“The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun…” I smiled as I listened to a powerhouse voice belting out the popular song from the musical, “Annie.” But I wasn’t at the theatre experiencing it live, or listening to a CD of the soundtrack in my car or home. I was in the checkout line at the grocery story. The singer – whom I couldn’t even see at first because she was so tiny and was on the other side [...]
What would you do if you were fearless? That question came up during a meeting I attended last Thursday. It was a planning session for a “Fearless Women” event that’s going to take place later this year, and as we discussed the event and the question, I had no idea how – or how often – the issues of fear and fearlessness would come up in the next 30 hours. The first instance, shocking and frightening, was when I woke up the next morning to [...]
“I love you from here to heaven!” That’s what my friend Lucy always tells her twin grandsons. In a way, she’s doing the same thing many of us did when our children or grandchildren were small – spreading our arms out as far as we could while answering our own question of “Do you know how much I love you?” with a stretched-out “Soooooo much.” Or reaching up to the sky, proclaiming “Soooooo big,” as we let our toddlers know how grown-up they were becoming. [...]
“Count Your Blessings” was the theme of our Toastmasters meeting last week, and the person in charge of Table Topics decided to focus on gratitude. As she opened up that portion of the meeting, she told us that in preparation, she had Googled the word “gratitude.” What she said next caught me totally by surprise. “I’m not sure what made me think to do this,” she said, “but after I typed in ‘gratitude,’ I added the name, ‘Betty Liedtke.’ Do you know how many hits [...]
I got taken to task on Saturday – not once, but twice. Actually, that wording is a little too strong. What happened is that I was reminded – in a gentle and encouraging way – that I haven’t been living up to some of my responsibilities and expectations. I was at a Toastmasters Educational & Leadership Institute, which is held twice a year for the training of club officers, presentation of educational sessions, and announcements of the winners of various awards and contests. One of [...]
You don’t say Happy Birthday to others when it’s your birthday. You wish them a Happy Birthday when the birthday is theirs. And you don’t tell someone Happy Anniversary on the date of your own wedding anniversary, unless the person you’re saying it to happens to be your spouse. I bring this up with the hope of diffusing what I see as a dangerous and ugly holiday tradition. And we’ve had plenty of those over the years. The most recent one is the alarming Black [...]
I have always thought that everyone in America should be required to spend some time, at some point in their lives, in a third world country. I felt this way long before I ever spent time in a third world country, and I do even more so now. The trip could be for any reason. Mission trips are already common, but trips for business or education – whether to teach or to learn – would also be acceptable. As would vacations, especially if they were [...]
The theme of one of our recent Toastmasters meetings was “The Secret Ingredient.” The person who was serving as the Toastmaster that day was someone who loves to cook, and whenever she gives a speech or responds to a question on the subject of food, I always find my mouth watering just listening to her. Throughout the meeting, she made references to her grandmother, who always included a secret ingredient in her cooking. No matter what type of food she was preparing, Grandma gave it [...]