Spread the Happy

"In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the RIGHT THING, the next best thing is the WRONG THING, and the worst thing you can do is NOTHING."-T. Roosevelt

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals."

"Go under, go over or go around but never give up"-Jim Meyer

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."- Thomas Edison

"Your attitude determines your altitude."

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying: I will try again tomorrow."

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you think you can or you can't, you're right!"- Henry Ford

"People to weak to follow their own dreams will try to find a way to discourage yours."

"100% of the shots I don't take don't go in."- Wayne Gretzky

THIS IS EASY.
I AM AWESOME.
I HAVE UNLIMITED ENERGY.
I LIKE MYSELF I LOVE MY WORK.
I AM CONFIDENT.
I AM RESPONSIBLE.
I AM A GREAT TEST TAKER.
I HAVE A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY.
I KNOW ONLY THE CORRECT ANSWERS.
I PASSED MY TEST.

These are just some of the notes from a Securities class I took to pass my Series 6 exam. They make me feel so good! The instructor believed in the power of raising dopamine levels. We'd cram for 90-120 minutes and then get up and dance to some really loud, pumping music for 10-15 minutes. He'd have us alternate stocks, bonds, portfolios, beta, blahblah, with a full on party. This was the work of a gentleman whose funeral service I'll be attending tomorrow.

It touches so close to my heart because he embodied that same crazy "can do" attitude of my daughter Cait. His positive attitude, like hers, made him a ray of light to all who knew him. This is a guy who, while being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering would bring piles of red roses with him and hand them to patients, staff, and I am sure anyone else he encountered. Many thought he was an employee. He, himself was a patient. Caiti was inspired by him, having only met him once and adopted her own version while we were in AZ. She instead chose Gerbera Daisies and we handed them out at her treatment center, the bagel place, the grocery store, the post office, in parking lots...where ever we happened to be. She called it, "spreading the happy"

Their similarities in mental toughness inspire me. Caiti barely gave a nod to her disease. She was sky diving six weeks before her death. She was way too busy living every moment that was given her. The last conversation I had with my securities teacher he told me of a surgery he needed to have to repair a perforated esophagus. This he referred to as merely a nuisance. At diagnosis he was reported to have barely even flinched. Caiti too. She wanted to know if she could skip all the big chemo and go straight to experimental therapies that might help someone else have an easier time in the future.

This is how it is with people like Cait and my teacher. They teach by example. They lead just by living. They inspire with their attitudes. Always smiling. Always tough. Always reaching out for others. "Spreading the happy"

I believe their message to be one of the most important of this life time.
The monkeys of this universe will continue and continue and continue to hurl shit our way. *sorry, no better way to say it*
It is then that we have a choice to make about our reality in relation to the shit.
We can get filthy, learn to dodge it, and learn to let it roll off.
We can get bitter or get better.
We can say why me or why not me?
It all comes back to a matter of perspective.
Wallow in it or rise above it.

Step the heck on out and scrape that stuff off your shoes!! There's so much good livin' to be done!

Thank you, Cait.
Thank you, Mark. (give her a high five for me, will ya?)
The two of you are teachers, mentors, and sources of inspiration for many.

I will keep your spirits alive in examining my perspective, reaching out to others, and continuing to spread your happy where ever I go.