Hello,

Let's begin with a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to the many readers who are forwarding this eZine to their friends and colleagues. Our readership number is constantly growing and I'm delighted to be able to share with so many people.

Feel free to forward “Powered by Possibility” to anyone you feel would benefit – especially if their work or non-profit efforts require being more effective in working with others.

To my many Jewish friends and readers, Happy New Year! May Rosh Hashanah be a celebration of your life – past and future. To my non-Jewish readers, this holiday begins the preparation for Yom Kippur nine days later. It's the Jewish day of atonement, a day of fasting and repentance to reconcile each person with the Creator for the mistakes made in the last year. That practice might be a good idea for all of us!

Years ago my friend Stuart Matlins told me about a book his company, Jewish Lights, had published and that might apply to our work. Stuart's mission for his company includes publishing books that appeal to both the Jewish community and non-Jews like me. I really learned from the book, “So That Your Values Live On – Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them,” (edited by Jack Reimer and Nathaniel Stampfer) and went on to use it in our seminars when we work with participants on our life legacy.

The Los Angeles Times review said of the book, "While the book is written from a Jewish viewpoint, its principles can easily be adapted by people of other faiths." If you'd like to explore the ideas further, press “CTRL” and then click on the following:

So That Your Values Live On: Ethical Wills & How to Prepare Them ...

Years later, I learned that one of my favorite pieces of writing was written by that same Jack Reimer and that piece forms the heart of our feature article for this month's issue. Read on and you won't be disappointed. Said simply, this is some very good stuff.

All that plus some quotes, some fun, some Balance Point news and a rave recommendation.

Be extraordinary!

Robert White

A Balance Point monthly eZine dedicated to assisting people in living extraordinary lives and creating extraordinary organizations.

We encourage you to forward this message to friends or colleagues who want to be more effective in working with people. They can subscribe to future issues and receive our free 23 page report “ Simple Truths and Enduring Values – The Eight Elements of Personal and Organizational Effectiveness,” at http://www.extraordinarypeople.com/ezine/subscribe.htm.

We have a very simple privacy policy: We do not share any information about any subscriber with anyone outside Balance Point for any reason or at any time. Period.

In this issue:

• Feature: Using What You Have Left
• Extraordinary Wisdom Quotes of the Month
• Rave Recommendation from Balance Point
• Extraordinary Living Action Steps

The following article by Rabbi Jack Reimer was originally published in the Houston Chronicle. I believe it is more than a “good read” and actually points the way toward a key aspect of living an extraordinary life. To paraphrase my late friend John Denver, “I was going to write it but Rabbi Reimer wrote it first ... and wrote it beautifully.”

“On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came onstage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City . If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting onstage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches.

To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is a sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down; slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back, and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit, quietly, while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.

But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do.

People who were there that night thought to themselves: "We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one." But he didn't.

Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.

Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night, Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was re-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.

He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the way of life - not just for artists but for all of us. Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings. So he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.

So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live, is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.”

Our Extraordinary Action steps will include my suggestions for enhancing your ability to make music with what YOU have left. Read on!

First, and just for fun, click on the following link, and then insert your first name where instructed:

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

I've checked the following tips about how to survive a stroke or heart attack with some medical experts and they generally agree that the ideas are potentially lifesaving.

Is It a Stroke?

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, this lack of awareness can spell disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by following three simple instructions:

1 - Ask the individual to smile.

2 - Ask him or her to raise both arms.

3 - Ask the person to speak a simple sentence.

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

Heart Attack -- Self Help

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved. Read this ... it could save your life.

Let's say it's 6:15 p.m. and you're driving home (alone, of course) after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and frustrated.

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately, you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without letup until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

Tell as many people as possible about this. It could save their lives.

Making Music With What We Have Left

Stuff happens...In our personal and professional lives. I've spent the last thirty years of my life learning, teaching and living the reality that while I can't alter circumstances, I am accountable for my choices that lead into those circumstances and the attitude and choices that follow.

1. When “stuff happens,” choose to spend NO time in regret, blame, guilt and all those tempting but ultimately self-defeating states of mind. Get off it. Let go of it. Whatever bumper sticker truism works for you, use it and get on with your life and your work.
   
2. Do something. You've been preparing all your life for these moments. Trust yourself to do the right “next step” and act decisively.
   
3. Run your story past a close friend or trusted colleague and tell it in an accountable way. “This is how I set this up; this is what I learned from it; and this is what I am doing next. What do you see that I currently don't which would positively further the action (that last part is really important – just asking for feedback without the “positively further the action” condition might call forth commiseration instead of coaching...which could spin you into being a victim instead of “making music with what you have left.”)
   
4. Celebrate! Any breakdown is an opportunity for breakthrough, for learning and for accomplishment.

And, e-mail me anything you learn about you and others in this process – your experiences inspire and motivate me.

Wishing you an Extraordinary Life and Extraordinary Organizations,

Robert

Robert White
Balance Point

P. O. Box 40405
Denver , CO 80204
Phone: 1-425-803-0303
E-mail: Robert@BalancePointInternational.com

http://www.BalancePointInternational.com

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