15Feb 2018 by CJ

A contribution is about more than just being a doer

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without significance. What will your contribution be? How will history remember you?”  - William Hundert It’s been almost four years since my wife and I moved to Colorado from New Jersey. While we both were fortunate to secure jobs early on, I’m not sure they were truly “careers” for either one of us. Eventually, we found ourselves asking the question, what is my contribution? Three years into her career, my wife was blessed to find a new position with ideal circumstances to suit her. But as my organization continued to evolve, I found myself growing frustrated over the reality that I had become a “doer” not a “contributor”. David Lagercrantz once wrote, “You either have a useful contribution to make or you don’t,…
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14Jan 2018 by CJ

The connection two people share is everything

Love & Relationships
“Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they can give and receive without judgement; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” – Brene Brown The people we choose to surround ourselves with, the relationships we tend to foster, often reflect our own personal beliefs and values. The connection two people share is bred from commonalities – interests, religion, background, morals and the list goes on and on. Regardless of the relationship – romantic or platonic – that connection is often an indicator to the longevity of the pairing. However, if the connection is bred out of falsehoods, created in order to unfairly secure the attention of another, one will rarely derive sustenance and strength from the relationship. Loneliness…
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01Jan 2018 by CJ

Love lives on – sometimes we just need a little reminder

Love & Relationships
“Those we love are never really lost to us - we feel them in so many special ways. Through friends they always cared about and dreams they left behind. In beauty that they added to our days...in words of wisdom we still carry with us and memories that never will be gone. Those we love are never really lost to us - for everywhere their special love lives on.” - Amanda Bradley This Christmas, while strolling through a store to buy my wife a new pair of slippers, I stumbled upon something quite unexpected. It was a stand-alone plaque which read “Soulmates” across the top, with a picture frame inset right beneath it. On the left-hand side read the following quote: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.…
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13Dec 2017 by CJ

Eulogy – what will people say about you at the end of your life?

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
"No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more." - Saint Augustine Last week, Ira Albom passed away. Many might be wondering who this man is and why his death deserves mentioning in my post. Admittedly, I’ve never met him and would otherwise be completely oblivious to his passing if not for being an admirer (and social media follower) of his son – writer Mitch Albom, the author of the revered novel Tuesdays With Morrie. While the passing of Ira Albom is an unfortunate reality of being almost 90 years old, what profoundly struck me was the eulogy his son wrote upon his father’s passing. Words so powerful they brought tears to my eyes, an ache in my heart and a flood of memories swirling…
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06Nov 2017 by CJ

Be there for someone – the gift so many of us have on our list

Love & Relationships
“Always be there for the person who is always there for you.” – Unknown On a recent night of channel surfing, I heard the following sentiment: “As we grow older, our Christmas lists get smaller and we find out that the things we really want can’t be bought.” For many, that list would include unconditional love, acceptance, commitment, compassion and having someone be there to share in your life. “Buying” something is an easy task – finding a person possessing all those characteristics is invaluable and difficult. But not impossible. As I started writing this post, it reminded me of a song I always find myself coming back to year after year without fail – Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 hit Time After Time. It’s one of those songs which often leaves me…
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