Inspire Me Archives ~ Page 3 of 4 ~ Beth Terry

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

Living in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor is a Big Deal

Pearl Harbor, © 2015 Beth Terry — Pearl Harbor Flag flies above the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii

Living in Hawaii for 30 years gave me a different perspective on a lot of things. Pearl Harbor is no exception. So many people in the US forget about it, or, as one 20-something college student said to me, “Oh Pearl Harbor, that’s like a bombing or something that started a war, right?” Sigh.

I was dismayed back on 9/11/01, while sitting in my Hawaii living room to hear a mainstream media news anchor declare that “The 9/11 attack was the first-ever attack on American soil!” Really?

We forget history at our peril.

It’s fitting that a 74-year anniversary ceremony is being held today at the Arizona Memorial. I have met several of the survivors and their stories* still send chills down my spine.

We recently visited the Arizona Memorial again. It is a solemn and important monument that should be on everyone’s bucket list. There were Japanese from the Hiroshima area in our tour group, and they were not only very polite and respectful, one of them apologized to me for Pearl Harbor. I accepted her apology and then apologized for Hiroshima. We gave each other a little hug and went on our way.

Today is a good day to reflect upon and remember the ramifications of war for both sides.

Thank you to all of the Veterans who volunteer at the Memorial and keep the memories alive. May God Bless those survivors and their families on all sides of WWII, and on all sides of every conflict today.

* Be sure and watch all the stories on youtube attached to the ones I linked you to. It’s a sobering front row to history.

Blessings,

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

“Don’t die with a book in you!” Dan Poynter, RIP

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

At some point in every speech Dan Poynter would say that

©2015 Beth Terry, photo and High Flight Poem — Click photo to enjoy poem, High Flight

Dan Poynter was the best mentor any author could want. He made publishing your first book a possibility with ParaPublishing, a website with everything you need to get going. His resources were vast with how-to books, book shepherds, marketing gems and design advice. He gave me the push to get my first book out there – Walking in a Crowd of Angels.

I first met him in the 80’s in Hawaii when he came to speak to my authors group. We connected because my joke has always been, “I love to fly planes, but you’ll never catch me jumping out of a perfectly good one!” He spent most of the next 30 years trying to get me to come and do a jump. Never happened.

Dan Poynter was a parachutist, pilot, prolific author, mentor extraordinaire, speaker … and my friend. We lost him this weekend and the skies look pretty empty without him there. I miss you Dan!

Blessings,

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

Yesterday Ended Last Night for the Cubs

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

Congratulations Cubs for ending a 109 year streak!

Cubs Play Padres at Spring Training in AZ, March 2015

Spring Training in Arizona is a big deal. Games are being played all over the Phoenix Valley, signaling the beginning of weeks of excitement and “batter up!” The smell of the popcorn, the sunny days sitting out at the fields playing hooky from work, and the sound of the bat cracking the ball bring back memories from childhood. We scour the internet for tickets every year.

While watching the the Cubs play the Padres, my friend correctly predicted, “The Cubs could go all the way this year. You should take a picture of this game. They’re awesome already.” So there’s the picture above, my little cellphone snapshot of a team well on it’s way to breaking records.

Baseball is the quintessential American sport, and one of the best ways to watch real Team Spirit in action. We’ve all heard it before, but the Cubs put Team Psychology 101 into practice and it paid off. Last night you could see they worked it from the farm teams to the dugout to coaching styles: In essence, all the players and managers said, “We don’t quit, we tell them it’s time to step it up, we tell them we believe in them, we know we can do it. We have a great team.”

When anyone believes in you that much, it makes it so much easier to do the job right!

That’s a great reminder for all Managers!
Cubs Win at Wrigley Field! Watch here

One of the fans held up a sign that said, “No More Next Year!” That sums it up. This was a long time coming and a well deserved reward for what appears to be a solid team strategy from the top down.

Congratulations Cubs! It will be fun to watch you this year!

Cheers!

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

How Do You Impact People?

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

Even when you don’t realize it

© 2015 Beth Terry, EverybodysLost.com — You impact people more than you realize

Never mind all the new evidence about how we leave bits of our biological aura on people as we pass by them. We impact people just with our presence. Most of us aren’t aware of what’s called our “resting face.” That’s the look you have on your face when you think no one is watching. Yet others see your expression and it subtly changes their mood. I’ve seen this type of reflection happen in conversation. I’m an animated storyteller and have noticed times when I’m deep into a funny story that the person listening suddenly copies my expressions.

There was a book in the early 90’s called Emotional Contagion. The research showed humans will synchronize facial expressions with others as a way of connecting. (This is why some older married couples look alike! They’ve been copying each others’ expressions so long their faces stuck that way!) Once you change your facial expression, you’re sending messages to the rest of your body that influence how you feel. Thus the advice, “Fake it till you make it.”

Try it – sit up straight, pull your shoulders down and back. Then grin. Notice how that simple act will cause you to relax and feel slightly better. Now, slump forward, squint your eyes and glare at the screen. Notice again how that has changed your body subtly, and not in a good way.

Take this a step further: Why do some people get better service than others? Why do some people seem to have all the luck? Why did some students in your school do better with one teacher and not with another? Why do some guys/girls get all the attention at a club? Pay Attention. Is their “resting face” friendlier than most? Do they inspire other people to smile more? I’m writing a dating book and I’ve noticed when people can make someone smile and laugh, they have a higher chance of meeting/dancing with/ dating that person.

You Impact People. Your facial expression, your moods, your energy and the look on your “resting face” change how the people around you feel about you and about themselves. We change people just by being in their space (or on TV, or in a movie…) Thus my quote from my favorite 1970’s poet, Laurence Craig Greene. “They come, they go, they never know what they do… but they do change you.” And you change them. We can’t help it. We’re social creatures.

So – if your life just isn’t working right now, try dropping those shoulders and find something to smile about. Take a break and get your focus back. Give those sourpusses in your life a wide berth. Don’t spend too much time with them. (And don’t be one of them!) Better yet, find someone who makes you laugh. It’s good for your blood pressure and it makes this crazy world just a tiny bit better for all of us.

Cheers! SMILE!

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

How Do You Impact People?

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

Even when you don’t realize it

Cheers! SMILE!

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

Just a reminder: Super Moon tonight

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

Digg has a great recap on the Super Moon (Blood Moon) with links to several stories and times to watch it.

How to Watch the Super Moon

From the New York Times article

It Really is Rare – “A total lunar eclipse will share the stage with a so-called super moon Sunday night or early Monday, depending where you are. That combination hasn’t been seen since 1982 and won’t happen again until 2033.”

So put down that TV Remote, get out your camera, take a lawn chair, an adult beverage of your choice and enjoy this rare spectacle!

May something amazing happen in your life this week!

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

Catch the Promise of the Week

Posted on September 21, 2015 by — No Comments ↓

Happy Monday!

Mary Strong, photo by @Beth Terry — Catch the Morning breeze!

I love Mondays. The promise of each new week and new day is that anything can happen; opportunities abound; we are able to start fresh with new slate, new possibilities, and new ways of solving old problems. If you are lucky enough to take off the weekend, Monday morning can be a huge opportunity to see with fresh eyes.

One of my old mentors used to tell me to take my biggest problem and write it down just before I go to sleep. He would urge me to get as clear as possible about the actual problem. “Always ask yourself at least three times: ‘What’s the problem?’ And then don’t even try to come up with a solution. Just sleep on it.”

Amazingly, some of my best solutions have come to me in that liquid space between dreaming and waking. I have heard that great composers wrote complete symphonies upon waking. I have written some of my best speeches that way, and a novel I’m working on almost wrote itself one clear morning after a solid sleep.

So make sure you are taking care of yourself. Get enough sleep so you have a fighting chance. And enjoy your Mondays – they are filled with opportunities if you will just let yourself see them.

Blessings,

© 2015 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved

Never thought about that – Traffic Jams

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Beth Terry — No Comments ↓

The Kaleidoscope Effect – Everything has another side to it and nothing is as it seems

@2015 Beth Terry Traffic Jam view — Sometimes slow is a blessing

It was a usual drive-time-slow-jam on the freeway. I didn’t mind it when I was alone. It was expected and I usually would put on some Aretha Franklin music and dance to it in my car. But this day was different. I had a mainland guest with me and felt somehow responsible for the traffic jam. She was coming with me to work and was going to use my car while I was busy.

I muttered and swore under my breath at the idiots on the road who caused even more problems than usual on this sunny day in Hawaii. She ignored me and kept exclaiming at the beauty and wonder of scenery I had seen thousands of times.

“Oh! Look at those birds! They’re beautiful! What are they?”

Me, “Egrets. I don’t know how they got here. They don’t look like they could fly across the Pacific … mumble grumble mumble.”

“They’re elegant! They look like mini-cranes! Oh! Look at that, is that Pearl Harbor?”

“Yeah. Oh LOOK at that guy! He’s the cause of this traffic! Why doesn’t he pull his car to the side!”

“Is that why they call it Pearl Harbor? It looks like a gray pearl in the morning sunlight! WOW!”

“I don’t know. I think it had to do with finding pearls there before all those ships came in… Oh, come ON people! Don’t WALK YOUR CARS! DRIVE!”

“Look at that pink building up there! What is that? It looks like a Parrish painting. It almost looks like it’s floating in the middle of all that green!”

“Oh, that’s Tripler Hospital. I don’t know why they painted it pink. Prolly got extra paint from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Come ON PEOPLE!”

Traffic came to a complete stop and she put her hand on my shoulder. “Beth, you are so lucky to have slow traffic in an area as beautiful as this. All I see are semi-trucks on all four sides of me at home. If I didn’t have a sun roof, I wouldn’t even know what kind of day it was. And it’s usually smoggy and ugly. Here, you can look over there and see down the valley. You can look up to the mountains and see the beauty of Hawaii every single day on the way to work. Wow. You are so very, very lucky.”

I stopped grumbling and looked around. She was right. Time to wake up. People spend their entire life savings to come to the islands. I get to “go to Hawaii” every weekend. And during the week, I’m treated to some of the most amazing and beautiful scenery the world has to offer.

I never looked at traffic jams the same since.

How ’bout you?

Cheers,