Movin again... And Owning it!

Hey friends... Live has been BUSY! However, that is a good thing. Ihave actually received a promotion to become a Regoing Sales Manager over the West Coast Region of the US.

With this we are going to be moving back to Vancouver WA where Angel and I grew up! This is very exciting for us, and we have decided that we are going to really stir the pot... We are going to sell everything that we own (Except for clothes and a few key keepsakes) and move out there fresh!

What an adventure... Some call it crazy, we call it life! We are going to OWN IT!


Stay tuned for more info!

Let HIM Own It...

I've been shocked lately at how many close loved ones I know that are struggling in life. The economy has gotten bad, people cant make their payments, addiction, loss of job, under employed, physical pain and suffering, depression, and marital strife are all just to name a few without even spending time to really drill into the mountains of problems that I see happening to my friends and my loved ones.

My heart burns for those who are struggling... to each of you, family, dear friend, or stranger alike; I boldly declare that YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

I know at times the suffering of life seems unbearable. the weight of past and or current sins weigh heavily upon ones mind and we turn to the heaven and say clearly I have lost the blessing of the Father... Or perhaps there is no sin, and yet still no blessing.

I promise each of you that your Heavenly Father is aware. I promise you that he hears your prayers... Hang in there. Be believing. Be Strong.

You were created and sent to this earth by the most high God. He is the creator and the great orchestrator of all of our lives. Remember that "this life is a time for men to prepare to meet God". You were not created and sent here to fail... In fact quite the contrary! You were created to be GREAT! You were created to WIN! You were created and sent here so that you could inherit all the blessings that Heavenly father has in store for you.

Don't you doubt that for a second... The enemy of all mankind would tell you different, but you know better. You are of a Royal Heritage... One day you will understand. For now, just have a desire to believe. Even that one small act of faith will generate HUGE changes for you in your life.

You may be passing through the refiners fire, the burden may seem more than you can bear. If you are at that point I urge you, I admonish you, to lay it all at the Savior's feet. Let him "OWN IT" for you.

He wants to take all of your problems, to hold you and to soothe you in his loving arms. But, he will not scoop you up when you are flailing and kicking like a 2 year old who wants to go play in the toy section... He will wait, until you humbly approach him, and ask.

Remember; "We cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sails" The winds will blow and the torrents will rage, but if we will allow them to send us where the lord intended them to, we will find that our lives are fuller and happy.

That is not to say that problems will not come. The storms of life will always blow, but how joyful they will be as we stand inside his love; protected by him and finding peace because we know he is our keeper.

I hope you all know how much I love you. Own Your Life, but let the Lord help. He knows the path to happiness and I promise you he will lead you there is you but ask, and then listen.

My testimony is that he loves us more than you could ever imagine. Your burdens can be made light, let him OWN IT, and you will see what I mean. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ - Amen-

Easter Reminiscing

This past Easter weekend was especially sweet for me, and I don't mean in the Sugary sense (Although there was plenty of that too).

This Easter I was more aware of the true reason that we celebrate Easter, and the Atonement and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ than I ever recall. Something which made the whole celebration sweeter.

We sat down with the girls last night to discuss why we celebrate Easter and the lasting effect that his great suffering gives to each of us and my heart became even more brimming with joy and gratitude.

The lord loves each of us. I am truly grateful to know that he knows my heartaches, my sadness, my struggles, and my joys. I am grateful to know that even when times seem like they cant get any worse... He is aware, and anxiously waiting for me to have learned what it is that he needs me to learn, and then the burden is lifted....

However, sometimes even in the midst of my learning adventures, he still sends forth his tender mercies to carry me and to help me along the path.

Nobody has owned it better than the Savior. He had all power to turn away from the task, and yet he did not. He pushed through and owned it for you and for me...

Yeah... Pretty cool... I know.

~ Own it ~

My Wife Owns It!

Today we are shooting for my new company Union Springs Wellness. They have asked my sweet bride, Angel to be the superstar and to present for us doing a series of videos. I am so proud of her and how well she has done over the past few days. It has been grueling, and she is presenting a product that she really is not very familiar with.

She is standing in front of the camera, a producer, hot lights, the President of the company and a number of our colleagues. Through it all she is completely OWNING IT.   She's owning it like shes has done this a million times and as if there is no pressure.

I am so proud of her, and delighted that I get to call her my Sweetheart...
I am so lucky...

Thanks for Owning it Angel, and teaching me how to own it every day of my life.

Now for the rest of ya... Get out there and Own IT! Then send me your stories so I can share them with the world.

~Brad~

DaKine

"Dakine" is a Hawaiian word that is probabaly the most dynamic word on earth. My buddy from Hawaii told me that it is from Pigeon that the natives speak on the islands. The definition is whatever you need it to be when you use the word...

Sometimes when you own it, you may need something like Dakine, cause you are doing what your are gonna do, but you may not know everything about what you are gonna do... That is okay; like I always say... Just own it...

But when that frail moment comes when you fear that someone may find out that you don't totally own it... "Dakine and No Worries Bra! You got dis!"

This is where you would apply the saying "Fake it till you make it". 99% of the time you can pull it off and people will think you are amazing for it.

True courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is being scared to death and not letting anyone else know it.

Dakine~ (That means "Own it" right now)
~Brad~

What makes you so special!?

I remember getting asked this question sarcastically back in the days of Junior High, and feeling so insecure, to be asked such a demeaning question if front of everyone...

Those days are long gone, and today I pose the question not in a demeaning fashion, but in one that is empowering... "What makes you so special?"

Take a minute to reflect on this question... This is a powerful questions when you really consider it.

Once you have a couple of specialties picked out... You guessed it! "OWN IT!" Make them a conscious part of who you are. As you do, you will build on strengths, propelling yourself towards happiness and fulfillment you deserve!

~Brad~ 

There is a line that needs to be drawn...

When owning it, there is a line that needs to be defined... This morning I went to the gym and had a fantastic workout. It was leg day... When I was done I showered and began to get ready to go to work. When I pulled my trousers off the hanger, I noted that they felt a little different...

I proceeded to flop them open and went to put my right leg in as I always do, but suddenly I realized what the problem was. These were not my pants! They were my wife's pants...!

"Own it" came the thought to my mind...

Like I said "There is a line that needs to be drawn".

I drove home and retrieved my trousers and was off to work. (Owning it all the way!)

Get Owned and like it!

 So what is this crazy talk all about "Owning your life"?

Like I said before, the slogan was derived from one of my mentors who said "Just Own It". I was asking him about an outfit that I was wearing and I was not feeling very secure about.

He told me that if I just owned it others would follow... guess what?! I got so many compliments on that outfit, and have worn many other crazy mixtures just to see if I could get away with it. And every time I get compliments... Therefore, I have decided to not just own my outfits, but to own my life.

Sometimes "Owning It" is not easy... sometimes "Owning It" will require some risks... But it's like my buddy Seth Godin has been teaching me through his blog; You have to poke the box sometimes and make things happen (see Seth Godin's Blog if you are confused; He is the Man!)

So, the long and the short... You need to get owned by YOU and take control of your  life. If others question you, don't let it derail your course. Who are they to tell you what is right and what is not.

... If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there is more than one way to skin an iPod. And doing things your way just might lead to something great.

Henry Ford said; "If I had asked the people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses". Henry Ford Owned his life and didn't worry about what others thought. Through that act he changed the way that the world did business.

Now get out there and Get Owned! (Only by yourself of Course). You'll love the results!
~Brad~

Powerful

Think about yourself for a minute. Were you born to fail? Were you born and sent to this earth by God to suffer and to have sadness?

I boldly declare that you were not! In fact I know that you were sent to this earth to succeed! Remember that those who are successful are merely the ones that never stopped trying.

Those guys that did stop trying... They would have been successful if they had just kept going.

I know that sometimes circumstance requires us to change our course, but I would venture to say that in and of it's self is a blessing, and maybe you should stop fighting it and go with the new direction.

Steven Houghton Jr. said: "We cannot change the course of the wind, but we can adjust our sails" Wise counsel in my estimations.

Own Your Life my friends. You were created for greatness, and nothing less. You are POWERFUL!

Invictus

Invictus mean "Unconquerable" in Latin. Consider for a moment if you will... Your life.
Are you unconquerable? Have you earned the title of "Invictus"?

Before you answer that to yourself read the following poem by William Ernest Henley:

-Invictus-

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years finds,
And shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Are you owning your life? Are you the captain of your soul? Have you determined who you are and what you want to be?

Furthermore... Have you determined What the influences of your life are, and what you want them to do for you? How you want them to interact with your life? How you want them to help advance your goals and dreams?

If you haven't, I promise you that if you will map it out on paper, (I strongly recommend you write it in a journal or something like that). If you will do this, I guarantee your money back, things will start to happen. Positive things... In fact; very positive things.

This is one of the first steps to owning your life. Now get out there Invictus! and OWN YOUR LIFE!

Cussin'

I was talking with some friends the other day about cussin'... Now I'm not one to say that I've never cussed. I wish that I could say that, but we all know that it is not the truth.

However, I can say that I have not cussed since High school, and I am very pleased with that. As a young man I was on the farm, or working horses, or whatever, lots of my friends cussed, but I had been taught that it was not becoming of a young man.

One day I was listening to a gentleman talk. I can't recall who, and I dont even remember what the talk was about; However, I do recall something he said. It is something that changed my life.

He quoted Benjamin Franklin stating "Cursing is the attempts of a feeble mind to express itself forcefully."

I determined then and there that I did not want to be a feeble minded individual. At that moment I decided to OWN MY LIFE.

I changed something that I was accustomed to doing. As you come along on this journey with me, I hope that you will look for (And share) things that you are doing to OWN YOUR LIFE. If is becoming the superstar that you were born to be.

Shoot Dangit, you were born for greatness, now get out there and be great, and Own your Life!

Revamping the Blog

Guys... Many of you will not see this post right away, but I am too excited to wait. I have been inspired by Seth Godin who posts some very deep, but simple thoughts to ponder each day.

Althought the smile blog will not be my focus anymore, Inspiration about how to Own your Life will be... Smiles and all.

So with underwhelming force. I hereby announce the re-grand opening of Bradley Dean's Blog. :)

What a second!

So lately we've been seeing these billboards all over Dallas saying "I am second". I'm not sure if the campaign is all over the country or not, but definitely a full out run here in Dallas. So, you see these people, some famous, some not so much, and they are saying "I am second".
Finally curiosity got the best of me and I looked up the website. It is saying "I am second, because God is First.
I thought it was a great ad campaign. Non denominational from all I can tell, just a good way to get others to think about having no other Gods before our God.
Well... Keep on Smiling!

It's about Time...

To all my fans out there, I need to apologize. I am so sorry that I have allowed life to infiltrate my time to the point that I have failed to do that which I strongly believe that I was put here to do. To make others smile, to give them hope, to prove that men are that they might have joy.

To each of you who have come in times of solace or doubt, I apologize for not being there for you. But I am going to try to come back.

To my friends who just come to check up on me, thank you. To the strangers that have stumbled upon our smiles, welcome and please take your shoes off and stay a while.

So what are we going to smile about today?...

Well there was the story about the guy that tried to break into a pharmacy, couldn't get in, left to go get more tools and came back and got arrested... That was a pretty good one... But he was not doing anything good. Poor Guy.

Okay... I got it! A Chihuahua that got lost, ended up 700 miles away from home in 10 months was then found, scanned (with his microchip) and returned home to his owner. But that's not even the awesome part of this story...

The great part of this story is that the owners name was Bartman! You all remember the Simpsons. What the heck is bartman doing with a chuhuahua? I have no idea but i thought that was worthy of my blog.

-Keep on Smiling!-


Oh... One more thing, Angel and I hit 8 years of Marriage today so we are totally in the clear of that 7 year marriage myth thingy :)
I Love you babe! Your the reason I keep on smiling.

Old Skool

For the few of you who still check out my blog to see if I'm still alive (Which I am). I just found something that took me back to the good ol' days.

Check it out (If you are from Vancouver era 1990 this should ring a bell... Think Z100)

http://www.bustabucket.com/images/stories/Portland%20Trailblazers%20-%20Bust%20a%20Bucket.mp3

Good Times

New Life

Life is crazy...One day you meet the girl of your dreams, the next your sending your first kid off to Kindergarten, and before I know it, I'll be giving her away to a young man to start the cycle all over again...

I am so blessed. Blessed with Happiness far beyond that of average men. I have an incredible wife, I have amazing children. I have a great job, I have opportunities flying at me from every direction, and through it all I have the power to choose. All I can say is " Blessed be the name of the Lord Almighty"

For those of you who have not yet received these blessings, I promise you that if you will keep your covenants, and not loose faith, the time will come.

So...Although I titled my post "New Life" I guess that is somewhat mis-leading, cause it's still same old mischievous Bradley Dean... but somewhere in between lighting firecrackers while sitting on top of a gas can, and here, I learned a few things.

The biggest of those is that The Atonement of our Savior is real. Next to that nothing else really matters, other than the fact that our Heavenly Father's work and his glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

I do not know who this post if for, but I feel like I need to assure you, whoever you are... Your struggles are not in vain. You are not alone, and you have not been forgotten. As your tears flow because of a sense of hopelessness, please know, that I know where you are at. I have been there many times, wondering, praying, and feeling utterly lost. And now I stand on the banks of the far shore that you cannot see at this point, and I shine forth my light saying "Keep Coming" "Don't give up" "You are closer than you think". And I assure you my friend... You are closer than you think.

If you can't think of someone who loves you tonight, please know that I love you. I am your brother... And I know that I am not perfect, as is our eldest brother, but perhaps you will find a small comfort knowing that someone does.

And maybe... Just maybe... That will give you... New Life.
-Keep On Smiling-

HyperSmiling

In the midst of all these crazy gas prices, I've been learning about the neurotic "Hypermilers" and their crazy antics for trying to save money through maximizing their fuel consumption. Now, before you get all flustered and write me a note about how lame I am, please note that I am an advocate of saving the planet, alternative fuel sources, and yes, I even owned a Toyota Prius. (And unfortunately sold it when I probabaly could have used the fuel saving to pay the bill.)
So, Hypermilers are good honest people trying to make their hard earned dollar go a few more miles... Nothing wrong with that. It's the guys that I see taking 90 degree turns at 30 MPH so they don't have to try to accelerate and use gas, that are making me upset. Or the people who accelerate at a rate that I could push the car faster than they go. These are the ones that need to be pulled over and handed a bike.
So admidst it all, I will join the ranks of millions who aren't quite sure what to do with their 100 dollar a week gasoline bill, and become a "HyperSmiler" Above is a great example of one.

Wow, I haven't smiled in forever (online)

Okay, so life is flying OH SO fast, and I have been working long hours and letting one of my passions slip though my fingers. That is sharing joy and love with others. I know that hardly anyone is probably coming to look at the blog now, but perhaps that can provide me with a new beginning. A chance to rethink my approach, and to balance out the demands that life so readily throws at us.

Here's a smile to ponder until then.
-Keep on Smiling-

Smiling in Black and White

My Dear Friends, Thank You for coming and looking at my smile blog. I am sorry that I have not been keeping it up to date as much as I would like to lately, but I have been so slammed with work. I just wanted to throw this up there for you all tonight to think about the contrasting events in your life.

Stop and take a quick look at where you are, and where you want to be. You might even take 5 Minutes for life, and write down some goals. I found my paper that I wrote 5 years ago, and it was fun to look back and to see where I was then and where I am now. It also will help you to point yourself in a direction.

In life there will be a lot of things that are black and white, but other times everything might seem more like a gray scale. When you look down the road and you are seeing gray scale and it is hard to distinguish a path, lay the pros and cons all out on the table, then one you have a clear path to what you think the answer is, talk to the big guy upstairs and ask for a confirmation.

I love you all and hope that if you ever have anything that I can do to help you, that you would ask.

-Keep on Smiling-

Horray for the Color Red!

I just Love the color Red and I thought that this exciting Smile did the color some justice.
Red represents LOVE in most people's eyes, but it also represents Hate and Anger in the eyes of another. Red Represents the Kiss of Death but it also represents a sweet baby's birth. Red represents strength in battle and it also represents happiness in Peace. Red represents saying YES, to eradicating Aids, It represents saying NO to drugs. Red Means Stop while in commute. Red Means Go... directly to Jail while playing our favorite board game. Red means Hot! Don't touch that plate, Red means cold after being rejected on a date.

Red is a Primary Color, without it the color spectrum would be lost. Perhaps Passion as we know it would be changed forever.

So... Next time you see red, stop and smile cause it means so many great things, I'm sure you can find something to attribute a smile towards that is red. Until then my friends...

-Keep on Smiling- (Till your Red in the face)