Living life to the fullest and feeling grateful for the simple moments...
I attended a 10 day seminar with Tony Robbins many years ago on Kona, Hawaii. A friend had asked me to join him and I thought "why not, it should be fun". After all, if one can learn one thing from any seminar it is worth it...or just to experience something new. For example when I did a seminar called "life spring" I learned to never be afraid to ask, that is another story. :)
There were over 1300 people that attended this seminar. During one exercise, we were divided into groups (13). Within the groups we all chose to volunteer with various non-profit organizations. Some people chose to build shelters for the homeless, clean up the beaches and I chose to work with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. The caveat was that we would could not take anything with us, we were given an orange and .25 (do you remember those days?...) and we were not to disclose that we were part of Tony Robbins seminar and we had to make our way from the airports and report to the chosen organizations the following morning. Groups were sent to either Oahu or Maui. My game plan was to make a good "first impression", so I chose to wear a sundress and sandals on this adventure. Once we landed we had to find a way from the Airport into town, I went up to a car with a mother and child and asked her if she would give me a ride into town and she said yes...this was right after I handed my orange and .25 to a homeless person at the airport.
I arrived into Waikiki and knew that I had to find accommodations for the night, I walked up to 3 hotels before one agreed to give me a free room for the evening. The others were only willing to give me a "discount". The only thing I mentioned to each hotel was that "I was on a personal stretch and could not spend any of my own money". So, I checked into my room, toothpaste and other amenities provided and headed out to figure out where I would eat.
I headed straight to Hard Rock Cafe and spoke with the manager stating the same thing to him and he sat me down at a table and told me to order anything I wanted.
The next morning I hitchhiked to the headquarters of MADD and was picked up by a gentleman. He admonished me for hitchhiking and said to be careful... Once I arrived and met up with my group, we were told that we would be stuffing envelopes and other administrative tasks. I thought to myself, I could do so much more for them. I jumped into full producer mode and grabbed another team mate whom was an actor and asked if he we would like to work with me and produce a TV and Radio spot for MADD. We received the approval to break away from the group and produce the spots. We switched tickets with people taking the last flight out as I knew we needed the whole day (In the days when you could do this). I called numerous TV and Radio stations if they would lend us crew and equipment. Meanwhile my partner (the actor) was writing the script. At the end of the day we produced a :60 radio and :30 TV spot for MADD, they were thrilled!
Once we made it back to Kona we had to share our story with our group and we were voted as the best accomplishment during the exercise. We were called up to stage to share our story and Tony congratulated us and gave us prizes, it was an awesome moment.
One note I wanted to share, most people slept on the beach, pools lounge chairs, no one else had been able to get a free hotel room nor a meal(or maybe they didn't ask...)
Each day I am grateful for the small things, appreciate simple pleasures in life, live life to the fullest and continue to not be afraid to just ask...
