This surprised me......

I don't know about you, but it
is oftentimes not so easy to
live out what you've learned.

Let me explain.

While watching a special on
PBS a few years ago, I heard
Dr. Wayne Dyer share some
amazing wisdom that immediately
arrested my attention and
resonated deep inside of me.

He said,

"What others think of me
is none of business."

Now, if you are like me, you
love that kind of profound
insight. However, it might be
a little different when you
are given the 'opportunity'
to really put it into practice.

Yesterday, I got the
**opportunity** to put that
wisdom into practice.

I ran into a guy that I've
known for a while. I don't
know him all that well but
I've had a few short
conversations with him.

His name is Tony. Tony is
one of those kind of people
that doesn't speak up well
enough to hear what he's
saying. So being polite,
I do a lot of smiling and
ums, ahs, 'reallys?' and
the like.

Tony started telling me about
people that he didn't like
and believed were 'fake'.
I knew several of the people
that he was talking about.

I pointed out several good
things that I knew about
each one of these folks.

Well, this didn't set too
well with Tony and he
mumbled something about
me indicating that he thought
I was 'a fake'. I'm glad I
didn't hear it all.

He asked me if what he
thought of me offended
me. I responded with,
"Tony, how you feel about
me has nothing to do with
how I feel about you."

He said that he didn't
understand (I don't think
he'd ever heard that
response before. And
frankly, I'd never heard
it come out of MY mouth
before.)

I said, "Tony, do you know
what I appreciate and
admire about you?"
Eyes wide open and not
being able to look directly
at me, he said, "No."

I told him, "Tony, I've
seen you with your wife
before and I am amazed
at how much you two
obviously love each other.
How long have you all
been married?"

Tony started telling me
how he and Mary met
up in Wisconsin. He told
me in great detail all of
the events that led up
to them being married
now for over 30 years.

I listened to a wonderful
story that made Tony
feel great in telling and
likely, changed his mind
about me.

Why was I so surprised?

I was pleasantly surprised
that I got to 'live what I've
learned.' Its one thing to
get inspired by someone
like Dr. Dyer. Its another
thing to deal with 'Tony'.

I hope this helps you today.

I'd love nothing more than
to tell you that I respond
with wisdom all of the
time. But that's not the
truth. I don't. But
yesterday, to my surprise,
I did.

A friend of mine told me
once, "Wisdom is like
a wrist watch. It isn't there
to impress others nearly
as much as it is there to
serve me in telling me
the time."

Have a super blessed
day today and look for
an opportunity to act
wisely and lovingly towards
someone else. It will make
YOUR day amazing!

Much love,
Michael