Convinced, Monday's Warm Cocoa 9.28.2026

“I haven’t convinced myself that I know what I know.” – Sandy Jackson

Convinced

Sandy lingered toward the back of the conference room. Whenever she does that it’s a clear sign. It’s a sign that she wants to talk on a more personal basis. After the changes we had been talking about during the meeting I wasn’t surprised at all. The feeling in the room was unmistakable. We were all quite overwhelmed by the changes introduced to us.

“How are you doing,” I asked Sandy, as soon as I caught her eye.

“I’m doing alright,” she popped back.

The rapidity of her reply implied that the opposite was true. Sandy is always affable, yet she usually doesn’t make her personal life a spectacle.

I waited. And, sure enough there was more to come.

“All of these changes are overwhelming,” she continued.

“I agree,” I said in earnest. I wanted her to know everyone in the room was feeling the same and that confirmation allowed her shoulders to relax in relief.

“I’ll be alright,” she said. “I haven’t convinced myself that I know what I know.”

I have to admit that when I heard those words I took a momentary pause as my mind said, “Huh! I’ve never heard that one before!” She had my attention, even more than she did when we began our conversation.

“It’s just that all these changes remind me of when I moved here,” She explained. “I was an interior designed in Dallas before I moved. The move was so overwhelming to me that I retreated into myself, just so I could get grounded again. I was just starting to feel grounded when all of this began.”

She used her right arm to gesture a sweeping movement covering the entire room. It was an indication that everything discussed in the meeting was causing her to feel the same type of instability again. Perhaps the right description here is not instability, but insecurity. But, that was not the look in her eye!

When I looked in Sandy’s eyes I didn’t see insecurity. I saw determination.

“I’ll be just fine,” She continued in a soft, yet confident manner. “I’ve faced changes like this before. The specific changes are new, but the way I process remains the same. I simply need to give myself some time to convince myself that I know how to deal with change. I’ve done it before and I can do it again!”

Then, she smiled warmly and walked out of the conference room.

When she passed through the door I was convinced too. “She knows what she knows!” 

And, she along with all of us, will be just fine during periods of rapid change as long as we remember, we know what we know.

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I’m Lynn Butterfield, Real Estate & Lifestyle Expert and Television Host for American Dream TV. I’ve helped hundreds of Buyers and Sellers, as an Associate Broker with Coldwell Banker, to discover where and how they want to live and work; to achieve what I call Realesation™. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, Monday’s Warm Cocoa and Home by Design Magazine to stir your heart and mind. Contact me so I can join you along your own unique path of discovery.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QSH7-aW2Cvsr6S7v_4hVFBWjxnvvLr-f/view?usp=sharing

"An Invitation," Monday's Warm Cocoa, 9.21.2026

“You never know what is going to happen on any day.” - Diz Petit

An Invitation

I received an unexpected invitation from Diz, “Hi Lynn, I’m making a presentation this Wednesday during 1 Million Cups. I hope you can come.”

That message was enough to give me a little extra incentive to attend a meeting I attend regularly. I wanted to listen to her presentation again, because I’ve been impressed with her and the cause she was championing.

Diz’s mission is to accelerate the world's transition to a circular economy. So, she created LiquiDonate to revolutionize inventory management, by leveraging her cutting-edge proprietary software to match goods from retailers, brands, and other sources with communities in need. She envisions a world with less waste by working with retailers, event planners, and brands to match their excess inventory with nonprofits, charities, and schools. Diz taught me something I didn’t know.

$288 billion worth of unsold inventory and retail returns gets sent to the landfill each year! LiquiDonate has successfully created a platform that’s good for the entire economy, by completing a profitable economic circle which connects manufacturers, retailers, consumers and currently wasted products, which are donated to people in need rather than being thrown in the trash. LiquiDonate truly proves that “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

Yet, the word treasure means much more than physical goods or money. And, Diz was about to reveal the true depth of her humanity to me as we took a personal moment, after her exquisite presentation.

“I almost didn’t come here to participate in this business accelerator,” she said. “But, my mother told me I needed to come. She wanted me to come,” She continued. “It was important to her for me to come!”

So, Diz came, leaving her mother’s side, when she wanted to be with her mom, lending her strength and providing her with loving care during her illness. Because Diz is closing another important circle; life’s sacred circle!

Life’s sacred circle is competed as we return the love offered to us by those who gave us life and everything needed during our most vulnerable years. Completing this circle is so important to Diz that she did exactly what her ailing mother asked, even though it was the hardest thing she could do.

I knew it was monumentally hard, because I saw the lubrication of love well up in her eyes and then gently flow down each side of her face. Those tears are a testament and an invitation for you and me to individually complete our own sacred circles in life.

Because, “You never know what is going to happen on any day,” Diz said, when I asked her what the most important thing she’s learned from this life experience was.

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I’m Lynn Butterfield, Real Estate & Lifestyle Expert and Television Host for American Dream TV. I’ve helped hundreds of Buyers and Sellers, as an Associate Broker with Coldwell Banker, to discover where and how they want to live and work; to achieve what I call Realesation™. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, Monday’s Warm Cocoa and Home by Design Magazine to stir your heart and mind. Contact me so I can join you along your own unique path of discovery.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QSH7-aW2Cvsr6S7v_4hVFBWjxnvvLr-f/view?usp=sharing

"Costumes," Monday's Warm Cocoa 9.14.2026

A family dressed in community-based clothing.

Costumes

I was sitting near Gate 11 in a regional airport when I spotted one particular group of people. They were waiting for a flight at an adjacent gate, which was soon to depart for Detroit. It wasn’t their waiting that caught my eye. It was their distinct clothing. The clothing they wore delivered a definite message. It identified their community.

“Community-based clothing,” I whispered to myself, while thoughts stirred about its broader meaning. Their apparel was designed and produced to serve a specific group of people. The people they shared ties with. The people with whom they lived and shared a common identity. The clothing represented a subculture, their societal connection. They weren’t chasing mass-market trends. Their garments prioritized a localized identity, mutual benefit, and shared values. The clothes they wore were designed to make them stand apart.

“Stand apart,” I thought. The words quickly caused an eruption of dawning light to enliven my brain. It was an eruption turned into interruption. It changed my view entirely.

“They’re not really any different than everyone else here,” I mumbled as my evaluation process ramped up. I looked around at the people sitting near us. I began to intently notice the people deplaning and walking past.

“We’re all wearing costumes!”

With that, I thought about the costume I was then wearing and what it said about my own community. What group was my costume designed to identify me with?

“Stand with!”

Perhaps our choice of clothing is more about standing with others rather than standing apart! Maybe it’s the same message, said in different words. At the same time, there is a subtle and important distinction.

That difference is, well, difference. It all depends on the way we choose to think about our personal relationship with other people. This thought changed the way I viewed the formerly peculiar people sitting at Gate 10. Rather than viewing them as different and apart from all of the other people in the terminal, I saw them as the same.

We were all people gathered in an airport traveling to a destination, while wearing our costume of choice.

“Now boarding for Detroit,” the announcement barked.

I watched the group of seven people-of-community stir. They stood and gathered their personal belongings. They walked to Gate 10 with all others going to Detroit. Every single person stood in an orderly line to board the same plane to Detroit.

They were all people going to the same place. They just weren’t wearing the same costumes.

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I’m Lynn Butterfield, Real Estate & Lifestyle Expert and Television Host for American Dream TV. I’ve helped hundreds of Buyers and Sellers, as an Associate Broker with Coldwell Banker, to discover where and how they want to live and work; to achieve what I call Realesation™. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, Monday’s Warm Cocoa and Home by Design Magazine to stir your heart and mind. Contact me so I can join you along your own unique path of discovery.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cyq612ohmd8YUwEa5WXZjA3IWJVDPzOe/view?usp=sharing

Fighting the River, Monday's Warm Cocoa 9.7.2026

“I believe we create our future by what we say and think now.” –Dave Zitting

Fighting the River

“My garden’s production has exploded this year, so I thought I’d make us classic BLT’s using what I’ve grown,” Dave said, just before dashing out the door to gather the ingredients. He soon reappeared with his hands filled with fresh produce, just collected. Then, he laid every ingredient out and began to craft sandwiches. I marveled at his focused attention to detail and craftsmanship. I shouldn’t have been surprised. We’ve been warmly associated for many years, so I’ve learned to trust his advice. And, it was apparent that Dave is also a sandwich artist who was about to give me more than a sandwich.

“You know, I’m a little concerned about the frequency of some particular words you’ve used in our conversations lately,” Dave said as he sliced, garnished and assembled.

His words prickled my ears because I was unaware of what he was referring to. Luckily, he pressed forward; my wellbeing at heart.

“I believe we create our future by what we say and think now,” He reminded me. “I’m afraid you’re subconsciously creating a future you don’t want.”

Then he cited examples of what he was referring to. And, his description of what I had been saying and the implications foretold were right on!

“Interestingly,” I meekly responded, “I’ve been learning a very important life lesson over the past few months.

I went on to tell him that I had held the belief that I could “power through challenges” over the course of my entire life. Now, life was teaching me something new. It was revealing itself as “river,” more powerful than personal will.

A river’s power generally flows in one direction; can give and take life. Yet, it can be navigated directionally by a skilled navigator who can harness its power while beneficially using it to their advantage! An experienced river-runner friend once exhibited this to me on a trip down a roaring river.

My experienced friend had acquired specialized equipment that allowed him to glide along the water with amazing agility and grace so he could enjoy the river’s beauty. I, on the other hand, was inexperienced and had a small blow-up boat, more suited for lounging on a swimming pool! By the end of one day on the river I was exhausted and spent. He was not! He is a river running artist, just as Dave is a skilled friend, coach and sandwich artist.

Dave and I enjoyed the magnificent sandwiches he crafted whilst he counseled me on how to stop fighting life’s river and navigate it more effectively. So, I can harness its power to create more beauty, abundance and joy.

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I’m Lynn Butterfield, Real Estate & Lifestyle Expert and Television Host for American Dream TV. I’ve helped hundreds of Buyers and Sellers, as an Associate Broker with Coldwell Banker, to discover where and how they want to live and work; to achieve what I call Realesation™. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, Monday’s Warm Cocoa and Home by Design Magazine to stir your heart and mind. Contact me so I can join you along your own unique path of discovery.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cyq612ohmd8YUwEa5WXZjA3IWJVDPzOe/view?usp=sharing