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A couple weeks ago, I heard someone talking about bouncing back. Though the challenge may get us down, we do not need to stay down! We can bounce back from difficulties, and come out of those experiences stronger and wiser than we were going into them.

Sasha Azevedo, an actress, athlete, and model, phrased it best by saying, "I have learned that some of the nicest people you'll ever meet are those who have suffered a traumatic event or loss. I admire them for their strength, but most especially for their life gratitude-a gift often taken for granted by the average person in society."

That is why I would like to share our newest movie, Learning to Dance in the Rain by BJ Gallagher, with you.

Click here to see the movie

This beautiful movie puts pictures to BJ's poem, "The Weather Report". Watch this, and share your own bounce back story! If you liked this movie, feel free to share our blog with your family and friends.

That quote comes from Charles F. Kettering. The words "Finish Strong" are more than phrase, they are a mindset. This mindset, when used correctly, can drive you to new heights of success.

In the book Finish Strong Dan Green tells stories of athletes, politicians, and others who chose to persevere against the odds... and Finish Strong. Now, please enjoy this short movie detailing some of the stories about the underdog taking the trophy:

So, how can you Finish Strong this weekend? Do you have a summer league in which you participate? Tasks you need to get done? Remember to have fun, and to Finish Strong!

From the Simple Truths Archives, here is a little story from about the Golden Rule that can be found in The Power of Attitude:

I (Mac Anderson) grew up in Trenton, a west Tennessee town of five thousand people. I have wonderful memories of those first eighteen years, and many people in Trenton influenced my life in very positive ways.

My football coach, Walter Kilzer, taught me the importance of hard work, discipline, and believing in myself. My history teacher, Fred Culp, is still the funniest person I've ever met. He taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings.

But my father was my hero. He taught me many things, but at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with respect...to live the Golden Rule. I remember one particular instance of him teaching this "life lesson" as if it were yesterday.

Dad owned a furniture store, and I used to dust the furniture every Wednesday after school to earn my allowance. One afternoon I observed my Dad talking to all the customers as they came in...the hardware store owner, the banker, a farmer, a doctor. At the end of the day, just as Dad was closing, the garbage collector came in.

I was ready to go home, and I thought that surely Dad wouldn't spend too much time with him. But I was wrong. Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before. He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more.

I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left, I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him? He's just the garbage collector." Dad then looked at me, locked the front door to the store, and said, "Son, let's talk."

He said, "I'm your father and I tell you lots of stuff as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this...treat every human being just the way that you would want to be treated." He said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it, but I want to make sure it's the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you would never have said what you said."

We sat there and talked for another hour about the meaning and the power of the Golden Rule. Dad said, "If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't, your life probably will be very unhappy and without meaning."

I recently heard someone say, "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of incalculable value." Truer words were never spoken.

How have others influenced you through this rule? How can you influence others today? Share your thoughts, and make it a golden day!

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity leads us down new paths."

~Walt Disney

Image: Simple Truths Social Media Newsroom

Like Walt Disney, here at Simple Truths, we like to open new doors with curiosity.

In June we opened a new door, this one to our online newsroom.

We're pleased with what we see so far. Our first press release, distributed via PR Newswire, was displayed on over 70 online news centers, including Forbes, AOL Money, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you, the loyal fan, for supporting Simple Truth's mission and vision to inspire people around the world.

We invite you to share the Simple Truth News with your social networks. When you visit Simple Truths' social media newsroom, you'll see the stories, pictures and movies. While you're there, you can leave a comment and easily share the link with friends on your favorite social networks. To get the news as soon as we make it, subscribe to Simple Truths Newsroom RSS feed.

May we celebrate, together, sharing inspiring stories that encourage people to do their best in life!

Today we welcome back John Blumberg, author of Good to the Core. From his Front Porch Blog, he writes a thought provoking post on Twitter as a time management tool. Did you just hear an oxymoron, or a different way to look at your Twitter account? Read on to decide:

Someone is going to need to go on a diet with all the "tweets" going around. It is the whole new phenomenon of Twitter. It seems to have come out of nowhere and now it seems to be every where. And if it isn't Twitter, it is Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn. Just name your own flavor of Social Networking.
In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell looks at what triggers the exponential spread of a trend. It seems that "social networking" has hit the "tipping point." It is spreading like a wildfire and the question becomes … can we harness it enough to unleash its potential? There is no question that there will be some inefficient investment of time along the way. And I am certain it will be misused by some.
Yet the potential for connection is enormous. It is like sitting on a virtual "front porch." It certainly raises the question of the depths of relationships being thousands of miles wide and only a fraction of an inch deep. But it also opens up the possibility of creating a reservoir of magical connections.
The greatest potential of the social networking tools may, in the end, having nothing to do with connections and relationships. It may have everything to do with accountability.
I remember, years ago, doing some pre-work for a time management class. As part of the prerequisite, you had to keep a log of your schedule … writing down what you had just done in the last fifteen minutes. You had to record your entry every fifteen minutes of every waking hour for a whole week. It was revealing. It raised the awareness of the truth of how you were using your time. It was the manual "Twitter" of it's time because it begged the question … what are you doing now?
Twitter is simple. There is nothing fancy or complicated about it. It is all about … what are you doing now? With your updates limited to only 140 characters each (characters, not words!) you must be short and … shall we say tweet! It's all about going public with what you are doing day to day. My first response is … who cares? But as I started "following" some good friends on Twitter I have to admit that it gave me a sense of connection to them even though I had not actually talked with them for a few weeks. Because I knew just what they had been doing!
As I began to post my "tweets" two or three times a day, I couldn't help noticing the growing awareness of a subtle question … is this the best use of your time? And I don't mean the time that it took to post the "tweet" … I mean what the tweet revealed of what I was doing at the moment. The element of "what are you doing" being up for public display raised the stakes of accountability. I don't mean in how others will judge your use of time (although they surely will!) but rather your own personal accountability.
There is no question that Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn (yes, just to name a few!) all hold the potential for being an enormous waste of time. So can email, the internet and the telephone for that matter! They are all simply tools and the tools are neither good nor bad. They are neutral. How we use them will determine whether they have added value or distraction.
I would suggest if they raise our awareness on how we are using the precious gift of time each day then their potential is unlimited. If it helps us realize that time is our most valuable and limited asset, then these tools will have proven to be a miracle … and that would be really tweet!
I can't imagine a more important question than … what are you doing now? This is the only time you will get to experience this moment, this hour, this day, this week, this month in your entire life. Are you making the very most of it? If so, you may just be pleased enough to share it with the world. If a raised awareness changes how we choose to use our time … well, I would then suggest that "social networking" is no waste of time!
ACTION IDEA: Carefully consider how you are using the new tools of "social networking" and set the parameters of how you will efficiently participate in this new phenomenon. More importantly, use social networking's critical question "what are you doing now" as a constant reminder to evaluate if what you are doing now is the best use of this moment!