As we fast approach the third anniversary of the Bring Smiles to Seniors program, I am amazed at what we have been able to accomplish together. With one senior community we started a movement that would span all 50 states and beyond in a very short amount of time. Delivery of 7,719 cards in our first year quickly gave way to 18,810 in our second and 40,515 in our third. This year alone we have delivered almost 7,000 cards and we are only in February.

When I started this program I did it to help seniors and teach children the importance of remembering those that paved the way for us. I had no idea of the unintended consequence it would have by providing those of you who participate an outlet for your creativity, healing for your own lives and a place to use your passion and compassion for the benefit of others. I also never knew the healing power it would have in my own life as we work together to strive to make the world a little better place for those in need.

Many of you have shared the effect my posts on morningswithron.com have had on your lives. Your feedback motivates me to continue my writing, a passion that I have had from a very early age. Knowing I have an outlet for my thoughts that touches others in ways that I could have never imagined has provided added benefit to my already amazing life in ways that I never thought possible.

We exist because of you. Every time we get close to running out of cards or money to do our mailings to senior communities and buy supplies to continue our work, my grandmother smiles down upon us and opens another door to keep us going. Because I know her power and the power of we, I went out on a limb and set this years goal at 50,000 cards delivered as we continue to deliver in states all across the country. I know together we can accomplish anything and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for being on this journey with us. What an amazing journey it is. I never take your participation in this program for granted and am thankful for each and every one of you every day.

Warm Regards,

Ron Tyson

Founder, Bring Smiles to Seniors

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One of life’s true gifts is the ability to serve. Having the opportunity to take care of others and work hard to make their lives a little better than what they are experiencing is something that enhances our own lives. Learning to be able to give back to the community rather than always taking prepares us for a level of leadership in life that is unachievable if we believe that serving is below us.

People often think that they have to have a lot of money to give back. How often do we hear people say that they can’t afford to contribute, don’t have the time to participate, or just don’t know what to do? In reality, giving back often doesn’t involve money or large amounts of time. It just involves having the desire to do a little something to make someone’s life a little better.

One of the common themes among many of the true leaders in the world is their innate ability to serve. Along with their own level of success often comes philanthropy, foundations, programs and efforts to do something to give back to the world. True leadership involves recognizing that it isn’t just about your own success, it is also about the success of those around you and the passion for enhancing the world in which we live.

If one lives a life solely focused on themselves and all they things they can get out of the world, without compassion for others, then they aren’t true leaders. They may be leaders of their own on realm, but they never truly touch society in a way that makes a difference. True leaders understand the need for compassion for their fellow human beings. They find a way to balance their success while helping ensure the success of others. If they don’t then true leadership is truly beyond them.

Selfishness is a vice, while compassion is a virtue. Looking out for your own well being is a vice, while service brings about true leadership. Those that learn to balance the two are the true leaders of the world. That doesn’t take large amounts of money or personal possessions. It only takes the willpower and desire to use the innate ability we posses to serve the common good.

Have a great weekend and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron

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As we go through life, people come in and out of our lives along the way. Some seem to stick and others are there just for a fleeting moment, serving their purpose for the time. It is truly amazing that along the way we build this cadre of people that seem to always be a part of our lives in one way or another. We may go periods of time without interacting with them, but they are always there. When we have the opportunity to interact with them again, it is as if we were never apart. In those moments when have the privilege of being in their company, do we always take the time to let them know just how important they are to us, or do we simply just take it for granted?

I have friends in my life that have been my friends for going on 40 years. People who have been there in good times and bad, celebrated many of life’s events, and served as emotional support when it was needed most. I have done likewise for them. Along the way I have always tried to let them know, either vocally or in writing, just what they mean to me and that I never take it for granted that they have allowed me to be a part of all aspects of their life.

One thing that we have to always remember is that we are never guaranteed tomorrow. Every minute of life is a precious gift. That is why we have to take the time to acknowledge the importance people play in our lives. That acknowledgement also serves a dual purpose. It reminds them that their effort to be part of our lives are not taken for granted and is appreciated.

We are all busy with our own lives. Sometimes it is work to find time for that dinner or trip with friends, outing in nature or visit in their times of need. The fact that others make that time for us is a confirmation of the importance that we play in their life. Showing isn’t always enough. Telling them is that true reminder that their importance in our lives is never ending and shows that we never ever take for granted that beautiful gift that they continue to give.

Have a great day and remember to be the reason smiles today.

Ron

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It is unfortunate that today we have to search to find love and compassion. In the 24 hour news cycle that thrives on presenting us all the bad news of the day, we have to search to find any story of good, which is often presented in the last two minutes of the nightly broadcast. Bad news sells. Good news and stories of love and compassion are relegated to the middle of the paper, often in a column surround by ads four times the size and stories that are far less positive. Our love and compassion is now rationed to only those that we feel worthy, often judged by standards that we have learned or been influenced by that have negated that innocence that we were born with.

At what point did we decide that giving love required a litmus test to see that the person was worthy of receiving our love? We ask many questions. Do they believe the same things we do? Do they have the same political affiliation? Are they of the same religion? Do they live what we believe is a right life by our own determination? The list goes on. Unless we check off every box on that list, we somehow find the reason to determine that another human being is not worthy of our love. That is why we find ourselves in the position that we are in today in the world.

We all have our own skeletons in our closet. We have things that we have done over our lives that make us less worthy as a person. Yet, it is often overcoming those adversities and recognizing and learning from them that makes our lives a little better, while molding us into the person that we are. No one really knows our past, what we have dealt with or those things that have helped shape the person that we have become. Yet, unfortunately people use their judgement checklist to determine whether or not we are worthy of their love.

I wrote about Courtney on Monday. If you have interacted with a person with Down’s Syndrome there is a lesson to be learned from them. For them love is universal, unconditional, readily available and for anyone who is willing to accept it. That is the way we should all live our lives. Love without judgement is true love at its best.

Have a great day and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron

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Most people will tell you that when I was growing up as a kid I was really funny. I can remember driving down the road with my family and I would either say something, or do something crazy that would have everyone in stitches. This was especially true when I was in the company of my Aunt Gail. We had this combined magic for creating laughter that would just set everyone off. Not to mention that I was quite the prankster. My granny would tell stories of things that I would do that would make her laugh so hard that she would cry. That carried on into my early adult years and then seemed to subside.

Somewhere along the way as we start to age we let the adversities of life override our ability to laugh and just be jovial. Personal, family and work responsibilities tend to task us so much that we simply forget how to laugh. In doing so we rob our bodies of one of the things that can often be a booster to our immune system, our psyche and our general well being.

Think about the last time you were sitting around with family and friends, forgot about the stresses of the world and simply laughed. I am not talking about mere chuckles, I am talking about those deep belly laughs that hurt, yet feel so good when they happen. They leave you with a rush of endorphins that set the stage for the rest of your day. You are often left feeling like you had taken some natural medicine. That is the ultimate power of laughter.

Life can often be hard and constantly taking it so serious only makes it harder. It is incredibly important that we take the time to lighten up, enjoy the moment, laugh, love and simply smile. It is often those moments that we remember over the bad and those moments that enhance our lives to make it just a little more enjoyable.

Have a great day, find a reason to laugh and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron

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Something special happened this weekend that warmed the heart and certainly helped strengthen my face in humanity. One can only understand the importance and power of this moment when you have encountered or interacted with a an individual like my niece Courtney who has Down’s Syndrome. I have had the privilege of being part of the lives of two Down’s Syndrome children in my family and know first hand the affect and power they have on your life.

Down’s Syndrome children are truly a gift from God and a lesson for all of us on how to live our lives. They are full of love, laughter, passion and compassion that really is surpassed. They don’t possess the ability discriminate, they don’t have the desire to partition love. They don’t see color, race, religion or orientation. They simply love. They offer hugs and compassion for their fellow humans without reserve and serve as an example for how we should all live our lives. While they are often discriminated against, sometimes there are those that see past their mental abilities and give them the chance that they deserve. Such was the case with Russ at Delectable Desserts by Russ in Bluffton, SC.

Russ, saw the same love and compassion that we all know that Courtney possess and gave her a job working in his bakery on Sundays. He provided her with an opportunity to do what she loves best, meet and greet people and make them smile for simply being her presence. The post about her being a part of this special place garnered over 1.5k likes almost instantly and responses from people that they planned to attend simply to be the part of the moment. You see, they understand the power of treating all humans like humans and the benefit of them allowing us to be in their presence.

We don’t have an update yet on how yesterday went. But I can only imagine that the Russ and Courtney show was one that people would happily repeatedly buy tickets for. It says a lot about Russ that he saw the same magic in Courtney that we all know. It says a lot about Debbie, Courtney’s mom that she was willing to take a chance and let Courtney by a part of this incredible opportunity. Finally, it says a lot about all of us that this moment touched us as much as it should. Go Courtney, we are so proud of you.

Have a great day and remember to be the reason someone smiles today.

Ron

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One of my favorite values that my company that I work for lives by is “the future is bright”. Through innovation and team work there is nothing that we can not accomplish together and tomorrow always brings another opportunity for something great. Such is the same in our personal lives. Every morning is a clean slate of opportunity for us to pursue our dreams and future. What we make of it and the ability to be successful lies totally within our control.

Dreams are an incredibly important part of our future. They allow us to shoot for the stars and make our life anything that it can possibly be. If we dream it, we can achieve it and believing in the beauty of our dreams provides us with the encouragement we need to ultimately be successful. Dreams often contribute to the beauty of our lives simply because we are willing to take the risk to make them a reality.

The beautiful thing about our future is that it has not happened yet. That gives us the opportunity to put all the things in place to ensure that the future is what we desire it to be. We have to lay the foundation and groundwork necessary to ensure our success. It often takes work and dedication. However, those are powerful tools to achieve that which we desire.

Every morning our future is bright. All the minutes that lay in front of us are full of opportunity to make our lives a little more special, a little more secure and all that we desire it to be. Whether we take advantage of those minutes that are given to us is totally up to us. At the end of the day no one has more power to shape our future than we do.

Have a great weekend and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron

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We are born with a clean slate with the possibility to become anything that we want to be. Along the path of life we try, succeed and fail until we become the person that we are destined to be. However, I do not believe that that destiny is pre-ordained. While there are aspects of our life that are pre-determined, our parents for example, the person that we ultimately become is the person that we decide to be.

There are often people who believe that they have been dealt a bad hand in life. The world is out to get them, they got all the bad cards and the world just has not been fair. Usually, their predicament and situation is everyone else’s fault. Then on the flip side you see people who have been dealt every adversity that could possible come their way and somehow they find the way to persevere and succeed. They take control of the situation and decide their own destiny. What is it that makes the two so different?

People who have come from bad situations have gone on to be great. No matter what was thrown at them, they find a way to deal and move on, often achieving amazing things. The people who have found this ability all seem to have the same magic ingredient. They believed in themselves enough to put in the work necessary to become the person they desired to be and therefore created the path for their own destiny. They did not let life determine that path for them.

I knew all throughout high school that my path was to graduate and go to college. That was what I was supposed to do. I took life’s lead and went off to my first year of college. Despite graduating in the top group of my class in High School, I failed miserably my first year of college and did not go back. Suddenly, I was faced with the big question of what to do next. I decided to give the military a try and did four years in the Air Force. That was not the answer either. It was only when I took my life into my own hands that I finally was in control of my own destiny and went on to finish college and my MBA. At this point I did not do it because I was “supposed to”, I did it because I wanted to. That set the stage for the road that my life was supposed to take.

My hope for you is that at this point you have found the destiny that you have created for yourself. If not, it is never too late to change to the destiny you desire rather than that which was expected of you. As Emerson said, “the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

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How often do we find ourselves supporting and believing in other people on a regular basis? Someone has a set a goal that you help them achieve. Someone is striving to accomplish something and we prop them up and support them to help make their dream a reality. People share their talents and we support them by attending their events. We muster any amount of energy to help them be successful. However, how much of that energy to do we put out when it comes to ourselves?

So many times in our lives the fear of failing is the one thing that keeps us from being successful. While we find it easy to believe in every one else, we lack the ability to believe in ourselves and limit the possibilities of what we think we can accomplish. The reality is that we are always capable of achieving more then we could ever imagine, if we only believe in ourselves as much as we believe in every one else.

Have you ever gone up against adversity, being scared beyond belief, only to find that inner strength that you never knew you had that helped see you through? That which seemed impossible somehow suddenly became possible, simply because you found the bravery that you needed to be successful. You believed in yourself and the power of that belief is what saw you through the adversity. That support and bravery that you always seemed to be able to find to give to others, produced the same benefit when you were able to use it on yourself.

I have often wondered why it is easer to ensure other’s well being rather than our own? Then I realized that it is easier to support someone else because their failure often has no direct effect on us. Supporting ourselves and failing is of greater consequence to our own well being and therefore involves more risk that is often harder to take.

At the end of the day no one can contribute to our success more than we can. When we truly believe, we find that inner strength and bravery that eventually reveals all that we are capable of. Sometimes that capability is far beyond what we could have ever imagined.

Have a great day and remember to be the reason someone smiles today.

Ron

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Several times in my past posts I have referred to the importance of setting goals. They are necessary part of creating a path to success and they help us navigate the road that is required to achieve that which we desire. Being successful in our pursuit gives us the strength we need to set new and even harder goals. Failing gives us the tools we need to regroup and learn from that which kept us from being successful.

When we started out in the Bring Smiles to Seniors program our first year consisted of a nine month period. Everything was new and I had not set any goals for that year because I had no idea what our path was going to be. When we finished the first year with 7,719 cards delivered, I set the next year’s goal for 10,000. We were still fairly new and I thought if we could get close to 1,000 a month out we would be in good shape. We ended the second year at 18,810. What ever would I do for year three?

At the end of the second year I sat back in my chair and thought long and hard about what goal I would set for that year. We had really struggled to reach 18,000 and I thought if we could just get 2,000 more cards we could get to 20,000. However, we had changed our strategy and started to reach out to senior communities all across the country, so we not only needed cards, we needed donations for postage to be able to mail them all to the community activities directors to be delivered. By the time we got to the middle of 2018, I knew something special was going on. Our desire and drive to hit that 20,000 mark helped us to achieve our goal half way through the year. Not only that, we had delivered to a senior community in all 50 states. Where would we end?

We ended 2018 in a place that amazed us. We delivered 40,515 cards and for the first time we did not have to buy one single card last year and had enough money to make all our mailings to all fifty states – twice. Well that certainly put me in a predicament in setting 2019’s goal, as I either risk appearing to sandbag or I needed to see how far I could stretch us. After three successful years I chose the latter and set the goal at 50,000. As one of our volunteer’s put it, that placed us somewhere between being scared to death and being just crazy enough to achieve it. However, I knew when you set lofty, reasonable goals sometimes amazing things happen.

When I met our newest donor this week, I knew I had made the right decision. To achieve our goal this year we needed to get as many cards as last year and somehow 10,000 more. She presented me with 1,700 cards and committed to delivering 10,000 for the year. Bam! There it was, our pathway to 50,000 when (not if ) our last years numbers hold. When we are successful, our year will finish beyond our wildest imagination. That my friends is the power of setting goals, going after them with all your determination and then sitting back and watching amazing things happen.

Have a great day and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron

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