Seeing with new eyes! Shift your awareness and perception!

As a motivational/inspirational speaker, whose intention is to – ironically – Motivate and Inspire others; I presented my talk “Seeing With New Eyes’ this past Sunday.

I was THRILLED to be asked to give this talk! It is part of a big AH HA!, major awakening, shifting of awareness moment in my life occurring at age 49.

Since the talk is about shifting one’s self-perceptions and awareness, to see the gift and sacredness of all life, what occurred the morning of the talk caused me to LAUGH at myself!

It’s always fun (NOT!) showing up at venues where you are ‘in the dark’ as to what is going on, other than you are a speaker. When I arrived at the event the day before, I was scheduled to give a ‘Laughter? Let’s Get Serious!’ talk. I had to make use of my smile and laughter therapy on myself, to get through the confusing process.

I eventually found the room where I would be speaking; rearranged the room to suit my presentation; and placed handouts and give-a-ways on the chairs. (I had asked for handouts to be supplied, since I wasn’t getting paid – but no support staff appeared as well as no handouts.) I walked back out to the entrance area and saw some presenters with name badges. I asked them if they were having any more luck than I was; ‘no’ was the response. Well, I presented my talk/laughter wellness session and it went ‘WELL’. HA HA

The FUNNY thing is, when I arrived the next morning to give my ‘Seeing With New Eyes’ talk; the process hadn’t improved. I still had very little information; and it was the same for the support staff. There were a lot of looks of shock and confusion when questions were asked.

I asked in which room would I be speaking? I was told: 3rd Floor, Ambassador Suite. Well, with a name like THAT, how could I go wrong? I was told it was to the right after I got off the elevator.

So, I wheel my handy-dandy ‘dolly’ cart to the elevators, press 3, exit the elevator and head to the right. Voila! I found the Ambassador Suite! I open the door, maneuver my cart into the room and – IT’S NOT SET UP! There are only 6 chairs! The chairs are sitting along the wall, around the room – behind 6 long cloth-covered tables!

I instantly feel deflated! You don’t want to know what was going through my mind. *smile I had given a talk the previous morning, and another Laughter Program at a church the previous evening; I was exhausted.

I’m thinking, SO I’M GOING TO HAVE TO GO GET CHAIRS AND SET ‘THIS’ ROOM UP, TOO! *sigh I let the cart of stuff in the room with the door open. I step outside the room in frustration and exhaustion. I see some medical rep vendors sitting at their tables outside the room. They see my face (it’s very readable) and smile. I say: ‘I can’t believe this! I’m supposed to be giving my talk in here and it’s dark, with no chairs and a bunch of long tables around the walls!’ The ‘hand therapist’ points to a sign across the hall from her table. The sign reads: ‘SEEING WITH NEW EYES’ 10:00-11:00am. I look at the room name and it is the ‘Pennslvania Room’.

I say to her, as I regroup; ‘You know, I’m not going to get bothered. It’s a different room than what they told me; but it’s set up and I’m thrilled!’ I go to the Ambassador Room, retrieve my stuff, set it up in the OTHER room. The chairs were all bunched against the walls, so I spread them out and create more speaker-viewing space so the audience can better receive the talk.

With the actual room located and set up, I got out to talk to the hand therapist. It turns out the soul was bored stiff. No one was coming up to the third floor to hear about hand therapy! I ask her, do you mind if I run through my talk with you while we sit here? She offered to be a willing participant!

Then, I said: ‘You know, it’s so ironic that the room name they gave me ended up being different than the room that was set up!’ I continued: ‘My talk is on SEEING WITH NEW EYES! If I hadn’t STEPPED OUTSIDE THE ROOM (the box) and SHIFTED MY PERCEPTION/AWARENESS in your direction to see the room assigned, I would have REMAINED in that dark/inadequate room STEWING and being FRUSTRATED and ANGRY. I concluded, THAT’s what my talk is all about!’

I became so excited! I had to laugh! I said to her, I SHIFTED the direction of my talk when I was preparing at home this morning. I wanted to refresh it and take it in a lighter direction. Then, this happened – I can actually apply it to what I’ll be talking about and folks will relate!

So, it appears, the MESSAGE we seem to need to hear ourselves, is the message we choose to deliver to others in our roles as Motivational/Inspirational speakers. The FUNNY thing is, it keeps presenting itself in our lives to see if WE STILL GET IT!

GOT IT?

*smile
Highlighted Helen of LAFOLOT
Living Life in Amazement!
Live Life! Laugh Often!

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