Clearing-up some small details

Today our softball practice was cancelled due to the standing water on the fields. It would have been our first practice; getting ready for the Hurricane Showdown Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale.

Anyway, now I've got plenty of time to go and workout. Also I figured I would use the day to get a bunch of stuff ready for Phillip King, my Editor.

We continue to get interest in the Applause for Anger project. If you know of someone who might be interested, have them email me teamedward@yahoo.com

Welcome Tommy Sweeny, Author of the Jacaranda

The following is an excerpt from Jacaranda, by Tommy Sweeny. I read it years ago and promised to use it in my books if ever I got published.

The story is self-explanatory, two people meeting while one is on vacation.

Jacaranda

To what angel do I yield?

That day I leaned on the trunk of that tree –you were miles away
. . . across that purple city
– I photographed some ants toting the violet blooms down the trunk
to their hiding space
and I wondered what we would have for dinner
later that evening when I returned home
and would surely have to knock, key or not, as the doors and the
keys down in your country are strange.
Do they eat those, I wondered.
Those purple buds –those tokens of the time we shared -- those symbols of your city.
They carried them on their backs like they were going to a feast.

We clung together as in a dream.
We cling together now from separate hemispheres.
Distance is discipline.

To what stern teacher do I aim
my gratitude for this lesson in fortitude?

Nothing is now nor ever has been as sweet
as the misery of continents.

(continued http://www.applauseforanger.blogspot.com/ )

Call for Submissions APPLAUSE for ANGER

We have started a collaborative book project.

If you know of someone who would like to make a short submission, have them email me.

The study is called Applause For Anger, and we are looking for short stories, poetry, and artwork. So far we have some great additions to the project.

The theme is beauty in anger, and the transmission of anger to strength.

raymacon@gmail.com

Ear Candy: "Anti" by John Brown

If you want to hear an underground song that will "...stick with you during these rough times", listen to "ANTI" by our close friend John Brown.

http://www.pappanutt.com/

Educational Moment/ BNI 10/21/2008

This morning I had to give a 3-minute Educational Moment to our Buckhead Business Network.
---------------------
Good Morning, I'm Ray Macon.

Today we are taking a short reading from Brian Tracy's book Be a Sales Superstar.

Brian grabs Dale Carnegie's coat tails and advises:

"...practice positive self talk continually. Control your inner dialogue. Talk to yourself the way you want to be rather the the way you are today. For example..."

Now this is going to seem like the corniest stuff you've ever heard at 7:22am!

"...repeat to yourself, I Fell Happy, I Feel Healthy, I Feel Terrific.

Remember 95% of our emotions are determined the way you think to yourself, most of the time. The way you feel determines how you behave.

And how you behave determines how much you sell." (Courtesy Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.)

Now I'm going to try and read your Inner Radios. I cannot. It's impossible to know the way you are thinking. So we cannot Coach Each Other to get better at it.

In fact, today the only scientific method, and is it even scientific(?) to understand your attitude is ask the old cliche' (pointing to glass on table) is this object, Half Full or Half Empty? It's a parable, a theorem for measuring your Outlook on Life.

I mentioned Dale Carnegie has anyone in the room taken a Dale Carnegie Course? In that course they teach you a phrase. Oh my gosh I've been so brain damaged by it, but it does work:
"If I think enthusiastic, I will be enthusiastic."

You're supposed to repeat that all the time before a sales call. Just before getting off the elevator, say it. It puts you in a peppy mood, and people want to buy from people who are peppy about their products.

My mother used to leave Post-It Notes around the house. Especially on the mirrors in the bathroom. I Love Myself. I Am a Good Person. I Deserve the Best.

She didn't need them for herself. See--she had already mastered the art of controlling her inner dialogue. She wanted other people to look at themselves in the mirror and want to say that.

I will close today with this one thought for you in this difficult economy. Maybe that's your one concern, but it's eating you up. You are thinking in your own radio "I'm just hangin' on by a shoestring."

I ask: are you hangin' on by a shoestring or are you A SURVIVOR?

Yes, you've surrounded yourself with success driven people and they--- too--- are Survivors!

I'm Ray Macon. ...and for the Record: I'm a Good Person.

Compliment and Kind Words from new Friend/Writer Elaine Callahan

Ray,

Hey!

I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your education advice this morning at the BNI meeting. Good advice, especially now.

I had read on yourblog your parents were Dale Carnegie instructors, but I wasn't sure if you were just pulling our leg! :)

All the best,

Elaine
Callahan Design

Poems with Issues

I'm trying to include Tommy Sweeny's lengthy poem, The Jacaranda, in my collection of Poems with Issues, APPLAUSE for ANGER. It's a great story about loving someone a half a world away.

The Site: It's R-Rated for Language. To take a peek, go to the following blog:

http://applauseforanger.blogspot.com/