Vacation Time 2012

My Dear Reader:

Carolyn and I will be on vacation beginning Wednesday, October 31 - Thursday Nov 8.  We are going to Washington, DC.
I will resume posting on Friday Nov. 9.

If you wish to keep up with what we are seeing and doing, I'll post a daily DC Update blog on Up-Words Morning Notes so you can track with us.  This will begin Wednesday night, October 31.

Here is the link.
http://up-words.blogspot.com/2012/10/fall-vacation-2012.html


Be at peace.
Be encouraged.
Be gentle in all of your relationships.
Express the "I Love You" words often.

P Michael Biggs
Up-Words

The Birthplace for Innovation

43 Seconds

Where is the birthplace for innovation?

It is found in vulnerability. 

There are perhaps thousands of great ideas that have never seen the light of day simply because their creator failed to become vulnerable and show them to the world.  

Brené Brown, author of Daring Greatly tells us this:

“Vulnerability is the birth place for innovation, creativity and change.”

Vulnerability is no fun.  People can say bad things about us and take cheap shots at our ideas. 

We do it anyway.

We stick our neck out, step over the line, press “publish”, draw, create, invent or any other act that screams “vulnerable” yet launches some new something that we dare to launch.

That is the way we get things done.  Sooner or later we have to give birth or let our ideas die.

 Order Daring Greatly-Click Here!

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Outscored But ...

36 Seconds

Sometimes the scoreboard time runs out before we've racked up sufficient points.  And if we find ourselves behind, it would appear that we lost.

But did we really?

We only lose when we fail to step up to the plate.

We only lose when we give half our heart.

We win when we put it all on the line.

We win when we ring the towel dry.

We win every time we reach for the unattainable.

We win when we've done everything possible.

Believe it or not, we win, regardless of the score, if we've done our best, given the most, pushed the hardest, and fought bravely for every inch of the battle field.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time

First an Amateur

37 seconds

Michelangelo intrigues me.  I've read his biography by Irving Stone twice now and I’m still amazed at this man’s talent. 

But he wasn't always The Michelangelo.  He started as an apprentice in Florence just like other greats before and after him. 

…And he learned.

     …And he developed.

          …And he got better.

I could recount the stories of other “greats” who struggled, failed and rose again to greatness. 

Remember this –

Every artist was first an amateur.

 – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you an amateur?

Wonderful!

       -Learn your craft.

    -Borrow the best ideas from others.

  -Skate on the edge of your limits

-Make your talent your own

Maybe you too will become a great one someday.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Rise Again

22 Seconds

A wise person once noted:  “As long as you get back up more times than you fall, you’ll be okay.”

It’s the rising after a fall that is the critical piece.

-Mozart was told that his opera The Marriage of Figaro had “too many notes.”

-Thomas Edison was considered unteachable as a youngster.

-Albert Einstein was told by a Munich schoolmaster that he would “never amount to much.”

“Our greatest glory consists not in ever falling, but in rising every time we fall.”  

Oliver Goldsmith

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Imagination Takes Us Places

19 seconds

I love to be around imaginative people.  They think differently.  They do things differently. 

Where would our world be today without imagination?

Albert Einstein, a reasonably bright individual, once said this …

“Logic will get you from A to B.

Imagination will take you everywhere else.”

Where do you want to go?

What can you imagine?

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Broken Wings Cause Crashes

27 seconds

Have you ever seen a bird try to fly with a broken wing?  “Try” is exactly what he does, and without much success.  Wings are made for flying, when they are in good repair. 

A broken wing …

                       Not much good.

Kind of like dreams –

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die,

life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

Lanston Hughes

How can I encourage you to mend your broken dreams?

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

The Idea Catcher

29 seconds

One never knows when the perfect idea will strike for the next widget, gadget, or whatever it is that stirs your imagination.

Many famous individuals were avid note-takers.  They include:

Leonardo da Vinci

  Beethoven

    Jerry Seinfeld

Thomas Edison

  Mark Twain

    George S Patton

      Thomas Jefferson

George Lucas

  Ernest Hemingway

   Ben Franklin

I rarely leave home without my Moleskin.

Kevin Hall, in Aspire, says this:  “The best time to nurse an idea is at the time of its birth.”

Ideas are fleeting things.  Capture them quickly.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

Once Word at a Time

Follow this link to learn more about famous note takers.

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/09/13/the-pocket-notebooks-of-20-famous-men/

Kind Words

Kind Words

October 11, 2012

41 Seconds

Sometimes the best things come in small packages.  Like the gift of a few well-chosen words.  

John Wooden, the great UCLA basketball coach, was famous for coaching tips that were often less than five or six words per burst. 

Reminds me of this quote by Mother Theresa.

“Kind words can be short

and easy to speak,

but their echoes

are truly endless.”

Encouraging words have carried soldiers into and thru intensive battles.

Encouraging words have transformed men and women from a life of hopelessness to one of hope and stability.

I replay certain words that were said to me over thirty years ago.

Never underestimate the power 

of a well-spoken 

word of encouragement.

Words really can last an eternity.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Me Too

Me Too

39 seconds

The two most powerful words to say when showing empathy are the words “me too.” 

We put ourselves in the boat with our friend when we can honestly add these words. 

“Me too” says: 

  I know how you feel.

   I’ve felt that way before.

    I’ve done that too. 

     I’ve been through that also.

      I hate that too.

       I love that too.

Empathy, truthfully shared, is welcomed and needed when one is going through a crisis.

Empathy has healing.

Not codependence ... just healing.

Sometimes it’s nice to know someone else feels as you do and has lived to tell about it – or come thru it to new and better light.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Pay Attention

41 Seconds

Try this concept on for size.

Make a mistake – pay immediate attention to it. 

One of my new favorite books is The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle. 

Tip #22 in his book promotes this point.

Daniel says:  “People who pay deeper attention to an error learn significantly more than those who ignore it.”

Stories abound of famous athletes who have returned to the gym after a critical game to work on their mistakes and get better.  

Daniel also says:  “Take mistakes seriously, but don’t take them personal.” 

It’s not the end of the world, but it is a wonderful learning opportunity.

Deal with it.

Practice the correct response.

Move on to the next skill needing attention.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Order "Little Book of Talent" by clicking here

Imagination

34 seconds

Once upon a time, there was a little boy and a little girl with a vivid imagination. 

And all of a sudden, we have …

Airplanes

 Trains

  Computers

Smart phones

 Face Book

  Cameras

Star Wars

 Star Gazers

  Space travel

TV

Duct tape

   Donald Duck

Chat rooms

  Microwave ovens

   Crock pots

Test-tube babies

 Cloning

  Clowning

Shark Tank

 Glee

  Lady Gaga

Glue

 Religion

  Rebellion

Freedom

 Bondage

  Choices

Ice cream

 Chocolate pie

  Tofu

Wall Street

 Main Street

  Bourbon Street

 Statue of Liberty

  Statue of Responsibility

  Statue of David

Where will our imagination take us next?

P Michael Biggs

Offering Words of Hope

One Word at a Time

Wounds

27 seconds

Wounds hurt.  They need nurturing to help them heal. 

Sometimes we apply a balm to speed the healing.  Healing balms come packaged a lot of ways.

-Sometimes in a bottle

-Sometimes in a human touch

-Sometimes from a professional therapist

-Sometimes from well-written words

-Sometimes in prayer

-Sometimes in a song

-Sometimes in a sermon

-Sometimes in the mail

If you need healing from a wound, may it arrive soon.

That is my prayer.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

More Thoughts on Thinking

41 Seconds

Thinking is dangerous.  We might change some things when we think too much. 

-Some thought Hitler was a miracle worker.

-Some thought man could never withstand the G-forces on a trip to the moon.

-Some thought that stoning was a suitable punishment for crimes.

-Some thought taxation without representation was a good thing.

-Some thought smoking was cool and could do no harm.

What we think matters.

Do you accept the thoughts of others Carte Blanche? 

Do you think for yourself?

Do you form your own opinions?

Hope your mind is not in neutral.  We need everyone engaged, in gear, paying attention and doing their own work on all issues at hand. 

Thinking is dangerous.  It sometimes leads to change. 

We are always better for thinking things through and then acting on our thoughts.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time