Michael Broome

Tonight was the United Way kickoff and the theme was "Live United." I run an agency that gets support from United Way and all the agencies were there with information. Afterwards was a dinner with motivational speaker, Michael Broome.

I had not planned to attend the dinner. I wanted to watch the Obama speech and when we had to order tickets I didn't know the timing on that. I had hoped to get a ticket to go see Obama in person in Denver, but I wasn't able to lay my hands on one.

But, as luck would have it, Julie had bought an extra ticket and invited me to stay for dinner. I was glad I got to hear Mr. Broome.

His overall theme was that humor is key to life. I would certainly agree with that. In the process of getting his point across he noted a number of different facts. I jotted down some of the ones I found particularly interesting to share with you. I'm not going to try and blend them logically, as he did.

One thing he said, which I've heard before is that "irritation plus time equals humor." That's so true. When you're angry about something, as time passes you can tell the story and it becomes funny.

He talked about how the chemical makeup of happy tears is different than that of sad tears. That is true. He also mentioned that laughing increases red blood cells. I had not heard that, but I'm not surprised.

He spoke for a while about how you should become a master of the small, sincere things. He said to never underestimate the power of a handwritten note. I know this is a powerful thing. He used as an example Abraham Lincoln, who wrote thank you notes, notes of condolence and letters. He mentioned that other than Jesus Christ, more has been written about Lincoln than anyone else - more than 5000 biographies. Part of the reason is that he left behind so many writings.

In the arena of personal relationships, he said to learn to say two things to your loved ones: "I'm sorry" and "I love you."

He also talked about reading a book about love languages and how there are five ways to show love. Some may combine them, but that all fall into these categories:
physical
verbal
acts of service
quality time
gifts

He talked about "Amazing Grace" being the most recorded song of all time, and how it was written by a former slave trader.

All in all a nice evening.

I rushed home to not miss a moment of Obama's speech. Incredible.

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