Saturday, December 15, 2012

Day 352: I love you


I Love You
Several years ago, I met a woman named Rita who was the CEO of a large company. We met by phone on a conference call and I was moved by her energy and intelligence. What struck me like a bolt of lightning was how she ended the call. After talking to me and a group of executives, she ended the call by saying, I love you.
I was silent, but then everyone who had been working with her responded in kind, “Okay, love you too Rita.”
After she exited the call, I asked one of her senior VP’s if this was the norm. She told me yes, saying that Rita expressed love in every act and word.
From that moment on, I decided to be less stingy with this phrase. I had been told that being too demonstrative with love was not a good thing in a world that just didn’t understand.
I know this to be true. Even when I try to text it to someone, my “smart” phone corrects me. My children and friends all know that, “I live them.”
What Rita taught me in that one brief call is that we can never say “I love you” enough. We need more love. We need to show it, say it, express it and give it.
I grew up fighting poverty and a bunch of other crap---yes I wrote that. My mother was dealing with her own demons and struggling to make a way for her 7 children. Rarely did we hear “I love you,” but as she grew older, she never let a day go by without saying it.
In fact, she’d never said goodbye, instead, she said “I love you.”
I know that these are just words; but words are powerful and these are some of the most life changing words we have. Use them more often and change the world we live in.
Be you, be well, express love.
Bertice Berry, PhD.

8 comments:

  1. Love it! Love Rita! Loved hearing you speak at GTC 2011! You were SO incredibly powerful. You made everyone feel as though we were your dearest friends & loved by you that day! May God continue to bless you & yours. ~Johnnalee Haynes

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  2. I love this and I loved you at the last conference i went to with that company. you and your heart were amazing and I am thrilled to have had the chance to hear you speak. And I love it that you honor Rita!! nobody does love quite like her. not only does she say it she really really means it. :)

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  3. Bertice I so enjoyed being able to hear you speak at GTC 2011. You moved me tears... both in laughter and in deep consideration of life. I love you because of the impression you made on my life that day that will always be a part of me -- a part of my thoughts -- and a party of my heart. THANK YOU! Love, Jenni

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  4. Your keynote at Arbonne GTC was amazing! You are a miracle! A game-changer! A hero! I love you. I am you. We are all one...and if one is suffering...we are all suffering. If one is loving...we are all loving!!! It's all about duplication :-) Penina

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  5. You bless me so much on December 2015 at the B.E.N. Summit. I love you, what you represent and who you represent. You brought me to tears and laughter and a lifting of my sprit. THANK YOU

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