BEING BOLD

It was an interesting week as I came upon two ideas that called to me. I crafted drafts for two newsletter, but it wasn’t until early this morning that I made my decision.  There were three things that finalized it.  The first was the coffee in the hotel lobby at Penn State Saturday morning.  It was the BOLD morning roast. The second was a comment from a golfing partner, “Screw that course management crap, be BOLD, go for the pin.”

COMPASSION

Like many of you I have been watching the devastation brought about by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.  The compassion shown by individuals, organizations, local/state/federal government agencies, and even other nations is amazing. People reaching out to others in their time of need, homes being opened to the displaced, businesses dedicating their resources to relief, and abandoned pets being flown or driven thousand of miles to waiting homes.  So why does it take something like a storm or some other type of disaster for compassion to become so evident?

FINDING YOUR INSPIRATION

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those in the field of education periodically have a unique opportunity; to serve as a student’s teacher at one point in our career, only to find that in a later point in time the student has become the teacher. Such is the case with Amy, one of my former students who returned to our community in 2006 as a teacher.

PASSION

Earlier This week I was driving to the gym listening to some music that I hoped would energize me. Suddenly there it was!  The song that would stick with me throughout the workout.   The moment I heard the introduction I knew it, so I cranked up the radio and sang along.  Rod Stewart was signing about Passion!  Later as I began my writing I looked closer at the lyrics.  These jumped at me,

There’s no passion, I need passion

You need passion, We need passion

Can’t live without passion

Won’t live without passion

Can’t live without passion

Even the president needs passion,

Everybody I know needs some passion,

Some people die and kill for passion,

Nobody admits they need passion, 

Some people are scared of passion,

Yeah passion.

EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITY

It’s another day to excel, and you may never get this opportunity again.

If you have the opportunity to visit my website  this is the statement you find on the home page. Over the next few weeks the site will be revised to reflect the impact of some opportunities that I chosen to embrace during this first year of retirement.  Simply put, it’s been a year of opportunity.  I’ve developed some new skills (sailing), pursued some on-line coursework (Penn’s Positive Psychology program), established a growing readership for our newsletter, and pursued a number of volunteer opportunities.