Happy Friday Series Archives - Page 4 of 11

The Happy Friday Series: Sorrow, Happiness And Joy

09/27/2013 By Jayme Soulati

“Life has never been easy. Nor is it meant to be. It is a matter of being joyous in the face of sorrow.”

~Dirk Benedict

Let’s face it; we’ve all grown up hearing the mantra “Life is unfair,” over and over again. It likely began with our parents telling us this when we were very small children complaining about the gross unfairness of a playground game that didn’t quite go our way. And, it wouldn’t be so annoying if it wasn’t so true.

Most people can point out those unfair moments in life where they did everything right and things didn’t turn out the way they planned on a grand scale. For me, these moments string together with the birth of our older son who was severely handicapped through the end of his short life. It wasn’t fair that he had to deal with multiple physical challenges; yet, that was the hand dealt to him and us as his parents. It was our joy to help him navigate life around those challenges and now to pass along the things we learned during our time with him. Through him, I learned a very valuable lesson that I will carry with me and share as often as possible for the rest of my life.

The Lesson

What I learned is that there is joy in our journey even when we’re headed into unfamiliar, unanticipated and undesirable territory. As we took our first steps down the parenthood path, we had no inclination that our time with him would be so short. What became abundantly clear was that we were being given the privilege of parenting a very special young man who was an advocate for his community, a loyal and loving older brother and a bright light in the world. He would guide us, teach us and give us more than we did him.

Lance could have watched his younger brother Ben and been frustrated that he couldn’t walk and run like him. I’ll admit this would have been my unfortunate attitude. But, he didn’t. He chose to participate as a spokesperson for the United Way of Greater Dayton annual giving campaign in 2005. He was featured in videos, television commercials and newspaper ads. He chose to appear on the United Rehabilitation Services (URS) of Greater Dayton that same year in their annual fundraising telethon.

Lance was a giver and change maker. He gave unconditional love and happiness everywhere he went and to the lives he touched. Through memorial and equipment donations, a sensory therapy room was created at URS to help children and adults in the tri-state area improve their abilities.

To this day, he is used as an example in caregiver training to never assume that those with disabilities cannot do and to give everyone an opportunity to try. He did remarkable things in his time. When I think of my oldest child, I miss him dearly but I find great happiness in the lessons he taught me, the things he accomplished and the way his life has mattered even in his absence. He was remarkable and he didn’t even realize it. He simply did what came naturally to him. He cared and he gave. We can all do remarkable things when we face obstacles in our life with perseverance, determination and a positive attitude.

Your Time Matters More than You Know

Our time matters and not just to us, our families and our employers, but to our communities. There will always be more cleaning to do, another report to submit, bills to pay and things to be done in the yard. Be an agent for positive change in the areas that touch your life and find the joy and happiness that comes with giving with a pure heart your talents and energy. You are an amazing resource with lessons to learn from the paths you’ve chosen and those upon which you never intended to travel.

About the Author

Amy Fenning is a dedicated mom, wife, and marketing professional and is a self-professed reading and dachshund enthusiast. Currently living in Beavercreek, OH, she has been married to husband, Mike, for 20 years. They are the proud parents of the late Lance Fenning (2000-2006), Ben (11), Bonnie (6) and Sam (7). Amy has spent the last 20 years in the marketing profession and has served as a brand marketing manager with LexisNexis in Dayton for four years.

The Happy Friday Series: Disasters And Blessings

09/20/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Happy Friday!

The Happy Friday series is the brainchild of one of the brainiest chick I know, the #RockHot Jayme Soulati. I have been here a time or two, as have many others and we all speak to you (and each other) through our writing about being happy. What it really means, why you can be, should be, how to do it, how to get it back and how to live everyday just plain happy.

Are you happy?

I am. Yes! Now, many people, those who know me best, might read this (yeah, like if I twisted their arms, shoved their faces in front of the screen and threatened to take away their birthdays….) and say, “Huh? Who? You?! Happy? Pshaw.”

But it is true. I am very happy. (Hey! It is the face I was born with, quit pickin’ on me!)

Let’s be very serious for a moment because I want to impress upon you how important this is to understand.

This is “Cubby”. It blew up sitting on the ground. Cubby has been an Icon in Alaska for almost 30 years. It is also thought to be the lifeblood of Pioneer Outfitters. It’s jobs and responsibilities were enormous. A hero, Cubby has saved lives, numerous times. It could (and did) land anywhere in the remote wilderness of Alaska. Many times, Cubby was called upon to find lost people, lost aircraft and even lost horses or dogs in Alaska’s mountains.

RIP, Cubby, September 16, 2013.

Back to happy.

You may wonder how all of this strengthens my thoughts on happiness. It is very simple, really. Cubby, as valued and treasured as it was, was still just an airplane. A very special, experimental aircraft, but an inanimate object, just the same. Master Guide Terry Overly, known as the youngest old-timer in Alaska, was Cubby’s heartbeat. Master Guide Terry Overly, one of the last old-timers and mountain men of a largely gone era. Terry Overly, the only Father I have ever known and my children’s beloved Papa, was not in Cubby when it exploded into the flames that devoured it.

That is and always will be enough to enforce and enhance my happy.

Some of you may know me as the Manager at Pioneer Outfitters. Some of you may know of me through Social Media and all the different channels that I have frequented over the last few years, dealing with my own identity crisis, through Alaska Chick’s Blog and my first book titled, ironically, My Identity Crisis (Which by the way, the #RockHot Jayme Soulati actually named and helped me cure!).

As Alaska Chick, of Pioneer Outfitters Blog, I have most recently been sharing the trials, tribulations, wonders, blessings and dramas of the 7-week long 2013 International Horseback Adventure. I have also begun sharing the effects of that Adventure has had on Pioneer Outfitters 2013 Fall Big Game Hunting Season, and as the weeks to follow will come to show ~ it aint all been rainbows and unicorns here in the wilderness of Alaska.

Through it all however, one thing remains constant and prevalent: the blessings that surround us all, if we care to see them. The kindness in people, everywhere, towards strangers and friends alike and their own willingness to help as they can, anyone at all, because that is what people do. The beautiful world we live in and the moments that leave us in awe to witness are a blessing that surrounds us all.

What Cubby reminded us all at Pioneer Outfitters of, on the morning of September 16th, was that no matter how valuable, how needed something is or was, was that it was just a thing, a tool and something that could be replaced. Master Guide Terry Overly, a son, a brother, a Father and a Grandfather was so much more to us than a thing, a tool and something that could never be replaced.

As so many people have lost loved ones, and so many times our hearts break for ourselves and others for their loss, I wanted to share my own joy and yes, happiness, with each of you here, for the reminder of how simple happiness is. When everything else is taken away we all, each other and each of us, are what matters.

I wanted to share my happy with you all and I hope you have happy in your life today too.

About The Author (by Jayme)

Amber-Lee Dibble is one tough cookie and one of the most genuine wilderness women I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting. Reading her stories, listening to her free think in her blog posts, and her love of pink (my least fave color), make you want to squeeze her in a Midwest bear hug. Knowing that her excursions are more real than any of us can imagine makes me want to escape the continental U.S. and move to the outer reaches of Alaska where danger lies in frost bite and mosquito bites. Thanks, Amber-Lee for writing here a third time; you are welcome always. RIP Cubby and so sorry about your loss.

The Happy Friday Series: Without Woofs I’d Be Nothing

09/06/2013 By Jayme Soulati

The first thing that springs to my mind when it comes to happiness is the distinct lack of it in my life between 1986 and 2005. You see, a black dog often followed me wherever I went during those years. Not all the time, mind; but very often. And when it wasn’t there, I was the Three Muskateers: creative, dynamic, intense, a powerhouse of energy, a fighter.

Then the black dog would return, sometimes slinking up upon me, sometimes springing from nowhere.

Now this wasn’t the kind of black dog that licks your ear or comes when you call. No, this was like Winston Churchill’s black dog: a massive depression that sat on my back, suck its teeth into my very core and crushed me dangerously close to the point of destruction at four points during these years.

Early Spring 2004

I used to teach at the university. I’d dedicated all my early adult life to academia, pouring over books, writing, teaching, determined to inspire others just as I found inspiration. But one March morning, having just taught Seamus Heaney’s Midterm Break, it occurred to me that jumping out of my 8th floor office window felt like the right thing to do. The black dog had savaged me time and time again that winter, even though I hadn’t known it at the time, and now he had floored me. In that very moment I didn’t have the strength to fight him off once more. So I decided to put him to sleep, no matter what it took.

I don’t know what it was that got me out of that room; perhaps the experience of having been here or at moments very similar and even worse before. But out of that room I fled and I never went back to the university.

Instead I went home and walked in the forest. At least that’s what I remember.

Sweden can be immensely beautiful as spring rages into life after the long, dark winter. But this year the rain came, weighing everyone down. Still, somehow, I felt a sense of release.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to turn. So I kept walking the circle through the forest, trying to lead train the black dog once again, just a five minute walk from where I’m sitting now as I write this.

Eventually he slunk away with some help from a shamen. I dragged myself from my cocoon, translated a couple of books, wrote some articles for the newspapers. I started talking.

I also bought a basset hound.

2013

Anyone who knows me, whether it’s through my podcast, website, or in person will know that my four basset hounds are an enormous part of my life. They sit under my desk as I work. They drag me round the woods every day. Although I’ve been apart from them for a few days here and there, they are pretty much my constant companions. They bring me such happiness.

Watching them smile as they tear through the grass, their loose skin flaying, I want to wrap these moments up and treasure them forever. They are moments of intense happiness.

I’m blessed to have two grown-up step sons in my life, but I never really managed to sort myself out in time to have children of my own so the dogs are my true babies.

I’ve bred 18 pups the nine years I’ve had the woofs. Raising a litter of basset hounds until they’re ready to leave the nest means spending the first three weeks sleeping next to the whelping box, watching that mom doesn’t squash them 24/7 and being able to put life on hold. But I’ve done it and loved every minute of it. These have been moments of great happiness.

And happiness is what I’ve found growing a business, many days spent in my office, connecting with the people that work for and with me and with customers, stoically protected by the floppy-eared angels who’ve helped me keep the black dog at bay. It’s years since I walked with the black dog although I see him on the horizon from time to time.

Still, I couldn’t have built my business without Winnie, Aggie, Tia and Digby.

Being Happy to Share My Story

Being bipolar is both a curse and a blessing. It’s a blessing because sometimes I can feel so energised, so hyper that I really am like the Three Musketeers, able to tackle anything, do anything, conquer anything and that feeds into the immense creativity, determination and passion I run my business and (hopefully) bring to each project we do.

I also know that the subject of mental illness can make people uncomfortable, send them running away; friends, family and customers. Still, I’m always happy to be frank about my story, matter of fact if you will, because people who walk alongside a black dog can function and do succeed. Perhaps not all the time, but often. And that makes me happy.

About The Author

Dr. Jon Buscall runs Jontus Media, a marketing and design agency, out of Stockholm, Sweden. He regularly podcasts about Online Marketing from the Dog House Studio. See the podcasting gear he uses here. Connect with him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonbuscall or visit: www.jontusmedia.com. Access his blog here.

The Happy Friday Series: Generosity As A Strategy

08/30/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Generosity in Theory

Helping your fellow man is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Unlike traditional monetary exchanges, both parties leave the transaction richer. A Win Win.

It feels as good to give as it does to receive.

Generosity is cultural. We mirror the behaviour of those around us. Generous acts are contagious. Generosity is infectious. Kindness begets more kindness.

Keith Ferrazzi argues not to keep score in his best seller “Never Eat Alone”. It’s so true. To be truly generous it can require you to be less rigorous on how you filter – we need to let more ideas and options into our world so you can be more generous. Not every transaction is designed to bring immediate value. We don’t know who people know, or where a single new connection may lead. Generosity has a lens all of its own. Generosity is a growth strategy, but you need to be committed to generosity for the long haul – don’t expect quick returns.

Ted Rubin has it right with his Return on Relationship #ROR mantra. Investing in relationships pays dividends.

Whilst we should not keep score, we all ultimately have to place some limits on our generosity. We can’t all be generous all day long. We have to somehow choose how and where and why we are generous. We all need to make generosity a strategy. We need to be conscious about how we invest.

Generosity in Action

This week something really special happened that we just had to share.

If you follow our blog, you’ll know we recently created the “content audit” and have since completed audits for 100 top blogs. We have plans to do many more audits, with 30+ requests for audits outstanding (We’ve been offering a free audit for anyone that likes and comments on this slidedeck.

Well, this week I got into a dialog with Jackson Middleton of a kilt wearing Canadian Mortgage Broker from Regina. He had some technical questions about the image customization.

The photo hides the fact that Jackson is a fervent wearer of kilts.

Here’s what’s not shown in the picture above. I think that’s pretty cool!

I apologized that his audit was not ready yet. He was being very complimentary about our content audit project and offered to help complete some audits.

It’s funny, but when people offer, you often don’t take them up on their generosity (we often think people don’t really mean what they say – or we don’t want to feel obliged). I didn’t disbelieve Jackson for one minute, I just didn’t quite get the full force of his intent.

2 minutes later, he reiterated his offer and so I accepted. I dropped what I was doing and shared a batch of blogs and the instructions to complete an audit.

I was truly appreciative and he was only too happy to help. Win-Win.

What happened next was unexpected, intriguing and really rather charming.

Jayme Soulati noticed the list he’d made to audit her blog and wrote a post title “Use List.ly For Gifts And Curation” about how it was a gift.

I know Soulati via social media and I know Jackson via Listly and prior exchanges., but they didn’t know each other. They got into an exchange. In social there is nothing better than connecting your customers.

@kiltedbroker Good Morning! Did you do this @list.ly List.ly about my content?

— Jayme Soulati (@Soulati) August 15, 2013

@Soulati good morning Jayme. I had a great time looking through your last 25 blog posts helping @NickKellet with your Content Card.

— Jackson Middleton (@KiltedBroker) August 15, 2013

It’s funny how it happened as it wasn’t my intent, but connecting customer and cultivating community amongst Listly users is high on my agenda..

This dialog was not planned, and yet this is what social networking is all about – you have to let serendipity into the building. You have to give chance a chance.

Very shortly after, I noticed Merlin Ward was in a dialog with Jackson too. It turns out Jackson’s audit list of Merlin’s posts was Merlin’s top referral source for the day. I’ve know Merlin for ages, but Merlin and Jackson had not previously connected.

@KiltedBroker Jackson, thanks for curating my blog on @listly. You’re in my top 10 referrers today!

— Merlin U Ward (@MerlinUWard) August 15, 2013

@kiltedbroker I’m flattered and appreciate your support!

— Merlin U Ward (@MerlinUWard) August 15, 2013

There’s a trend happening here. It turns out that auditing people’s content is social. Both these connections came about because of a generous act.

Creating engagement is hard and yet here was Jackson making it look like child’s play. Generosity creates more generosity.

I also found the result of creating the audit to be highly social too. It created a lot of engagement and I deepened many of my existing connections, whilst making many new ones too.

What kind of study could you perform for your niche? Do you have a target list of people you’d like to get to know. Have you thought of ways of getting into a dialog with them?

The content audit does a good job of creating engagement and it’s universally applicable in an age where content is king. Would you like to create an audit of 20 bloggers in your domain, city, niche etc.

We all want to discover ways to enhance our content creation machine. The best feedback I’ve heard about the Content Audit is that it’s highly actionable. It makes it easy to see your content gaps and take action to fill them.

What Does This Mean for You?

You could:

Take it local e.g. Canadian Bloggers or San Fran Bloggers
Take it vertical /niche e.g. Compare the content of 20 top email marketing providers (pick a segment relevant to your business)
Take it local and Vetical/niche e.g. Denver Travel Blogs

This post, revised from its first publishing, originally appeared on the List.ly blog by Nick Kellet.

Nick Kellet, someone impressive you should know. Woah.

About the Author

Nick Kellet plays with the future and it plays back. He’s a creator and curator of ideas. Nick believes that passion in the company of friends and community is an unstoppable force. He’s always been an innovator with heartfelt enthusiasm for every new project he touches. As co-founder of List.ly, Nick is actively shaping how people think, feel and experience curation. He believes curation should be as much about listening and engaging as it is about publishing and the tools themselves.

The Happy Friday Series: My Happy Place

08/23/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Soulati, Kings Island

When I was a little girl my father would gather us up on Friday nights to take us on a family car ride. When I’d ask where we were headed he tell me we were going to”jedbip” – a word of his own creation.

These rides were the highlight of the week, especially in the summer. The windows down, the cool breeze in my hair and WCAO out of Baltimore, MD with DJ Johnny Dark playing in the background.

I would sing along to every song. From the Spinners to Three Dog Night, I would just sing out my heart and my little brother, Robbie would cover his ears in horror.

Our trips to “jedbip” would take us to every inch of Maryland, the city lights of Dundalk and the smell of Fells Point. We’d pass the sailboats out on the Severn River near the Naval Academy.

Every trip ended the same, a trip to Tastee-Freeze for a chocolate/vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream cone. No trip was complete until you had your cone.

Family Memories

After all these years, I realized that we never did pass a town named “jedbip”.

However, now that I’m older, I have come to realize that “jedbip” was my happy place. It was those car rides with my family that I look back now fondly and remember as being some of the best times of my life.

There was so much freedom in those moments.

The memories my Dad created by gathering us in the car and taking off on those Friday nights. He didn’t have a destination in mind, no particular place to go; he just wanted his family to have a night together. To create memories for us to hold on to when the miles separated us when we were older.

To be able to go back in our minds to remember those rides to “jedbip” and smile about our happy place.

About The Author

Jennifer Olney is the Founder #bealeader™ and CEO of . #bealeader™ is a virtual leadership community and multi-author blog dedicated to changing the game and making a difference in the lives of leaders of today and tomorrow by providing education and knowledge base sharing resources by connection leaders from around the world. Jennifer brings over 20 years of marketing and business development management working with organization from Maryland to Silicon Valley in the startup internet and technology space. You can contact Jennifer on @GingerConsult, LinkedIN and GooglePlus.

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Soulati-'TUDE!

“Life has never been easy. Nor is it meant to be. It is a matter of being joyous in the face of sorrow.”

The Lesson

Your Time Matters More than You Know

About the Author

Related articles

Are you happy?

RIP, Cubby, September 16, 2013.

About The Author (by Jayme)

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Early Spring 2004

2013

Being Happy to Share My Story

About The Author

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Generosity in Theory

Generosity in Action

What Does This Mean for You?

About the Author

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Family Memories

About The Author