Did I say “I love you” today?

Dad, I love you because… (c) Corporation YOU 2019

My kids are still young enough where they are assisted in honoring their mother and father by their primary school teacher.

Every year, I can expect something memorable.   

One year, I received a card with the above photo of my oldest. 

As you can see, he’s holding a chalkboard with a handwritten personal response to the statement “Dad I love you because…”  On the slate, his preschool teacher wrote his reply…

You bring me to work.”

Until then, I wasn’t aware how much my boys enjoyed coming to work with me. 

To this day, the card still hangs on the corner of the Smartboard in my classroom.  However, that wasn’t the most eye-opening gift I received from my boys.  

Recently, my son’s elementary school teacher handed out a list of biographical statements that her students had to complete about their dads. 

Age … Profession … Favorite food. Favorite ice cream. Favorite sports team….

Finally, my son was asked to write down, “Something your Dad often says:”   He wrote,

 Did I say ‘I love you’ today?

It’s true.  I say it often.  Actually, I say it more than often.  I say it every day!  What I didn’t realize was that my son was actually listening — and that it mattered, to him that I asked.

I grew up in an era where dads didn’t always say ‘I love you’.  I had a great respect for my Dad and I knew he loved me — even though I didn’t hear him say it very often.  

When he died, I wondered, in his last days, if he regretted holding back?  

One day, I’ll get that answer and many more, but until then, I’m going to make sure that a day doesn’t go by where I don’t remind my kids — whether they had a good day, or not — that I love them!

And that means every day I’ll make sure I’m going to ask them, “Did I say ‘I love you’ today?”

James Henry is also the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, ‘Twas, Hail Mary series, and two children’s books: The Second Prince and Klaus: The Gift-giver to ALL!  To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman/McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

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My Simple Daily Prayer

Image by Jenny Friedrichs from Pixabay

Every time that I kiss my kids goodbye or good night, I say this very simple prayer:

Mother Mary look after you;

Saint Joseph pray for you;

Jesus guide you;

And St. Michael the Archangel protect you.

May the Sign of the Cross be your salvation, your protection, and your guide.

Amen.

I love you!

 

That’s my simple daily prayer.

James Henry is also the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, ‘Twas, Hail Mary series, and two children’s books: The Second Prince and Klaus: The Gift-giver to ALL!  To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman/McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

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Everyone needs their own Mike Lavorata

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

There has been a lot of people that have influenced my life.  In fact, you can say that I’ve been blessed with an over-abundance of role models and influential friends.

Today, when people meet me, they see a person that is fairly self-assured.  Truth be told, however, I wasn’t always.

For the most part, I am overly shy.

Though I’ve overcome my shyness for the most part.  I still needed to crawl back into my shell at the end of most days and re-generate.

However, of all the people who, arguably, greatly contributed to my life, there is but one person, today, I credit for my confidence.  A man named Mike Lavorata.

The story leading up to my life path becoming entwined with his is long and convoluted.

To make a long story short, let’s just say that one day I found myself in the limelight under the direction of Mike, a wildly enthusiastic man.

Now, there’s nothing more uncomfortable for an introvert, like I was, to be tossed into the limelight — unless you add over-enthusiasm to the mix.  But there I was — or should I say we.

For the longest time, I avoided meeting Mike’s wife, though he constantly invited me over for dinner, fearing a double dose of enthusiasm.    However, it’s hard to say “no” to Mike, so one day I accepted his invitation.

Finally, I met Mike’s wife, Helen.  Much to my surprise, I discovered a soft-spoken and elegantly beautiful, woman of great faith in total contrast with my overly passionate adviser.

At first glance, they appeared to be polar opposites when in reality they were the perfect compliments of each other.   That evening I came to see Mike, not as an overly ardent devotee, but as Helen saw him, a person with an enormously large heart with a caring and giving nature.

I realized then what I never realized before…

The platitudes coming from his lips were real.  His hugs were sincere.  And though I’ve received hugs and compliments my whole life, they were always from someone who I knew; someone who had to love me.

I never really believed in myself.

Finally, I stopped looking at myself through my own eyes and I started looking at myself through Mike Lavorata’s eyes — and I saw the person that he saw, the man I am today!

I’m writing this because, without getting into details, Mike and his wife need your prayers.  There’s no other way that I can think of to pay Mike back then to ask those who read my blog to pray for him and his wife — and pray with great devotion.

And, if you are shy, like I am,  insecure or lack a lot of confidence like I once was, then find your own Mike Lavorata and look at yourself through his or her eyes.

I promise: you’re going to find someone you really like and another person who is always worth praying for!

UPDATE:

If you would like do more for Mike and his wife, go to MealTrain.com.  I will be donating 100% of my profits from my book Corporation YOU to MealTrain.com on behalf of the Lavarata family.

James Henry is also the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, ‘Twas, Hail Mary series, and two children’s books: The Second Prince and Klaus: The Gift-giver to ALL!  To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman/McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

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The World’s Most Amazing Number

Every year, I begin the genetics unit in my AP Biology class by humbling saying, “You’re going to learn more about genetics in this class than what was taught 30 or 40 years ago in the world’s top colleges.”

These days, in high school science, students move far beyond Mendel’s peas and the genetics of Watson & Crick.  Today, we discuss CRISPR and epigenetics;  things our most creative sci-fi writers would’ve thought were unbelievable — even in fiction.

Even with the current pace of today’s technological advances, there is one breakthrough that I share with my students that many still find impossible to believe.

That is the discovery of the world’s most amazing number.

There’s many amazing numbers out there. For starters, there’s 3.14 or pi.

7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 octillion): The number of atoms that makes up an adult human.

2.5 million: The number of years the photons of light journeyed from the Andromeda galaxy before they hit your eye.

Absolute Zero or – 273.15 degrees Celsius: The temperature in which everything in the universe remains motionless.

Two.  The length of your DNA in meters, of one cell, if you stretched it out all the way and in diameters of the Solar System if all the DNA in all your cells were lined up end-to-end.

These are just a few.  We also have lists of amazing numbers.

There are amazing numbers in Biology; numbers cooler than Pi;  numbers in the Bible,  but none of these numbers compare to the world’s most amazing number.

You also may have heard that humans share 97% of our DNA with Chimpanzees.  Even more astonishing, we share 50% of our DNA with a banana.

Some scientists questions these amazing numbers.   However, there’s one number, in the world of genetics, that is truly amazing: Every human on the planet shares 99.5% of their DNA.

This means the difference between you and your most distant human relative on the planet Earth is most likely no more than  0.5%.    This also means…

All the division in the world…  

Every argument.  Every clique.  Every fight.  Every war. 

All the hate.  All the bullying.  All the name-calling and finger-pointing.

All our contempt, rancor, fear-mongering and loathing.

Our political and social divides.

Our racial and ethnic biases. 

Every march.  Every debate.  Every protest.

Every wall that divides us  … amounts to nothing more than 0.5%.

Amazing, isn’t it?  That’s why 0.5 is the world’s most amazing number.

Think about the attention this number commands.  The power that it holds!  The energy it absorbs!  The resources it consumes! The suffering it causes.

The tears it has shed.  The lives it has altered.  It’s destructive force!

Now, just think about all the joy, peace, love and harmony we can experience in this world if we stopped focusing of the 0.5% that separates us all, and instead, focused on the 99.5% that we all have in common.

Now wouldn’t that be truly AMAZING?

James Henry is the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, Hail Mary series, and two children’s books: The Second Prince and Klaus: The Gift-giver to ALL!  As a writer, James has been widely featured on Bob Salter (CBS Radio), Mike Siegel, Mancow, and more.

Today, James lives in New York where he continues to teach — and write.

To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman/McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

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Want to know what God is like … get a good friend!

I haven’t seen my college roommate since I moved my family back East. Nine years has past since then.

Of course, we still communicate through text from time-to-time.  His response time is awful … just saying. However, a few weeks ago, we actually chatted on the phone.  It’s been awhile.

It was nice just hearing his voice.

We picked up our conversation like we did when we shared a room together in college. Instead of discussing plans for the weekend, we lamented about not seeing each other. More so, we lamented about not seeing each other’s kids.

He has girls, who are full-grown; I have two boys, who are much younger.  (He was always a few steps ahead of me.)

We talked about getting together soon, but both probably recognized that a reunion wouldn’t happen — at least not anytime soon.

The conversation had to end because we both had to run.

Likewise, I received a text recently at 6:59 am from someone I knew since forever. We exchanged texts about our days working in Yakutat, Alaska for Sitka Sound Seafoods.

His last text was “Drop me a line. 2 minutes”.

We talked for 2 1/2 … hours!

Our conversation went from our days Alaska to our antics high school; from Charlie Daniels to Yosef Islam to Father McDonald back to Yosef Islam/Cat Stevens.  That lead us to Quebec City and the 1444 1/2 Bar — and on and on and on.

The conversation only ended because I had to feed my 9 year-old breakfast.

Both times, as I hung up, it occurred to me…

Having a good friend, especially one who lives a long-distance away, is much like having a relationship with God.

As with God, we probably should talk more often than we do.  However, when we do, it’s as we were at each other’s side.

And, as you know, God is always at your side.

James Henry is the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, Kwanzaa Klaus, Hail Mary series, and two children’s books: The Second Prince and Klaus: The Gift-giver to ALL!  As a writer, James has been widely featured on Bob Salter (CBS Radio), Mike Siegel, Mancow, and more. Today, James lives in New York where he continues to teach — and write. To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman/McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

 

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Learn the Key Ingredients for a Successful and Happy Marriage

For the longest time, I lived two lives: The man I was at home and the man I was outside the home.

Outside the home, I was well liked. Inside the home, not so much — and I didn’t know what to do about.

There’s nothing more deflating than being able to write a book that offers inspiration, yet feeling like a failure with the person in your life who you are called to most inspire.

I wasn’t abusive or an adulterer. I wasn’t anything like those other guys.

And though I enjoyed being single, I never missed being single once I was married.  Nor did I ever looked back. I got married because I wanted to spent the rest of my life with the women who finally stole my heart — and I wanted to stay married.

But the harder I tried, the worse things became.

Then it happened.

Like in my book, Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, a mentor entered my life and taught me the time-test lesson for a successful and fruitful relationship.

Along the way, he gave me a book to read: Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs.

From that moment on, my life has never been happier and my marriage has never been stronger.

Maybe you’re in the same situation. Maybe your most important relationship is not as your hoped or dreamed on the day you took your wedding vows.

If this is so, watch this video, If you like what you hear, buy the book Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs.

Source: YouTube

James Henry is the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, ‘Twas, and the new book series Hail Mary. To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman/McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:
I am not receiving any compensation for promoting Emerson Eggerichs’s book: Love & Respect beyond the compensation of knowing it will help.  The only payment is payment of the heart.

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