Sunday, September 11, 2011

Too Long of a Time Coming

I get to live another day. I get to live, work, love and put knowledge into action. On a heavy anniversary like today, surrounded by sights, sounds and stories of the tragic events that transpired exactly ten years ago, I am finally shaken closer to my core. A candle is lit inside me. Actually, maybe I woke up today because so many of the my recent interactions touched my soul striking every emotion imaginable.  My wick not only is lit, but the flame is so hot I can't stand it anymore!

Many fellow Realtors and industry affiliates were together on this day in 2001. Our annual Ohio Association of Realtors conference takes place this time each year and the stories they share about their collective 9/11 reactions are chilling. Each year they re-visit memories and ever year since I have been attending conferences there are touching tributes made to show our respects.

I arrived a day early to take a 6 hour education course on finding life's freedoms through planned business success. Sounds romantic. Sounds like what I have been striving for going on my 9th year now as a Realtor; but it felt like the instructor held a lighter to my wick yesterday for six hours and challenged me to take real, honest steps toward igniting my internal flame, both from a business and personal perspective.

This afternoon at the Women's Council of Realtors luncheon, an inspirational message was shared and one of our members spontaneously lead our group in singing "God Bless America". Then, our oldest member, 94, stood before us to accept recognition for her tireless service. Next, our Member of the Year whispered a teary "thank you" to the group, saying our selection especially touched her as she was experiencing personal difficulties this week. Lastly, we said "good-bye" to a retiring member who gave her sincere gratitude to her friends and colleagues.  Meaningful.

Immediately following the WCR luncheon my flame was strategically fanned by a dynamic continuing education class regarding taking your business to the next level by integrating evolving industry technology - not rocket science, not really anything I hadn't heard before, though the information carried a different kind of weight this time. It was heavy but wasn't falling onto deaf ears anymore -- my ears weren't just hearing, they were listening and so was my mind and my heart all in sync.

I spent the day surrounded by successful and driven individuals who are dedicated to their industries, their families, their charities and toward leading a thoughtful life with attitudes of gratitude - how dare I take my own personal and business gifts for granted and live another day paralyzed not making a more courageous effort to live fully and with planned purpose.

I AM AWAKE AND MY CANDLE IS HOT!  Welcome to my blog.

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