Rick Beneteau’s Inspirational Blog

I’ve been a lifelong hockey fan. My favorite team as a kid was the Toronto Maple Leafs and I idolized players like Dave Keon, Eddie Shack, Tim Horton (yes, the coffee franchise king), Ron Ellis and Frank Mahovlich, who wound up living 3 doors down from us on Gladstone Avenue in Windsor when he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. One of my brightest childhood memories was going for walks with one of my hereos, “the Big M”, Frank Mahovlich, one time accompanied by his also-famous NHLer brother, Pete.

I guess my love of the game began when I accompanied my dad to some Red Wing games when he took the mother of his friend, New York Ranger defenseman Johnny Wilson, to the old Olympia Arena to watch those two ‘original six’ teams battle it out. I vividly recall being afraid of the too-steep steps in that old barn. A few years later, Johnny was coaching his rival Motor City team.

Road hockey was the game of choice in my neighborhood and the black-and-white Hockey Night in Canada telecasts were a fixture in our home on Saturday nights. Although broadcast now in high-definition, it still remains one in my home today. Now, of course, the National Hockey League has expanded to 30 teams with only a handful remaining in it’s birthplace of Canada, and includes players from all over the world. They compete each year, 80 some bone-crunching regular season games in all, for the coveted Lord Stanley Cup.

The last 2 games of the season remain to be played. The final round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 8th seeded Edmonton Oilers, who beat out my now favorite, and top-seeded Red Wings team this year in the first round, against the more talent-rich Carolina Hurricanes. Last night the Oils faced elimination, down three games to one in the best-of-seven series. Of the 27 times a team has been down 3-1 in the history of the playoff finals, only one team has ever come back to win the cup. With those odds entrenched in each players mind, they played their passionate best and came out the victors early in the first overtime period! Not a smidgeon of doubt in any of their minds that they can’t win the next 2 games - and the cup!

This is the stuff of true grit. And determination. And belief. And all out, nothing-held-back effort. How we should all live our lives.

I’m rooting for the Oilers (afterall, I’m a Canuck and now live in the birthplace of the most famous Oiler of all, Wayne Gretzsky:-) but whoever wins the Coveted Cup the players on both teams are, without reservation, true Winners!

With that thought in mind I’d like to share a powerful quotation on the subject of Winning from speaker, author and motivator Les Brown:
“There are winners, there are losers and there are people who have not yet learned how to win.”

Go Oilers!

Rick

Filed under: General Ramblings, Notable and Quotable
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I’ve received some very nice feedback from subscribers to my Pearls of Success autoresponder series about the following quotation of mine about family. An exceptionally touching one came over the weekend so I thought I’d share:

If I die tonight in my sleep:
let me have hugged and told my children that I love them,
let me have told my mother how much she is loved and appreciated,
let me have helped a friend or better, a stranger,
let me have worked very hard these past hours in the name of my personal progress, and, let me have gone to sleep with the knowledge that I did the very best I could today.

I hope to have some good stuff for you later in the week.

Rick

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As I had hoped for, and predicted, Taylor Hicks, is now America’s “Idol”. In the star-studded 2 hour finale that you likely stay glued to like me, it was Katharine vs. Taylor, McPheever vs. the Soul Patrol as performers Meatloaf, Mary J. Blige, Tony Braxton, Al Jarreau, the band Live, and, former Idols and now big stars, Carrie Underwood and Clay Aiken, shared the stage with the last group of Idol contestants who had been picked off one by one the past several weeks. Very slick. Very entertaining. Prince made a surprise appearance near the end of the show with a less than royal performance.

As you may have read in a previous post, this was the first year I tuned into American Idol. I guess my love of healthy competition combined with my love of music to get the best of me and turn me into a late blooming Idol Addict.

After his coronation, Taylor summed it all up best when he screamed, in utter jubilation, “I’m living the American Dream!”

Now, Canadian Idol begins.

Rick

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I was supposed to be in Windsor this past weekend. My eldest grandson, Corbin, was in a karate tournament and as fate would have it I was not able to attend. Of course, I spoke with him on the phone as soon as he returned home and the excitement in his voice was something else. I’ll be heading down this weekend though and he can’t wait to show me the trophy he won for 2nd place overall (Corbin is in the middle). That’s my boy! Hi Ya!

I’ll be visiting with my eldest daughter Sara and my grandsons, my mom (we’re doing some work around her house), my3 sisters (one coming into town from Hamilton) and will see some friends as well as business partners. Will be a jampacked visit for sure and one I’m really looking forward to!

I’d like to share with you a quote that I recorded recently for my 1 Minute podcast, a quote from my pod partner Larry and one which I hope serves to inspire you, even a little:

“The power of music to align the will and determination with one’s deepest desires is a matter of history.
Find your march, Your battle song. Your anthem.
The lyric and melody that touches your soul and moves you forward with unwavering steps will forever be your companion, to lift you from discouragement, embrace you in comfort when fear is all you know, so you finally sing in victory at the end.”

Rick

Filed under: General Ramblings, Notable and Quotable
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This weekend I’m going to be the proud father-of-the-bride. My youngest daughter, Teri Lauren, will become Mrs. Kyle Watters in Belleville, Ontario. Jenn and I will take the 3 hour drive from Brantford early Friday afternoon to arrive in time for the rehearsal dinner at 5PM. We’ll meet my eldest daughter, Sara, and my grandsons, Corbin and Cameron, (as well as my sisters and other family members) at the hotel we’re all staying at, and enjoy a great time with the family. I’d love to tell you what we got Teri and Kyle for their wedding gift but they read this blog:-) I’ll be sure to post a few pictures when I arrive back next week.

As e-fate would have it, I have an extremely busy week ahead of me with guest appearances on 3 teleseminars as well as a myriad of things to do with my podcast. Also, I began the process of reinstalling programs on my main PC, which as you may recall, bit the dust 2 weeks ago. Brand new motherboard and it’s back to it’s fast and furious self! I love this Toshiba multi-media laptop but not for all-the-time use.

My pod partner, Larry, took off on vacation again. He popped up on MSN this morning to tell me how nice the weather was while I was staring out my office window at a snowstorm! With friends like that . . .

I came across this as I was assembling material for my podcasts on the subject of Leadership and I hope you like it:

He who leads

Must then be strong and hopeful as the dawn

That rises unafraid and full of joy

Above the blackness of the darkest night.

He must be kind to every living thing;

Kind as the Krishna, Buddha and the Christ,

And full of love for all created life.

Oh, not in war shall his great prowess lie,

Nor shall he find his pleasure in the chase.

Too great for slaughter, friend of man and beast,

Touching the borders of the Unseen Realms

And bringing down to earth their mystic fires

To light our troubled pathways, wise and kind

And human to the core, so shall he be,

The coming leader of the coming time.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “from “The Leader to Be”"

Rick

Filed under: General Ramblings, Notable and Quotable
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I published this is my ezine a few years ago and felt it was worth sharing. It came to me as Author Unknown so if you happen to know who the author is I’d love to know and give proper credit.

You Learn

After a while, you learn the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul

and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn’t always mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises

and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a woman not the grief of a child

and you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while, you learn that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting
for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye you learn.

Author Unknown

Rick

Filed under: General Ramblings, Notable and Quotable
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I just recorded some episodes of my 1 Minute podcast (I feature famous quotations) and came across these quotes that I’d like to share with you:

“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.”
Leo Aikman, Writer and Newspaper Editor

“We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens in us…how we can take it, what we can do with it…and that is what really counts in the end.”
Joseph Fort Newton, Author

“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
Mark Twain, Writer and Humorist

Rick

Filed under: Notable and Quotable
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Arrived back in Brantford to a ’silent’ house and the record button will be pushed for a good while tomorrow! I spent some time with an amazing young man while in the studio in Windsor and I’ll make a separate post about that soon. For now . . .

I received this from my niece, Denise, in Kansas. I thought it was very well written and something you ought to read. I’m always a little leery about publishing something without proper credit and there was none given here so if you know who the author is, I’d appreciate you hitting the Comment link at the end and letting me know. Here goes:

_____________________________________
The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they’ll love you back! Don’t expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart but if it doesn’t, be content it grew in yours. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

Don’t go for looks; they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.

Always put yourself in others’ shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person, too.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
_____________________________________

Inspiring, huh?

Rick

Filed under: Notable and Quotable
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I have learned a great deal in my life from meaningful quotations and I have now collected hundreds of them from the world’s great thinkers and teachers for my podcasts. I want to share some of these on occasion that I believe will especially impact you. These will appear in the Notable and Quotable category of this blawg.

On the topic of Destiny, here’s what one of the forefathers of personal growth and author of “As a Man Thinketh”, James Allen, had to say decades ago:

“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll;
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”

Ain’t that the truth!

Back soon with more good stuff.

Rick

Filed under: Uncategorized, Notable and Quotable
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