I wouldn’t enjoy blogging so much if there weren’t good folks who take the time to leave comments to my posts. It’s like engaging in a conversation about a mutually interesting topic or issue. I’ve been blessed with many “conversationists” over the past 10 months, so for this Saturday Rewind (and for the next few weeks) I am revisiting my favorite comments and honoring those who put their thoughts on my page. They are truly worth a “rewind”!
Leading off is the person who has been a great source of inspiration and insight for many months now, Tom Vander Well of QAQNA. I proudly display his “Mug Club” badge. Here was an excellent observation he made back on May 19 (here’s the original post):
“Grandpa Vander Well used to say, “Smile and say ‘hello’ to the first 25 people you see each morning, and you’ll never have a bad day.” (btw, he practiced what he preached)”
Tom has a very wise grandfather, and a most excellent blog!
I have a good friend in Colorado named Paul who has been a regular visitor to RFGHF, and has a heart about the size of the state. He got me with this one (in response to this post on May 26):
“If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”
Yep. I guess I’m not working anymore! Thanks Paul.
In response to the very same post, Mike Wagner of “Own Your Brand” said something just as profound to me:
“There is a beauty that appears when people combine their joy and their work. It is instantly recognizable”
I never thought of workplace happiness as something beautiful, but thanks to Mike I do now.
I’ve grown to absolutely adore Rosa Say (and her blog Talking Story); she has been a mentor to me, and her relentlessly positive disposition and nurturing nature continues to fuel my own “Half-Full” philosophy (not to mention my love of learning). Her comments typically reflect all of this, and deserve blog posts of their own. Here’s one example, back on June 21 in response to my review of “Joy at Work”:
“I felt that Bakke’s book was incredibly rich with possibility Starbucker, and my fear is the same as a reason I cheered for him – he was brutally honest and candid about the pitfalls of taking the higher road of working on the soft stuff.
It is too easy to dismiss his book, saying that at the end of the day he failed to produce a sustainable model, and question if ‘getting real’ about business success will always come to bottom line results. If his book is accurate in his portrayal, I truly do not think that Bakke received enough credit for what he DID accomplish: his achievements in such a large, publicly held company are amazing.
However you pose another observation; ultimately, does one have to be a founder or CEO to stimulate radically positive change of the business model – and does it have to be radical to be effective enough that people sit up, take notice, and are willing to charge ahead?
I for one am not willing to give up on the “soft stuff” of values-centered management and leadership, and I’ve been pushing everyone in our Ho’ohana Community to read Joy At Work knowing that they can see beyond this one story to the possibilities waiting for us to bravely discover them.”
Rosa, thank you, and I’m not giving up on the “soft stuff” either. Never.
Chris Cree is another deep thinker – his honest looks inside of himself and the world around him are the hallmarks of his blogs, “CREEations” and “SuccessCREEations“. For example, I had posted on June 30 about my process of “becoming” an optimist and how one of his posts hecrystallizeystalize my thinking, and he responded this way:
“It seems one trick is not getting discouraged along the journey. I think that’s where it is critically important to have a mentor of some kind to share the journey with and help pick you up when you feel you’re in a heap.”
Chris hit the nail on the head, and this still resonates with me today.
Lastly, someone who’s comments usually never fail to make me smile is Christine Kane. There is a wonderful irreverence about her that always reminds you that yes, there are things and topics out there we should take seriously (and indeed she does on her terrific blog), but sometimes we really shouldn’t take it that seriously.
She’s also a singer/songwriter – listen to “Southern Girl” (available on iTunes for a mere 99 cents – a real bargain) and you’ll hear that sense of humor loud and clear. Here was a response she made back on July 19 to this post, where I was speaking the praises of Liz Strauss’ Open Mic Night:
“Wow! I’m so bummed I missed last night’s open mic. (Yesterday, my dog ate a whole bag of chocolate covered almonds (organic, of course!), so I spent the whole day cleaning up much brown vomit. I could hardly move by the time open mic rolled around!) Anyway, this made me smile!
kmcukui — just in case you were wondering what the code I had to type in for my comment to appear was… “
This was a “two-fer” – I laughed thinking about Christine and her poor dog, and her little tweak on the security code (in later comments she actually tried to make acronyms out of them – and successfully, I might add!). Christine, keep ‘em coming!
That’s it for this week – stay tuned for more, “Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel”!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m still working on finding those mentors!
And I gotta say Christine cracks me up.
Perhaps we could make up definitions for the words. Mine is horsgr: that little whinny a horse makes at the exact moment it stomps its foot as it is getting bit by a horse fly.
You are mea ho‘okipa Starbucker, that gracious host who draws the best out of us, and I adore you too
And never fear, I will never, ever give up on the “soft stuff.”
You continually share such wonderful recommendations here, and are connector extraordinaire in introducing us to fabulous writers and good people; thank you.
Then there’s your writing; insightful, thoughtful and honest. We converse in admiration and in learning from you. This is absolutely and positively what blogging is all about. Your example is the stuff of great mentorship.
I was putting the final touches on your package today and I couldn’t NOT stop by your blog. I come by and what do I see. Same old you doing th same old filling folks up with great feelings. You’re a work of art.
Hi there Starbucker! I’ve missed commenting on your blog now that I have no computer for a while, seeing as how it, uh, melted. (thanks, apple!)
And thanks for the mighty high praise. I’m so glad I found your blog. (and chris and vanderwell, too!)
(i like chris’s idea with the security code…though i’m racking my brain to come up with one as good as horsgr… and i’m at a loss.)
It’s a two-way street, SB. The comments you leave on my site are always winners, and I’m always glad when you stop by.
I’m just glad my dog didn’t eat a box of chocolate covered almonds (organic or no).
Thanks Chris, Rosa, Liz, Christine and Tom!
Chris, can you do anything with “xwghqm”?
Rosa, honesty is truly the best policy, because someone once said “if you tell the truth you never have to remember anything”!
Liz, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard an association between me and art before -thanks for being the first to do so, and I’ll keep doing my best to live up to it.
Christine, try a regular PC next time – I go crazy every time I work on an Apple. I did miss your comments, so get on it girl!
Tom, I haven’t been able to eat a chocolate covered almond myself since I read that comment! Certainly worth the chuckle though. See you on the 10th.
Great post, thanks for including my comment. Just another case of not fully knowing the impact we have when we say and do in this world.
Your title reminded me of the dark ages when there were VCR tapes we would check out of places called video stores. We even rented the VCR players.
On the movies we rented it said, “be kind, rewind” – thanks for being kind!
Thanks Mike! I’m glad we have DVD’s to rent now, because I always forgot to rewind the VCR tapes.
All the best.