Who is your best friend?

I am now on the last day of a "Leadership Conference" in Couer D'Alene, Idaho. It is really a conference with a little bit of business and alot of reward for our outstanding leadership. I don't really know what that means but I do know that the conference has been outstanding.

The Couer D'Alene Resort is fantastic. I have a room with a fireplace, view over the lake, two queen sized beds and a luxurious bathtub and a shower. I don't really know what they paid for this place but I know it must have been quite a bit because everyone is nice, the kind of nice that only money can buy.

Besides just being in this beautiful location and hotel, we have been given the following:
A $25 resort gift card to buy those little souvenir type gifts to take home (or to use in the bar etc)
A $125.00 Visa gift card to use however and whenever we want.
Upon arrival, there were two chocolate dipped strawberries and a bottle of champagne in our rooms waiting for us.
A two hour dinner cruise on the lake, beautiful!
An IPod Shuffle was given out as we left the very last meeting of the week.

But the most important thing that was given to us was a speaker, Dave Mitchell. He has a company called "The Leadership Difference" and is billed as a motivational speaker. He is very much more than that. He is not a psychologist or anything of the sort but he is perceptive beyong his 46 years into one's self. He was on our schedule for 2 hours and when I saw that I thought to myself, "One speaker for two hours, how am I going to get through this?" Those two hours went by so quickly that I sincerely thought he had just been talking for about 1/2 hour.

He is very funny but his message is so important. We have the power within ourselves to recognize what we can and cannot change and to come to terms with ourselves. In essence, we must become our own best friend and treat ourselves, talk to ourselves, resolve issues, with ourselves the way we would with our best friend. He has written a book which I took this afternoon to read and I had him autograph before he left. I even got a copy signed for my son in Alaska.

What struck me most about this guy was that he talked about the power of positive thinking but no in so many words. Basically, he said there are two kinds of people, those who have an optimistic outlook on life, they see what is wrong and think of ways they can make it better, and those who are pessimistic, those who dwell on what is wrong and blame others for it. I have dealt with this most of my life and have always put myself in the first group. What I learned is that anyone can be in that group and as a leader, it is my challenge to get everyone there. As a wife and mother, it is also my challenge to get the most important people in my life there.

Wow! What a challenge! It starts with myself and my quest to become healthier which leads to my liking myself more will be the first step if my journey to helping others become what I know they can be.

I have rambled long enough. Few will read this but those who do, know that you are important to me and you need to be important to yourself first and foremost. Be your own best friend.