it's my pleasure to be here this evening to ask you to join together with me to welcome Les Brown for his third in a series of four classes Les is one of the most inspiring motivational teachers in America today when I heard him three years ago it actually brought tears to my eyes and I rushed one of my sons over afterwards to introduce him to Les and my feeling was every young person in America needs to hear this man because if you could start them out young learning the kinds of ideas that he can put
across so beautifully and so enthusiastically and so from the heart it would change America [Applause] and I knew when he was here before we'd be having him back again you know how you just know some things and so I'm just thrilled tonight to introduce to You Les Brown [Music] good evening how you doing [Applause] I'll ask how you doing I want you to say better than good and better than most how you doing [Applause] I know that's right and sometimes even better than that right I like to just let you know I really appreciate the
opportunity to share some time with you again once you give Lenoir a round of applause please I'm very very supportive of this ministry I think that Jack Poland is ahead of his time and the people here who show a level of concern in terms of empowering people and helping them to develop the skills that are necessary to navigate through some of the treacherous Waters of life it's something that's very much needed this evening we're going to be looking at how to get unstuck I think some of you know what I mean sometimes we have to
ask ourselves what's using my life heard a guy give a lecture one time that says we are today what we were when and he was talking about the fact that we to a great extent behave think react because of some previous experience that we've had one of the things that we know about life is that it is always changing sometimes you're up sometimes you're down sometimes things go real well and sometimes they don't sometimes you're happy and sometimes you're sad now that's that thing called life and when we begin to understand and know that accepting
that reality that that we will never ever have things just on an even kill all the time but you're going to have some ups and you're going to have some Downs but during those down moments that's where the growth takes place that's where the work is anybody can feel good when they have their health their bills are paid they have happy relationships the children are acting normal business is successful anybody could be positive then anybody can have a larger Vision then anybody can have faith under those kinds of circumstances am I correct see but the
real challenge the real challenge of growth mentally emotionally and spiritually comes when you get knocked down somebody said that that adversity introduces a man to himself or a woman how you handle it that's where the growth takes place when I was facing some challenges I had a guy say something to me and I suggest this is one of the first things that you want to do when you're facing a challenge you want to get unstuck evaluate where you are look at it assess yourself assess yourself and assess the situation what brought you there what role
did you play Earl Nightingale had a saying I like he said all of us are self-made but only the successful will admit it [Applause] what has brought you to this point what did you learn from it are you learning anything are you doing it over and over and over again somebody said that insanity is doing the same thing in the same way expecting a different outcome foreign are you going through it or are you growing through it are you bigger and better because of it because it's not going to leave you until you grow through
it I was going through a major challenge in my life that was wearing me out that was using me and one of my students told me in a class that I was teaching lessons and Truth she said less until you handle it with Grace it will stay in your face [Music] um and it stayed there a long time the challenges of life how do we get it how do we get stuck a friend of mine went through a divorce my best friend he had a wife that did not love him as much as he loved
her it was this first real true love he was a very religious man did not believe in divorce he made a mistake and he paid for his mistake with a lot of pain a lot of Tears and there came to a point where he knew he should have gotten a divorce but he was stuck he was stuck in something called Revenge he said she's made me so miserable I'm going to pay her back he was stuck and he stayed in there longer than he should have because it began to attack him it began to affect
him psychologically and as a result of that when he eventually did get a divorce he took that same attitude to other relationships looking for something to go wrong he was burned so badly he did not want to risk pain again he was going in relationships trying to avoid pain when it became too close he would do something to make sure the relationship did not work he would always try and find something wrong with the person because they're no perfect people so if you look for it you can find it he was stuck in Revenge another
friend of mine working on a job loved the company very much expected to retire there and one day they call him in the office ask him for his badge and identification to all the security man up walked into his desk told him he was fired and he had to leave then he was devastated and if you came anywhere near him he will tell you his story as we all have stories thank you even when he got a job he went on the job telling anybody who would listen how they fired him unjustly and he always
ended with it wasn't fair life isn't fair life just is it's not fair that birds eat worms and they do so we could we can't even deal with what's there but he's stuck in the fact that it's not fair I don't deserve that they were wrong I used to be a state legislator in Columbus Ohio during the break we used to go out on the front lawn of the Ohio legislature and the capital there and observed people as they came by there was one particular person that all of us knew the children adults everybody used
to pick at him when he came by we called him chicken man he had a feather in his hat he had a toy Chicken on top of his car that he would drive around the area in downtown blinking his lights and occasionally blowing his horn when he got out of his car he would drive he would walk downtown with a baby carriage with two little baby dolls in there and a picture of a woman and when you say something to him or came near him you would hear him making the sounds of a chicken all
of us used to laugh a chicken man we didn't know chicken man's story Chicken Man woke up one morning around 3 A.M and his house was on fire he panicked and he got out of the window left quickly only to get outside to hear his children and his wife screaming for help he ran back to the door to go in to save them and the Flames were too hot too awesome he tried to get in he couldn't get in he was desperate frantic pretty soon the cries stopped they perish in the fire his brother-in-law came
found out that his sister had died and his nieces in the fire grabbed chicken man and start beating him you chicken why didn't you save my sister you're a chicken you're a chicken when the people pulled him off chicken man they picked him up and said are you all right and Chicken Man looked at him and he started making the sounds of a chicken he never ever overcame that tragedy he was stuck from that experience none of us knew why chicken man went wrong with this picture and these little dolls I remember when I was
stuck in anger for a long time when I made a commitment to my adopted mother that I was going to purchase her home I'll never forget the experience of working real hard to get the money for the down payment someone had told me of a beautiful home an exclusive area of Miami went to see it took my mother there and she said yes I want it was on the water we went to the closing my attorney said Les have you had a title search I said what's a title search well we just take a couple
of days to check it out and make sure there are no liens against the property that you might have to pay if you buy this home the guy who was there selling me the house he said listen he said the only reason that I'm selling you this house and selling it at a loss is because I admire the fact that you want to purchase this house for your mother I have another guy who will give me substantially more money but I like you and I've got to get back to Philadelphia now if we cannot consummate
this deal now then the deal is off I said there are no liens against the property he says no of course not I looked at my attorney I said I believe him I'll sign she said Mr Brown I'm not questioning his honesty she said but business is business I signed that contract and we had a big celebration everybody in the neighborhood was talking about Leslie coming home one of the twins that made me adopted to buy her a home child isn't that nice God is going to bless him yeah a few weeks later I received
a letter a registered letter indicating that the house was going up for Sheriff's sale on the courthouse steps a man had filed a twelve thousand dollar lien against the property because the previous owner owed him that money and if I did not come up with twelve thousand dollars in 30 days he was going to sell the house to the highest bidder I called this man and said Mr my name is Les Brown I purchased this house I had nothing to do with your prior Bill prior Bill Bill he said that's not my problem he said
you should have had a title search I said can you give me time I said my mother is an older lady she has a bad heart and I said please I said if you just give me the time I don't know how I'm going to do it with a house note and everything else but I think I can pay you at least two thousand dollars a month and within six months somehow I will pay your money he said no I want it all in 30 days or you get out I did everything I could racked
my mind thinking about how I could get twelve thousand dollars because I I took everything I could to get the money just for the down payment and the closing I finally had to face the reality that I wasn't going to be able to do it I was up around two o'clock in the morning walking back and forth thinking how was I going to tell my mother this my children were there in the room sleeping all night long I agonized over this I lost over 23 pounds pretty soon I went in the room where my mother
was sleeping and I said Mama I got down on my knees by the bed I said Mom I got to talk to you and she said what's wrong I said Mama I said we got to get out the house I said in my haste to buy the house I made a mistake she said that's all right baby I didn't like this house anyhow [Music] I said Mama you told me you loved it I brought our friends out here to see it she said you know I have arthritis in my knees and I don't like going
up the steps but I knew it made you happy you loved it so much I said mom I've lost 23 pounds agonizing over this well we had to pack up and go back to the old house down the street from Northwestern High School in Liberty City all those neighbors who came out and saw us leave coming back we went in the house the roaches were playing cards saying come on in and take a hand humiliated words cannot Encompass the symbolism of what I felt I remember when I was unloading the furniture and I began to
cry my sister came by hmm you know you didn't have any money to buy no house Mr Big Time oh now y'all back where you belong foreign as I was crying and my head down taking furniture and my mama said hold your head up I said Mama I said I just feel so bad about this mama she said hold your head up and dry your tears you have nothing to be ashamed of and I did as we unloaded that furniture in that house for several weeks I was numb I was immobilized with anger if I
had seen that guy I was thinking about flying to Philadelphia I had all kind of dreams about him and I didn't want to hit this guy here hitting would been too good for him I just want to just grab him and just bite him just I just made and found him they say well we found this guy just chewing on him eating would have been too good for him I'd have just bit him every time I'd have been like a Doberman Pinscher yep but God would just say I thought I made everything but I don't
know where this came from [Applause] [Music] I was reading a book on forgiveness and they had a line in that says forgive and grow I had to let that luggage go you see your mind is is you know when you're going to a service station to get gas you don't go in there and just start pumping when you push the lever up it clears the previous bill by the same token if you want to begin to move you've got to clear your mind of all the unnecessary luggage and baggage that's weighing us down I couldn't
move I couldn't think about what am I going to do to get out of this situation because I was so concerned about what happened and what he did to me and how bad it was I was so stuck in that I couldn't even focus on what I should have done feeling sorry for myself and angry and none of that was taking me anywhere so pretty soon I I learned through effort made a conscious deliberate determined effort I had to let it go I had to forgive it let it go and begin to focus on developing
myself and I say to you you're going to have people to do things to you things are going to happen to you and the most important thing to do is to harness your will and Let It Go and move so you can grow so you can get on with your life it doesn't matter about what happens to you what matters is what are you going to do about it what are you going to do now Les huh how long are you going to tell everybody at the bus stop and anybody who would stand and listen
to you how long you'll repeat the same thing over and over and over and over and over again how many times do we have to hear that don't go around telling people what your story is everybody has a story eighty percent don't care and 20 glad it's you [Applause] I said I'm glad that didn't happen to me sometimes you think you've got some problems you hear somebody else problem and if their problem is real bad it make you feel good am I right so I had to let that go all of us got stories to
tell [Music] Chicken Man allowed his tragedy to destroy his life all of us have experienced some tragedy and if we haven't we will and you could even let it destroy your life or you can build upon it yeah you can permit it to let you let it hold you down or you can decide I'm not going to let that happen to me I'm bigger than this make a declaration to yourself declare all out war that you're going to get out of this rut I don't care how good you ought to care how talented you are
I don't care how much you work on yourself there are some times when things aren't going to go right they just are not going to go right there are times when anything that can happen will happen Murphy's Law will be knocking at your door why I don't know why that's called life and you have to deal with it sometimes your life will be in a slump just like sports some of the best Shooters can't hit baskets different times in games they get in a slump do they sit on the sideline and say you know I
just didn't hit a basket today no they continue to execute I suggest to you that if you were facing a challenge don't stop stay busy work your plan continue to do those things that you know that work for you after you have evaluated yourself from the situation continue to move stay busy stay busy stay busy repeat after me help somebody and help yourself because what you give is what you get find somebody that you can help so you can forget about you for a moment see sometimes the best thing to do is to be sometimes
you have to just back up and go within yourself a bow and arrow you you can't take a boat and just push it out an hour you just can't push the arrow out you have to pull it back and then release it sometimes you have to back up and go within and pray and meditate and recharge your batteries go away clear your head and then come back and look at it from a different vantage point don't operate while you're under the spell or the effect of what's going on next thing is that you've got to
activate the Thinker in you don't allow your emotions to control you we are emotional but you want to begin to discipline your emotion if you don't discipline and contain your emotions they will use you your mind goes on automatic just like a god you know I loved reading the book called as a man thanked by James Allen he uses the analogy of the mind being like a garden you know weeds don't have to have any encouragement to grow you don't have to water them they don't have to get sunshine they don't have to have fertile
ground they will grow through the cracks of a sidewalk am I right but if you want to grow orchids or roses or any kind of exotic flowers there are special processes and procedures you must go through well by the same token you don't have to force yourself or motivate yourself to think negatively to be depressed to hate somebody to want revenge you want to get back at somebody to beat yourself up over the head to feel loaded with guilt you don't have to make any effort to do that your mind is on automatic it will
do that by itself but if you want to begin to move into your own personal greatness if you want to begin to really enjoy a happy successful healthy life you've got to be willing to go against the tide you've got to be willing to harness your will and say in spite of this I'm in control here I'm not going to let this get me down I'm not going to let this destroy me I'm coming back and I'll be stronger and better because of it you have got to make a declaration that this is what you
stand for you're standing up for your dreams you're standing up for peace of mind you're standing up for health you want it and you're going to go all out to have it it's not going to be easy when you want to change it's not easy if it were in fact easy everybody would do it but if you're serious you'll go all out yes I'm going to turn this situation around I'm not going to sit back and and moan and cry over what happened and what went wrong and who did what I'm going to do something
about this situation the next thing that is important is that expect things to get better for you because they are you're not what is exp whatever experience you're having right now it has not come to stay it has come to pass not to stay just to pass it's just going through the biggest challenge is is to know what's happening this is a part of this thing we call life this too shall pass and maintaining perspective putting it in perspective I was doing a training at a college and it was a two-day training during orientation and
in the training that I provide I'm a motivational speaker but I conduct processes and personal Dynamics where people begin to go through changes that stimulate the right and left hemisphere of the brain enable them to see themselves differently I conducted this particular simulation with these young kids 17 and 18 years of age so that they would begin to see how they make decisions how they would survive in this particular simulation process we gave them we had them to do it individually and then collectively over 30 percent of them wrote down as their first option in
order to survive they would commit suicide first thing they wrote down suicide among young people has increased 300 over 5 000 will successfully take their lives this year why why did they do that they fasted I was so shocked I said what do you mean well at least we would not suffer and then they had the nerve to write down all of the other things they were going to do after they committed suicide I said listen kodumbo now when you when you come up with a permanent solution for a temporary problem that's it game's over
that's it you're not going to do anything anybody wrote suicide at the top you can put your pencil down see a lot of us because of our limited vision of ourselves a lot of us who begin to focus on problems and enable them to overwhelm us we begin to think that we have no options we begin to believe that there's no way out repeat after me there's always a way where there's a will there's a way Shake somebody's hand on your right left and say I'm unstoppable you've got to make those kind of declarations to
yourself I'm unstoppable this will not get me down and if I get knocked down I'm going to be like um Leo Pascal you said you're going to have some low moments in life but when you do you will have high lows bring your work on yourself what are some of those things that you can do during this period of time go for walks do some things for you just go for a stroll so you can engage in some reflective thinking on life on yourself looking and enjoying the universe smelling the Roses along the way listen
to upbeat music music that inspire you I have only but goodies I have strategies that I engage in to recharge my batteries I'm preparing for that because I know things are going to happen that I cannot anticipate very good friend of mine died the other day I had a program for myself I have books that I read that inspire me tapes that I listen to that fire me up because you're going to have sometimes low moments when you won't want to get out of bed so just want to stay there at times you won't want
to come out the house the times you'll be feeling bad and don't know why I was wrong I don't know just leave me alone why did that happen I don't know it's called life the other thing is take full responsibility for your life accept Where You Are and the responsibility that you're going to take yourself where you want to go someone said we have two primary choices in life we can either accept conditions as they exist or we can take the responsibility to change them see a lot of people want to exempt themselves from taking
responsibility all they want to do is talk about the problem every time you see them they'll tell you their story over and over and over and over again no no you want to take responsibility for your life I got me here I can get me out of this and I'm getting out I'm not going to be a volunteer victim George Bernard Shaw said there are two kinds of people in life you know he said those that make things happen those that watch things happen and those that don't know what happened and he said the people
that get along in this life look around for the circumstances that they want and if they can't find them they make them they create them so part of beginning to get unstuck you've got to decide that the behavior pattern that you have adopted doesn't work for you you've got to change your strategies and changing your strategy means Reinventing Your Life recreating you and you have the power to do that you can decide that you're going to change that you're not going to be a wimp you can decide that you're going to stand up to life
you can decide that I'm going to live each day as if it were my last you can you have the power to make that decision you can decide I'm going to work on myself and develop myself I'm going to empower me and all of these things that are happening to me right now they're just temporary inconveniences they're not stronger than I am I'm in charge here next thing is separate what you do from Who You Are that's what the guilt trap is about see a lot of folk won't let you forget what you used to
do or what you have done what mistakes you've made all of us have made some mistakes in life all of us have done some things that if we had them to do over again we wouldn't do it again a lot of things that if I had it to do over again if I knew then what I know now I would have done it differently well it did happen that way and that's what you call life I didn't do it like that oh you don't want me to live that down how you want to keep on
putting that in my face about what I did guess what I'm not interested that's what I did then won't do it today so you're picking on an innocent man hello [Music] so as you're in the process of Reinventing Your Life write a description of the kind of person that you want to be one of the things that you must overcome what qualities about your personality you know that you're going to have to change because those particular characteristics are liabilities to you what are your assets what are your strong points look at and evaluating yourself to
make that determination other thing is that in order to get out of a rut we need some coaching find some trusted critics people that you know care about you love you say some things that keeps us from growing and getting out of ruts number one we identify with feedback we take it personal when someone wants to give us some feedback on where we are falling short tell us about our blind spots we want to have everything being positive about us we're not perfect it hurts I I have a friend who's a trusted critic I don't
like him but I love him he doesn't tell me the things I want to hear he tell me what I need to hear so I can grow it hurts it hurts when he put me on a hot seat I can't stand it but that's the only way that I can grow and I'm glad that he loves me enough to risk our friendship to tell me what I need to hear not what I want to hear get a support group somebody that you can talk to people who perhaps might have a similar problem support groups are
very powerful that you can share some of the challenges that you're going through and it might be a situation where one person can give you an idea of how they handle that situation and create an opening for you begin to stimulate some possibilities in your mind on how you can resolve the problem we can't grow by ourselves as I mentioned before we grow from people and projects the other thing is about life when things happen to you when you permit things to use you you can't change the past but you can interpret you can reinterpret
how you see it for years I was going around with a heavy load on my shoulders feeling bad because I was adopted doing interviews for adoption agencies in foster homes and I was on television once and I I told these people in this particular interview that I was giving away my twin brother and I when we were six weeks of age friend of mine fortunately was listening to the program and she said let's like to have lunch with you and so I went over to see her she said when a woman carries a baby for
nine months feeling that life movement in her it's automatic and natural for her to learn to love that baby to expect it to come here when she Bears the pain to bring it into the world your mother Mamie Brown when she came in to adopt you guys she didn't go through that process she looked at whoever your biological mother was and said I'll take her you weren't giving away less you were chosen with love [Applause] same circumstances same event but reinterpreted an interpretation that empowers me am I making sense to you so when you begin
to look at your past give an interpretation that empowers you that's where I used to be that's not where I am now I'm growing now I want you to think about in your mind right now think about some particular event or act in your life that you feel very bad about you really regret that that took place if you had to do over again you would do it differently with that there I want you to see yourself in your mind's eye and say to yourself I love myself unconditionally and I forgive myself if I knew
better I would have done better I want you to think about somebody that that cause you some pain cautious and disappointment somebody that you don't like let me tell you something about the mind how it uses you tell you something super stupid that I'd used to do do you know for years I hated my mother and my father whoever they were because they gave me away as I thought at that point in time and guess what I didn't have any faces for the hatred because I never saw either one of them and I said I
hate them for that and then once I forgave them and said it's okay had they not given me away I would have never been blessed to have the mother that I have who to me is the greatest mother in the world so the universe unfolds as it should but when I went through this process saying forgive them I remember in my mind as I was trying to picture these people I had two individuals in my mind standing there with no faces because I didn't know how they look but I released that I let that luggage
go think about somebody that you've heard somebody that you've disappointed either deliberately or inadvertently or someone that has hurt you deliberately or inadvertently think about them somebody that that you really really when you think about them the room turns red look at them in your mind's eye and say I forgive you I forgive you unconditionally boy that's a heavy load to let off when I thought about that guy I said wait a minute I can't not no you don't know what this guy did this was my mama you don't know what we went through my
students said Les forgive Let It Go if you want to be forgiven you better forgive somebody none of us are perfect all of us have made some mistakes and it wasn't easy it's not easy forgiving am I right it's hard see everybody won't forgive they say I forgive but I don't forget now let it go so you can grow let's get a little demonstration here throw it up on this side here right demonstrate it like this let's go I throw away negative thoughts Revenge guilt anything that's been holding me back now with that right hand
let's bring something in I bring in love peace of mind good relationships whole lot of money [Laughter] I don't know why people raise their voices when we say a whole lot about thank you I mean they get serious too you know what I mean and usually people don't use one hand they use two hands they tried to borrow somebody else's hand you know reinterpreting our past understanding and knowing that we can move from where we are that we can begin to design the kind of life that empowers us that gives us happiness that enable us
to be on top of Who We Are knowing that as we begin to explore New Horizons and new Vistas in life that as we begin to to focus on developing ourselves as we begin to elevate ourselves and not to follow the crowd activating The Thinker in us and disciplining and putting on hold the emotional part of ourselves it's not easy but through practice and practice and practice practice makes what absolutely not this matter that belief system practice makes Improvement you can always better your best you can always go beyond anything that you have ever done
you never hit a state of perfection you're always bigger than what you do and so all you're looking for are new breakthroughs through practice and practice and practice you'll get better and better and better and there's still some things that will happen to you that will catch you on the Blind Side that you did not anticipate you'll get knocked down but you won't be knocked out you'll be able to get to your feet again be on the ropes you have a fast recovery rate when you work on yourself read inspirational books of course listen to
tapes that begin to inspire you and stay around people who will Empower you people that will help you feel good about who you are as you're in the process of transforming your your life is so beautiful today someone gave me something on life call what is life I'd like to share it with you foreign [Music] getting unstuck means that you are going to start living life on your terms rather than just gliding through every day on automatic but you are aware that you're stimulated and you're excited about your unfolding future that you have a special
power within that you know that things are going to get better for you you know that you can handle this and sometimes you have to cry sometimes life will take you to your knees but the pain opens faces in the heart Joy somebody said about life a love that says life is like an onion you you have to peel it one layer at a time and sometimes you cry [Music] this author said about life life is a challenge meet it life is a gift accepted life is an adventure dare it life is a sorrow overcome
it life is a tragedy face it life is a duty perform it life is a game a plan life is a mystery unfolded life is a song sing it life is an opportunity take it life is a journey completed life is a promise fulfill it life is a beauty praise it life is a struggle fight it life is a goal achieve it life is a puzzle solve it isn't that beautiful I love that [Applause] [Music] [Applause] remember something I heard in high school it's called I I met a man today at first I said he's
Irish for he has an Irish way a sympathy and friendliness that warms you through him through and then I thought oh no he's not he really is a Jew his eyes so dark and eloquent like eyes of prayer like those that Peter maybe or perhaps Emmanuel he stood there with a quiet Grace so slim he was and tall I knew he was an Englishman and not a Jew at all and yet his skin was very fair a viking he could be such as those who cast their ships against the sea his hair was dark with
the mist of India Japan his courtesy was China's on his dignity around I met a man today and and he was marvelously Fair he really was a child of God and he came from everywhere this is Mrs Mamie Brown's baby boy saying it's been a plum pleasing pleasure as well as a privilege thank you all here [Applause]
