Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning
and welcome to Thursday.
Hopefully you're starting to warm up a
bit from these low temps,
and I see many of us are getting record
snowfall in areas that
rarely even have snow.
Well, have fun with it if you can.
A snowball to someone's face
always makes me feel better.
Just kidding.
And if you thought that was a good idea,
you failed the test.
Well, we still have a
couple months left of winter,
so be sure to get plenty of
sunlight, exercise, eat well,
and reduce your stress levels, and we'll
get through this together.
Alright, let's get into today's episode
with today's quotes.
One fun, nostalgic quote, and then a
second quote to tease our book review
later in the episode.
Hopefully one of these quotes will speak
to you and jumpstart your
day in a positive direction.
Okay, here's the first quote.
It's from the singer Sting, and he said,
"You have to be yourself.
Stay true to who you are and what you
are, and if people still
like you, that's great.
If they don't, that's their problem."
I think sometimes we spend too much
energy on worrying about
what other people think.
And someone once told me, which really
helped my perspective,
that people don't think of you nearly as
much as you think they do.
They're worried about themselves.
They're worried about their own lives.
So just do you.
And today's teaser quote
from the book review is,
"We become like that on
which our hearts are fixed."
And as usual, we'll unpack that here in
just a few minutes during
the book review segment.
But first, let's jump into our usual dose
of fun and historic facts
from this day in history.
Today's news facts are for January 23rd.
In 1973, U.S. President Nixon, he
announced an accord that had been reached
to end the Vietnam War.
In 1977, the TV miniseries Roots debuted.
It became one of the most popular shows
in the history of American television,
and it galvanized attention on
African-American issues and history.
In 1996, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in Cleveland, it
inducted its first class,
which included names like Chuck Berry,
Fats Domino, Ray Charles,
Little Richard, and Elvis Presley.
In 1997, Madeline Albright, she was sworn
in as the U.S. Secretary
of State under Bill Clinton,
and she became the first
woman to hold that Cabinet post.
In 1997, the Age of Aquarius dawned, some
astrologers believe,
because for the first time since 1475, a
number of planets, the Sun and the Moon,
were aligned in a perfect six-pointed
star in the first degree of Aquarius.
It refers to a time of
change, rebirth, and renewal.
So if that sounds good to you and you
want to participate,
you still have time because this age will
last for another 2,000 years.
Okay, let's move on to birthdays.
Happy birthday if today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with Captain Chelsea
"Sully" Solenberger. He's 74.
Actress Mariska Hargity, she's well known
for her role on Law & Order. She's 61.
And Tiffany Amber Theson, you know Kelly
Kapowski from Saved by
the Bell. She'll be 51.
Now to the music and the movies of the
80s, 90s, and 2000s.
The number one song on this date in 1994
was "All 4 Love" by Brian
Adams, Rod Stewart, and Steen.
The song was written for the 1993 movie
"The Three Musketeers,"
and the title was meant to signify a
strong bond of loyalty and
commitment between friends.
"All 4 Love" held the
top spot for three weeks.
But before they recorded it, Brian Adams
and Steen were said to consider Luciano
Pavarotti and John Bon Jovi
before landing on Rod
Stewart as the third singer.
Okay, the number one movie on this date
in 2000 was "Next Friday."
This was the sequel to the original 1995
movie "Friday," which was a cult classic,
and there were some of the most iconic
one-liners coming from that movie.
It starred Ice Cube and Chris Tucker.
However, I have not seen "Next Friday"
partially because one of the main stars
of the original film,
Chris Tucker, he did not
reprise his role of Smokey.
"Next Friday" was apparently also part of
a trilogy as the movie "Friday After
Next" was released in 2002.
"Next Friday" grossed 59 million
worldwide and was the number one movie
for about two weeks.
Let's move on to some personal growth now
in the book review
segment of "Morning Serial."
This is where we take a few moments to
reflect on lessons learned from the
current book we're reading,
and as you know, we're currently reading
through Dale Carnegie's "How to Win
Friends and Influence People."
It's a timeless book that is consistently
on all the must-read lists,
and it's packed with rock-solid advice
and actions for all of us to use
to build healthy
foundational concepts to live by.
We are still in chapter two of part two
entitled "A Simple Way to
Make a Good First Impression,"
and it's as simple and as we're learning,
as powerful as starting off with a smile.
As Carnegie reminds us throughout the
book, when dealing with
people, we must be authentic,
and it's the same with a smile.
Give a real smile, a heartwarming smile
that comes from within, and have a good
time when you're meeting people.
We've discussed how the smile can affect
other people's decisions,
even when it's not seen,
as your enthusiasm and your positivity
come through your voice.
Yesterday, we talked again about how
implementing some of
these simple concepts
in a genuine and consistent manner can
truly revolutionize your life and help us
find the happiness that we all seek.
Carnegie states that everyone in the
world is seeking happiness and says,
"And there is one sure way to find it.
That is by controlling your thoughts.
Happiness doesn't depend on outward
conditions. It depends
on inner conditions."
And he continues to make the point that
it's actually not what
you have or where you are,
what you are doing that
makes us happy or unhappy,
but it's actually what we're thinking
about that makes this determination.
Carnegie is talking about a mental
mindset here and makes an example of two
people with the same amount of prestige,
the same amount of money,
doing the exact same thing.
And one might be miserable while the
other is perfectly happy,
or how there is just as many happy faces
on people working away on a hot day
outside for minimum wage
as there are in an
air-conditioned office in New York.
Shakespeare said, "There is
nothing either good or bad.
But thinking makes it so."
And Abraham Lincoln said about it,
"Most folks are about as happy as they
make up their minds to be."
Again, it's a mindset that
Carnegie is talking about here.
He continues to give examples of people
that simply make a mental decision
to change the way they think about their
situation and then
live their life that way.
The mind is a powerful
thing. We've all heard that.
And Carnegie is
practically begging us to apply it,
to stop for a moment and incorporate a
life-changing perspective
on how we approach every day
and how we approach people every day,
staying diligent and disciplined to
remain positive, sincere and genuine.
Carnegie says, "We cannot simply read
about these concepts and
learn about good actions to take.
That's not nearly enough. We have to
actually apply these
changes to our lives."
Carnegie here provides an
excerpt from Albert Hubbard,
and he says, "Pursuing it won't do us any
good unless we apply it."
Here's the excerpt from Hubbard's essay.
[music]
Picture in your mind the able, earnest,
useful person you desire to be,
and the thought you hold is hourly
transforming you into
that particular individual.
Thought is supreme.
Preserve a right mental attitude,
the attitude of courage, frankness and
good cheer to think rightly as to create.
All things come through desire and every
sincere prayer is answered.
We become like that on
which our hearts are fixed.
Carry your chin in and
your crown of your head high.
We are gods in the chrysalis."
What a beautiful excerpt.
Have you ever had a time in your life
where you just said,
"I'm going to turn over a new leaf. I'm
going to start over fresh and be the
person I know I want to be."
It's those moments that I believe
Carnegie is pointing us towards here.
But not only is Carnegie pointing us in
the direction of a life change,
he is equipping us
with the tools to do it.
However, we must be diligent,
inconsistent and
disciplined to make real change.
And as the essay just pointed out, we
must stay on the course.
We must remain fixed on our goal.
Walk proud and take courage and we will
emerge as a new person in the end.
We'll close today's review segment with
the Chinese proverb, "Carnegie Sights,"
and it says, "A man without a smiling
face must not open a shop."
And Carnegie says, "Your smile is a
messenger of your goodwill.
Your smile brightens the
lives of all who see it.
To someone who has seen a dozen people
frown, scowl or turn their faces away.
Your smile is like the sun
breaking through the clouds,
especially when that someone is under
pressure from his or her bosses,
his customers, her
teachers or parents or children.
A smile can help him
realize that all is not hopeless
and to remember that
there is joy in the world."
Okay, breathe, smile, breathe again.
Take in the sun. Today is
a great day to be alive.
We just finished chapter two of part two,
and Carnegie's principle
number two is super simple,
but super powerful
and can change our mood.
It can change other people's moods and
can change lives in the long run.
Principle number two is simply smile.
So join us again tomorrow as we start
chapter three of part two,
and that's entitled, "If You Don't Do
This, You're Headed For Trouble."
Okay, another somewhat deep book review
today, and it ended with a simple smile.
Well, take a deep breath.
Enjoy this beautiful day that you've been
given and all the
possibilities that it holds.
Have a fantastic day, and we'll see you
back here tomorrow for
the start of chapter three.
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 Shawn
English and at ShawnEnglish.com, where
you can also follow our
other podcast, the Mr.
and Mrs. English 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.