The Power of Positive Doing

Last weekend, I watched the Grateful Dead documentary, “Long Strange Trip.” After tour manager Sam Cutler left the band in 1974, the band’s founder Jerry Garcia, anti-authoritarian to the core, who detested the role of “boss,” steadfastly refused to acknowledge himself as the band’s leader. At that point in the film, director Amir Bar-Lev asked,…

Have you ever applied for a job that you really wanted … only to be crushed and disappointed when you didn’t get it? Me too. Dozens of time. I felt frustrated when I didn’t get what I wanted. I’ve been fired and laid off, too. It’s painful. It hurt my feelings, frustrated my ambitions, and…

The Buddha was the smartest psychologist I’ve ever read. Over 2500 years ago he was teaching people about the human mind so that they might better understand themselves and discover how to stop their own suffering. Buddha wasn’t a god or a messiah – he was simply a very wise teacher with keen insights into human…

My mother died five months ago, after more than ten years with Alzheimer’s. I was her primary caregiver for the last six of those years and we grew very close during that time. We had always had a close relationship over the years but there was something about the intimate nature of caregiving that drew…

My wise friend Jaime Jusidman once told me the story of a young woman with a suitor who loved her very much. The suitor came to her door clutching a bouquet of daisies to give her. “Where are my roses?” she demanded. “I want roses.” Her suitor turned and went away. The next week he was…

There once was a land where people were always right. They knew they were right and they were proud of it. It was a land where people stated with confidence, “I am right and you are wrong.” These were words of conviction, courage, strength, and moral certainty. No one was ever heard to say: “I…

I called my friend Sam Beasley to complain about the injustice: “I just got word that my friend Kathryn has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. She’s only sixty-eight years old. She’s been sober for thirty years; she hasn’t had a cigarette in twenty-nine years; and she hasn’t eaten sugar for twenty-eight years. She…

“Hell is other people,” wrote the French existential philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre. He was right, but only half right. The other half is, “Heaven is other people, too.” Yes, it is our relationships with other people that give us most of our headaches. However, relationships also give us joy. Isn’t it funny how everyone thinks that…

I recall a wonderful sermon I heard some years ago, by Vic Pentz, a Presbyterian pastor who led a small congregation in Southern California. Vic was a handsome guy, with the sturdy physique of an athlete. The way he tugged and pushed at his collar and shoulder indicated that football may have been one of…

“What a concept!” I marveled to myself as I read my friend Janelle Barlow’s book, A Complaint is a Gift.  It’s a business book about customer service and the importance of getting feedback – especially negative feedback – from customers.  Janelle asserts that complaints are not problems to be avoided – complaints are actually gifts…

BJ Gallagher
about

BJ Gallagher

BJ Gallagher is an inspirational author and speaker. She writes business books that educate and empower, women’s books that enlighten and entertain, and gift books that inspire and inform. Whether her audience is corporate executives, working women, or a group of college student, her message is powerful, positive, as well as practical. She motivates and teaches with empathy, understanding, and more than a little humor.

BJ’s international best-seller, "A Peacock in the Land of Penguins" (Berrett-Koehler; third edition 2001), is now in 23 languages and has sold over 400,000 copies.

Her recent books include: "The Power of Positive DOING" (Simple Truths) and "If God Is Your Co-Pilot, Switch Seats" (Hampton Roads). Her new book, "Your Life Is Your Prayer" (Mango Publishing) will be out in April 2019.

BJ and her books have been featured on CBS Evening News, the Today show, Fox News, PBS, CNN, and other television and radio programs. She is quoted almost weekly in various newspapers, women’s magazines, and websites including O the Oprah magazine, Redbook, Woman’s World, Ladies Home Journal, First for Women, Time, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Orlando Sentinel, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and MSNBC.com, among others.

BJ also conducts seminars and workshops. Her clients include: IBM, Chevron, Nissan, John Deere Credit Canada, Volkswagen, Farm Credit Services of America, Raytheon, Marathon Realty (Canada), U.S. Department of Interior, Veterans Administration, among others.

BJ is the former manager of training and development for the Los Angeles Times, where she was responsible for management development, sales training, customer service seminars, diversity training, specialized programs for women, and the development of high potential managers.

read full bio
More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad