Flying
above the clouds
This
morning Oprah Winfrey’s office called Soaringwords. I was sitting
in an airport lounge waiting to board my plane when Greta called
to tell me the exciting news. Oprah is my role model and heroine.
Before Greta could tell me what Oprah’s colleague actually said,
I did what any person would do, immediately burst into tears
of joy.
Greta said the entire call was short and extremely professional.
Kina from Harpo Productions thanked me for inviting Ms. Winfrey
to join us in New Orleans for the Soaringwords Healing Mission.
She said that Oprah’s calendar is booked. She also said that
Ms. Winfrey does not write forwards to books and would therefore
not be able to write the forward to my upcoming book. The entire
phone call was over in a matter of minutes. I think Greta was
still in shock when she called me. Probably because she knows
that having Soaringwords featured on Oprah’s show has been my
dream come true for the past six years because it will enable
us to reach millions of people and inspire them to support hospitalized
children through Soaringwords. I look forward to sharing this
day with you when it actually happens.
Photo:
Meeting Oprah for the first time at Madame Tussard’s Wax Museum.
Next time will be for real!
The
phone call reminded me of two similar unexpected calls. After
spending hundreds of hours writing my book, I sent the book
proposal to three agents. Within a couple of days, Michael Larsen,
one of the top agents in the country, contacted me and took
the project on. We still laugh to remember his first phone call
to say that he wanted to represent me and my book. He jumped
right in, “Hello, Mike Larsen here from San Francisco.” Greta
momentarily did not know who it was, and handed me a post-it
note with his name on it! Fortunately, she did not ask him if
it was a sales call! Two weeks ago, we got a phone call from
Coventry, listed in Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest growing companies.
Last year, the CEO received a holiday card from Bear Stearns
which featured Soaringwords on the cover. Coventry is going
to be featuring Soaringwords in this year’s holiday card, sharing
a team-building experience with Coventry employees and making
a donation in honor of their clients. If you are interested
in incorporating Soaringwords into your company’s holiday celebration,
click
here.
Speaking
of phone calls, earlier this month, Yitta Halberstam, a New
York Times #1 best-selling author did call me to say that she
wants to be part of my upcoming book, Soaringwords: 10 Secrets
to Conquer Life’s Pain and Obstacles. In the meantime, if you
know anyone who has overcome a significant illness and has tremendous
courage and resiliency, please drop me an email or give me call.
Thank you to the people who responded to last month’s request
for stories to add to the book. Click
here to see how to contribute.
Today
I feel blessed that Oprah’s team contacted me on such an auspicious
day, which would have been my brother’s 45th birthday. Instead
of staying under the covers and feeling sad that he has died,
I am flying across the country to attend the Cisco “Growing
with Technology” awards dinner and forge deeper bonds that will
benefit Soaringwords and enable us to embrace more ill children
in the months and years ahead.
The lessons of the phone calls raise several interesting questions
for all of us. Are you open to unexpected blessings even when
the end result is not what you immediately want? Are you taking
action to pursue your dreams and do what you need to do in order
to bring them closer to reality? In the meantime, are you able
to laugh at yourself and enjoy the journey?
Speaking of journeys and setting really big goals, I invite
you to join me on the Soaringwords New Orleans Healing Mission
Nov. 30- Dec. 2. Click
here to get more information and sign up.
Watch
video
footage and
read testimonials
from last years New Orleans Mission.
One of the magical parts of the New Orleans experience will
be mentoring thousands of New Orleans children -- at their schools
and in the local hospitals -- to inspire them to “Never give
up!” There will be a special awards celebration for all volunteers,
working with children from the community, and fun activities
in New Orleans.
Stephen Bennett, a world-renowned artist, will be on the trip
leading the SoaringSmiles hands-on art program as our Artist
in Residence. In August, we shared a SoaringSmiles program with
hospitalized children at Montefiore Medical Center. The hospitalized
children learned how to make self-portraits in five seconds…
working up to 30 second portraits. Then we spent an hour creating
one-of-a-kind portraits that brightened up the pediatric lounge
and the children’s day.
This
month we have shared Soaringwords programs at The Town School,
The Ramaz School, UnitedHealthcare and Coventry.
Photos:
Left-UnitedHealthcare employees in New Jersey get into Soaringwords.
Right-Coventry employees in Pennsylvania decorate quilts and
pillows for children in New Orleans
Photo:The
Town School students inspire hospitalized children at Metropolitan
Hospital
Last
week I traveled to Madison, Wisconsin with my oldest son Jonathan
to visit the University of Wisconsin campus. This is his first
choice school. We went to the football game with 85,000 spectators.
That night he stayed in the dorms while I stayed in a hotel
room. Together, we took the tour, he had an interview. It was
exciting to see that he loves this school as much in person
as he did from the college fair and website tour. As we were
waiting for our plane in the airport lounge, the flight was
cancelled. There was an announcement that we’d be taking a bus
to Milwaukee and it was leaving in thirty minutes. It was an
opportunity to see part of the country that I would never see,
and we made our connecting flight with 20 minutes to spare.
So whether in the air, or on the ground, enjoy each experience
and you’ll be much more open to the blessings and lessons that
are there for you.
Wishing
you strength and soaringwords.
Much love,
Lisa Honig
Buksbaum, CEO & Founder, Soaringwords
Best of the Best
You know
who you are. Thanks for doing something truly wonderful to help
us soar higher. This month we want to thank:
Peter Alexander,
Joe Diodati, Patrick Finn, Neela Gentile, Maggie Larson, Sangmee
Park, Randy Pond, Shelley Martin Lauren Ventura, Bene Werle
at Cisco Systems; Aaron Jakubovitz for running the Soaringwords
Club at Horace Greeley High School; Michelle Bottomley, Mike
Hemingway, Heather MacPherson, Donna Pedro, Lynn Roer, Donna
Tuths and Carlene Wilson at Ogilvy & Mather; Michael Silverman
and Lexi Tannenhaltz for starting the Soaringwords Club at Ramaz;
Carolyn Meckler from Congregation Rodeph Sholom; Kristal R.
Neal from Saint Peter's University Hospital; Amy Ruben and Ali
Ruben, Dena McCoy, Lisa Cartwright for running the Soaringwords
Club at the Town School. Kara Paske Siegel and Kim Hartman from
Trinity School; Lisa Cappello, Dr. Terence Fitzgerald, Mikki
Kraemer, Michael McGuire, Maria Pomponi, from UnitedHealthcare;
Amber Nevens, Sarah Roger, Melanie Kressel, Orli Brodie and
Emma Ramat for volunteering at Soaringwords gala Saturday night
celebration; Brett Barndt; and last but not
least Arthur and Timur Meyster.
Previous
Lisa's Monthly Letters (click on the month to
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Send everyone on your holiday list a Soaringwords gift card
and we'll donate a SoaringQuilt and SoaringPillow to a hospitalized
child in their honor. We also have 100% silk SoaringScarves
and SoaringTies, the perfect gift. All of these are available
at the Soaringwords store located in SoaringGoodies.
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