Happy Sunday Everyone:
3 years ago I wrote about an original thought I actually had all on my own. It was around the 4 quadrants of gratitude: Basically came from me not being able to sleep one night, and then my head started thinking of all that was going on in the world and with people I care about specifically. The idea behind it is that everyone fits into one of these 4 quadrants.
1. Fortunate with Gratitude.
2. Fortunate without Gratitude.
3. Unfortunate with Gratitude.
4. Unfortunate without Gratitude.
I thought of people in my life and what box they fit into. At the time I wrote of box #3’s example “Husband gets cancer and you stand by him, and are thankful, you’re unfortunate w/ gratitude”. That’s my friend and fellow coach, Jane. So why I am I writing about Jane again….I’ll try to summarize as best I can without officially calling her a superhero.
We call Jane “Mighty Mouse”. She’s 4’11, 95 lbs, 57 years old, and a ball of energy like no one I’ve ever seen. She’s the greatest student in the Core which is why she’s a great coach, she does all the work. She’s balanced with 2 great boys, and Hank, her amazing husband. As I wrote 3 years ago, Hank has battled and battled his nasty blood cancer and is still with us today (I believe Hank/Jane would say on borrowed time, my words not theirs).
Last year Jane was coaching me. She called me one day out of the blue and asked if we could talk. She then proceeds to tell me she has breast cancer and will be getting a double mastectomy
the following week, and then asked if it was okay if she missed our next coaching call. She’s walking me through this with a cheer in her voice, with total confidence that all will be okay (still shining in box 3, unfortunate with gratitude). I’m not doing Jane justice as it would take a book. I can only tell you that to be around her is to be around pure joy. You’re literally happier and more joyful being in her presence.
Fast forward to today and the main point of Sunday Thoughts. We had our virtual summit Thursday and Friday. 475 students, 43 coaches and 150 guests. Friday Morning is when we have the opportunity to donate to a charity (typically in the city we’re in). This summit was Jane’s turn to represent a charity. She chose a children’s cancer charity. Within 8 minutes of announcing the charity and how to support it, it had $300,000 raised from our group. That level of support comes because Jane has walked the walk. She lives her life in a way that she doesn’t need to sell you anything, we all want to be a part of anything Jane represents because of her goodness and because of her track record. As I sit here thinking about Jane I’m smiling with the realization that I’ve always placed Jane in box #3 (unfortunate with gratitude), Jane has always placed herself in box #1 (fortunate with gratitude), and that’s why Jane is Jane.
I’m accidentally on week four of talking about the people you hang out, spend time with, allow to influence your life, and vice versa, it matters, a lot.