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Articles & Essays

Coming soon!

Speeches

Here’s the speech that I gave in memory of Fred’s one year anniversary. I received the blue ribbon for the “Best of Show”. It’s on a subject that we can both relate to. Enjoy.

As presented by John Crosby to Roadrunner’s Toastmaster Club, Tucson, AZ. July 15th, 2009.

“The Gift”

I have to admit that when the Toastmaster contacted me this last weekend looking for my commitment to be here today along with a speech, I said that I would be there, but I was really struggling to come up with a subject and a theme for my speech, “my cup definitely did not runnith over at that point.”

Then I was reminded that the next day, Sunday the 12th was the one year anniversary of the passing over of a fellow that had given me the greatest gift that anyone can ever receive. This fellow’s name was Fred and the gift that he gave me was unconditional love.

This picture was taken just one week before we had to assist sweet Fred in passing over. What catches my attention is that in spite of the fact that he had 16 years under his belt, ( that’s 112 in dog years), and the considerable discomfort that he was in, you can still see in his eyes that he had that unconditional love for me and that it was in no way diminished by those 16 years.

fred

To read the full speech, open “The Gift” PDF.

A speech given by John Crosby on 6/17/09 after rediscovering the Wizard of OZ again. Only this time it turned out to be a metaphor for your soul’s journey home.

“There’s no place like home”

We all remember those words from the Wizard of OZ. I had the good fortune the other night of watching the Wizard of OZ again. I certainly remember the impact that the tornado, witch and of course the flying monkeys made on me as a kid. This time around it was as though I was seeing it with an entirely different set of eyes.

The Wizard of OZ had somehow morphed into an entirely different movie, one in which Dorothy’s desire to find her way back HOME had became a metaphor for all of our own personal desires for self-discovery and following our own soul’s journey home.

When we first enter the world as babies, we are quite connected to our original true selves and I believe fully understand our place in the universe. In time that begins to fade, and as we make our way in the world, we begin to feel the influence of parents , teachers, and employers or any of societies many other morals and standards.

It’s awfully easy to get caught up playing the game and following all of those societal sanctioned goals. Eventually, you begin to absorb society’s expectations for the roles you should play as if that is who you really are. No accident there as the process is hard wired to facilitate this wandering away from our true self with its reward and punishment stimuli of acceptance, money, status, approval, or any of the other perceived rewards that are offered up as part of the deal in which we trade away being our true selves for something else.

To read the full speech, open “There’s No Place Like Home” PDF.

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Exercises

Experiment #1: Unconditional Love
I’m going to ask you to try a little experiment as a way of test driving this unconditional love thing. Here’s how it goes:

Close your eyes and think of someone that you wish to send your love to. Draw down into the deepest depths of your being to access all the love that you can find
Then transmit that unconditional love to that person, go ahead and really send it out there to them
Now connect with how good that feels. Tip: You do that so that you can remember later that love is it’s own reward.
Open your eyes and while still remembering that feeling understand that this was just a dress rehearsal for sharing that same love with that individual the next time you really see them in real time. Do you think you can handle that?

Go ahead and try it and see it as an experiment and then let me know how it went.

And remember to do this without any attachment to the outcome or without any expectation of getting something in return. That’s why I asked you to remember that feeling that you had earlier, that love is it’s own reward.

Experiment #2
Lights, camera, action…are you ready for your close up?
Think about yourself as an actor on a stage called planet earth and someone out there is holding a camera.

Hang in there with me because you are not only the actor but the screen writer and the director as well. As the screen writer what do you want your story to be?

It begins by understanding that you can write a new story for yourself, that no matter what your current circumstances you can choose a new path, you can alter your direction when ever you want. Nothing is cast in stone. So go ahead and play with the possibilities and grant yourself a “what if “. That’s a free pass to create any scenario that you wish, without any of the usual constraints that you might typically come up with to short circuit your creativity.

Write that new screen play with you in the lead role, but before you do here are 4 keys that will help you unlock your creative genius within:

Key 1) Let Go – Release what you don’t want, and make room for something new by wiping the slate clean.
Key 2) Choose – Just say yes, and decide what you want, and remember to use your free pass.
Key 3) Focus – Focus on what you want by looking deep within your heart.
Key 4) See & feel it – What would it look and feel like to already be living the new you.

Go ahead and take a shot at creating that new role for yourself, then pay attention and see where it takes you.
Tip! Remember that it’s the things you can do right now that will be of greatest benefit to you in a very short period of time.

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