George Foreman

I wanted to save this post for Monday, but I didn't want to forget anything, and the message is so good. I was listening to an NPR interview with George Foreman, heavy weight champion and successful entrepreneur. I have always had a sweet spot for George Foreman. He said two things that really peeked my interest in the interview, the first one was that he lost his first heavy weight belt, because he lacked endurance, and he won it back, because he had to feed his kids. As long as your heart is directed to things that are true, the heart is extremely powerful, so powerful that it can win a heavy weight championship when love is on the line. (what I mean by directing your heart to what is true, if you direct it to what is false, it is extremely powerful then too, like a forest fire).

The second thing George Foreman said at the very end of the interview as they asked him to give us 1 minute of wisdom. He said, "Forgiveness is the thin thread that holds us together, and the whole world together, and if you don't learn to forgive you are dooming yourself to unhappiness." He offered the story about how his father left him right after he was born, and then reappeared after he had become rich and famous. His first thought was, "what has this guy ever done for me, he's given me nothing but heart ache," But as he reasoned, I need to put my money where my mouth is, so he decided to forgive him, and accept him back into his life. The most amazing and unexpected gift happened because of this forgiveness, "my kids got a grandfather, " He had thought that this decision was all about him, what it would give him. But the gift was given to his children, and he was finally able to love his father, who was a world war II veteran, and as George says, "he was not a bad man, he was just scared to be a father."

If we don't forgive ourselves and others, we will be trapped in a never ending cycle.