Are you 
Happy? Well, you should be. Wednesday was the perfect day to become connected with our inner-self and set our purpose for our day by starting it out right with Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary! Through Zoom we experienced the nirvana of President David Spalinger’s leadership as he called the meeting to order. The charming striped sweater-wearing Mary Jo Pasek provided an Invocation praying for peace and calm within our Nation. Past President Kay Pitts was well prepared with a scenic American Flag waving in the background as she led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Happy? Well, you should be. Wednesday was the perfect day to become connected with our inner-self and set our purpose for our day by starting it out right with Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary! Through Zoom we experienced the nirvana of President David Spalinger’s leadership as he called the meeting to order. The charming striped sweater-wearing Mary Jo Pasek provided an Invocation praying for peace and calm within our Nation. Past President Kay Pitts was well prepared with a scenic American Flag waving in the background as she led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.No visiting Rotarians, but we had guests. Two of them, and they live in the same house - Jeff and Donna Schwartz (Donna was our speaker last week). Jeff and Donna are not only guests of Marilee Reagor, but are prospective members. Welcome Schwartz’s!
**Announcements**
Since we all got to get our chakras on with Anna Marie Frank, it was that special time in our meeting where The Prez rolls out The Beacon Clue. I thought going into this that I was going to make this week’s clue easy since last week a number of members were fined for not knowing the clue. So, in the spirit of Rotary, President Dave selects the most gracious Connie Bensusen as his first victim. With a confident demeanor, Connie without hesitation gave Dave the correct answer. The answer to the quiz was that David Lari’s is working at JP Morgan Chase Bank. By the way Connie, we have all missed you and look forward to joining you in the coming year. This week’s clue may not be so easy.
President Dave is reporting that our Rotary District 5240 is still actively participating in the 5240 Polio Plus donation campaign in which $52.40 of each member’s Foundation Pledge is directed to the 5240 Program. You can participate in the fun too by ensuring that your Foundation Pledge is turned in to President-Elect Jeff Haynes. The Prez said word is heard that there may be a Rotary International Convention in T, although it has not been confirmed. He will advise on updates.
Closer to home, President Dave reminds us of a January 30th Leadership Training and our Board of Directors meeting Tuesday.
Past President Denise Haynes was thrilled to share the success we have had with our United Way book drive. An amazing 100 books have been purchased through allocations from our budget. The books Denise ordered through Russo’s Books included the two top favored books Charlotte’s Web and Green Eggs and Ham (a particular favorite of Past President Ron Nelms). Clue from Beacon is; Name the two books that were picked as favorites of Breakfast Rotarians. Denise tells us that Russo’s has generously discounted 25% of the retail price we are paying for the books. Okay members, let’s give Russo’s some love.
Denise added that a February social combined with a service project is in the works. Stay tuned…
**Featured Program**
Pete L
everoni is the man with the message. And that message is that our Program Speaker is Anna Marie Frank with her business Happy Whole You. Located in Westchester, Happy Whole You is a business Anna Marie was just Happy to tell us about. Anna Marie, originally from Michigan calls Bakersfield home now where she resides with her husband and children. Fortunate for us because if y
ou attended the meeting and listened intently you came away with information that could literally change your life.
everoni is the man with the message. And that message is that our Program Speaker is Anna Marie Frank with her business Happy Whole You. Located in Westchester, Happy Whole You is a business Anna Marie was just Happy to tell us about. Anna Marie, originally from Michigan calls Bakersfield home now where she resides with her husband and children. Fortunate for us because if you attended the meeting and listened intently you came away with information that could literally change your life.Anna Marie started her presentation with a moment of meditation with all who attended. I admit, it was hard to meditate and take notes, but I accomplished that. As peaceful as the moment was, Anna Marie did not waste any time sharing the importance of her business. Happy Whole You is targeted towards bringing you positivity, whole body health, better sleep, increased brain function, pain relief by reducing body inflammation, and even better relationships.
Achieving such personal development does not come from some magical wand Anna Marie waves in front of you; her program is a multi-faceted process based upon generations of sound study and research. Her program is time-tested to address needs of each and every individual that becomes Anna Marie’s client at Happy Whole You.
Anna Marie explains there are a number of techniques and assessments that clients who visit with her receive based upon their needs. We could get away with calling this a wellness program, but Anna Marie tells us there is so much more to total body wellness…and she can lead the way.
To summarize, Anna Marie visited with us to share “nuggets” that she feels are essential to better health. Perhaps some of us can relate to these.
- Be present to your daily endeavors – take personal assessment of people and things we choose to be around us.
- The “stories” we tell ourselves – Is it what we truly what we want in life or is it someone else’s story you’re living through.
- Are we taking fruits and vegetables in our daily nutrition? - No, she doesn’t mean fruit roll-ups!
- What type of conversations do we have with other people and what social media do we watch and listen to?
- Consider how unique you are, love yourself – how often are we doing this?
- Take 10 minutes each day for yourself which you are alone – B-R-E-A-T-H.
- Consider that personal finances and saving directly affects your health and happiness.
- Learn to Let Things Go.
Anna Marie’s promotion of Staying Positive is much more than a cliché, it is a lifestyle. Positive energy begats more positive outcomes resulting in a better you. She says when one realizes that there is only so much a person can control, a person can begin to realize a new focus towards their own well-being.
Anna Marie even shared her COVID quick tips for staying healthy. Getting plenty of sleep, staying hydrated, eating berries and greens and taking vitamins containing essential minerals all contribute to added protection. I think it was at that point in the program by the virtue of Zoom that many Rotarians sneaked off to their refrigerator to check contents of their vegetable drawer and medicine cabinet to make sure they had plenty of vitamins.
In closing, Anna Marie tells us that it is not possible to change all things over night. She suggests daily “progress and not instant perfection”. Doing one thing at a time to develop mastery enables us to build best practices for better living, better relationships and a Happy Whole You. We want to thank Anna Marie for helping us set the purpose for our day and perhaps our life. She has a number of services and products that are available to anyone who would like to reach out to her…I did, so I’ll let you know how that goes. Visit the Happy Whole You website at www.happywholeyou.com
**Happy Spots**
For $10 Past President Jerry Starr inquired if our featured presenter Anna Marie was still present on Zoom. She was and his $10 question was to inquire that given her vocation of bringing her clients to a higher level of self-respect and how we treat to others, why don’t elected officials displayed that courtesy to one another. Anna Marie’s take was that we personally need to learn how to take care of ourselves relying on our responsibility to do so, and steer clear of the “Vibration of Negativity” that is constantly pumped into the airstreams. She told Jerry if we choose not to be a partaker of the negativity, we will be better able to deal with others…that includes politicians, or however you wish to view it.
Carol Smith was happy about a pound of Armando’s Coffee that she brought home to The Prez from her recent trip to Boston. President Dave tried to get her to pay a fine, but courageously Carol told him she paid her travel happy bucks last week for her trip, she just forgot to bring the coffee. Our Prez yielded the right-of-way to our dear Carol. Smart president.
Dan Johnson is proud as humble pie, well maybe not too humble, to announce that Rock Camp the Movie is soon to be premiering. Dan suggests it is a “must watch” as the film is so much more than rock and roll music. The film which can be accessed through Dan’s Facebook page, features real life stories of personal conquests, masterful production, and realization of one’s dreams, not to mention as Dan would say numerous “famous rock-in-rollers” that are featured. Our Dan appears with his trusty Les Paul Gibson guitar several times in the movie. And he and his wife Char are responsible for co-producing the film. This advertisement Dan will cost you $10!
To all in Breakfast Rotary
Namaste,
By: Frank Wooldridge
Your Beacon Writer