Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning and welcome to
Wednesday, the middle
child of the work week.
Well, today is the great American
grump-out, which means
you're officially encouraged
to put down the
grumbling and pick up a smile.
Or at least maybe a sarcastic smirk.
And it's also National Skilled Trades
Day, so shout out to the
folks who actually know
how to fix things
instead of just googling it.
And don't forget, it's
also school nurse day.
To the heroes armed with band-aids, ice
packs, and infinite
patient for the quote, "My
stomach hurts before math class"
complaints, we see you and we thank you.
So take a deep breath, shake off that
grump, but not
entirely, because today's quote
comes from someone who is absolutely
known for his cynicalness
and his grouchy personality.
Surprisingly, he also provided some great
insights, even some inspirational quotes.
Our quote today comes from Sesame Street
resident, Oscar the
Grouch, who said, "Be yourself.
Everyone else is already taken."
I bet you didn't see that one coming.
Well, today's news, facts, and birthdays
are for May 7th, and we're going to start
back in 1867, when on this day, Swedish
chemist, Alfred Nobel.
He patented dynamite in England, and it
was the first of his
three patents that he would
receive for the explosive material.
Now, you feel like you
should know his name?
Well, you do.
Alfred Nobel.
He established the Nobel Prize in his
will, stating that the
majority of his fortune should
be used to reward individuals who made
significant contributions to humanity.
The Nobel Prize was first awarded in
1901, following Nobel's death in 1896.
The more you know.
Then we're going to move up to 1946, when
on this date, the
company Sony was founded.
And thank goodness, we may never have had
those Sony Walkmans without this company.
Then lastly, in 2017, on this date,
Emmanuel Macron, he won France's
presidential election,
and oddly enough, he was inaugurated for
a second term on this same date in 2022.
Well, happy birthday to you
if today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with YouTuber and
someone you probably
only know if you're under 20
years old or you have
kids under 20 years old.
Mr. Beast.
He's 27 today.
And the number one song on this date back
in 1986 was "Addicted to Love" by Robert
Palmer.
Now, "Addicted to Love"
wasn't just a smash hit.
It became a full-blown Gen X anthem with
one of the most iconic
music videos of the decade.
Now the track was originally intended to
be a duet with Shaka Khan.
However, due to scheduling difficulties,
Robert Palmer ended up
singing the song by himself.
And maybe that was for the best, because
his deadpan delivery
paired perfectly with that
now famous army of identically dressed,
expressionless female models playing
instruments in the video?
Well, that video became a
symbol of the 80s cool, right?
Airplay royalty on MTV.
Plus, let's be honest, Gen Xers didn't
just love to dance to "Addicted to Love."
They probably played air guitar in front
of their bedroom mirrors,
well, in their acid wash jeans.
Well, whether you're addicted to love or
you're addicted to a
little bit of self-improvement,
you're in the right place because we're
reading through Stephen R.
Covey's "The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People."
And we're in Covey's
second chapter today.
We're diving into a powerful section.
It's from part two, chapter one, and
we're focusing on two
sub-chapters, the social mirror
and between stimulus and response.
Now, these sections really lay the
foundation for the first
habit, which is be proactive.
And Covey kicks things off by talking
about how most of us
see ourselves through what
he calls the social mirror.
Basically, we believe what the world
tells us about who we are.
If people say we're bad at
something, we take it as truth.
If society defines success in a certain
way, we feel pressured to chase it.
Covey puts it like this, "We see the
world not as it is, but
as we are, or as we are
conditioned to see it."
Now that's a wake-up call.
If we don't recognize how much of our
identity is shaped by
outside voices, we risk living
someone else's version of our life.
Then he drops this beautiful truth bomb.
Between stimulus and response, man has
the freedom to choose.
Covey tells the story of Victor Frankl, a
psychiatrist and
Holocaust survivor who discovered
that even in the most horrific
conditions, no one could
take away his power to choose
his attitude.
That space between what happens to us and
how we respond, that's
where our power lives.
Covey says this space is where our
uniquely human gifts come in,
self-awareness, imagination,
conscience and independent will.
When we use those gifts, we stop reacting
out of habit or fear of what someone else
expects.
Then we start acting on values.
He says, "We are not our feelings.
We are not our moods.
We are not even our thoughts."
That line stops me every time.
Why?
Because of the takeaway.
You're not defined by your past, your
mistakes, your upbringing,
or what someone else says
about you.
You are defined by what
you choose to do next.
That's why this whole chapter sets the
stage for habit one.
Be proactive.
It's about owning your choices, breaking
free from old
patterns and deciding day by
day the kind of person you want to be.
Hey, thanks for joining us today.
Remember, don't be a grouch today.
Even Oscar the Grouch had
days where he could be positive.
Alright, we'll see you back here tomorrow
and have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Serial
podcast on the One Life
Live It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
visiting our YouTube channel and the
website at seaningless
and at seaningless.com, where you can
also follow our other
podcast, the Mr. and Mrs.
Inglis podcast and the
Life Happens podcast.
In these other podcasts, we'll dive
deeper into everyday issues,
self-improvement and
well-being, business and finance, and we
welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It'll be a good time, I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day and
we'll see you tomorrow.