*An excerpt from Joe’s book, EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS FOR LIFE: Discover Your Path to Be UN-ordinary (Chapter 27) AN EPIPHANY One day as I sat in my chair reading, writing, and meditating, I had an epiphany of sorts. I finally learned what all those years of avoiding solitude was wanting to teach me: “The reason I…
“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone…” ~Joni Mitchell In life there are things we need to let go of and things we need to hold onto forever. The key to a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life, is knowing the difference. Below is a short…
“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.” ~ Eckhart Tolle At different times in our life we may find that we are holding onto things that we need to let go of. Maybe, it is an old belief that isn’t producing the results we want. Maybe…
“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein For the purpose of communicating this content more effectively, I think it is important to understand the meaning of…
“My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.” ~ Michael J. Fox At various times in my life I have felt somewhat worn-down by the steady flow of negativity and the events unfolding in our world. Lately, it feels as though these events have been a constant…
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~ the Dalai Lama When you think about some of the greatest philosophers who have ever lived and whose ideas are still relevant today…who comes to mind? Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, Confucius…Contrera. Contrera???? Wait a minute, hold the phone, stop the…
“We train animals, we need to make sure we are educating our leaders.” ~Joe Contrera Yesterday, I was attempting to read an article on my phone to catch up on an event. Once I clicked on the article, in less than a nanosecond my screen was filled so many ads that I could not…
“The oxymoron of freedom is that it must submit to rules of morality or it will succumb to the rot of tyranny.” ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough So-cial – late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin socialis from socius meaning ‘friend. Me-di-a – the means of communication that reaches large numbers of people.…
“Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.” ~ Lakota Proverb Your ability to lead others is directly tied to your ability to influence them. One of the tools you can use to more powerfully influence others is the use of story in your interactions. Stories can magnify a point or grab an audiences attention during a…
“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” ~Moliere Recently, I attended an HOA meeting to discuss increasing the monthly fee by 10% for 3 years to make up for a shortfall in the Capital Reserve Funds. I was struck by the boards…