Daily Mood Quote - May 17, 2011

Daily Mood Quote

Day Thirteen – May 17, 2011

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
~William Shakespeare

Greatness is in everyone of us. It is the everyday Mom who listens to her children when there is a problem or question; the Dad who helps with the tough homework, the sibling or friend, who takes the time to compliment. Its the boss who says, "thank you." Its in the stranger who shares a smile, or holds a door open. You don't need to be a famous name, known worldwide, to be great. You don't need to hold a nationally known title to be considered great. Each of us “ordinary people” possess the greatness to positively affect someones life everyday.

In the movie “Mr Holland's Opus,” Mr. Holland (played by Richard Dreyfuss) was an ordinary person, who sought fame and riches through his music.  Instead he found greatness in his little town, by being the music teacher at John F. Kennedy High School. Gertrude Lang (played by Alicia Witt) former student and governor said this:

“Mr. Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know. But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent. Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his. And this was going to make him famous, rich, probably both. But Mr. Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.”

Greatness is built one kind act, on top of one caring act, on top of one thoughtful act... We can all be great if we take it one simple outreach at a time.

How will you be great today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Daily Mood Quote - May 12, 2011

Daily Mood Quote:

Day Eight- May 12, 2011

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”



~Steve Jobs

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

~ William Shakespeare (Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–82)

The lesson is timeless, but somehow folks can't seem to grasp its true value.

When I was a little girl, I went to my parents and told them “I want to grow up and be nun.” My mother laughed and my father said, “sure a n-o-n-e nun” and walked away to get a beer. I'm glad they got a good laugh out of it, but I was serious. Well, needless to say things “turned out different” (thanks Roy Hobbs in The Natural), I am not a nun, I went in the other direction, I am the mother of five children and have been in love with the same man for nearly 30 years. I guess it's a good thing I didn't become a nun, as usually they don't have children.

The point is “be true to yourself first.” Everybody that you know, or meet, is going to have an expectation of you. Well-meaning, or not, self-serving or not, their views will never ever be the true you. That has to come from inside of you, from your heart. We are each unique individuals and we have to be true to our best selves first, regardless of other people's expectations. When we try to be anything else, we will not only miss our true calling in life, we will be dooming ourselves to failure regardless of whatever “success” we may achieve in life. Each of us has a unique purpose, mission and destiny in this world. When you try to be everything for everybody, or fit someone else's version of you, then, you can never be the person you are supposed to be. Mother Theresa was being true to her core person, it just turned out that it was to help millions. If she would have tried to fit into someone else's mold, good or bad, chances are those people may have never received help. We are only given so much time in this world, we must be true to who we are in that time. We all have roles to play and goals to achieve; lets be sure that those roles and goals are yours. Don't worry, the universe will provide someone else to fill in the other roles you are not. That's a fact.

Tune in tomorrow to read the Daily Mood Quote