Thank You for Calling My Son Gifted

My twelve-year-old son "D-Rock" plays basketball, and this year he is with a new team and organization.  After a Saturday scrimmage, one of the fathers, “Bill”, noticed D-Rock’s form was off and offered to help him correct it.  Bill spent an hour with m son and it made my day to watch another parent take time out of his day to help.  During the session, Bill turned to D-Rock and said, “You got this; you are gifted.”  D-Rock smiled at him, visibly brightened.  Once we got in the car, the first question he asked was, "Mom, what does ‘gifted’ mean?"  At first, I felt a bit saddened that my son didn't know the word, since I have never told him he is gifted.  But once I shared that being gifted means you are very special and talented, his eyes lit up.  I could tell he wasn't used to such positive affirmations.  And I was thankful beyond words that those 3 words were spoken to him from someone other than me.

Every child in the world needs to be told they are gifted - because they are.  Every child should be reminded over and over that there is something unique about them, and they should be reminded about this from someone other than their parents. Corporate moms, find out what makes your friends’ kids special, and remind them that they are gifted.

Quote

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your transformation.
Lao Tzu

Life

You don’t get to have a life, family and a nice job without stress and discomfort, it’s the price you pay for being human. Deep concept I paraphrased from Nora McInerny, as a guest on the Ted Radio Hour podcast. Listen to this quick, 1 minute clip to hear a positive perspective on tough emotions.

Corporate Ecology

The Harvard Business Review reminds companies that it's easy to forget about loyal employees during this wave of worker shortages. The article provides some tips for leaders to consider, including this powerful quote below:

"The marketplace for talent has shifted. You need to think of your employees like customers and put thoughtful attention into retaining them. This is the first step to slow attrition and regain your growth curve. And this does not happen when they feel ignored in the fever to hire new people or underappreciated for the effort they make to keep business moving forward."

On Family

This week, I’m sharing an article about Simone Bile’s parents. Simone's upbringing is not the cookie-cutter, biological-mom-and-dad-raised-me type. The story of her parents and her upbringing is inspiring and bound to put a smile on your face. Enjoy!

Disconnect

I recently bought a few books to help me disconnect more. I have tried for over a year to learn to “disconnect” and not much has changed beyond the occasional "I'm going to disconnect” moment - followed by the inevitably rush to my phone 20 minutes later to see what I’ve missed (which is usually nothing).

I am currently reading “How To Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price. The first half of the book explains why it's so difficult to disconnect, and the second half contains a 30-day plan for doing so. Here is a quote from the first half:

"Feeling bored or anxious? Check your email. Nothing there? Check social media. Not satisfied? Check a different social media account. And then maybe another one. Like a couple of posts. Follow some new people. Check to see if those people followed you back. Maybe go look at your email again, just in case. it's easy to spend hours on your phone without using the same app twice - or staying focused for more than a few seconds at a time.

It's worth pointing out that dopamine-induced excitement is not the same thing as actual happiness. But try telling that to our brains."

This book was published in 2018, and it’s amazing to see how relevant most of the content remains today in 2021.

Can I Leave You with a Song?

If you don't know Earth, Wind, and Fire - you can thank me later for the introduction below.