Episodes
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A Life Jacket Moment
“Four men. Four different faiths. One extraordinary choice. What happened aboard a sinking ship in 1943 may change the way you look at your opportunities this week.” “A Life Jacket Moment begins when a generous thought becomes a generous choice.” — Lee Brower “A Life Jacket Moment isn’t measured…
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Why Thanksgiving
As we begin this year’s Thanksgiving Month, the Empowered Wealth Team is taking a moment to reflect rather than produce a new Meaningful Mondays message. We’re revisiting a classic from Lee Brower, “Why Thanksgiving?” to remind us of the importance of gratitude and the difference it can make in…
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Experience Reflect Earn - Are we Mirrors or Windows?
A mirror reflects what’s in front of it. A window allows us to see beyond what’s immediately around us. What if the most valuable people in our lives do both? They reflect back to us who we are becoming while opening windows to who we could become. “An experience may last a moment. Its earnings…
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The Other Side of the Rope
A young filly taught me something I’ll remember for a long time. The rope marked the boundary. The consequences made the choices clear. But trust was built through patience, consistency, and the freedom to learn. And that’s how we move from compliance toward commitment. Ask yourself: Am I simply...
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The Short Leash - We Can't Control Everything That Comes Into Our Lives
“We don’t get to pick when the finish line comes, and I don’t believe in finish lines anyway, only milestones. But we do get to choose what flows from us along the way.” – Lee Brower “Every choice you make in the NOW becomes part of someone’s future. Choose what you send downstream.” “We don’t...
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Ring the Bell
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” — John Wooden “Sometimes the greatest value in an experience isn’t the nectar...
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Sometimes the Wrong Seat puts us Exactly Where Something Meaningful can Happen
“What if the greatest value of where you’re going isn’t the reason you went?” — Lee Brower “Never mistake activity for achievement.” — John Wooden “Get in motion toward what matters. You never know what you’ll pollinate along the way.” — Lee Brower
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Triboluminescence
“The tree that never had to fight / For sun and sky and air and light / But stood out in the open plain / And always got its share of rain / Never became a forest king / But lived and died a scrubby thing.” – Douglas Malloch, “Good Timber” “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” A proverb –…
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I had no idea what I was saying when I say, "I am glad to be here."
“Gratitude unexpressed is ingratitude perceived.” “Gladness is what happens when gratitude becomes visible.” Today I challenge you: Before today is over, make the gratitude that is within you visible to one person.
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Bad Calls - Nobody gets a season without bad calls
“There are no losers in this tournament. Only winners and learners.” — Nick “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” — Jackie Robinson — (he took more bad calls than anyone). “It was never about them. They were playing for something much bigger.” “All you get to…
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Vision creates Motion, Worry gives us Motion Sickness
Vision creates motion; worry gives us Motion Sickness “Is the future you’re imagining inspiring your NOW, or stealing it? “Vision and worry are both acts of imagination” → “Vision borrows inspiration; worry borrows trouble” → “we pay for both NOW.” TEARs = Time, Energy, Attention, Resources.…
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STOP FEEDING IT! "Be careful what you feed. It may follow you home."
What you feed follows you. What you starve loses its power. You have the power to redirect your TEAR’s. From worry → gratitude and action. From regret → wisdom. From resentment → forgiveness. From comparison → contribution. From scrolling → connection. From “if only” → “knowing what I know now.”
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Look Anyway
“Can’t find gratitude today? Look anyway. The looking may be where gratitude begins.” “When you can’t find something to be grateful for, look anyway.” “It’s not finding gratitude that matters most; it’s remembering to look in the first place.” Grateful FOR asks, ” What happened that deserves my...
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You Don't Need Clarity to Get Into Motion
What if you’ve spent years looking for something that was never lost — only idle? “Don’t wait for purpose to give you direction. Make a contribution—and let contribution reveal the direction.” — Lee Brower Maybe purpose isn’t something we find. Maybe purpose is something we activate. — Lee Brower...
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Where Wisdom Flows, Generations Grow.™
“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” — Phil Collins “Wisdom held is inventory. Wisdom moved is a legacy.” — Lee Brower “A river doesn’t make its own water. Not one drop.” — Lee Brower “Nobody is the river. Everybody is a tributary.” — Lee Brower
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Before You Know the Score
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero “Don’t wait for answered prayers to become grateful. Let gratitude become your prayer.” “What can I be grateful for today… before I know how today turns out?” “Gratitude nurtures humility. It strengthens...
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"Don't Worry I Got You" ... Those five words restored far more than a notebook."
“Character is what you do when no one is watching—and especially when no one is expecting.” — Charles Swindoll (adapted) “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” — John Wooden “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”
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Sully and His Bank - You can't withdraw until you first make a deposit.
Life doesn’t ask us to become someone new in moments of crisis. It asks us to remember who we’ve been becoming. The greatest leaders don’t trust themselves to rise to the occasion. They prepare themselves to retrieve from a lifetime of intentional learning. “This week, don’t ask yourself, ‘How…
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The Two Hands of Freedom - Receiving with Gratitude. Passing Forward with Purpose.
I asked Warren Buffett what he considered the keys to his success. He shared three keys that reflect humility, gratitude, and stewardship. “We don’t simply inherit freedom. We become stewards of it.” – Lee Brower
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The Unfinished Promise... America wasn't finished in 1776, it was launched
The Unfinished Promise… America wasn’t finished in 1776, it was launched. The Founding Fathers gave us the possibility of America. Whether that possibility continues to grow… depends on what you and I choose to do today. This Independence Day, don’t just celebrate freedom—participate in it. The...
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I Bet Your Kids Didn't Know This About Butterflies - The Miracle of Butterflies - Repost from Aug. 2016
Reposted on June 23, 2026: – The Miracle of Butterflies Repost: In the coming weeks, you are going to hear more about the miracle of butterflies, including something else your kids don’t know. To kick it off, listen to this Meaningful Monday almost 10 years ago and let me know what you think. –…
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You Are More Than What You Have Become
“The people who believed in you before you believed in yourself weren’t wrong. They were just early.” — Lee Brower “Drifting, without aim or purpose, is the first cause of failure.” “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” — Viktor Frankl “The…
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Teddy Bear? or Mama?
Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child. What if a child’s emotional needs become more dependent on a device than a parent? “Am I giving my children and grandchildren more conveniences—or more opportunities?” “Confidence is not taught. It is discovered one uncomfortable...
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Two Jordans
“Calmness is the rarest quality in human life. It is the poise of a great nature in harmony with itself and its ideals.” – William George Jordan “The strongest leaders are not those who control the storm, but those who remain steady enough to steady others. – Lee Brower “Gratitude is the trim tab...
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Who Paid for the Life You're Living?
“A grateful nation is not measured by what it remembers once a year… but by how it chooses to live every day.” – Lee Brower “The greatest way to honor sacrifice is to create a future worthy of it.” – Lee Brower “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” – Ronald Regan “The...
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Blue Angel Gratitude
“Gratitude does not remove pain. It gives pain purpose.” – Lee Brower “When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation.” – Henry B. Eyring “Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi
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Enduring Enthusiasm
“Few things are worse than running in the wrong way enthusiastically.” — Lee Brower “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Circles, 1841 Emerson was right. But here’s what he didn’t say. “It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so...
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The Elevator The Spoon and 2 Thank You's
"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius "Conflict may visit us without permission... but contention only stays when we invite it." - Lee Brower Conflict is inevitable. Contention is a choice.
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Walking Straight
“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” — Viktor Frankl “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” — Helen Keller "A grateful heart looks for light — and light is what keeps you walking straight." "Your Enduring…
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I Stopped Watching. "Planet Earth, you are a crew" — Christina Koch, Artemis
Where there is love, there is life. — Mahatma Gandhi "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart." — Helen Keller Watch the full press conference on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HacpRDfCbnw
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Remember the Key - Story Thinking
“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” — John Dewey "Naming a moment radically improves the flow of wisdom across generations." — Lee Brower "A moment named is a moment that never stops living." — Lee Brower "Your most valuable assets have never appeared on a...
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Two Things My Son Had on His Phone
"Go B.I.G. Begin In Gratitude. Not because life is easy, but because life is the gift." — Lee Brower "It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." — Marcus Aurelius "Memento Mori" "Amor Fati"
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The Porch Moment - How your Family's Stories Shape your Children's Self-esteem and Resilience
Dr. Marshall Duke, Emory University psychologist, found that adolescents who knew their family's stories — especially stories of resilience and moral choice — showed significantly greater self-esteem and lower anxiety. Science is validating what Larry's family proved in one conversation. "An...
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Are You Committed to the Next Moment
Take it to the Limit, one more time. We don't build a meaningful life in the big moments. We build it in the quiet, often unseen choices to go "one more time"... when it would be easier not to. "One more time..." is not about a destination. There's no finish line. It's a commitment to the next...
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The Brain You're Building
The Brain You're Building Are some of our most prominent leaders unknowingly diminishing the very capacities we most need from them? "You don't have to wait for the rainbow to enjoy the rain." -- Dieter F. Uchtdorf "Gratitude doesn't deny the storm; it changes the mind we bring into the storm."…
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Twenty Dollar Bill Moment
“Legacy isn’t built in the moments when it’s easy. It’s built in the moments when you’re the only one in the room who still believes.” — Lee Brower “Courage always looks desperate until it works.” — Lee Brower “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and...
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The Most Dangerous Word
The Most Dangerous Word... "If you don't choose your focus, something else will." "We rarely lose what matters through crisis -- we lose it through drift." "Drift happens by default. Meaningfulness happens by design." NIX one drift so you can proactively focus your FIX on what matters most.
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Before You Go Down the Hill
"A lesson unnamed is a lesson unclaimed." — Lee Brower "The hill isn't the danger. Going down it without looking is." — Lee Brower “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” — Henry Ford “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” —…
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From Me to We at 30,000 Feet
Cognitive Empathy is understanding what someone else is thinking. Emotional Empathy is feeling what someone else is feeling. Compassionate Empathy is taking action to help. It moves from: "I understand." to "I care." to "What can I do?" That is leadership. "Empathy is not weakness. It's strategic...
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Are you Intertwined? Or "INTERTWINEMENT" THE HIDDEN SOLUTION TO ENDURING ACHIEVEMENTS.
Are you Intertwined? Or intertwinement. The hidden solution to enduring achievements. “Where might my roots intertwine more intentionally?” “Belonging becomes enduring when people know what they can always count on us to do.” — Lee Brower “We are not put on earth to see through one another, but…
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The Moment You Felt Proud to be a __________.
“How proud moments become anchors for the next generation.” “Every proud family moment is really a principle in action.” — Lee Brower “Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how.’” — Viktor Frankl “People will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
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Deep vs Shallow Belonging
While belonging has increased, the quality of belonging has declined. When meaning weakens, belonging looks for substitutes. The greatest gift we can give future generations isn’t comfort, it’s meaningful belonging with purpose. Think of a moment you have felt proud to be a "_____" (insert your...
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Me to We to Thee
What strength might re-emerge if I stopped carrying junk that was never mine to begin with--for the sake of those watching me? Most people don't struggle because they lack strengths; they struggle because their strengths are buried. Acknowledging strengths isn't ego. It's responsibility. Real...
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Revelations from the Yellow Brick Road
“Clarity doesn’t come from arriving somewhere—it’s revealed once you’re willing to move." — Lee Brower "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Life is a journey, not a destination." — Ralph Waldo Emerson “The…
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Who rings the doorbell at 5:13 a.m. on New Year's Day?
“Gratitude doesn’t change the moment--it changes who's in control of it." - Lee Brower “When I NIX negative thinking and FIX gratitude, I take the wheel back.” -- Lee Brower “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it.” - Marcus...
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Nix, Fix, Mix, in "26" will make 2026 your best year ever!
“Progress doesn’t come from wanting better—it comes from choosing better, one moment at a time.” -- Lee Brower “Being deliberate means deciding what to remove, what to strengthen, and who to move forward with.” -- Lee Brower “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must…
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Resolutions and Regrets
"The future won't judge us by our plans--it remembers us by our presence." — Lee Brower "Recognize regret early enough to choose again." — Lee Brower “In the end, the memories we cherish most are not of the things we have done, but of the people we have loved.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf “The day is...
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If You Snooze, Don't Lose
“Guilt is information. It’s your inner compass saying, ‘This matters to you.’” - Lee Brower "When we Begin In Gratitude, we stop judging ourselves and start asking better questions." - Lee Brower “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” - Coach John Wooden "We are what we…
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The Power of One Letter
“That tiny shift—from got to get—is what helped my friend Steve move from obligation to opportunity and from bitterness to betterness.” “Letters look small, but they shape legacies. This is the quiet power that transforms experience into wisdom, and wisdom into Positive Generational Impact™.”...
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What are you training your brain for? The Neuroscience of Your Focus.
What you complain about, you create more of. Are you unknowingly shrinking your prefrontal cortex? The world doesn't need more people pointing out what's broken. It needs people who are wired to see what's possible. “What’s one small shift in my self-talk that would train my brain toward…
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About this show
Stories and Tools for Leadership, Gratitude, and Motivation.
Hosted by
Lee Brower
Categories