Thankful for...

By Dennis Lowery

I've been to 32 countries, all over the United States and done a good bit of traveling for pleasure and on business. Business travel often is what you have to do, what you need to do as a professional but it can be tiring and air travel today can be a hassle. But I have to say an upcoming trip 17 through 24 January is going to rank high on my list of places to go and people to meet for business reasons. It will be business travel to be thankful for.

I'm meeting with a new writing client, a professional who lives and has practiced in Hawaii for over 25 years. He has a truly unique set of experiences and a personal and professional story that is going to make a fascinating and more importantly, compelling, book with a powerful positive message. Over the week, I'll travel with him to three of the islands where he has offices (the Big Island, Maui and Oahu) and gain insight that I would not have without the time spent with him.

He told me this last weekend (in a phone conversation about the subject of a second book that we plan to work on once done with the current one), that one of the things true Hawaiians don't understand about newcomers and visitors... is that they want to "force" things... they want more of this or more of that, more of what they had from where they came from. Instead of enjoying what they have there (in Hawaii), instead of accepting "what is"... and enjoying and appreciating paradise.

My trip includes staying at one of the most beautiful hotels in the world (the Grand Wailea in Maui - see the following video). I'm looking forward to and will savor the experience. I'm going to absorb the ambiance; I’m going to be “there”.  Most of all, I'm going to be thankful for the opportunity to work at a profession that enables me to "make" this kind of business trip and thankful that my abilities drew the interest of the client I'm working with. I'm going to be thankful for my beautiful family and be thankful for getting to spend a little bit of time in a stunning place that I’ve not been to before but will go to again.

I believe that opportunities come from hard work. Without hard work, you can't develop so that you are ready for what comes. If I had not put in the work, the late nights, early mornings, on weekends and even working during vacations, I would not have the skills and capabilities that created opportunities that I have now and that are to come. If I had not decided to focus on my writing and publishing efforts, over the past year and a half I would not have met some of the best people in the world and had the truly special experiences that I have enjoyed. If I did not have my years of business experience to add to my writing and publishing know-how... then I would not be able to offer clients some of the truly distinctive solutions that I can. So hard work, hard knocks, good times, bad times, it all culminates with... many things to be thankful for.

 Remember, if everything was easy, there wouldn't be anything to be thankful for.