Good morning and
welcome to Morning Serial.
Okay, good morning and welcome to
Thursday, Friday Eve.
Today is National Senior Citizens Day and
we are paying homage
to those with wisdom,
with wisdom lines maybe and some silver
hair if you still have it.
And those of you that are senior
citizens, you might
remember shopping out of the Sears
catalog or watching I Love Lucy or maybe
you rocked the bottoms
at some point in your
life and at one point you
only drove 55 on the highway.
Probably still do.
Well, well done.
You senior citizens, this day is for you.
And thank you for lighting the path for
us to follow, so enjoy your day.
But don't go too hard though, you don't
want to break a hip today.
All right, well our quote today is, "Not
a senior citizen, but
she offers us a bit of
wisdom nonetheless."
Casey Musgrave said, "Find what brings
you joy and go there."
Right?
Your joy may be a playlist, it might be a
phone call or just avoiding small talk at
the grocery checkout.
Wherever it is, lean into it like your
grandma leans into dessert.
And you know that's true, grandmas love
their ice cream and their pies.
All right, well, today's news facts and
birthdays are for August 21st.
We're going to start back in 1911, that's
when the Mona Lisa,
it was stolen from the
Louvre by Vincenzo Pergia.
But don't fret, it was recovered in 1913,
just two years later.
Then moving up to 1959 on this date,
that's when Hawaii became
the 50th state of the United
States.
So happy birthday, Hawaii.
Then finally in 2020, Korean pop group
BTS, well, they
released the single Dynamite.
You might remember this, it was the first
video to be watched more than 100 million
times in 24 hours on YouTube.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with
singer-songwriter
Casey Musgraves, she's 37.
Track star Usain Bolt, he's 39 today.
Google co-founder Sergey
Brin, he's only 52 today.
Actress Kim Cottrell, aka Samantha, she's
69 today, hard to believe.
And the late singer-songwriter Kenny
Rogers was born on this day in 1938.
Well, the number one song on this date
back in 1995 was You Are
Not Alone by Michael Jackson.
Now, believe it or not, this heartfelt
ballad made history as
the first song to debut at
number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Now, this is not one of Michael's better
known songs, although one of my favorites
of MJ's.
But you might remember the buzz around
the music video to this
song as it featured Michael's
wife at the time, Lisa Marie Presley.
Well, as usual, MJ's right, we are not
alone because we have
Stephen R. Covey's The Seven
Habits of Highly Effective
People to Keep Us Company.
And we are in the
sub-chapter, then seek to be understood.
And in this sub-chapter, Covey starts to
describe the second half of habit five.
After practicing empathic listening, the
next step is expressing
ourselves so that others
can clearly understand our perspective.
Covey stresses that credibility here is
key, and he explains
that effective communication
rests on ethos, pathos, and logos, right?
The classical principles of persuasion.
So ethos represents personal credibility.
It's your character and your integrity.
Pathos is the emotional connection that
you're having, right?
Are you showing
genuine concern and respect?
And then logos is the logic and the
reasoning behind your ideas.
Covey writes, "Trust is the emotional
glue that binds people
together and makes organizations
work."
Now, without trust, no amount of
reasoning or logic will persuade others.
I think he's made that clear.
He says that quite a bit in the book.
Now, once people feel understood, they
are more open to listening.
Again, another thing that we're starting
to get more and more comfortable hearing.
And at this point, we can share our own
ideas, our own concerns,
and our own perspectives.
So Covey warns against
skipping ahead too quickly, right?
If we try to push our views without first
listening, then we
might create resistance.
If we have, though, listened
empathetically, however, our words will
carry greater weight
because they are now
grounded in mutual respect.
All right, Covey encourages communication
with clarity and
courage, but in a way that
reflects both honesty and compassion.
He advises framing statements in terms of
mutual benefit,
seeking solutions that are
win-win rather than one-sided.
And this aligns with his broader
principles that
relationships thrive when both sides
feel heard and value.
Again, very in line with what Carnegie
taught in his habits as well.
Ultimately, seeking to be understood is
not about dominating a
conversation, but contributing
meaningfully to it.
Now, when combined with the first half of
the habit, seeking to
understand, it creates
a cycle of trust,
respect, and collaboration.
All right, here is your takeaway.
Once we have listened with empathy, we
earn the right to be heard.
By communicating with integrity, respect,
and clarity, we ensure
our words build bridges
instead of walls.
So whether you're honoring those
important seniors in your
life, like our moms and our
grandmas or your echoing MJ's message,
remember, today, seek joy,
connect deeply, and maybe
do the moonwalk to
entertain those seniors.
Thanks for listening.
Come back tomorrow for nostalgia and
thoughtful fun, and have a fantastic day.
We'll see you tomorrow.