In a recent exclusive interview, Yahoo! News and The Huffington Post reported that Warren Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway learned the lesson of his life. Apparently, while attending the Allen & Company conference, an annual gathering of technology and media leaders in Sun Valley, Idaho, Mr. Buffett credited his father for having taught him the most important lesson he ever learned—the lesson of unconditional love.
According to Buffett, “… there is no power on Earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it, it’s not uncritical love, that’s a different animal, but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that [who] can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being.”
As an expert on the subject, I am impressed with his acknowledgment. Although the credit to the source of this awesome teaching is different, for this CEO it was his father, and for me, my 9 moms. Thus, the validation of the power of unconditional love is unequivocal.
The wisdom of this knowledge opens an additional window of opportunities for creative communication, unparalleled understanding and respect that would otherwise not exist because of the limits induced by our own conscious and subconscious self-centeredness. Whether fatherly or motherly love, when it is given without regard to conditions to your loved ones at any age, and in any setting, in our personal or professional life, it will serve as a catalyst to catapult an individual to a higher level of self-actualization.
It is true as Warren Buffett said, there may be days we don’t feel like it, but to know you can always rely on this level of devotion is a huge vessel in life. With the thorough understanding of the power of you can create and foster an environment that promotes harmonious relationships in both your home and business life.
In your home, you can create a perfect setting that offers a fresh perspective for embracing natural nurturing instincts. This approach empowers loved ones from within and allows them to achieve individual excellence. From identifying their personal strengths and weaknesses to formulating a plan of action, helping them accomplish their personal dreams, goals, and desires becomes a heartfelt passion.
When you unleash the power of this phenomenon into your business, you demonstrate potent leadership with a unique approach. You are now teaching, coaching, and counseling individuals and team members to achieve the synergy of corporate oneness. This will enhance personal and professional development, and create a happy working environment, resulting in better interpersonal relationships, increased productivity, and improved profits.
As my Italian foster mom, Carol, would say, as indicated in my book, From My Mama’s Kitchen, “Wisdom comes when we combine knowledge, understanding and compassion. We do not need more logic in our life. We need to use our rationality to work collaboratively with our intuition instead of using it to overrule what we instinctively know.”
The sage of Omaha, successfully used the power of his dad’s technique for his personal and professional life. Although my own dad had passed on at a critical time in my life, I did not lose the opportunity to learn this valuable lesson thanks to my 9 moms. The power of unconditional love transcends genders and cultures. It reminds us that we are all part of the bigger world. Always remember that we all have the same potential. It’s just a matter of what strengths we are willing to utilize. We can choose to use it at any time for the greater good of our family or to enrich our business with spicy leadership.
So when do we use this power? To answer this question, I would like to share with you this recipe for living from my German mom, Dianne, as indicated in my book, From My Mama’s Kitchen, “Every once in a while a situation may occur that requires us to radiate our energy of positive goodwill, compassion, and love for others. Until we try to put ourselves beyond our comfort zone, we will not realize we have what it takes to make a difference in that person’s life and in ours.”
Throughout our life’s journey, we will continue to gain and encounter new experiences. Some experiences, good or bad, will stay with us for the rest of our life. It is how we manage them that will ultimately determine our idea of success or failure. Applying the power of unconditional love to either situation will always lead us to living a memorable and satisfied personal and professional life.
Johnny Tan
Leadership speaker
Talk show host: FMMKTalkRadio
Award-winning author: From My Mama’s Kitchen-”food for the soul, recipes for living”
(Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient – Inspirational/Motivational)
I am excited to share with everyone this wonderful news – my book, From My Mama’s Kitchen-“food for the soul, recipes for living” is a
Celebrating Motherly Love this Mother’s Day
As children we appreciate being reminded days ahead if not weeks before that tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Many of us look forward to this day with great anticipation as it gives us the opportunity to express our love and our gratitude to our moms – with a special gift from the heart. However, for some of us, this reminder may not be as thrilling because it reminded us of the bruises and scars we had experienced as a child years ago.
Regardless of which group you fall in, you may not realize this, we all have several moms in our life. The first mom is obviously our birth mom, and the others are women who have already contributed or will soon be richly contributing to our well being as our mentors and counselors. They are the ones that are always available and are always happy to help us with the things we needed the most, and with the one thing we don’t always know yet we need.
In my weekly radio program (From My Mama’s Kitchen Talk Radio) this past Tuesday morning, I kicked off our month long Mother’s Day Celebration theme. Although I say it is a month long, in actuality it is going to be three months long. Yes, that is correct – three months long!
The reason being, when I did a query last month looking for some interesting mother’s day stories I did not realize I was going to get so many heartfelt, soul moving stories to choose from. After much internal debate I decided to pick the thirteen very best heart warming stories that simply had to be told.
I divided these wonderful tales into three categories to discuss over the next three months. The themes are: for May – Motherly Love from a Mom’s perspective; for June – The Experience of Motherly Love from a Child’s perspective; and for July – Mother and Child sharing their Motherly Love experiences.
From stories about “Operation Babylift” – the largest humanitarian initiative our United States government ever undertook in foreign adoptions, to delivering Hope as a surrogate mom, a son’s tribute to his single mom who raised him by herself, a daughter’s Emmy award winning songs expressing her mother’s love, and moms who finally came to terms and realized that “hey I am now a mom, and I need to be more…” will all be covered in the next three months.
Reflecting on these great stories, I realize that none would have taken place if not for “Motherly Love” in our varied lives. As an adopted child from birth, having had the opportunity to be mothered by eight other incredible women over the years, I have to confess that perhaps I am spoiled by the love and attention I have received from my nine moms. They all had a part in moulding my soul and guiding my heart.
Earlier this year, just days after celebrating her 92nd birthday, my Progressive and Spiritual mom, Elsa Mae Stevens, peacefully passed on. Although I was not present during her final hours, I was glad we were able to share some happy memories together a week earlier on her last birthday.
Elsa Mae, who I have known for 23 years, has never forgotten to make that one call every year. She is the only mom who calls me right after midnight on my birthday to wish me “a happy birthday.”
In her many words of wisdom she imparted to me, one will always be part of my very being.
According to her, “In a real-life situation, happiness is always felt by the heart rather than thought of by the mind. Although we can choose to be happy, we still need to feel happy. When we approach everything in life with a heartfelt passion, we are putting the human factor into the equation. By just doing this, the energy of humanness will take over and create a synergy of respect, love, and understanding.”
Elsa Mae taught me to live life by balancing the right amount of heart and mind in everything I do. She said “Although bruises and scars may remind us where we have been, they certainly do not dictate our future.”
She continued by saying “it is always pleasing when we do something good for ourselves, however that good deed dies with us. On the other hand, when we do something good for someone else, it not only feels good to ourselves, it lives on as a legacy in the memory of those who’s hearts we touched.”
On this mother’s day – Elsa Mae Stevens, your legacy lives on!
I love you and may God’s eternal light shine ever so bright upon you in heaven.
To read more recipes for living – please click here to purchase From My Mama’s Kitchen-“food for the soul, recipes for living” book, and help us make a positive difference in our preferred charities.
Johnny Tan created From My Mama’s Kitchen™ concept to honor his 9 incredible moms who changed his life, and to honor moms everywhere by bringing “motherly love” to the global center stage by recognizing the significant roles mothers play in making a positive difference in our daily lives.
Our weekly From My Mama’s Kitchen Talk Radio Show (FMMK Talk Radio) on Blog Talk Radio also serves as a resource center for mothers everywhere by bringing inspirational, spiritual and motivational stories from our special guests of ordinary moms doing extraordinary things. All shows are archived. Please click here to listen at your leisure.
Thank you for helping us spread this wonderful unconditional gift “Motherly Love” to everyone you know!
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