?Email this article to a friend The Holidays are over, the kids are back at school and we are all headed back to our ?normal? routines. Will yours be different than last year? What is your intention? You can?t help, but notice that people think and act differently through the holidays. We are often reminded to be thankful for the people in our lives. Did you ever take the time to reflect and be thankful for amazing moments in your life?
Some moments are simple. Maybe it was seeing the eyes of a child open the perfect gift. Often we put lots of effort into creating that moment. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it does not. Sometimes it pays off in ways we do not expect.
I?m fortunate that my mom and dad are great people. They provided a good life for me and my brother and sister without very little means. In their golden years, turning into platinum, they want for very little, and I still want them to feel joy as often as possible.
Whenever I travel I shoot ?behind the scenes? videos because my mom always asks me what it was like and what were the people like wherever my travels take me. I find it more interesting to show her with video.?? I even ask my audiences a favor while waving to my video camera and say, ?Hi.?
The challenge is getting mom to click and see the videos. Now, my mom and dad are older and not very tech savvy. My dad gets emails and can click, but that is about all. He checks email maybe once per week. (If only I could do that! LOL)
This holiday I was home visiting my family back in Boston. I kept asking mom and dad if they watched the video. They say they are too busy. As part of my visit I decided to sit mom down and watch them with her. The cutest moment came when mom was watching the video and the audience waved and said, ?Hi Darren?s mom.? I turned to see my mom?s reaction and she was beaming ear to ear and literally waving back.? Priceless. I realized that if she had watched it on her own I would never have seen her wave. For that moment, I?m thankful.
Some moments are life-changing. One that I keep coming back to me happened while preparing for the World Championship of Public Speaking. As if the pressure of the contest is not enough, at the top level of the contest you must write a completely new speech.
Starting to write a speech from scratch means you must go through some frustration and effort that ends up getting tossed. It is part of the process. Though I had an amazing coach with Mark Brown, I still had to feel my feelings including frustrations, victories and defeats.
I was leaving no stone un-turned and completely committed to the process. Along with getting coached and running four miles a day to help me handle the pressure, I also did daily affirmations and prayed. (It is legal in a speech contest to ask God for help.)
Tanya, my girlfriend at the time, lived in Putnam, CT.
While attending a mass at St. Mary?s in her town an amazing idea popped into my head. Bing! In the middle of the service I started enthusiastically nudging her to get a piece of paper and a pen from her purse. She did. I scratched out a few stick figures, one standing, one laying down and one standing up in advance of the first.
The idea was for the climax in my speech. At the end of the service we ran out side and placed her on the sidewalk looking up. I stood on the lawn atop a stonewall pretending it was the stage. I showed her ?the fall? in my speech and the point of falling forward and still making progress. She looked like a confused puppy. Out of context it didn?t make sense. In my mind I knew it was the answer I needed. I?m thankful for that moment. I?m also glad I prepared myself, asked for help and was in the right frame of mind to see it and capture it.
There is often much effort with no guarantee of payoff to create both simple and life changing moments. What are the simple and life-changing moments you are thankful for? Better yet, what moments will you create this year?even though there is not guarantee?
Please post your comments below? thanks!
Source: http://darrenlacroix.com/keynote-speaker-darren/stage-time-yeah-moments/
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