The human mind is an incredibly powerful phenomenon to me.  It has the ability to feel the entire spectrum of emotions spontaneously but can also instruct itself, albeit sometimes with great effort, to change its thought pattern and think or feel something else.  Sometimes the things we know, the mind has to remind itself it already has that information stored up there and should use it at the needed time.

This is a topic Cheryl and I have talked about extensively in the last week and that we are putting into action in order to accomplish what we feel is a very worthwhile goal for 2010.  I won’t call it a resolution, because sometimes that gets lumped in with less significant changes we want to make such as losing 10 pounds or becoming more organized. While those may be worthwhile personal resolutions our goal is intended to make a difference for many people by starting with just one girl.

Our goal: Raise $150,000 for the Get In Touch Foundation.  We met Mary Ann Wasil Nilan more than a year ago and heard her amazing story of breast cancer survival.  There was a connection that can probably only be explained as woman-to-woman or mother-to-mother.  We kept tabs on Mary Ann over the last year through her newsletter, emails and blogs and became increasingly impressed with what one woman could do to start a wave of change in the way women are educated about breast self exam, and she started this by focusing her efforts on educating young girls to make a life long habit that could impact the lives of many others.  We know that the reach that one life has on another’s cannot be measured when you think of all of the relationships one woman has: daughter, sister, mother, aunt, friend, wife, mentor, teacher…

So how are we going to raise $150,000 for the Get In Touch Foundation?

Waves of Gratitude will be donating $3 from the sale of every one of our Branches of Hope necklaces to Mary Ann’s organization.  That means for every one we sell, 3 girls will get a Daisy Wheel and have the opportunity to be educated and begin a life long process that could save their lives.

I have not created any personal resolutions this year.  Sure I want to lose 10 pounds and be more organized, and make many other personal improvements, but my number one focus is going to have a much greater impact because these efforts are being combined with my business partner and friend, Cheryl, the Get In Touch Foundation which has many, many supporters, and a host of others who want to see an end to breast cancer.  With the power behind all these minds to focus on this goal and by adding together the many smaller contributions of individuals, this time next year we will be expressing our gratitude for not only reaching, but exceeding our goals.