One of my favorite things to do when I am out and about is to answer questions about the Bring Smiles to Seniors program. I have had an opportunity to do that a lot lately with the recent Lightning Community Hero Award and my involvement with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The question I get asked most often is how I manage to have a full time job, family life, social life and the demands of the program and do I ever get an opportunity for down time? My answer is always the same. While I do get tired like any normal person, all the evening and weekend time I spend with the program does’t sap my energy like normal tasks, because it feeds my soul.

Most of us need to work to survive and often in jobs that pay the bills, yet tend to be lacking in the self satisfaction area. I am lucky to be part of a company that does care about its people, celebrates success and allows you to have a work life balance. However, I have been in the work force long enough to know that that is not the norm. While most people don’t love what they do, there are some that actually do like going to work every day. However, even for those people there is often a hole that needs to be filled somewhere in their heart to complete them as a person. That is where the program comes in for me.

I have been in the drug management industry in one way or another for over 30 years. Managing prescription programs and connecting doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and medical records comes with its own rewards. Yet, it never quite rises to the level of feeding the soul. I was always looking for that one thing to complete me, to give me purpose and help me understand my place on earth and why I am here. That is probably the same for a lot of people. For me it finally came when I was 52 and dealing with my grandmother’s dementia in a way that I would have never expected. Almost three years later, while I am at times exhausted, I feel like I am emotionally complete and I have put the pieces of life together to make it whole.

Sometimes, we just need that one extra thing that seems to be missing. That one contribution that could be the piece of the puzzle that gives us what we need to round out what may be an already amazing life. It does not have to be something big or grand. It could be some small contribution to a larger cause that gives your soul that little bit of food it needs for nourishment.When you consider every card artist, donor, decorator, volunteer, civic, school and corporate participant in this program, you start to see how those individual pieces become part of something much greater. They are the almost 33,000 cards that we have delivered this year. As such, they are part of a much greater good.

If you are looking for that one thing that seems to be missing, I challenge you to seek it out. Give it a try and see if it is the thing that you have been looking for to help complete this amazing thing that we call life. I tell people all the time that my day job feeds my stomach, the program feeds my soul. I hope that you too can find that one thing that will do the same for you.

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

Ron

“I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apology, this is me”.

The greatest thing about taking some down time is that you get a lot of time to think. This past week while I was away, I had an opportunity to watch the movie “The Greatest Showman” again with Hugh Jackman. A movie about P.T. Barnum, with some pretty amazing music. The anthem of the movie is a song titled “This is Me” and I have attached the first rehearsal of the song so you can take a look for yourself. Although I have seen the movie several times, for some reason this time it really hit home.

Each of us in our individuality is a gift to the world. We all have something that we contribute in one way or another, sometimes without realizing it. Often it is sharing our God given talents, while other times we discover something we are capable of that we weren’t even aware that we could do. Our reason for being here is often not understood until later in life, but I promise you there is a reason for each and every one of us. When we finally do discover that reason, what a beautiful thing it is.

We all have our warts.  There are sides to all of us that may not sit well with others, while there are other sides of us that amaze and delight people. However, we come as a package and to accept us requires engaging with the whole rather than just those parts that we like. We have to live a life that we are comfortable with, one that nourishes our soul. If we do that, and do right by ourselves, other people and the universe, there is no reason to ever apologize for who we are. We absolutely make mistakes. However, the true test of being right with ourselves is when we take the opportunity to learn from those mistakes to make us better.

At the end of the day we all have to account and atone for our actions. How we treat people and take care of the world and those around us has to be something that we feel right about. We never need hide who we are as human beings as we are all going through this life together, one step at a time, learning as we go. Never hide in the shadows and always be proud of who you are. Always remember, “I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apology, this is me”!

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

Ron

Yesterday, on my Facebook news feed this image came up that I posted a year ago. It said” The most dangerous risk of all – the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” Going through the Lymphoma diagnosis with my dad made this reminder even more meaningful than it was a year ago.

How many times during the course of our lives do we pass on doing what we actually want in the moment, in hopes that we will get to it some day? Opportunities come our way to have experiences that we simply put off till tomorrow, in hopes that we will get to it at some point. However, when tomorrow never comes we find ourselves wishing we had, rather than enjoying the memories of what could have been.

When is a better time than right now to do the things we want? How do we know years from now our desire will still be there? In fact, how do we know that our circumstances wont change that make it impossible to enjoy what might have been? We don’t… and that is the issue.

I believe that life is made more meaningful by living it to the fullest. When it presents us with opportunities, we owe it to ourselves to maximize those opportunities to nurture our souls. Positive life experiences are what makes it meaningful. At the end of the day a meaningful life is what we all strive for.

The next time that you are presented an opportunity and you hesitate, ask yourself if you can guarantee that the opportunity will present itself again? Are you positive that you will be in the same position to accept and enjoy it if it does? If your not so sure, try something novel and grab the opportunity while you can and in turn make your life just that much more special.

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

Ron

Throughout the life of the Bring Smiles to Seniors Program I have always said that one of the goals of this program is to ensure that those that “paved the way for us” are remembered and reminded that they are loved and cared about. Today I wanted to share with you exactly what I mean by that.

History has shown us many generations over the years. Each one born into this world going through their lives hoping to leave the world a little better place than they found it for future generations. Many people have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. They go through life hoping that they can leave the world in a little better shape than they found it for their families. Some generations do a great job, some not so great. However, in most cases the people in each generation worked in many ways to pave the way for the future that we all enjoy.

Some people worked multiple jobs so that their families could eat. Some served in the armed forces to protect our freedom. Some created cures for debilitating diseases and others made discoveries that changed the very way we live. Mother’s took care of homes and children, sometimes while working themselves. Fathers took care of their families and provided so that their family could have a good life. The list is never ending.

In each generation laws are passed, advancements are made and technology is developed, all done by the generation before us that paved the way for our lives to be a little better. When those individuals become the aging generation, it becomes our responsibility to be the ones that respect and remember the sacrifices they made so that when their time comes, it comes knowing that they are cared for, loved and remembered. They leave knowing that they are appreciated for the contributions they made and that they have been acknowledged for the love they gave.

Posthumous love serves no purpose. It is important to show the love while they are still here and that is why we do what we do. Every card that is delivered with yours or a child’s message inside is a reminder that we appreciate them. It is our way of showing that we care and that as long as we can keep going they will be reminded that we appreciate the fact that they paved the way for us.

Take a moment and remind that special someone that paved the way for you today. Both they and you will benefit from that acknowledgement and that in itself will be the reason someone smiles today.

Ron

Sometimes life is so full that we forget to recharge and take care of ourselves. I used to feel guilty about going away and leaving everything behind, but as I have gotten older I have learned that it is not only pleasurable, it is necessary. Going constantly was not such an issue when I was in my 20’s, however as I move out of my mid 50’s it isn’t quite so easy.

I never really understood how people work twelve hours a day and go for years without ever taking a vacation. The toll that it takes on your body, not to mention your mind and soul, is sometimes not realized until much later in life and often when it is too late. Our minds need rest and rejuvenation to keep us operating at our optimal performance.

I have often wondered what the point is of getting to the end of the year and having a full vacation bank balance. I would imagine that most people don’t get to the end of their work career and look back and say that they wished that they worked more. Isn’t it better to get to be able to look back and have all the memories that were created in those times that you were able to actually get away and enjoy?

The funny thing about work is that we think that things simply can’t run without us. Yet, when we get back from work everything is right there where we left it and we pick up and go on about our business. There are definitely times when work pays us back for taking a vacation. The hundreds of emails and calls to return take a while to deal with. However, just imagine dealing with all those tasks without ever having taken down time at all.

I no longer feel guilty for taking time off. I can tell when my body and mind are talking to me and telling me that it is time to stop. The difference now is that I actually listen. With that my downtime begins tonight and runs until November 19th. I will be setting up some of my favorite posts to repost during that time. I hope you take a little time to recharge as well.

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

Ron

In our lives there are many variations of the drive that people have within themselves. Some have an unending push to always excel at everything. Some work to be successful, but are content with balancing life and work and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Others just coast in hopes of making it through each day until they get to the next. Each has it’s positive and negative aspects and each maintains a level of drive to varying degrees that achieves what they are trying to accomplish, no matter the level of effort required.

When determining whether or not each of those different levels of drive is successful, you have to really understand what the measurement of success is. What is considered successful for you may not be the same for another. We also fall into the trap of measuring another’s success by our own standards, which may not always be accurate. Would you consider a person who works 14 hours a day, lives in a large mansion, has more money than they can spend yet has no time for their family, lives on antidepressants and never takes a vacation successful? How about a person that gets up in the morning, performs their 9-5 job admirably, pays their bills, attends their children’s extracurricular events, yet spends everything they make and lives one lost paycheck from poverty? Or, how about the person that gets up, goes to their restaurant server job, pays their bills, spends time at the beach, hangs out with friends and generally enjoys life?

By their standards, all of these people might consider themselves successful. Yet, when we evaluate them by our own standards we potentially see things very differently. My point is that success is not something to be defined by others, it is something that is determined within our own lives. If we are maintaining the appropriate drive to get us to a level of satisfaction with our lives, where we feel that we have accomplished our objectives, whatever they may be, then by our own definitions we have achieved success. It is when we use others definition of success to attempt to achieve levels that are not even possible in our own lives that trouble begins to happen.

Success should be determined internally, personally and within the confines of our own lives. Drive is innate within us. Some have more than others and it is because of that drive that some achieve more than others. That doesn’t make one right or wrong. It just means that the level of success for one individual can vary greatly from one person to the next.

Take a look within. Are you driving yourself to be the best you can be by your own standards? Or, are you driving yourself to a level of success that is determined by others and potentially unachievable. We often unnecessarily set ourselves up for failure by putting undue pressure on ourselves to achieve levels of success that are not possible. At the end of the day, if you can lay your head on your pillow at night and say “I did my best”, even though you may not have accomplished all you would have liked, that is true contentment and an admirable drive to success.

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

Ron

For those of your that receive my posts via email – I hit enter before I was finished editing. The editing errors have been corrected on the online version. It’s early. 🙂

Yesterday, I wrote about my experience with the Jewish faith and that got me to thinking about compassion as a whole. Or more so, the lack of compassion that we see around the world today. It made me wonder what has happened in our universe that compassion becomes secondary to everything else, while hate, vitriol and violence is on the rise and left to go unchecked. The basic question is, where did the compassion go?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that compassion still exists, but is often drowned out by the 24 hour news cycle that chooses to feed on the fears of humanity rather than uplift the souls of the many. Bad stories gain viewers and garners interest, good stories don’t sell advertisements. There is a reason that you have to watch all the way to the end of most newscasts to find the feel good story of the night.

The thing about compassion is it is free. It does not cost a thing to show compassion, do a good deed, make someone feel good or just care about your fellow person. However, if that is the case, then why is it so hard to find? I am a firm believer that the art of compassion starts at home when we are growing up. If we are exposed to it, then the natural compassion we are born with grows and is nurtured as we mature. If we have no exposure to it and we grow up void of compassion, what else are we to know until we have some life event that alters our course?

Giving, doing, caring and assisting all create feel good endorphins that cause us to want to do more. There is a reason that we feel better about giving a present than we do about receiving one. The act of compassion feeds the soul in a way that receiving or taking never could. Doing for others rather than having done for you (there is a parable in there somewhere) creates that exhilaration that causes us to want expand on our compassionate acts.

People will say that compassion is gone or dead. However, that is not the case. Compassion exists, you just have to look a little harder to find it in the mire that surrounds us. If you don’t see it, work a little harder to find that compassion within yourself and soon your eyes will be opened to all the compassion around you.

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

Ron

After the horrors of Pittsburgh, I thought it was timely to write about about my experiences with the Jewish faith and how my life has been touched over the years by that faith in so many ways. I am very fortunate to have many Jewish friends and to see a community ripped apart, such as what happened in Pittsburgh, tears at my soul.

In my senior year of high school, part of my senior trip included a stop in Germany where I had the opportunity to visit the concentration camp in Dachau. If you have never been to a concentration camp, it is impossible to describe the feeling that you get while standing in front of the ovens where so many people of the Jewish faith were burned. The barracks, the courtyards, the gas chambers and the stark reminders of very dark days all make for a bold realization that this horrible event was real, powerful, sad and unnecessary. The air in the camp was heavy and cold despite the camp being set in southern Bavaria, some of the most beautiful country in the world. As I stood there I realized that I wasn’t Jewish, but it hit me just the same and I realized that I could be.

Fast forward 30 years and I find myself standing in the middle of the Jewish cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic. After my experience in Dachau so many years earlier, I needed to educate myself more about the this era that some foolishly denounce as never happening while others faced it first hand. As I stood among the broken tombstones in the cemetery and saw the desecration of what should have been most sacred ground, I cried. I wept for those that lacked a basic understanding of human decency to accept people for who they are, what they believe and who they love.

Inside the children’s museum in the cemetery I saw the writings of the children that had a hope for a better tomorrow. I saw the drawings, the color and the resilience in the face of adversity at a time when their hour was most dark. It was then that I again understood that I wasn’t Jewish, but I could be.

Fast forward another few years and once again I find myself immersed among the Jewish faith as I learn to play and love the game of Mah Jongg. An ancient game brought to modern times that comes with a sense of community, compassion and love that is hard pressed to find in today’s times. I get to be around some of the most amazing women (and a few men) on the planet. They are there for each other in their times of need, celebrate successes, support each other in their causes and accept those of non-Jewish faith as if they were their own. They are rich in history, cemented in belief and full of love and understanding.

Our ability to grow as human beings comes from the compassion and love that we show towards others. We don’t have to agree with who they are, how they live their lives or what religion or political affiliation they have. We however have an obligation to let others live in peace with their own lives, following their own paths that feed their heart and nourish their soul, while we do the same with ours.

Growing up my doctor was a Jewish man in a small town in Florida that didn’t even know what the word Jewish meant for the most part. My boss who hired me into my last job was a Jewish woman who went on to become an amazing part of my life. Now I am surrounded by many Jewish women on a regular basis that love and support me for who I am and ask me to be nothing different. In the picture below, as I stood in front of that children’s museum in Prague wearing the traditional yarmulke, I knew I wasn’t Jewish, but I also knew I could be.

This is for you Sherri, Fern, Bonnie, Judy, Judi, Shell, Lynor, Sydell, Pittsburgh and so many others who play an important part in who I am. I love ya.

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

Ron

My sister-in-law Debbie finds the best posts. Many times these posts become the catalyst for what I am going to write about. Other times my writing subject is a result of something that has happened during the day, a memory that came back to me, or just a thought that hits me that I want to share. Coming off an amazing week of celebration for my team and I, and knowing the impact we have on others, this post in particular really hit home.

In this big world that we live in, we often feel like a small fish in a very big pond. We go about our day doing what we need to do, taking care of life’s business and working hard just to survive. It is very easy to take for granted the impact that we have on other people’s lives that we don’t even realize. There are many times throughout the day where we do good deeds that affect others that go unnoticed in our own minds. Whether we held the door open for someone entering a store or provided a kind word to someone that made a difference in how their day was going to go, we had an impact on that person.

It is amazing to me how often thoughts of things that have happened in the past come back into the memory. An act, gesture or word that someone did or said that may have happened long ago suddenly pops back into your memory as if it were yesterday. Suddenly, you find yourself standing in front of that person again as if it were happening live at the moment. Somewhere in our brain we store those moments and they seem to resurface when they are needed most.

Every interaction with another person contains the possibility that what we do is going to have a lasting impact on them. Be it good or bad, what we may think to be insignificant can actually wind up being one of the most significant moments in that other person’s life. That makes it all the more important that we consider the consequences of our actions and words before we express them. Unfortunately, our minds do not have the ability to filter out all the bad and only remember the good. The bad interactions find a home in the brain as well.

None of us are insignificant. Our ability to impact others is often beyond our imagination. As you go throughout your day today try hard to be more aware of what impact you are having someone else. That awareness will often keep you from engaging in an action that will be detrimental to both you and the person on the receiving end. However, on the positive side it could provide you an opportunity to experience the impact you are having first hand, and that provides fuel for more of the same behavior. You have more influence than you know.

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

Ron