Do you ever dream of a world that empowered you to be your best and live a life of peace? In this episode, Lori and Jimmy share their favorite attribute word for the perfect world.
Episode Keys
- Why it is critical for your well-being to create the world you want and not allow others to include you in a world of negativity.
- When you feel less than your best, think about a word that describes your ideal environment.
- Who you should limit in your life and who you must spend most of your time learning from about life.
- What is the most valuable method of maintaining your ideal world to maximize your peace and joy in life!
- Why Aretha Franklin enjoyed such success? Respect for herself first and others second.
Podcast Transcription
LF:
Good Monday morning, everybody. Thank you for tuning in to your favorite podcast. Your favorite Monday morning motivation here at Live a Life By Design. I am your co-host this morning, Lori Few. And we’re so happy to have you with us listening this morning. And of course I can’t do this podcast by myself without the impeccable talent of Mr. Jimmy Williams. Good morning, Jimmy.
JW:
Good morning. You know, I am pump Lori. You know, you guys think that this is caffeine or drug induced. Nope. This is pure Jimmy Williams right here coming to you because I get to share Monday mornings every Monday morning with this talented young lady. And I mean, those two words. Describe her to a T. So Lori, Hey, good morning. Glad to see you.
LF:
Yeah, it’s been kinda a crazy week. It’s a little bit questionable out there in the world. You know, but we’re gonna focus on what we can control. And what we talk about on this podcast is going to be impactful, even though the outside noise, the outside chaos of the world, we are going to focus this morning on how we can control that and how we can make a difference and how we can continue to move forward. It’s hot it’s summer. And I don’t even know. It’s like a thousand degrees already and it’s really only in the nineties.
JW:
Well, I don’t wanna say this, cuz this is only audio only, but I don’t know about Lori, but I’m sitting here nothing but under wearing a t-shirt folks. It is hot here. No, I’m just kidding. Before she laughed. Did you notice folks? How much she laughed? She tackled audibly right there. Oh yes. So
LF:
You give me too much to laugh at.
JW:
No, we are fully clothed folks. This is a family show. Okay. Albeit Lori has an adult coloring book. We’re not going there. This is a family show
LF:
We grated even in the summer. Yes, but we’re gonna start off this morning. Listen, we’re gonna start off. We’re we’re gonna get kicked off in the right direction. We’re gonna talk about ways Jimmy. Like, if you could describe the current situation and how we can even fathom or wrap our heads around that, like one word. Give me one word that we can kind of start the conversation with this morning.
JW:
Oh man. That’s a, that’s a good question. Just one word, huh? Well, let me suggest this. I’m gonna add a little context to my one word first and foremost. If you look at what’s taking place all around the globe, you know, we have geopolitical risks bless our heart Ukraine. We got Russia, we got China, we got middle east. And we also have stuff domestically things going on in our country’s just so sad to see. So I’m gonna say Lori, if I could take one word that represents what Live a life By Design really wants to do and creates a world we all live in that we can all flourish to our best extent possible. That word to me is peace.
JW:
We have, yeah, we have to have peace because you cannot grow through chaos on a long term basis. Right? And the key thing for me with peace is, is it gives me that solitude that I can then focus on what are the most important things in life besides just survival. Right? So it goes back to Maslow’s hierarchy. We’re we’re just working on biological needs for some of our children in Africa, for example, or some of the third world countries, other than Africa, where they don’t even know if I’m gonna get to eat today. Right? And so to me, the world just needs a giant inoculation of peace. And with that, I think we would find that then we would have greater brotherhood among countries. And I don’t mean brotherhood, strictly male, I’m talking male or female, but we’d have good communications, good working relationships. You’d see the world. I think calm down to a point where everybody could then experience the best life possible.
LF:
That’s a great word to start off with. And I think it’s so impactful. I mean, we, we kind of take that word for granted peace, you know, people say it and you know, made peace be with you. It, it reminds me of my, you know, childhood in church, our, our pastor would always say peace, be with you. And you would repeat that back to him. And I don’t think that I really understood what that truly meant until I was an adult. It’s, it’s not a flippant word. You have to have piece of your mind piece of your body piece of your soul so that you can go out into the world and help spread and create that. And I think that we have lost that. We we’ve gotten to a little bit of a disconnect there. And I love, you know, post COVID. We talk about post COVID, which is great. I love post COVID. I wanna talk about that more than, you know, during COVID, but the analogy of the inoculation of peace in the arm what, what a more true sentiment. I, I, I think that’s really a, a cool way to put it. Now it’s gonna be stuck in my brain. So if you didn’t learn anything from this morning’s episode, we’re gonna inoculate everybody with peace, ladies and
JW:
Gentlemen, you know, Lori, you weren’t old enough, but I came through the seventies, born in the sixties mid sixties, by the way. So I came through that period of time, you know, peace love and, and not war. And these kinds of things now I’m I wasn’t old enough to join the hippie movement, but I do remember seeing it in our area of our communities, you know, the, the bell bottom jeans, the longer hair, the headbands, and all of these people would have like a cutoff denim vest, you know, just had the sleeves cut off and they’d have a patch on the back. That’d just say piece, you know, have a big piece symbol or they’d have necklaces, a big piece symbol, you know, and, and you, and you thought about it back then. Well, that was just kind of cliche, you know, just ate piece, you know, was kind of what they said, but if we truly want peace and I mean this not to get everyone confused, it’s not just as necessary a descriptive term. It is an action word. You see what I mean, Lori? So yes, you gotta make peace happen. It does not just happen cuz you want it to, it has to be worked at right. So if, if Lori and I have a disagreement, we’ve got to learn to make peace between us. It’s not just gonna happen right now for the record. She and I, we disagree never I mean, we agree on everything, people. So anyway, joined, joined at the microphone. I promise you. We never disagree on anything. No.
LF:
Well, but
JW:
Yeah. Peace Lori. I think that’s my primary word. This this morning on Monday.
LF:
I, I like that. I will tend to disagree though on, on our, on your statement, Jimmy, me now we, we disagree on, on things. Like, I don’t know, you know, what, what underwear to wear to the dermatologist.
JW:
We didn’t disagree. You liked my iron man underwear that
LF:
Well, I, well, that’s true. OK.
JW:
I also did the young 25 year old nerves as well as my doctor. That’s a very, very young 40, maybe at 38 or something. But
LF:
So I stand corrected. You are right. We don’t disagree probably on anything,
JW:
But lemme say no, one’s brought more peace to the world than Ironman. Okay, Lori, that’s all I’m trying to say.
LF:
Ooh, you’re gonna throw the Ironman reference. That’s so true. Yeah. Okay. I get’ll right. I bow to the Ironman. Okay.
JW:
If you’ll allow me the pun, I Marvel your, the Ironman today.
LF:
My goodness.
JW:
Did you get it? Marvel and eyes in underwear. Never listen
LF:
You on top of your games, sir.
JW:
Well, you know, I’ve told you peace is mine, Lori. Okay. Let’s just do this turn about fair play.
LF:
I listen, I bow to the expert here, but I do have a word okay. That I have. I’m thinking as I’m thinking this morning and that word is influenced I, I really feel strongly about this word because you hear so many times, and especially in work situations or community situations or groups that you’re a part of. And even in your friend circle, you hear people say things like, oh, well, you know, they’re such an they’re influenced by this person or they have this influence over that. And if you’re a young person, a influencer has a totally different, you know, set of connections with it. A, a social media influencer is someone who’s, you know, taken in high regard and can be viral and, and followed and watched. And you know what’s the word that I’m looking for, that the young people manipulated.
LF:
Yes, yes. Describe to emulate this person or be like this person. So I think that it, the, the word is so powerful in the sense that you have the opportunity to take that influence for great things. And you have the opportunity to take that influence for mediocre things and even bad things. I think there’s a pendulum swing there that Def definitively where you are in your life, in your career, in your mindset, that influence is so important. I mean, what we see, what we read, what we hear, what we digest, what we put into our minds and our bodies. It really has all to do with influence. You know, we talk about, you know, you never know when the younger generation is watching what you do. You know, I strive to tell young women that I work with and young men, the things that you’re doing, the influence that you’re having on any type of situation, school, church, activities, work it’s being watched, it’s being, you know, mindfully absorbed by other people.
LF:
And it’s so important to be careful about that because you don’t realize that your influence has power regardless of who you are or where you are or what stature or what status you have or don’t have, or don’t think you have, or do have it’s all relative in terms of mindset. And so for me, influence is my word. It’s, it’s a big word. It’s a powerful word. And I think we tend to take that for granted sometimes that we don’t think that we’re important, or we don’t think that the things that we do or say are being watched or heard or listened to, but it’s at the most inopportune time that it is. I mean, people, they won’t remember the most important nugget that you want them to remember, but it may be something simple or insignificant that you do or say, or behave in a certain way that people really take to heart. And that’s what you want. You want that interaction and that influence to be positive and important and impactful. So yeah, I, I influence is my word, but I know I won’t use it right amongst the young people. I told you, like, I’m not, I’m not young anymore, but I’m not senior citizen yet. So I’m really stuck in this purgatory of uncoolness.
JW:
That is, but I’m not a teenager, but I’m not a senior citizen yet. You’re in that. I call it the Twilight zone. Yes.
LF:
Twilight zone. Exactly.
JW:
You know, influence is always a great word unless it’s followed by two other, you know, followed following two other words like under the that’s not ever good, but no.
LF:
That’s not a good, no, no, no, not that kinda influence.
JW:
You know, Lori, you hit the net in the head and I’m gonna just go out on the limb and say this a little bit. I believe some of the lack of peace we feel in our world and see, and experience on a daily basis, particularly in the last week has come about because of negative influences on impressionable minds, such as young people, teenagers you know, there’s just so much negativity, you know, here on live life by design, we really advocate getting a great book and not sitting there watching the boob tube with all that negative news and all those horrific shows that come out, that show how you can, you know, decapitate people and they show all this gory stuff that makes a great cinema, I guess, is what Hollywood thinks. I just don’t see how that’s positive filling the youth with their, their minds filled with all this junk that just creates the lack of appreciation for life.
JW:
And, and so, again, not to get on a soapbox, Lori, I just think at the end of the day, the influence can be a powerful, powerful tool, but it can also be one that’s not used appropriately cause a lot of danger in our communities or in our world. I love the fact you picked influence because one of my greatest influencers has been two gentlemen that are now deceased. You know, I always talk about how Zig Ziegler impacted my life. I saw him three times live and left there every time thinking I can walk on clouds. I mean, this guy pumps you up, gives you a great self-esteem boost. He also gives you insight of how you keep it. And so part of that influence is, you know, we are to be influenced past tense sometimes by others around us, but then we are to influence, present tense those around us.
JW:
And so that’s your family, that’s your, your your coworkers, that’s your friends. Right? And so I always tell people, I am one of these guys that I can be influenced by the right person in a very easy way. And I’ll take it to heart, man. And I’ll write it in my journal that night and go, Hey, you know, I, I saw Zig Ziglar on stage day and I got within 10 feet of him shook his hand eventually that that really is powerful influence. And you know, at the end of the day, that’s what I think our world needs to go along with peace, right? So if we have peace and influence more to me, you’ve got a great combination of environmental words there that just really help set the tone for the world we wish to live in. But you gotta add one more ingredient. You know, you never just have sugar and flour. You gotta add the chocolate to get the chocolate pie, right? You gotta have the coconut right. Coconuts, right? If you want coconut pie or whatever, but there’s one more word, Lori. And now we don’t use the F word on this show a lot and we’re gonna use it today. And I hope everyone gives us a little bit of freedom here to do that F word. What is that word?
LF:
Well, I’m hoping it’s freedom.
JW:
It is freedom. See, I left the cat outta the bag. Now see people, you thought I was going somewhere that I’m not going. We just don’t do that on this show. We may talk about iron man underwear, Lori, but we’re not going past that. We draw the line after underwear. That’s it? That’s it. No freedom. Lori, tell me, gosh, you’ve been in, you were born in this country. You’ve, you’ve got a beautiful family that you raised in this country. You got a great job in this country. What is it about you? What does the word freedom bring to the table for your environment?
LF:
Oh, it it’s such a, again, I think it’s a word that we tend to, you know, disconnect from because we just hear it so frequently, but freedom is almost synonymous. Well, synonymous. Is that the right word? I’m not really sure. That’s a big word, but it goes along. You follow what I’m trying to say here.
JW:
That’s a polysyllabic folks. That’s a big word.
LF:
It goes along with opportunity. I think that we are so incredibly fortunate to live in a, in a society where we have the freedom to choose. We have the freedom to make decisions. And even though, you know, we’re not gonna get political this morning, but we have an opportunity to participate in that process of selecting and voting and choosing the people to represent us and to be our voice. And I think that is so important because there are places that even my child doesn’t really comprehend or can fathom where they don’t have that opportunity to do that and to participate and, and to express themselves freedom is, is more than a flag. It’s, it’s more, there are so many things that come along with that, you know, the ability to make your own story, create your own wealth, create your own perception of what you want your world to be the freedom, to choose the freedom, to speak out the freedom, to have that voice, to do those things is just, it it’s incredible.
LF:
And I hope that we never lose sight of the idea that we that’s our right. We have that, that is our freedom. And we don’t take that for granted. My brother’s in the military, he’s a Marine and you know, he, he oftentimes talks about, you know, people always walk up to him, especially if he’s in uniform and they say, oh, thank you for your service. And of course that sentiment is true and it’s honest and it’s pure. But he always says to me, I can’t think of a better way to express freedom or represent myself or my country than to serve my country. And it’s very important to him that he be able to do that. Not it’s not for everyone and, but thank goodness, and that there are people that want to do that because that, to me, those people are on the frontline creating that space to make sure that we stay free so that we can enjoy these things and continue to learn and grow and have a choice. Freedom is opportunity for me. I, I love that word. I think that’s a great word. I think it’s a, a third great third ingredient to the perfect world pie that we’re trying to create this morning. It it’s it’s power. It’s, there’s something about that word. It, it invokes emotion, power good. That’s a really good word.
JW:
Yeah. If, if the three ingredients were hooked together, peace and influence to me is the actual pie. That’s the crust, the influence would be the ingredients, but man, that meringue that six inches of meringue on top is freedom, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I’ve had the great fortune, you know, our beautiful country has so many places to go visit that. Just to me, take my breath away. One of those was just east of Atlanta, Georgia, a friend of mine, we went now caught a Braves game during the Memorial day weekend. And you’re gonna laugh. We went to a stone mountain, Georgia, which is as the name implies a giant stone in the ground, but it is humongous. And it’s, you know, basically a 1.3 mile, walk up this stone, if you wish to walk it. But we took the tram because we want to help support the economy. See anybody can walk. But we are there as guests Georgia. And so my friend and I, we wanted to do that. So we took the tram. That’s another thing we’re on vacation, Lori. Don’t you make me
LF:
That’s right. Listen, take full advantage of the access if it is there. Listen. Yeah.
JW:
So we got on top of this thing and we get off the tram and go through a little building and, and we get on top of the stone and you can see, and I’m not exaggerating folks, literally 30 miles. I could just see for miles up here, beautiful clear day. And then we walked a little further across the stone and we were 1,367 feet above sea level. And there is a group of people, younger people, some older people, but I would say that on the scale, I was probably gonna pull their age up a little bit Lori, from what, from what the youth I saw there. And they were exercising on top of this rock doing kind of a, a power yoga slash CrossFit kind of, of deal. Anyway, the point I’m making is, is I sat there with my friend and I looked and I go, isn’t that the coolest thing, they found their freedom to exercise.
JW:
If you’ll allow me to use that term here on top of this rock, 1,367 feet of above sea level. And I mean, they were sweating at it. So what did Jimmy do? Yes. You got it. Folks. I just went in and made myself at home, you know, leg lifts doing the whole bit. So these people are starting to look at me like who’s the newbie. That’s not really dressed in exercise outfit, wearing a Tommy Bahamas shirt and a nice Stetson straw hat, not a cowboy hat. It was a fedora by the way. So I was wearing a nice little hat and they’re looking over at me kind of funny. And I go three, four, I’m just starting to count off with them.
JW:
So they get through with the exercise part and these, these young men just come over and shake my hand and these ladies came up and they go, where are you from man? And I said, I’m from Brooklyn baby. And they looked at me real funny and they go, no, no, you’re not from Brooklyn. My man said, I’m from Queens. I know Brooklyn. You’re not. So I got caught by, yeah, I got caught by true new Yorker. Anyway, I explained to ’em where I’m from and everything. And they said, well, Hey, take a picture was, this is what I’m talking about our country. I believe if we influence one another, Lori, use your term in positive respect is the fourth word. If I had to have a fourth term that cherry on top of that meringue, I’d say is respect. Aha had it right baby. R E P CT. If we just share that with these other three words, we have the Live a Life By Design panacea of communities, in my opinion. What’s your thoughts?
LF:
More big words, more big words. Woo. Well, it, I think you’re absolutely right, but I was waiting for you to break into song. I, I, I thought you were gonna channel your inner inner Aretha right there. I thought we were going full tilt.
JW:
There’s a, there’s a reason. There’s a reason she’s cold. The queen of soul. And Jimmy is just not gonna be able to make that happen. This this morning not enough chocolate milk. You know, I drink that Fairlife chocolate milk, the good stuff, and I’d have to, oh gosh, but you know, at the end of the day, folks, this is what it’s all about for our country. This is all it’s about for the world is if you have peace in your community influence, that’s positive in nature. And you have freedom to express yourself in that positive form and it’s encouraged. And then also if you top that off, just top those three items off, you’re gonna have the best. If you will, community that’s on the planet. It’d obviously be an Eden. If you will. If I can refer to that from the Genesis of Bible, it’d be the Eden perfect place on the planet. In my opinion. What about you, Lori?
LF:
I, I completely agree. And if you don’t take anything away from this podcast this morning, we we’re subliminally telling you. We want you to go have pie. Like, there’s pie out there for you today. But the challenge for this week is to go out and to help create that sense of community. Any of these words that we’ve given you this morning are great starting points. And you may have your own words, but regardless of whatever words that you choose, make it intentful, make it important, make it a priority to go out this week and to try to implement and create change and do the things in your community that you feel are important to make that a better place. We talk about it all the time. We talk about our world and the different challenges that we all face. But if we create the kind of world you want to live in, by how you treat other people, that’s the most important takeaway this morning. We want you to go out. We want you to have a great week and live a life by design.
JW:
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me.” I gotta tell you, I wish you hadn’t mentioned that that’s gonna be into my head all day. Thank see you next week, everybody.
