Les Brown - It's The Little Things That Are Important

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Episode Transcript

(00:11):
You have something special, You havegreatness in you. I want you to
think about what is it you wantto do with your greatness and whatever that
is, you've got to be hungry. Let's think about where we are right
now, a place that we havenever been before in my lifetime. Very

(00:37):
disruptive, very distracting. And youcan easily become consumed by the distractions because
you have to pay attention to what'sgoing on because it might cost you your
life. You know, we havebeen told that what you don't know can't
hurt you. Well, what youdon't know can literally kill you. And

(01:00):
so as we look at how dowe take what we have our dreams,
our talents, our abilities, ourskills, What do you do when out
of nowhere the rug has been snatchedout from under you? How do you
recover? How do you gain yoursenses and begin to put together and plot

(01:26):
a strategy to move forward with yourlife? You have something special and one
of the most important things that wehave is the ability to choose, your
ability to stop, to observe,to go within and say so what now?

(01:49):
What? This is no time topanic. We do not have the
luxury of panicking. The pandemic theroot word is panic. We must create
for ourselves a peace dimmock, alevel of peace within ourselves to whether what's
going on right now? I usedto say when I was younger, when

(02:14):
I would get upset with someone,you made me mad. And the truth
of the matter is they didn't makeme mad. No, I chose to
give up my power and I choseto become angry. Anger, as I
always say now that I'm more mature, is a wind that blows out the

(02:34):
lamp of the mind. But sodoes fear. And so most importantly now
getting still looking and observing and takingin how do I use the time that
I have more productively? How doI maintain a positive state of mind?

(02:58):
Because it's not easy when they tellyou, hey, they're about to be
a series of deaths taking place everywhere, And how do I not become paranoid
when someone sneezes? And began tohave a strategies to stabilize myself through all

(03:23):
that's going on, and those thatI care about and those who love me
and looking out for me. They'resaying, if you're fifty year older and
I'm seventy five young, and ifyou have any underlying conditions. Well,

(03:45):
I've been kicking kancers but for severalyears, and type two diabetes and high
blood pressure. That's one of thecarminations of various illnesses that doctors call train
wrecks. If you if you goto the hospital, if you're by category,

(04:06):
they push you to the back ofthe room. So let me tell
you something. I'm not trying toget sick. Look here, I wear
my bask in bed and I don'tsleep with anybody but me in Mickey bows.

(04:28):
But I think I'm I'm becoming staircrazy. Oh my god. You know
I don't go out that much.But when you tell me I can't do
something now, I want to doit. And so here's what we must
do. As you look at yourself, look at where you are, look

(04:53):
at life as it is right now, this new place where we are right
one of the most important things wecan do is to pause, to pause
and to think and ask ourselves.Am I making the right decision? Is

(05:15):
this decision that I'm making right now? Does it represent the highest that is
within me? Or is it motivatedand inspired by fear and desperation? This
decision that I'm making right now?Is this really me? You have you
ever had a situation where you justreacted and you said to yourself, this

(05:40):
is not me, this is notme. And so this is a time
that we have to be in alignmentwith our mind, our thoughts, our
actions, our feelings, and youhave to take time to nurture yourself,
to go into the sanctuary of yoursoul and get still a minimum three times

(06:05):
a day just to meditate just onthese words. I am at peace.
That's what I'm doing now. Iam at peace. Even if I'm stressed
out, even if I'm feeling nervousand God notts in my stomach, I

(06:26):
am at peace. We must callforth those things that be not as though
they were. I am at peace. And every time some thoughts come in
my mind, trying to cloud itwith worry, with stress, anything that
can try and distract me from thisplace where I'm anchoring myself, I am

(06:53):
at peace. And taking a deepbreath, I am at peace. If
I have trouble trying to go tosleep, I say to myself, I
go to sleep quickly and easily.I am at peace. Finding peace in

(07:18):
the midst of the storm and allthat we're growing through right now is more
important than ever before. The otherthing is finding the tools that you need
to be it lavender, taking along bath as opposed to a shower,

(07:40):
candles, burning incense, soft music, whatever you need to help to calm
your spirit and create an atmosphere ofpeace to check out, to unplug from
the world. That's now very important. You have to create the environment that

(08:01):
you want because if you don't doit, it will be created for you
and it's going to be chaotic.Another thing that's important, what are the
relationships that you have that are peaceful? Friend who she gets up in the
morning around seven o'clock and they haveprayer and people from all over the country.

(08:28):
I think they have probably around eighthundred to a thousand people on that
prayer line, and different people taketerms praying and I believe that it gives
them a sense of peace and itgives them a level of comfort and a
sense of security. What are thethings that you are doing that can help

(08:52):
you find peace at this point intime. What are the relationships that you
have with friends that you can gettogether and pray together, or meditate together,
or somehow using technology that you cancommunicate together. Even though you're a

(09:13):
part that you can be there foreach other. Are you going through a
tough time right now? Just thinkabout where we are that if someone dies
that you love, that you can'tgo to the funeral, that they're now
having funerals over zoo. Oh mygod. And so this is a different

(09:35):
place. It's cruel people who aredying and family members cannot be at their
bedside. We've never ever experienced anythinglike this. We're giving virtual hugs,
touch deprivation, all of these thingsthat are in place right now. You

(10:00):
have to really work on yourself becausea lot of people are snapping. I
saw a lady in Walmart on oneof the videos on YouTube, and she
sped on a guy and coughed athim and called him all kind of filthy
words, and fortunately he restrained himself. There are people that are snapping under

(10:24):
the pressure of what's going on rightnow, with what this virus has created.
So having an aggressive plan of actionto calm your spirit, to calm
your mind, listening to calming music, burning candles, having dinner and talking

(10:48):
with loved ones, and turning toeach other rather than on each other,
looking for ways in which you canenjoy and find a sense of peace.
I'm afraid to call my massage therapistbecause I don't know who she's been touching.
I mean, if there's a levelof caution and safety choices that we

(11:16):
must make because we don't know whatthis virus is and how many ways it
can be spread. And so havinga strategy, what's your strategy for being
here? What are you going todo that will allow you to keep a

(11:37):
mindset of mindfulness so that you don'tmake the wrong choices. They said,
well, you can get it byjust talking to people or sitting next to
somebody breathing the same air. Mygoodness, Oh, my goodness. I
went for walk today and I wasthinking about at the stage of my life,

(12:03):
I never thought that I would encounteranything like this, and I know
I'm not by myself. And soas we look at our goals and look
at our dreams, here's some thingsthat I'm practicing that I'm encouraging you to
consider. One, be conscious andbe deliberate about finding peace. Be conscious

(12:31):
and be deliberate by monitoring what youwatch and what you listen to, because
all of those things that can getinto your mind can poison your spirit and
lure your level of moral and compromiseyour level of joy and happiness, be

(12:54):
aggressive and finding things that will makeyou laugh, that will make you feel
good. I have friends that wejust send all kind of funny little videos
back and forth to each other tomake us laugh, because you need to
be able to laugh in the midstof all of these things. And the

(13:16):
other thing is accept the reality thestuff going on now that you can absolutely
do nothing about. I mean,I had to be with that. Sometimes
I feel like mighty Mouse. HereI come to save the day? Is
mighty mouse, He's on his way. I can't be mighty Mouse now of

(13:43):
upstairs hiding from Corona. That youhave to be thoughtful as you take care
of yourself and find creative ways inwhich you can talk with family members and
friends. And so when I talkwith my children and I make my rounds,

(14:07):
and then I talked to my grandchildrenand my little great grandsons, they
are not quite as as talkative asthe others. But what I'm realizing that
what's most important in all the thingsthat we have, what's most important are
the relationships. They did a surveyof people who were wealthy and on the

(14:33):
verge of dying, and they askedthem, what's most important to you now?
And these are people who were multimillionaires and had four and five estates,
and had traveled around the world andhad large businesses. What is it
that's most important to you now?None of them talked about how much money

(14:58):
they had left in the bank.None of them talked about whether or not
the sales were still good and thecompanies that they had created. None of
them were concerned about the people thatthey had disagreements with and hated. They
all talked about being able to havea few moments with the people that they

(15:22):
love and that they built all thesethings they felt in their mind for,
but they spent very little time withthose people that they were working for.
I'll never forget when I came homeafter working real hard and shared with my

(15:43):
son John Leslie things that I thoughthe would like. I was on the
road for a long period of time, and I brought him all type of
presence back and he said, thankyou, Dad. And before I could
go to sleep, he brought mea note and it was a quote by

(16:04):
Jacqueline o'nassis. What if I gainthe world and my children don't amount to
anything? And then he had inhis own handwriting at ten, thank you
for your presence, but I wantyour presence. What he was saying is,

(16:26):
I am very appreciative of all thethings you brought here for me,
but I want you. If I'vegot you, I've got everything. I
cried myself to sleep that night.I thought about that, and I said
the next morning to myself, I'mgoing to make a difference in my behavior

(16:52):
and develop a deeper relationship with myson and the rest of my children,
because that's what he wanted me,not the materialistic things me, not all
the gadgets and new tools that hecould play. To be preoccupied. Why
I was chasing the dollar. Hewanted me. He wanted my attention,

(17:18):
and I should have been more aggressiveabout doing that. I've never known my
father. I've never known what itwould be like to spend time with my
father. I'm a product of asperm donor, so I got a chance
not to be that. I gota chance to be present, to be
involved, to be engaged with notjust him, but all of his brothers

(17:44):
and sisters and my friends, andand doing those things that really matter in
life, building strong, loving,collaborative, supportive relationships that will sustain us
and allow us to go into thefuture, and that will allow us to
build a legacy and to experience ajoy and happiness that passive all human understanding.

(18:11):
You have something special, you havegreatness in you. What really matters
to you, What relationships do youhave at this point in time that you
need to deepen? What texts orwhat letter do you need to personally handwright
and send to someone and say,thank you for what you've been in my

(18:36):
life. Thank you for helping meat a very tough time that I was
going through. Thank you for yourlove and your encouragement. Thank you for
having my back. Thank you,thank you. There's no saying judge a
person not by what they do,but what they do that they don't have
to do, and to judge thetrue quality of a person is what they

(19:00):
do when nobody's looking. Thank you, You have something special, you have
greatness in you. That's my storyand I'm sticking to it. You are
listening to Less Brown Greatness Radio,positive and motivational content curated by the legendary Less Brown