By Jack Cumming

We are at our best when we are generous. The moments that give me the most delight are those when people I haven’t seen for years tell me how I sparked something that brought them success. It’s not something that I do consciously, but it’s what I love the most of all the encounters that bring me joy.

A Moment of Rebirth

The fact is that we can have a positive or negative impact on others. It’s up to us. It helps to have been the beneficiary of such an uplifting moment yourself. My moment may show you that you can aspire to all that others, myself included, have been able to accomplish. Believe in yourself, celebrate others, and you can change the world.

Start from where you are now. Do you ever allow yourself to dream, or do you fear that you can never measure up? Turn your thinking from fears toward dreams. The best advice anyone can ever give to another is to advise them to follow their dreams. The dream you start with may not be the dream you end with, but you will never have to wonder what might have been … if only.

My moment was brief but life-changing. As a tagalong to an invited guest, I was fortunate as a 20-year-old to be at a dinner with then (1957) Senator Kennedy and his brother. The topic was politics, specifically a statement that Kennedy planned to issue to demonstrate his foreign policy capabilities. That I was able to follow the conversation and understand how these things work encouraged me to reach for the stars throughout my life.

Believe in Yourself

Believe me, you should have that same self-understanding. You, too, should reach for the stars. Prepare yourself by reading the lives of the greats. If you have the gumption, you will discover that they were no better than you. If you see the dream and work to realize it, all you will need is luck and preparation to find your full potential. Neither Andrew Carnegie nor Abraham Lincoln had much education, but they read voraciously. Learning starts with reading.

Imagine you’ve just started in senior living, say, as a trash collector or as an aspirant to become a certified nursing assistant. Dream big. After all, your work is more necessary to the fulfillment of the caregiving mission than are the ruminations of the CEO. Value yourself. Know your worth. And, when you are the CEO, remember your origins.

Open Your Heart

Recently, I thought of that early encounter with the openhearted man who later became president when I came across the story of a young 12-year-old immigrant who asked to interview the president. You can be inspired, as I was, by clicking here to experience that event. That President is now an admired ex-President, and that immigrant is now a highly successful businessperson

Learn to believe in yourself and then help others to believe in themselves. By pursuing your dreams and realizing your potential, you’ll be given the gift of being able to pay it forward to others. There’s nothing that can give more life satisfaction than that.