Do your thought patterns ever remind you of your car stereo when it’s set on the “seek” function?

You know, you push a button and the stereo tunes in to a station long enough for you to hear the song and decide whether you want to hear it. Either you push a button to keep it there, or your let it keep scanning.

Right now, my brain is on SEEK, and it’s only stopping at the Motivation Channels. Here’s why:

1. ALL PRAISE THE MAGNIFICENT MENTORS OF THE WORLD! I spent one hour with a most cherished mentor — and despite the cold, rainy day, I felt like the sky opened up, golden beams shot down and angels trumpeted my elevation to a new strata of success. “You just wanted to hear yourself think,” this most admired person said, after so eloquently and brilliantly summing up EXACTLY how I felt. But somehow, this assessment — sprinkled with gilded wisdom — affirmed, inspired and energized my outlook and actions in a whole new way. Does this person know the power of their words expressed to me over many years?

Do YOU know the power of your own words that you speak to children, teens, college students and ambitious professionals?

That power is magnanimous! Infinite! So speak! Sometimes all we need to catapult us to the next level is to hear someone else — someone we admire and respect — express what we’re already thinking and doing. If you have a mentor or accomplished person whom you admire, seek his or her guidance and advice. Express your gratitude with the success that you achieve; their spirit will sparkle within you.

I know that all the folks who have shared words of wisdom, motivation and inspiration over the years — will have front-row seats at the first black-tie premieres for my movies. Through my accomplishments, we will celebrate their greatness.

2. THINK OF FUNERALS AS LESSONS ON LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE. Friday evening, I attended a funeral to honor a prominent lawyer who lived 60 glorious years until cancer stole her final breath. As my mother and I sat in the standing-room only church service, Kathleen McCree Lewis was celebrated by friends, family and clergy as the quintessential modern woman who gracefully had it All.

Speakers shared detailed accounts of how she:
• achieved a stellar, pioneering legal career (which included a nomination by President Clinton)
• thrived as a Mom by raising two children and volunteering at their school and clubs
• dazzled as a wife to a successful lawyer
• nurtured friendships and volunteered in civic organizations.

Excellence and integrity sparkled over her every word and action; she exemplified success at the balancing act that so many Mothers with Careers endure.

I left the service feeling tremendously inspired that I had the privilege to witness this eloquent summation of an extraordinary life. Yes, funerals are sad. But they are a wonderful motivation to cherish every moment with your loved ones — and exemplify excellence in all that you do.

3. LOVE YOUR MOMMA! After the funeral, my mother and I enjoyed dinner at Union Street, one of our favorite restaurants. It was just the two of us, talking and laughing about life and love over her nachos and my spinach-steak salad. We had recently watched the tear-jerker movie Evening with Meryl Streep… a touching tribute to mother-daughter relationships, dreams and death. Watching it in our cozy cottage before closing up for winter made it even more special. The point? You can learn so much from the woman who gave you life. Ask her questions, listen carefully to her answers, and let her decisions and dreams motivate the way you live your life. Appreciate the sacrifices that she’s made… the wisdom she can share. Make every day Mother’s Day!

4. NEVER GIVE UP! Just when it seems like you’re adrift in an endless sea, lost to all radar and satellite detection, you may sail into a port that’s more glorious than your most opulent imaginings. One of my closest friends — who works in entertainment — recently experienced a disappointing dearth of work. Thanks to affirmations, his proverbial ship sailed into a flurry of awesome job offers! I have another friend, an artist, who epitomizes that saying, “when it rains, it pours.” Their success is powerful motivation — it bolsters faith that those dreadful days when the phone wasn’t ringing — will become a distant memory as your line is blowin’ up with all those long-awaited calls. That happened to me today — I had one phone in each hand, with cool business things happening on each line — and it was GREAT.

5. REMEMBER TO EAT RIGHT! I am the queen of healthy eating, but this week I ate some vanilla ice cream. Every drop was phenomenally delicious. I enjoyed several close-your-eyes-and-moan moments as the sweet creamy coolness made magic on my tongue. But the next morning, I felt like CRAP. Low energy, cranky, worried about where all those calories would land (I went for a long bike ride). And when I looked in the mirror, it appeared as though all that corn syrup had zapped some of my radiance.

After all, corn syrup is one of the top 5 things that Oprah’s Dr. Oz said to avoid.

Oh, I also indulged in my favorite Fall treat — candy corn. I hadn’t eaten any in years, so that first explosion of super-sweet goo was delicious. But then I had a sneezing fit. I felt itchy all over. I coughed. And the words CORN SYRUP gonged in my head. That stuff is wicked! I detoxed over the next several days with plenty of spinach, apples and brown rice. But I’m glad I ventured off God’s Diet* long enough for the reminders that eating JUNK makes you feel like JUNK. Fortunately, I lost my appetite for that stuff. My lima bean salad never tasted so good…

* I call my regimen God’s Diet (I think someone wrote a book with that title) because I aim to eat only what God created — fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, fresh meats, fish, nuts, oils. God’s beautiful Nature didn’t grow Cheetohs or corn dogs. For example, take a close look at the beautifulness of a banana–the rich yellow color, the various textures, the sweet scent. Eat it. Feel the energy and invigoration pumping through you. You want to take a jog, don’t you? Now do the same taste test with a chili dog. Which makes you feel better? The healthy boost of fiber, healthy carbs and vitamins? Or the greasy, processed stuff that has you laid out, lethargic, belching and grasping your bloated belly…

6. DON’T SUCCUMB TO FEAR! You know that TV commercial for Lysol disinfectant spray where computer animation shows huge worm-like bacterial growths writhing on doorknobs, pencils and other commonly touched items? EEEWWWWWW! Well that set my imagination into the paranoid zone when I visited a doctor’s office today for a check-up. All those super-hyped news reports about drug-resistant, deadly infections only fueled my fear fantasy more graphically. In my mind, every chair, elevator button and even the magazines were a virtual petri dish, waiting for someone to dip their fingertips inside to slather bacteria and viruses all over the place. YUCK! I didn’t want to inhale the stuffy air. But then I remembered that a super healthy lifestyle is excellent protection against common germs. And that we actually need germs to keep our immune systems revved on MAX. So I breathed… relaxed a bit. And pumped gobs of hand sanitizer all over my hands afterward…

Motivation is my station where I’m keeping my brain today
Positive words, inspirations, wise words, are what I’ll say.
Tune your thoughts to excellence and success,
And celebrate yourself for being your best!

Posted: October 30th, 2007 under The Bliss Report.
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I shivered with euphoria while dashing across the Ambassador Bridge (a mini version of the Golden Gate Bridge between Detroit and Windsor).

The sun had just risen over the Canadian horizon; it glimmered on the shining towers of downtown Detroit and on the blue river far below. My legs kept a quick, rhythmic pace with the patter of runner’s feet all around me. The clean, cool breeze kept my hair off my face.

And, more than an hour into the Detroit Free Press Flagstar Marathon, I was grinning. On top of the world!

My smile widened as I silently gave thanks, up toward the crystal clear blue sky, for being blessed with the physical ability to indulge my passion in the exhilirating sport of running. I laughed out loud, though, when I thought of non-running friends who would playfully ridicule the sight of me GRINNING while doing something they would consider torturous.

A short time later, while running through the riverside park in Windsor, I reached the 7 mile mark.

Yessss!

I felt like I could run forever and a day.

Prior to the race, I had decided to do the half marathon — 13.1 miles. But I felt so great, I flirted with the idea of going for the full 26 miles. In 2003, I ran 18 miles (I’d pledged to do 7 miles on a relay team, but it felt so good, I justs kept going).

Now, the Nike Air Max on my left foot hit the ground, then the running shoe on my right foot landed on the pavement, propelling me forward. Through the two-lane Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, beneath the Detroit River. A seemingly endless geyser of energy surged within me; my muscles moved in perfect unison. My heart and lungs, well conditioned from biking and running and swimming, pumped with perfect precision.

But when I came up out of the tunnel, back into the Detroit sunshine, my hamstrings tightened up. My heel got sore.

I’d run 10 miles almost effortlessly. But suddenly the finish line for even the half marathon seemed VERY far away.

So, as I walked the next 3 miles, I thought about how this experience felt so symbolic of life.

While writing a book, going through school, enjoying a relationship or marriage, dieting, working a job, or striving toward any goal… it can feel euphoric at first. As you make progress, you feel successful, invincible. You’re so sure that you’ll reach your goal, you almost feel like celebrating it now. There’s no doubt that this ecstatic state of affairs will continue forever and make you a winner.

Then suddenly, the writer’s ideas dry up. The student questions her major. Reality sours romance. Cravings for cookies pack some pounds back on. Disillusionment shadows the job. And your goal now looks like a mirage, shimmering in the far, impossible-to-reach distance.

That’s how I felt this morning.

I thought about asking one of the zillions of police officers along the route to please drive me to car. I considered calling my mother to come pick me up.

THEN ID BE QUITTING.

That thought blasted through my thoughts.

So I kept walking.

It was boring. I was alone. It was the least scenic stretch of the route. I was sore.

But I kept walking.

And thinking about how — when exhilirating experiences turn challenging — I keep going. I keep writing until I finish the book. I persevere through confusion to find answers. I get help to solve problems with people or situations.

One step after another, I passed the 11 mile mark… 12 miles… then, “Four blocks! You’re almost there!” shouted the wonderful people along the route who cheer on perfect strangers.

Throngs of people packed the sunsplashed cement canyon on Woodward Avenue. Their cheers echoed off the storefronts.

Metaphorically, they reminded me that when we stick with it, push through the difficulties, and make the winning dash to achieve our goals, we are rewarded with accolades.

At that point, it’s easy to forget about how hard and hurtful the final stretch had been. Nobody wants to hear about that, anyway. We just have to get through it, then smile and accept the cheers.

As I stepped under the FINISH LINE sign, I grinned. Someone wrapped one of those silver thermal sheets around me; I felt like a superhero in her cape. A nice woman awarded me with the shiny silver medal that hung down my frontside on a thick red, white and blue ribbon.

And I shivered again, with euphoria. With pride, accomplishment, and the thrill of doing something I love.

Being amongst 15,000 runners and just as many fans was exciting, too. So I walked — slowly — through the crowd, collecting the goodie bag of fruit and these awesome yogurt smoothies.

Basking in the sunshine, I wanted to burst into tears of joy.

“I did it!” I exclaimed.

I didn’t give up. Didn’t quit.

I kept going.

And that’s what we all need to do. In marathons. And in life.

Posted: October 21st, 2007 under The Bliss Report.
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