateful.  Even if you experience a loss of a job or a client, there’s always someone worst off than you are - always.  I’ve lost a few jobs in my lifetime and yet I survived, didn’t I?  I managed to make it through just fine (looking back, that is).

I’m certainly not suggesting that you bury your head in the sand and pretend nothing is happening.   I am merely introducing to you the idea that joining the chorus of “gloom and doom” will do nothing but add more negative energy.

Why not change your perception and see things in a different light?   We may not be able to control potential layoffs or a reduction in demand for our products and services, but we can at least change our focus and remain open to the possibilities.  Why worry about things we have no control over like an impending lay off or a reduction in demand for our products and services?

Let me share with you a couple of things I’m grateful for this week:

Speaking Engagement in Las Vegas

Click Above Image to See Brochure

For those of you who have been with me for some time, you will recall I made aviation history back in February 2006 when I became the world’s first deaf instrument rated pilot.

Click here to read my aviation bio and here for one of the newspaper articles about the historical event (there’s Part II here, if you want to read the rest it).

An organization called the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) was offering flight training scholarships at the time so I applied.  To my surprise, I was eventually selected as the winner of the $2500 Dan L. Meisinger Memorial Scholarship.

About three months later, I made aviation history.  That was in 1996.  Then one day I got an email from NATA asking if I’d be willing to help them raise money for future scholarship recipients by headlining a keynote speech at one of their biggest aviation expos in Las Vegas next month (March 2009).  How could I say no?

I’m grateful I have an opportunity to uplift and inspire whoever will be in the audience on the day I speak.   For the first time in my professional speaking career, I will be using PowerPoint.   I believe it will catapult my speaking to the next level.   Over the last ten years, I’ve come to realize audiences are starving for some kind of visual reference during a presentation and now that I finally have a laptop, I’m going to take advantage of it and see where it goes.   The keynote will be about my aviation journey from turning “the impossible dream” to the possible.   I’ll be talking about all the things that happened along the way to the day I became instrumented rated.   It will be my first major “multimedia presentation” complete with photos and videos.

Despite the Economic Gloom and Doom

Despite America’s economy, I have found plenty of things to be grateful for:

• a warm home
• a reliable car with great gas mileage
• fruits and vegetables that continue to nourish and detox my body
• friends and family who love and care about me (this includes personal friends as well as blogger friends from around the world)
• excellent health - I’ve finally managed to maintain my body’s optimal weight since September 08
• energy to maintain a healthy workout schedule at the gym, which means I get to run and lift weights at least 3 to 5 times a week.  In particular, it’s the cardiovascular workouts that keeps me trim.  I used to hate running but now I love it.  Go figure!
• a chance to go to London last November (2008) at the drop of a hat where I had a great time and made many new friends
• a chance to go back to school for a masters and eventually a PhD degree in metaphysics or divinity (I’m currently searching different universities and will begin the process of applying for the Fall of 08 or Spring 10).
• opportunities to collaborate with other speakers on creating national and international inspirational speaking programs.  They are being formed as we speak.  One of my contacts is a prominent network anchor who is about to retire.  He is in the midst of building a publishing and speaking empire of which I will be involved with.  None of us are allowing the current economic crisis to permeate our thinking.   Yes, we all know and acknowledge it’s there but we also intuitively know that there are golden opportunities to be found even amidst an economic downturn.

Dad Rushed To the Hospital But Out of Danger

Dad working on wiring for generator at brother's house last summer (2008)

Last week I received a scary email from my brother who proceeded to inform me that my otherwise healthy and fit-as-a-horse father was rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pains, the likes of which he had never before experienced.  It was so painful that an ambulance took him to the emergency room.

Needless to say, this had the Hopson siblings on pins and needles for several hours, especially since none of us live in the town where my parents have a home.  We had to literally wait by the phone or in my case, keep checking emails for updates.

A few days after he was admitted to the emergency room (he was there until 4 am!), he was finally released but the doctors still don’t know what happened.  They are performing tests throughout this week but at least he’s home resting.

I’m grateful he came through and that he is on the way back to recovery but it was a moment that truly shook me.

Reading Page Turners

I know this may appear to be a rather unusual thing to be grateful for but I love reading.  If you were to take a look at my bookcase, you’d see a bunch of inspirational, motivational and spiritual books.   Nestled among those books are a handful of mystery and thriller novels.

I can’t always be reading serious motivational and spiritual stuff all the time.  I mean, you gotta have fun with a murder mystery or a thriller every once in a while, right?    So here’s the thing.  There are a lot of novels out there that are just not that good.  It amazes me how some badly written books somehow find their way to the nation’s bookshelves but hey, that’s life.

When I come across a fantastic novel that I cannot stop reading, I’m in heaven.  Every time I read a book like that, it gets me all riled up, making it very hard to put it down.  It gives me an opportunity to escape into a world of fantasy where there’s a hero and a villain.

Page turning novels are a real treat and I’m grateful to have found a new series of thrillers written by none other than a former high school acquaintance who is now an international best selling author.  His name is Joseph Finder.  We were in the same class at Shaker High School (Latham, NY) and graduated in 1978.

I remember him to be a geek of sorts with large glasses and curly hair who always hung around other smart kids.  Many of his friends were also from the theater group.  He was a highly intelligent chap who was always seen walking in the hallways with a ton of books.

One day I discovered he was listed among the high school graduates on Facebook.   Since I recognized his name, I added him as a friend upon which he did the same.  (I guess he remembered me too).

At the time, I had NO inkling that he was a famous bestselling fiction novelist (goes to show you just how often I buy mystery thrillers).  Out of curiosity, I went to his website and spent hours reading up on him.    Man, let me tell you, he has quite a fascinating story to tell.

He eventually ended up teaching writing at Harvard.  After eight years of doing that, he decided one day that he was going to have a crack at writing a novel.

Well, we all know how challenging it is to get published, yet he did it.  Not only did persist through countless rejections but once he landed an agent, he went on to publish 8 novels, a handful of which ended up on the NYT bestselling list with one of them being made into a major motion picture!    He even had a cameo appearance in the film.    WOW!  Who knew?

Needless to say, I got curious and decided to buy one of his books to see if I liked his writing style.  I happen to be very picky about what I like.  Either I like your book or I don’t.  So I went over to Borders and bought “Killer Instinct.”

The moment I opened the book and turned the first page, I was HOOKED.  And now I’m eager to collect the rest of them because I know every single one of them will be page turners.  I don’t know about you, but I LOVE curling up on the couch and immerse myself in a good book!

I’m grateful I discovered an author who I once “knew” in high school who went on to become a celebrated novelist.  What’s amazing is that Joseph had no formal training in writing.    He even created a new genre in the world of fiction.  Up until he began to write, no one wrote a corporate thriller.  It is a niche he was fortunate to capitalize on.

Check out his website and be sure to read all the interviews he’s given - he has quite an inspiring story to tell!

Food for Thought:  What are you grateful for this week?  Have you been worrying about things you have no control over like impending layoffs or clients cutting back?  Or have you been shifting your awareness to a place where you’re focused on the good things going on in your life?   No matter how “insignificant” they may seem?  Tell us about them!  You saw how I was grateful for something as small as a thriller!  What about you?

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