Last week, I received two wonderful e-mails from people who attended speaking engagements of mine earlier in the year.

One of the people wrote to tell me that they had referenced me and my story in a newsletter that they had written! (Thanks Paula!) The other person wrote to tell me that something I had said had coincided with something that was happening in her life right now. (Thanks Debbie!) It's always great to get that kind of feedback!

I was talking with my manager about those e-mails and he said:
"You can count the seeds in an apple just as you can count the attendees at your presentations. But can you count the apples in each seed? Similarly, you have no idea how many lives you'll touch with each presentation!"

Another example of this came to me while having coffee this week with my good friend Laurie.

Laurie was telling me about her recent trip to Vancouver to celebrate her father's 65th birthday. While she was in Vancouver her friend Heather invited her to do a challanging two-hour hike called the "Grouse Grind Trail" ( http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/grind_open.html ). After completing the hike, Laurie was telling her parents about the experience. Later that day, her father announced that to celebrate his 65th birthday he wanted to hike the Grouse Grind as well!

So, Laurie and her father hiked up the Grouse Grind Trail on his 65th birthday and the event inspired them both! They've made plans to move on to bigger and better things!

At the end of July 2005, Laurie and her father will travel to the Yukon to hike the much more challanging Chilkoot Trail (http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/yt/chilkoot/index_e.asp) a 53 kilometre (33 mile) trip that traces the route of the Klondike gold rush.

When Laurie's friend Heather invited her out for a two-hour hike I'll bet she had no idea that she'd have such a big impact on Laurie's father's life or that she'd set in motions plans for the summer of 2005!

How about you?

How many apples are in the seeds you'll plant this week?

ENJOY NOW!

Always, do what you can. Because one you at least do what you can, no matter how seemingly insignificant, everything changes.

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National Library of Canada ISSN 1708-0606

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Contact him at: http://www.mathieu.com or email patrick@mathieu.com.