LovePrints. Your love in action.

 

Love in action.

It is not your feelings that matter, nor is it your opinion. It is not your thoughts that matter, nor is it your wants. Those things can be important, but they are not the thing. Those things have value, but they require something else. Something more.

They require action. They require love.

In these days of 24-hour news cycles, constant airing of opinions, and a flood of loud and noisy voices, what moves us in any direction is action. What moves us in a better and higher direction is love. So many people want to be know first, speak first, and be heard first. Those are all fine and good, but they aren’t alone enough and great. What is needed to give the most recent thing value is the action that follows the news. Yes, we need to look, listen, and learn. We then need to act. We need to see what is and move towards it or away from it. We need to see well and clear enough to understand what is, and what isn’t, and then go. We need to hear what is, decipher what is not, and then proclaim the truth out loud in our next step. We need to make sure that our opinions are fact based, and love focused.

I slipped the love in there on purpose. See no evil. Speak no evil. Hear no evil. Forward no lies. Act in love.

It should be see the truth, speak the truth, hear the truth. All of those give value to them. All of those highlight purpose. Love can do that.

Once we know the truth, we can then act on it. We can then move in it. The most important thing immediately following something new should be an action of love. Without them, we accomplish nothing. We idle. Love does not idle. It moves. It elevates. It inspires. It improves.

Once we know the truth, we can then act on it. We can then move in it.

Once we know love, we can then act in it. We can then move in it.

Our mission should be to cover our world in love. We can do so by taking the truth and acting on it with love. For love. Because, love.

As they saying goes, “don’t talk about it, be about it”.

Do not just listen, speak, or hear the news. Act on it. Love.

Love without action does not accomplish much, and action without love does not accomplish anything good. Together, they can accomplish anything.

That is your LovePrint. Covering the last thing, and the next thing, in love.

Go.

Love.

Your LovePrint is exactly what someone needs right now.

You are exactly what someone needs right now.

Imagine that.  Someone needs exactly what you have to offer right now. They will cross paths with you, and they are ready for you to fill the void of the day. Or of the moment. Or of a lifetime.

It can be a smile that makes the bad experience go away. It can be the connection that reminds us all that we belong, we matter, or that someone cares. Your smile can be the perfect smile. It is the perfect smile.

It can be a hug that makes us feel protected, acknowledged, or involved. It can close the gaps caused by the past, or it can be another opportunity tomorrow. The hug is a wonderfully consistent medication for a lot of what ills us. Your hug makes everything better.

It can be the voice of reason, the voice of logic, or the voice with exact the information required to make things move forward and up. That voice can be the perfect explanation of why, the directional leadership to how, and the confirmation that why we do what we do is right and good. Your voice is the perfect pitch, and music to ears in need.

It can be the added question that leads to clarity, or it can be the insight that allows us to make a decision that has been lost by chaos. It can be the answer to the one question that has provided doubt and hesitancy. Your voice has the power.

It can be an open hand that elevates, it can be a push or a pull, or support for those in need. That hand can lessen burdens, it can lead a partner to the right path, or the pointing of a new direction and way. The hand can applaud with another hand, it can alter what would be a bad decision, and it can be the acknowledgement that something wonderful is happening or going to happen. It can be a hand up, a hand out, or a helping hand. Your hand is steady and strong.

It can be an ear that pays attention, acts as a sounding board, or the place where a great or bad idea goes for testing. It can be the resting place for a great story, and awful joke, a question that does not need answering, or a place to just be heard and considered.

It can be you. Simply you. It can be you occupying space, being in the right place, or simply sharing your wonderful face. It is often you. Just you. Being you.

Pay attention to your space. Often, you are where you are for a reason. A good reason. Exactly what you have to offer, is needed.

Have some love with you when you get there.

Love always is welcome and needed. That’s who you are.

LovePrints. Bracelets for the staff and students of Stoneman Douglas High School

 

We all know the story. What I would like to do is send a LovePrints bracelet to the staff and students of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. There are approximately 3000 students and 200 teachers and staff.  I would like to do this immediately so that the bracelets are there as they head back to school.

LovePrints has the motto Cover the world in love. We can do with Love in Action, and by action in love. This small gesture is an act of love, out loud. A small statement that someone cares about them. A reminder on those tough coming days that when they look down at their wrist, they know that they are not alone.

Let the bracelets be a statement and a symbol that love lives here, wherever the bracelets are.

It takes so very little to do so much. We cannot do everything, but we can do something.

Every single penny of your donation will go to bracelets. I will be sure to let you know how many we sent, and when.

Feel free to share this. No donation is too large or small. Thank you.

https://www.gofundme.com/LovePrintsStonemanDouglas

Derrick Pearson LovePrints www.loveprints.us

LovePrints. One coach. One experience. No gun.

Here goes.

A little of my experience.

I was coaching football at an unnamed High School. ( I have coached at many, so this protects anyone offended by this sharing.) In the middle of hot August two-a-day practices, 90 plus degree heat, tempers are short, and nerves frazzled. Both the coaches, training staff, and players are all exhausted from dehydration, extremely hot weather, ridiculous football conditions, and the fight for positions and placement for the upcoming season. Mind you, the regular season had not started yet, just practices and scrimmages, so we were in the early phases of things.

I believe that this was the second practice of the day. We had just returned from lunch and recovery session, and were going through some individual drills in the days afternoon practice when among the whistles blowing and pads popping, I heard a voice scream out from the other side of the bleachers. It startled me. It was not a voice that I was familiar with among coaches barking, and players chanting. The voice was an adult male. "COACH SO AND SO!" "COACH SO AND SO! WHERE ARE YOU? COME FACE ME YOU SON OF A ........!"

There was a pause, and then the voice bellowed out again from a different place, which let me know that he was on the move towards us. "COACH! YOU HEAR ME?!! COACH SO AND SO, COME FACE ME LIKE A MAN!" The voice had cut down the distance between where it was and where we were. I was at the far end of the field, which was closest to the early bellow rather than where he was now. I saw a shadow of him, and took off in a full sprint to the place where paths needed to cross before he would face players or coaches. I wanted to be there first. I needed to be there first.

Not one part of this is heroic. In the words of the local police, I should stay away, make the call, and let them handle it. I fully understood that. Who knows if they are armed or not. They are obviously angry and moved to the point of action. Even at school, it would take a while for them to get there. So I sprinted to where he was. I never looked back.

I got to the man behind the voice. He was the father of one of the players. We kind of knew one another, but were not friends. I asked him what was going on. He said that he had issue with the head coach and how his son was being treated and slotted for playing time. (Again, we are in summer practice, and slots were not assigned yet, and certainly, this was NOT the way to handle this. Approaching a coach about playing time is a big time no no. Approaching a coach during practice, with other players around, in public, another big no no.

I explained that this was not the way to handle this. But my inner dog barked that nothing was going on without going through me. Talk to me. Talk to me, so that it just remains talking. We do not want to do more than talk. Trust me. He barked a little more and then settled into an angry rage rather than an erupting volcano. Yes, being a big dude provided some buffer. I used it.

The head coach showed up after I did. At that point, things were in discussion mode, and they went off to talk about all of it. I looked around, and noticed something. Me and the head coach were the only ones that came running. Yes, my two buddies on the staff had their eyes on my back in case I needed them, but of the 10 or so coaches, only 2 were at the stand off point. I kind of chuckled. These were football coaches. Maybe they simply wanted no part of the confrontation. Maybe they chose to stay away. Or as my two buddies told me, "We heard him bark, and before we could react, you were already in full sprint. We knew it was going to be good. " I also know and trust that if something popped off, they had my back. No doubt. The three of us chuckled about it. Insanity. Who shows up at practice and challenges a coach?!!"

Real talk. This could have gone horribly wrong. I am thankful that God has his hands on me. The head coach said he was impressed that I reacted and rallied as I did. He also noticed who did not. So did the players on the team. The KNEW.

This is not an uncommon occurrence. Adults misbehaving, parents flying off the handle, players being emotional. It happens often. Calm heads and big hearts can often solve the problems. Often, insanity ad chaos happens. There are mountains of videos of parents fighting, referees fighting, coaches fighting, players and fans fighting. To add to that with an expectation that teachers and coaches are in control of their emotions and faculties is a reach. It only takes one adult to cause havoc. It only takes one to set hundreds of angry reactions in place. And here is this, not everyone is there to thwart nonsense. It is not what they signed up for. Its not why they are there.

I am not a stand around guy. I get that. But, I am also not an escalator either. I made a horrible mistake. I was lucky and did not pay. I did not know why he was there, nor did I know his intentions. I simply reacted. Most did not. I don't blame them. I just know that in every case where this happens, there are those mouthy folks who say they will react, and don't. They cant. Actions are greater than words. They require more.

Lets not add weapons to the equation. Lets add love to it. Lets add common sense. Not everyone is built for it. Not everyone cares enough to react to it in love.

LovePrints. The cure for darkness, is light.

LovePrints.

Learning and Loving through sports.

How about we put our brightest lights in the darkest spaces?

I have always known that sports can be a great connector in our society. It removes boundaries, introduces other cultures, expands our knowledge of other people, and brings us closer together. Athletics highlights the best in us and provides solutions to the things that hinder our ability to get along.

When I started LovePrints, I recognized that using sports as one of the vehicles for covering the planet in love was easy. Athletes are often highlighted, followed, serve as an example, and can rally the masses. If these athletes recognize their influence, they can be the leaders off the field as well as on. If we handle this properly, they will have as much impact in the school and community, as they do on their respective fields of play.

If we, as coaches, parents, and teachers cover these athletes in love, they will have more to cover others in love. If we cover them in love, nothing else will stick. That should be the mission. That should be the goal. Cover the leaders in love. Cover the examples in love. And then, watch those leaders do the same for others.

Often, we see images and videos of star athletes stopping by to visit and talk to other athletes. What if those star athletes made a point to go into the corners and dark places of schools, communities, and hallways to find those people who need love the most? What if they made a point to visit with, get to know, connect with, and befriend those loneliest and most disconnected of us?

The child sitting alone in the stairwell. The kid not chosen for games. The young one who does not have a team, or the one who does not belong to a club. How cool would that be? How cool would that be to have that connection?

Maybe this would shine a light on them. It might even do something for their self-esteem. It might add a few smiles, and maybe even make some new friends.

Imagine a baseball team of 25 players. If each player finds a new person to introduce themselves to, share themselves with, and get to know, that’s using our brightest stars for their grandest purpose. For every home game, they invite a different person to their game. Next game, next new friend. That’s 25 a game. And for each game, its 25 more friends at the game than the last. 25 new people with a vested interest in each other. 25 new people connected through and because of the program. Ten games later, the stands should be full of new friends, new fans, and connected family.

We can talk all we want about why our young people are full of angst and nerves. Let’s send them some reinforcements. Let’s send them our best. Let’s send them our love!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Let’s let our stars be thLove bright lights that they are. Let them be the light for those in the dark. Let’s go!

Stars Shine!