Every day, I start my day with meditation and inspirational reading, as well as positive affirmations.  It helps me start with a positive outlook and focused on what I am grateful for.  Having an attitude of gratitude for what you have is a great foundation for building and creating new opportunities in your life!  This morning I opened to a classic in inspirational literature, “Acres of Diamonds” a lecture given by Russell Conwell, a former newspaper correspondent and minister in 1877.    He told of a Persian farmer named Ali Hafed who sold his farm and left his family to travel the world in search of wealth.  He looked everywhere but could not find the diamonds he lusted after.  Alone and in despair as a homeless pauper, he ended his life.  His search for riches had consumed him.  In the meantime, the man who had bought his land from Hafed was grateful for every blade of grass that was now his and lavished love and hard work on his farm.   Surrounded by family, he was a contented man.  Finally, one day he made a remarkable discovery.  In the backyard that Hafed had abandoned was a diamond mine–literally an acre of diamonds.  The simple farmer became wealthy beyond his wildest dreams!

The message:  in each of us lies a wellspring of abundance and the seeds of opportunity.  In each of us is a dream waiting to be discovered and fulfilled.  When we cherish our dream and then invest love, creative energy, perseverance, and passion in ourselves, we will achieve an authentic success.  If we want to create something new in our lives,  the place to begin is within.  In coaching, the coach is not the “answer man”; the answers are within ourselves.  The coach simply provides the tools and methods for bringing this out.  Sometimes we feel we have to go somewhere new to make this happen, but we always take ourselves with us.  The work really begins within.  There’s opportunity whereever you are.  Bloom where you are planted!