Meaningful Mondays - Arrows Out

Lee Brower - Perspective*

Empowered Wealth Perspective

Entertaining new perspectives is a critical step in personal growth. By embracing new and diverse ways of thinking, we broaden our outlook and uncover innovative solutions to problems. You will see a new horizon, which generates deep appreciation for where you have been, where you are now and where you have the potential of going. This leads to new thoughts, new vision and new motion, as you continue to balance your approach and capture your progress as you go.
- Lee Brower, The Brower Quadrant

*DyVal Video from Feb 22, 2019, for Meaningful Monday

Homan Walsh - Niagara Bridge*

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

* We are reposting this MM Video due to our Team’s schedule. 
  This Meaningful Monday video is a repost from July 2, 2018

Freedom to say NO... Really?*

“We must suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces—regret ways tons."
 - Jim Rohn

You are what you say "yes" to. By saying "yes" to the right things, it will be easier to say no to the less important.
 - Lee Brower

* We are reposting this MM Video due to our Team’s schedule. 
This Meaningful Monday video is a repost from July 5, 2021

Don't carry your horse into town.

Who are you trying to please, and at what cost?

Who are you listening to, and how does that align with your enduring vision and your core principles?

"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."
- Warren Buffett

"It is easy to say no when a bigger yes is burning inside."
- Stephen R. Covey

Don't wait to dip your bucket into the sea.

Three essential keys to leadership in today's world.

1. Go BIG (Be IN Gratitude), regardless of your circumstances.
2. Challenge the traditional thinking- even if that is the way you have always done it or believed.
3. Act and Adjust

The enemy of thriving is arriving.

Meaningful Fathers

Welcome to this week's edition of Meaningful Monday with Lee Brower. In this heartfelt episode, Lee reflects on the profound impact of Father's Day, expressing gratitude for his father, his role as a father, and as a grandfather. He shares a touching story about a cherished memory with his late father and emphasizes the vital role fathers and father figures play in the home.

Lee introduces the concept of "Involved Fatherhood," highlighting that fatherhood extends beyond biological ties to include stepfathers, single mothers, mentors, and community leaders. He underscores the importance of stability, wisdom, and integrity that fathers and father figures bring to future generations.

Through a personal anecdote, Lee demonstrates the power of expressing gratitude to those who have positively impacted our lives. He encourages listeners to commit to nurturing stronger families and creating a legacy of enduring principles, compassion, and deep connections. Join Lee in celebrating the essence of fatherhood every day, and let's work together to build a brighter future for the next generation.

Clapping Frozen Moments

Good morning, everybody. Lee Brower here. Welcome to this week's edition of Meaningful Monday. I am so grateful to be here. I am so glad to be here. Let's go big.

In this episode, Lee Brower shares his belief that we can learn from every experience in life, making the world the perfect school. He reflects on a recent event where he spent time with James Dixon, a motivational speaker, and the importance of developing habits of learning. Lee recounts a heartwarming experience with his granddaughters at a Frozen performance, coining the term "clapping frozen moment" to describe those instances of pure joy and excitement.

Lee encourages listeners to identify and cherish their own "clapping moments" in daily life, emphasizing the value of living deliberately and creating meaningful memories. He also shares a powerful quote from a masterclass he attended: "It's not what you leave to them. It's what you leave in them."

Join Lee in this inspiring episode as he challenges you to find and own your moments of joy. Live life deliberately and make every moment an asset.

What do biscuits, horse manure and focus have in common?

Welcome to this week's edition of Meaningful Monday with Lee Brower. In this inspiring episode, Lee shares a unique perspective on gratitude through a prayer about biscuits, emphasizing how life's individual components, both good and bad, can come together to create something wonderful.

Lee takes us back to 1898, illustrating how focusing on positivity can lead to innovative solutions, as exemplified by the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles. He challenges us to shift our focus from negative to positive aspects in our daily lives, encouraging us to ask ourselves, "What is one good thing that happened today?"

Join Lee in this empowering journey to amplify the good and make a meaningful impact in our families, workplaces, and communities. Let's start the week with a positive mindset and a commitment to being the answer to someone's prayer. Have a meaningful week!

Cascade of Gratitude: Transforming the Diderot Effect

Good morning, everybody. Lee Brower here. Welcome to this edition of Meaningful Monday. I am grateful to be here. I am glad to be here. Have you ever heard of the Diderot effect? Few of you probably have. I had never heard about it until just reading recently, and I was able to link several things to it. So let's talk about where did the Diderot effect come from? It came from the 17th century from a man, French philosopher by the name of Denis Diderot. And what he did is he put together a book he called his encyclopedia, but had all All of the great philosophers, Voltaire, et cetera, brought together on how to run governments, how to put the, and it became well-known and kind of a guideline for a lot of the governments. And Catherine the Great saw it. She wanted to get it somehow. So happens that Diderot, after his fourth child, needed money. So she came in and bought it from him. She let him be the librarian for the rest of his life, but she was able then to access it and use it in her own governing and her enlightenment period going forward. word.

One of the things that he talked about later that he wrote about, he said, you know, it was really interesting because when I had that money, I thought, well, I need to buy something. So he said, and he went out and bought the most expensive gown that he could buy. They call it a gown back then. We'd wear it, you know, and it was silk. And once he had the gown, he said, well, I need some shoes. Can't wear these scrutty shoes with this. So he bought some nice shoes, but no, not just one pair, several pair. I need different colors to go in and I need other parts of my outfit, my leggings, my everything. So he just one thing bought another. And then he looked around his house. I need couch. How could I walk in like this when we got pretty furniture like this? And so this cascade of consumption, cascade of consumption starts to happen.

Has it happened to you? I think it's happened to all of us in some way. I mean, say you pick up a sport, you're going to golf. What happens is you don't just buy the clubs. Then you got to buy the outfit and then you got to do this outfit because this one is what this, and then you got to get the the right balls. And then this happens and you hear about this and you get a cascade of consumption. Buy a new car, things happen to it. Buy a new furniture, cascaded consumption. And so it's all arrows in because it forces you to think inward, not outward. So, you know, how can we turn that on its head? How can we use that to make ourselves better? How can we turn the arrows out with that?

So I think about things that have cascade of events. And I think about our son, Bo, that I've told you about before, how he went through a drive-through, came back and said, I got up there to pay and the car in front of me was already gone and he paid for my hamburger. I said, what'd you do? Well, I paid for the car behind me. You see, there's a cascade now of gratitude, not a cascade of consumption. I had an experience recently on the plane. It's little tiny things, you know. I mean, it's just little tiny things. Sitting there, and the guy's late getting on the plane, and he's kind of one of these guys. You could tell he's stressed out, and he's charging up the aisle and looks up. There's hardly any room. He crams baggies this way, crams baggies, shoves his bag up in there, sits down, plops down, and off we go. And I prejudiced him. I thought, this guy's kind of a jerk, you know.

And when we landed, guess what? He's the first one up, wrestles this thing down, puts it down on the aisle right where I can't get out of my seat. You've been there before, right? So you can't move. You're trapped in there. Then he takes his briefcase or backpack, and he's trying to slip it on the handles to stack it. They won't go. So he's, uh, uh. So I'm just sitting there, and I reach over like that, and I grab it, and I move things, kind of adjust it, lift it up. Give me a second. And slid it down for him. Didn't think anything of it. So then I'm sitting there and I'm trying, I want to get my jacket on before we get off. And so you're wrestling with your coat to get it on because you're, you know, you're crammed in that spot. So as I'm wrestling with it, all of a sudden I feel a hand come down and somebody tugs it up and pulls it up over my shoulder and pulls it back the other way. And it was this man and he had a smile. So when I got up, you know, I said, well, thank you very much. Thank you. And we get off the plane and he's standing there. He says, you know, I didn't thank you for your help. I just wanted to make sure that I said, thank you. A cascade of gratitude. What a difference. What a difference.

And I think there's so many times in our lives when we have the opportunity to create that cascade. And where other people have created a cascade for us where maybe we didn't even know who they were or they did something for us that we in turn did for somebody else. So here's my challenge for this week. I challenge us. I challenge you. I challenge me to create our own positive Diderot effects through gratitude. A cascade of gratitude. How's that? A cascade of gratitude. Start with one small, meaningful action that's aligned with the mindset, aligned with the arrows out mindset, and watch to see if it doesn't, and even if it doesn't, but just know that it is making an effect on other people's lives. So the empowering question, what small action can I take today that will create a ripple of positive change? Maybe even a cascade of gratitude. Have a meaningful week. Live life deliberately. We'll talk next week.

Enduring Wisdom: The Power of Purpose

Welcome to this week's edition of Meaningful Monday. Our discussion this week is centered on the wisdom of two exceptional thinkers, Viktor Frankl and Abraham Maslow. Their profound insights into human motivation can help us navigate even the most formidable challenges.

We talk about Frankl's experience during World War II, which was documented in his book "Man's Search for Meaning". Despite facing unimaginable suffering and hardship in a prison camp during the Holocaust, he managed to find meaning in small acts of kindness and maintained the will to live by looking forward to uniting with his wife and sharing his insights with the world.

We also delve into Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs, which underwent a revision after he was influenced by Frankl’s lived experiences. He added 'self-transcendence' at the top of his model to reflect that true satisfaction comes not just from fulfilling basic needs but also from surpassing oneself and finding a higher purpose.

This week's challenge is to identify a higher purpose in your daily activities. It's about posing vital questions to oneself – not just about survival needs but about what you are living for and how you can contribute positively to the lives of others.

Our empowering question this week: 'How can I use my current circumstances to find deeper meaning and positively impact those around me?' So let's go forth inspired by the enduring wisdom of Frankl and Maslow to find strength and fulfillment in a higher purpose. Remember, life isn't just about surviving, it's about thriving by living for something greater than ourselves.