Ever woke up in the morning feeling excited and ready to take-on the world? Well, this morning was not one of those mornings for me, but something special happened and I just had to share it in this short poem I wrote:

I woke up early this morning and was feeling kinda down,
But I took an extreme power walk and turned it all around.

I came back to my office and sat down at my desk,
And I asked myself the question, “How could I help the rest”.

So I grabbed my trusted keyboard and created this short poem,
And hopefully you can use it to get you through your storm.

There’s something I discovered just a few short years ago.
If you change your body’s physical state, so too your mind will flow.

That’s right,

Your body will usually dictate just what your mind will feel.
Those who’ve learned to alter their state are masters of this skill.

So, if you woke this morning and you’re feeling kinda blue,
Leverage this technique of body & mind and I’m sure it’ll help you too. 😉

Now get-on out there and change your fate,
And take this “good” day and Make it GREAT!

www.MrBreadCrumb.com
www.CedricCrawford.com
www.52BreadCrumbs.com

September 11th, a day that we remember our hero’s
And recommit to bring down our foe’s.

We display our cherished military dog-tags
And wave proudly our American flags.

We reflect back on where we were when we heard the news
And how we spent that entire day watching the news crews.

We recall how we felt from seeing the twin towers a-blaze,
From the likes of several madmen on a jihadist craze.

But we cling to our resolve and our family and our friends,
And increase our vigilance so this won’t happen again.

So join with me today as we all take time to remember,
That infamous 11th day in this month of September.

We will never forget.

www.MrBreadCrumb.com
www.CedricCrawford.com
www.MakeItGreatNOW.com

So, how exactly do you measure the “What if”? How do you calibrate the “Could’ve been”? And, how do you quantify the power of the “Possibilities of Potential”? Well, the simple answer is, “You can’t”.

If you never go, how would you ever know for sure? The honest-to-God truth is that no one really cares much about the “What if’s and the Potential of the Could’ve been’s”. Most people only care about the results of the “I did’s” and the “I’m doing’s”.

So if this is true, then some good questions to ponder through our weekend are, “What have we done?” and “What on earth are we doing?”

I’m reminded of whenever I was caught-in-the-act of doing something wrong as a kid, my Southern Pentecostal Mom would sometimes yell at me in her Texas slang voice, “For heaven’s sake boy, what on earth are you doing!?” Now since she’s no longer with us in the flesh, I must admit that I often times feel like she’s flipped it around on me and is now saying, “What on earth are you doing for Heaven’s sake boy!?” 🙂

I can only hope that the sincere efforts and intentions of my mission is making her smile. Better today than yesterday is what I always say, and today is indeed a great day to Make it GREAT! So let’s get to it!!! 🙂

So what on earth are you doing for heaven’s sake? No need to answer this question out loud, just continue to make us proud and stand out from the crowd. Let’s Make it GREAT!

www.MrBreadCrumb.com
www.CedricCrawford.com
www.MakeItGreatNOW.com

The strangest thing happened to me today in a doctor’s office and the events were indeed stranger than fiction and I must share.

I was tagging along with my 16-year-old son, Cedric Jr (Little “C”), to his first-ever chiropractor visit with Dr. Graham. Unlike most, I actually don’t mind hanging out in waiting rooms and such during doctor visits because I always manage to bring a good personal development book to read or my journal so I can do some writing.

Today while sitting in the doctor’s office with my journal I suddenly realized that this time last year I was newly introduced to the highly intense sport of Crossfit. After only two short weeks my old football injuries and a knee surgery eventually knocked me out of the sport but I took with me some valuable lessons that also are transferrable and applicable to life. So to commemorate my one year, Crossfit anniversary I thought it would be a good idea to write a little something about the topic for my blog. Then it happened.

Moments into my writing I was suddenly interrupted by Dr. Graham’s entry. I quickly looked up and we made eye contact and the first words out of his mouth were, “Hey, I know you.” I then smiled back at him and jokingly said, “You must watch a lot of episodes of COPS then”. We then shared a quick LOL then he said, “No, I recognize you from Crossfit last year.” “Ahhh… Of course, now I remember your face.” I said with a smile.

A casual conversation followed and I advised him that coincidentally I was just in the process of writing an article for my blog on the subject and then he suddenly walked in. He thought that was pretty interesting too. He then begin doing his evaluation on my son while we continued to pepper the conversation with Crossfit and other niceties and before you knew it, we were all done. He then asked was there anything else he could do for us and I requested a selfie. “Wow! I’ve been in this business for over 18 years and you’re the first client to ever ask me for a doctor’s-office-selfie.” He said. And I replied, “Well, I guess we can be the first to start the Doctor’s-office-selfie trend.” We LOL’d and snapped a few shots and then went on about our merry way wishing each other a great day.

You know in Crossfit many athletes will agree with the notion that no matter how many different ways you carry a 45 pound plate, it’s still heavy. I invite you to consider that so too are the burdens in our life. No matter how you choose to carry them, they still will negatively affect you and slow you down if you don’t eventually put them down. Carrying heavy burdens can even prevent you from having a cheerful interaction with those you come into contact with every day.

After leaving the doctor’s office, I asked Little “C” what he thought about our interaction with the doctor and we both agreed that it was light, upbeat, engaging and encouraging. I think it’s fair to assume that he didn’t bring any of his burdens to the office with him today and we will all definitely feel a little bit better as we go about the rest of our day.

Simply put, no burdens opens us up to seizing opportunities to make other peoples day GREAT. So my unsolicited advice for you today is to let those negative burdens go so those positive vibes can flow.

Dr. Randall T. Graham at Optimal Wellness in Bakersfield, CA is DA MAN!!!

Lay those burdens down and let’s keep Making it GREAT!

www.MrBreadCrumb.com
www.CedricCrawford.com
www.MakeItGreatNOW.com

So, have you seen it yet?

In the wake of the recent tragic shooting of the young teenager, Mike Brown, that took place on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri not long ago, I feel compelled to share a few words of encouragement.

I can’t turn on my TV or computer without seeing a leading headline or caption about the aftermath of the shooting incident.

As a black male growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s in the mean-streets of Dallas, Texas, I must admit that I’ve had my fair share of encounters with the men and women in uniform who have sworn to protect and serve our community. And, as an adult I still manage to get pulled over every now-and-then for excessive speed, but all-in-all, to date my interactions with the men and women in uniform has never resulted in an altercation. Why? Well, I can only speculate, but it just might be because I have always had a healthy respect for myself and for those around me including those in the position of authority. And, I was taught at an early age that “We get back what we put out, good or not-so-good”.

I’m not much of a gambling man, but if I was, I would definitely NOT consider betting on winning an argument or altercation with a person with a gun, a fast car and a badge of authority behind them with a team of well-organized ride-to-die comrades. I would just rather Be Nice, get through the moment and go on my merry way to live another day.

The real truth appears to be that our youth are hurting inside and have a huge void of those who would act as an appropriate role model for how they should conduct themselves in the community, and as a result, many are filling in the gaps with negative stuff that they see or hear on the TV, the YouTube and the damaged Adults and Teens in their neighborhoods.

The sad, unfortunate reality is that things will NEVER change until we change. Yes my friends, real change starts with “US”, that person staring back at us in the mirror. Yep, this goes for me too. NOT the marches, NOT the looting, NOT the violence and flagrantly-reckless and profane behaviors perpetrated by the young and not-so-young on the streets.

One of life’s most ironclad guarantees is that nothing will change until we change. So one of our biggest mistake is when we look outward for change when it actually should originate from within. I think Ghandi said it best when he said, “We have to be the change that we want to see in this world.”

For years I’ve continued my quest to place myself in the path of our youth and said “Watch me”, in hopes that they will not just hear what I say, but also do what I do. So a good question today is, are you doing your part? Are your words and actions in front of our youth worthy of positive plagiarism? Are you displaying a positive picture of how to deal with explosive moments of life’s adversity? Are you modeling a behavior of giving respect even in the most tense of situations? Hmmm…

Our uniformed officers may be guilty of a lot of things, but the biggest thing that they’re guilty of is being “Human”. And, as such, humans can be volatile, unpredictable and out-of-control in the fiery moments of altercations and confrontations and as with the general public, so too is some behaviors of law enforcement absolutely inexcusable. But if you haven’t noticed already, we actually have a much larger problem with people harming and killing each other all over America on the streets and a lot of it has to do with respect and disrespect that escalates and gets out-of-control. So, again I say it starts with “ME”!

So I propose that we call a truce and start over. The 1967 hit song “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles was a song that is evergreen and timeless for the ages. So, from the top down, let’s all agree to model that behavior that gives love, respect and dignity to all no matter the color, shape, size and flavor. Let’s put away any resentment or malice or notions of perceived threat and start anew. Let’s start to question that which we were taught by our dysfunctional gaps in our environment and re-think the process of what it takes to have peaceful interactions. Let’s press the “Delete” button on the violence and “Enter” the love and peace and willingness to understand before seeking to be understood. And, even more importantly, let’s encourage and model the same for our youth. They need us now more than ever before to step up and show them how to be GREAT!

From the politicians to the police to the people on the streets, whoever you be, look in the mirror and realize that “IT STARTS WITH ME!!!!!!”

Or maybe I’m just dreaming this is possible..……. Hmmm…

www.MrBreadCrumb.com
www.CedricCrawford.com