I love quotes.

Well, not all quotes. I don’t love those quotes on how much wind damage is going to cost and I don’t love hearing quotes that follow statements like, “Well, the doctor had never seen such a hideous thing before and he described it like this…”

Nope.  I don’t love all quotes, but some quotes make me think, or help put new thoughts where old ones used to live.

Take that quote up there that’s actually the title of this little blog entry here. “And just like that, it begins…” I have no idea who said it.  It’s on one of those little perfume-squirted cardboard samples they give out in doorways of places like Nordstrom’s. Someone sitting at a desk, trying to entice us to reach into our collective wallets and pay some reasonably big bucks to smell nice came up with that quote–that’s how I imagine it happening, anyway.

And just like that, it begins…

I like it. Seems hopeful.

That little perfumed card with the above-mentioned quote on it has been wedged in the corner of my bathroom mirror ever since I found it in the bottom of a drawer I was cleaning out one afternoon.  It would have hit the trash on any other day, but the saying struck a chord in this little heart because something extraordinary had just begun in my life, so I just had to keep it.

And just like that, it begins…

Everything has a beginning and this is one for me….kinda.  I started a blog on a different site with the same little article here, but it seems no one could leave a message for me without giving up their name, email address and I imagine, promising never to wipe Cheeto-dust on a passer-by or talk on a cell phone in a waiting room ever again…

Or something like that (it was just some goofy thing they had to do to leave a comment that seemed invasive and strange, so none of my invasive and strange friends said they wanted to comment.  Let’s see if their excuses were valid, because this NEW AND IMPROVED blog site seems more user-commenter-goober-friendly. If I don’t get any comments NOW, that would just be downright pitiful).

Anyway…..I’m a speaker, writer and coach who speaks, writes and coaches on communication.  Not just any old kind of communication, mind you, but something I call The Art & Heart of Communication.  The Art=a lot of time spent writing and in various facets of the media and The Heart=the kind of communication I’ve been told I do best.

When I sift down and put everything I’ve ever done in a basket, and after much soul-searching and months, no, years of trying to figure out what on earth my (insert echo) MAIN FOCUS would be, communication from the heart is at the very core.

But the art and heart of communication?  Well…it just seems this world would be a lot better place if people were real without being selfish or cruel.

What if we all approached each other with respect and a desire to understand the other?

What if we all listened with our eyes and tried to hear one another from the heart?

What if we all stopped looking for things to be offended about?

What if we saw each other, differences and all, as treasure chests filled with advice and life and wisdom and…  Well, perhaps we’ll get to that in another blog, at another time.

I don’t know how this blog will morph and change into what it is to become, but I’m thrilled that you’ve joined me, and hope you do so again.

Perhaps you are a business person, a speaker, a mom, a dad, or retired worker with words of wisdom to share, or maybe you are a writer who has insights or comments on goobers I will undoubtedly make, maybe both.  You might be an old friend, a former student, conference attendee, or someone who Googled, “goobers” and “goofy” and found this blog—either way, new beginnings are wonderful things.

…and just like this, it begins.