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Jun 05 2010

Could Your Toilet Flusher Prevent The Next Oil Spill?

June 5, 2010 – 11:11 am
By Todd | Posted in Articles | Comments (0)

As weird as that question may sound, please bear with me for a minute or two…

I noticed the other day that the flusher lever on one of our toilets was getting loose. As I looked a little closer, I could see that the plastic housing behind the handle was cracking. This seemed normal to me as this one was at least 5 or 6 or maybe even more years old. It was just wearing with time. So before it broke altogether, I knew I was going to have to make a trip to the hardware store to get a replacement.

That evening, my wife and I were watching the news, and there was more live video of the oil gushing out of the damaged BOP at the bottom of the Gulf. I had read the news since this disaster began back in April and had seen many of the videos from the beginning of their being broadcast. But for some reason, watching it this time around was starting to make me feel sick in my gut. This man-made disaster was starting to get to me…

As a side note, I had recently finished a song called “Forgotten Land”. There’s a part in the song that says, “Look what we’ve done to you”. Watching the live video from BP, I began to recite that lyric line, in my own mind, over and over……

So the next day, I went to the hardware store to pick up the replacement lever. Looking at all of the choices, I noticed there were the $3 to $5 levers that are made entirely of plastic, and then there were the $8 to $15 levers that are made of brass. That cracked lever at our house was one of the all plastic ones. I bought it years ago, going on the cheap, spending around $3. But something was different this time…

I thought of the oil spill…

I heard in my mind, once again, “Look what we’ve done to you”…

And I decided to buy one of the brass levers…

Now, in the world of black and white, right brained thinking, did my purchase make any difference on this planet? Did I “save” the planet by making a consumer choice to NOT buy an item derived from oil?

Probably not.

But – and this is important – I feel that it stirred something inside of me… It stirred me to think a little more… To awaken a little more… To come to know that I have a responsibility for being a steward of this planet… For taking care of it…

Because it takes care of me. And my family. Every day.

I believe that the Iraq War was a wake up call for the US to break its dependence on foreign oil. And now the BP disaster is another wake up call, this time to break our dependence on oil… period.

Yeah, we drive a lot of miles in our cars. And many of them aren’t near as fuel efficient as they could be and should be. But what about all the OTHER plastic stuff that we consume EVERY DAY just because it’s cheap?

From the outside, my toilet flusher lever purchase in all likelihood didn’t make one bit of difference. But on the inside, it shifted my thinking. I have vowed that the next time I go in to any store to purchase something, I will take an extra 5 seconds to THINK about what I am buying, and the impact that it will have on this planet, this place I call home.

So if you haven’t yet cast me aside as some crazed, out of touch with reality, tree hugger, won’t you consider doing the same?

Just take an extra 5 seconds… and THINK.

Blessings to you and yours, and thank you for doing your part. Together, we can do this. It’s our job.

Todd

PS – My good friend Mr. Twenty Twenty wrote an article that outlines his unique approach to caring for the environment. Please read it; it may stir the creative juices in you!

By Todd | Posted in Articles | Comments (0)
Apr 22 2010

Giving To The Homeless

April 22, 2010 – 9:24 pm
By Todd | Posted in Inspiring Stories Of Giving | Comments (0)

I did something last Saturday that changed my life. I joined two of my friends, Chris Thibeaux and Ken Vaughn, as we went about giving gifts of food to many of the homeless folks in Houston. Ken and Chris were “veterans” at this… I had never done this before…

I say it changed my life… What I mean is that I was so humbled and blessed and in complete awe at the awesome power of unconditional giving. The smiles we received in return from each one who we gave a meal to were just as much a welcome gift to us than our food was to them.

Instead of just staring at them from within my comfy, air conditioned car like I had done in the past, I went out Saturday to meet them, talked with them, spent time with them, and found out that they are folks just like you and me… with love in their hearts… and hope for a better tomorrow.

I also remembered Give Away A Dollar A Day as we began our day of giving, and I pulled out a stack of 1’s. Chris, Ken, and I each gave our blessings of gratitude as we added a dollar to each bag of food that we were preparing to give away.

Looking back, I am so grateful for being able to do this… and I will definitely do this again!

Blessings,

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Inspiring Stories Of Giving | Comments (0)
Dec 26 2009

Licorice

December 26, 2009 – 12:42 pm
By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (6)

Licorice, our 12 year old German Shepherd, passed away on Christmas Eve.

I had been talking to a friend a couple of weeks ago about life and living, and at some point in our conversation, he made the comment that he was now very happy and content because he is no longer afraid of dying. He’s in his sixties. And he’s totally at peace with the possibility that he could go at anytime.

goin for a ride, 6-09

Licorice’s passing made me realize that I am not yet OK with dying. I still fear it, I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t even want to think about it. I want to believe that it is a very long way off.

My wife and I were talking again yesterday morning (Christmas morning) about Licorice, and I was able to go a little deeper into how this was making me feel. I came to realize it’s not that I fear death so much as I fear not living life fully, each day, while I’m still here.

And that’s one of the greatest things about our dogs, our beloved pets, our buddies – they teach us unconditional love, and joy, and acceptance, by modeling it every day. No matter what is going on, no matter whether they’re in pain or not, no matter even whether we show up for them or not, they’re always there for us. They live every day like it’s a brand new day, and they don’t hold onto anything.

i think i'm in trouble, 12-07

I am having a hard time feeling right now. Or maybe what I’m having a hard time with is understanding what my feelings are. I’ve got so many of them.

I do know, though, that I am very grateful that God brought Licorice to our family. And I am grateful that God brought Licorice back home on Christmas Eve.

Blessings,

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (6)
Nov 29 2009

For Profit, Or For Love?

November 29, 2009 – 9:49 pm
By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (0)

My wife, Victoria, makes beautiful hand crafted gifts. You can find many of them HERE.

And when I say hand crafted, I mean just that – she makes each of them one at a time, with all the love and the care that anyone would put into making a unique gift for a loved one.

Over the years, I’ve grown aware of a paradox in my thinking as I have watched her blossom into the artist she is today. On one side of my thinking, I really admire the time that she puts into hand crafting each gift. On the other side, though, I try to calculate in my logical, left brain what her actual hourly wage would be if she were clocking in at a job, and I’m usually not happy with the results…

But, doesn’t that completely miss the point?

In my heart, I know it does.

Victoria is not doing this for an hourly sum. She does it because she loves it. And because she knows that her friends and her customers love each of these gifts as much as she does.

So there’s another question I’m left with today… Does anyone do anything anymore in their business just cause it’s right, or just cause it’s beautiful, or just cause it’s a gift of service, of love?

Or do we only do things anymore when we are assured that a profit is forthcoming?

My head and my heart each have an answer to this question. And they are not the same.

Blessings,

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (0)
Nov 14 2009

Honesty And Integrity

November 14, 2009 – 1:36 pm
By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (0)

You may or may not know that I had a radio show on the Law Of Attraction Radio Network for close to a year – the Give Away A Dollar A Day show. I was excited when I first started it, but soon realized that it was taking quite a bit of time to prepare for each show. That’s probably my perfectionist at work, but I don’t partake in any new venture without giving it more than 100%.

Why is this a big deal? Because what I really want to do is play, create, and compose music. That’s what makes my heart light up. I was doing the radio show at the wishes of others and to try and get the idea of Give Away A Dollar A Day out there even more. But what I was really doing was spending more time preparing for the show, which meant less time with music. So I knew that I needed to make a decision. And quite honestly, my heart was no longer in the show.

My last “officially scheduled” show was today, a show that I had set up with my guest around eight months ago. Because I had lost my juice for doing the show, I was hoping that my guest had forgotten about eight months later. Well, there was a lesson for me in this, because my guest hadn’t forgotten… In fact, he emailed me two days before the show asking if it was still a go. My first response to him was, “Yes, it’s still scheduled”. But I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t prepared at all. I really didn’t know what we were going to talk about. I didn’t even want to do the show. I called him on the phone and was honest about closing the show down. I suggested to him that we not do it, and he seemed OK with it. (Although, if I was in his shoes, I would have been pissed at the lack of integrity I had displayed by not letting him know sooner).

What was my real lesson in this? Well, I think there were a few… To begin with, I was not “letting go” of the show that I really didn’t want to do anymore. I want to play music, not run a radio show. So, in truth, the one I was out of integrity with was myself. Secondly, I was afraid to tell my guest that I wanted to cancel, because I thought that he would hate me, or reject me, or both. So when I canceled the show, I took that risk. The risk of rejection. But somehow, I felt clean, and relieved.

I think the overall story in this is honesty. I had to look at myself in the mirror and ask, “Am I really being honest with me right now?”

Thank you, I just needed to say this.

Blessings,

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (0)
Sep 06 2009

I Just Serenaded Dr. Rick Barrett In His Car…

September 6, 2009 – 4:32 pm
By Todd | Posted in Music | Comments (4)

OK, now that I have your attention…

It’s not… quite… like it sounds…  :)

Dr. Rick Barrett, co-author with Dr. Joe Vitale of the book Give To Live, is a friend who has written some beautiful poetry that is in his book, and that I am putting to music. When we met for lunch late last week, I wanted for Rick to hear what I had done thus far, and had him listen to a couple of rough cut MP3’s on my iPod. But up to this point, the lead vocal is not yet sung by a person… instead it’s played by a piano. I wanted Rick to get a really good idea of the song, so I decided to sing it for him. I told him that I wasn’t sure how to do this, though, because – for obvious reasons – I wasn’t about to start singing to him in the restaurant… LOL

Then… Rick suggested that I could sing to him in his car. OK, that’s when I lost it… I was laughing so hard that the water I just sipped was coming out of my nose!!

Well, long story short, we finished our lunch, went out to his car, and I did sing to him. I’m glad I did because it gave him a much better understanding of the direction I was taking with his song. Too bad, though, that we didn’t get it on video…

Well… on second thought… maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t get it on video!

Enjoy all your good laughs today!

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Music | Comments (4)
Jul 18 2009

Ah Music!

July 18, 2009 – 7:06 pm
By Todd | Posted in Announcements | Comments (0)

If you’ve kept up with my blog posts, then you know that most of what I’ve written about has been giving. And, you may also know that I am an avid musician and am now adding, with private lessons, the piano to my repertoire of instruments.

For the moment, as I spend more time playing and learning and composing and playing some more, I am finding myself writing a little bit less.

So if you see fewer posts than usual over the next couple of months, don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared…

I’m just in the studio making some really cool music!

Blessings,

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Announcements | Comments (0)
Jul 07 2009

Did I Just Get Caught?

July 7, 2009 – 6:56 pm
By Todd | Posted in Inspiring Stories Of Giving | Comments (0)

So there I was, sitting in a business meeting, about ten of us gathered around the conference room table, with a Power Point slide show going. It was a long meeting, ended up lasting for three hours by the time we were done. And… it started out a little contentious, but eventually came around to being a pretty productive meeting.

Like the others, I was serious and to the point in the meeting. Except for one time…

I decided this was the perfect place for me to give away my dollar. But… this was one of those days where it wasn’t just a dollar. I had a ten in my pocket cued up and ready to drop. I chose this room, this meeting, to do it in.

So I reach into my pocket… I am absolutely sure no one sees what I’m doing… I covertly flicked it away from me and onto the floor underneath the conference room table. I was convinced that it was going to go unnoticed for quite some time.

Well… I really don’t know how this happened, but the guy sitting right across the table from me must’ve glanced down just at the time I did this, because he reached down, picked it up, and handed it back to me, saying, “You must have dropped this”. That ten wasn’t even on the floor for a whole second yet!

Thinking fast, I said, “Oh, yeah, hey thanks”.

But deep down inside, I kinda felt like el stupido!

Did the Secret Dollar Man just get caught?

;)

By Todd | Posted in Inspiring Stories Of Giving | Comments (0)
Jun 23 2009

Priming The Pump

June 23, 2009 – 3:27 pm
By Todd | Posted in Inspiring Stories Of Giving | Comments (0)

I was in a nice, quaint restaurant the other evening, with some business associates. It’s a very intimate place that serves Cuban Fusion food and has some of the nicest decorations and artwork I’ve ever seen.

The place also has a piano. And we were fortunate enough to be blessed with live piano music during our dinner.

We were there for several hours, and many dinner parties had already come and gone. As we got ready to leave, I decided to take a detour over by the piano player to thank her and to put a tip in her jar sitting on the top of her piano.

I was surprised, though, to find that only one dollar was in the jar. After the hours she had spent playing, there was only one dollar in there?

I’ve played in coffee bars and clubs before, and I know the amount of practice one has to spend to get ready for gigs like this and to stay sharp on their instrument. So I wanted to thank her for that and put several dollars in her jar. She was very grateful and appreciative.

From my experiences in performing live, I remembered that I would always put a dollar in the tip jar just to get the flow started… sort of like priming the pump. So I was wondering if the single dollar that was in her jar when I came up to her piano was from her priming the pump? And then I thought…

This is what entertainers do… they put a dollar in the jar to prime the pump. To start the flow.

So… do you prime your prosperity pump? You can start the flow today through the very simple act of every day giving.

Blessings!

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Inspiring Stories Of Giving | Comments (0)
Jun 16 2009

Victoria’s Gift

June 16, 2009 – 3:21 pm
By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)

OK, so this isn’t really officially a blog post… it’s more like a link. And it’s a link to somebody else’s blog post… my wife’s.

I could not pass this up! This is the BEST story!!! You absolutely must see this…

http://victoriasilva.com/giving/

Victoria, thank you for all that you do – I love you!

:)

By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)
Jun 10 2009

The Secret Snow Wiper

June 10, 2009 – 11:56 am
By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)

This is one of my favorite stories that I’ve come across recently!

Secret Snow Wiper Will Strike Again!

Kinda reminds me of that famous guy that gives away money, the Secret Dollar Man…

Have fun!

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)
Jun 03 2009

Locks On Pianos?

June 3, 2009 – 11:48 am
By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (0)

I recently went to a conference where one of the events was a get together in a really nice hotel. It was a beautiful place!

If you read my posts, you may know by now that I’ve started taking piano lessons. I am a music nut, and I’m having more fun than ever learning a new instrument!

At the conference, I was away from home, and therefore my piano, for quite a few days. I was itchin’ ta play! I thought for sure I’d find a piano in the hotel that I could tool around on even if for a few minutes. Well… I found one.

In fact, I found two.

But… they had locks on them!!

Now, there’s that sensible side to me that knew this was for safety and protection of the hotel’s assetts.

But there was that creativity side of me that thought, how sad, a beautiful instrument sitting there waiting for someone to come up and make some music… and it’s got a LOCK on it!

I guess the “lesson” I walked away with was – Do I ever put a “lock” on my creativity? Do you on yours?

Hmmm… something to think about. But in the meantime, I’m back home. And I’m gonna play some…

:)

Blessings to you in all your wonderful creative expression,

Todd

By Todd | Posted in Lessons Of Blessing | Comments (0)
May 27 2009

Napkin Dispensers

May 27, 2009 – 3:39 pm
By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)

One of my most favorite places to hide a dollar is in the ice cream store.

I’ll walk in, and before settling down to place my order, I’ll walk over to one of the napkin dispensers and slip a dollar into one of the napkins, pushing it down so that it’s out of view…

So I went into the store today with my 14 year old daughter, and did my best Secret Dollar Man!

Right after my daughter ordered her ice cream, she reached in and pulled out a handful of napkins, and my dollar was in one of them! After we got into the car, she confessed that she found the dollar, and then she gifted it back to me!

You know, sometimes when we give, it takes a while for the Universe to return prosperity and abundance to us. But sometimes, like today, it comes back quicker than you can imagine!

Yum!

;)

By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)
May 20 2009

The ATM That Ate My Dollar

May 20, 2009 – 9:43 am
By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)

Look closely now…

ATM_dollar

:)

By Todd | Posted in Creative Ideas For Giving | Comments (0)
May 14 2009

Sad Passing

May 14, 2009 – 5:03 pm
By Todd | Posted in Announcements | Comments (0)

(This is a different kind of post for this blog… more about “knead”-ing… than giving…)

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions. Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, and three children, John Dough, Jane Dough, and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 350 for about 20 minutes.

:D

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please “rise” to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a “crumb”-y day and “kneads” a lift.

By Todd | Posted in Announcements | Comments (0)