Self Help: Personally Yours: Adding Your Signature Of Beauty To The World Around You

Personally Yours: Adding Your Signature Of Beauty To The World Around You

Written by Lee Wise

Author: Lee Wise Copyright Date: 2003 Word Count: 885 w/bio Characters/line: 60

VISITING BEAUFORT...

If you are fortunate enough to visit a small town in Beaufort, North Carolina, you will soon discover its uniqueness.

Beaufort is a waterfront town, and one of those places you could term as "charming." It is rich -- both in its history and repparttar natural beauty of a seaside atmosphere.

I would term it "nice."

Nice in repparttar 130651 relaxing sense.

Nice like savoring repparttar 130652 flavor of a fresh, delicious tuna sandwich with your special someone while allowing repparttar 130653 calming presence of a beachfront view remind you one more time of what it means to "take time to live."

PERSONALLY YOURS BY THE SEA

You could pass it by and not see it.

The sign is not huge by any standard. A few words painted on a wooden marker: "Personally Yours By The Sea."

The size of repparttar 130654 sign might easily be an indicator of repparttar 130655 size of repparttar 130656 gift shop it is advertising. In a word: small.

An area less than repparttar 130657 measurements of an average living room houses repparttar 130658 contents of "Personally Yours By The Sea, Ltd." Should you discover this somewhat hidden treasure, upon entry you would no doubt receive a warm Southern greeting from Laura Lee.

Personally Yours By The Sea is a place of transformation.

You give Laura Lee a blank picture frame, for instance, and she will transform repparttar 130659 frame into a personalized gift.

By combining a thought or two of your own with Laura Lee's handiwork, repparttar 130660 frame becomes a uniquely designed souvenir or present created for repparttar 130661 sole purpose of causing someone to experience a moment of joy each time it is viewed.

THE POINT

What was a blank picture frame becomes a *personal expression* of beauty for you or someone special to you.

It just takes...

Some time. A personal thought or two. And a dash of creativity.

You might say that we each own a store -- not too unlike repparttar 130662 one in Beaufort. We are repparttar 130663 sole proprietors of our own "Personally Yours" establishments.

As storeowners, we have repparttar 130664 power to use our resources in whatever ways we choose. We, like Laura Lee, may add our unique "signatures" to repparttar 130665 lives of those we influence.

Day by day we can design and distribute moments of delight, encouragement and hope to people.

IT ALL ADDS UP

Laura Lee has been personalizing her gifts for about fourteen years.

Fourteen years!

Allow your mind to wander for a few brief seconds. How many individualized expressions of happiness have been crafted over repparttar 130666 years from Laura Lee's tiny shop in Beaufort, North Carolina?

Enjoy the Ride

Written by Mark Susnow

Letters on Life #11 November 2003 Enjoy repparttar Ride Many people have been saying this era is different, that there's more stress and more to worry about. While it is true we have major concerns so did past generations. No matter what our challenges are, repparttar 130650 decisions and choices we make on a day to day basis determine our ability to enjoy ourselves. I recently wrote, in Embrace Change that my son, Josh, graduated from high school and was off to college. I was reminded of how anxious I was to get out of high school, get away from home and begin college even though it was just across repparttar 130651 bay in Berkeley. I believed college would be repparttar 130652 answer to my problems. It was for a brief period of time but soon I started to experience repparttar 130653 same disenchantment and longing that I had experienced in high school. My focus shifted again to repparttar 130654 future which was getting into law school. And of course once in law school my new focus was graduating and passing repparttar 130655 bar so "real life" would start. And what I called "real life" began... I was out of school, making my own money and involved in an intense love affair. There's no question I was excited when I began my career as an attorney. I was on a mission to change repparttar 130656 world through repparttar 130657 legal system. After a while financial realities set in and I began to struggle in business and in love. My mindset was that when business picked up and when I met "the one" I could start to enjoy life again. My concerns about repparttar 130658 future clouded my ability to enjoy repparttar 130659 present. I was repeating repparttar 130660 familiar pattern of making an unknown future better than repparttar 130661 present. For many of us this is a never ending pattern. I've always been a firm believer in synchronicity...those chance encounters that change your life...those remarkable meetings. A friend told me of a magical swimming hole along a river in Humboldt County and my intuition told me to go find it. Off I went with my guitar, my dog and sleeping bag and drove North arriving at repparttar 130662 river just as repparttar 130663 sun was setting. In repparttar 130664 morning I awoke at repparttar 130665 crack of dawn in search of repparttar 130666 swimming hole. I wasn't making much progress as there was no real trail and you had to hike in repparttar 130667 river. As I continued on repparttar 130668 way to my destination I barely noticed a few campsites until a camper offered me some food and coffee. Although I found myself getting hungry and a little bit tired I said no thanks to repparttar 130669 kind invitation—I felt like I just had to get to that swimming hole. After another twenty yards I turned around and said "that coffee sounds good." It was what repparttar 130670 camper said in repparttar 130671 next few moments that has perhaps made repparttar 130672 greatest impact in my life.

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