It's Nobel Day - How Prize-Winning Do You Feel?
If there’s a high-water mark for brains, Alfred Nobel probably etched it. In his last will, signed in Paris on November 27th, 1895, he left the bulk of his fortune to a special prize fund. He passed away just over a year later, and his legacy lives on today with the awarding of this year’s Nobel Prizes.
Nobel wanted the money he’d made in his varied and successful life to be invested well, and each year the organization he created would award monetary prizes. The categories he specified are those he was most interested in during his own life: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. The awards would go to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”
Which brings us to we mere mortals – what is our benefit to humankind? It’s common for people to wonder what their purpose in this life is, and to wonder if they’re doing enough to “earn their keep” in this world. If your thoughts occasionally venture down roads like that, never fear – you’re human, and those kinds of thoughts are normal. To help you find your most satisfying path to purpose, here are three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast to guide you:
- Want to know that you are different and very powerful? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
- Need help getting free of people who live to pull you down? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
- Do you know that not everyone likes you and won’t, even if you win a Nobel Prize? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
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I’ve spent the bulk of my life not knowing anyone who’d ever touched a Nobel Prize. Then about five years ago, I met Dorothy Erlanger, who’ll be on an upcoming episode of Antiques Roadshow. She took two things with her – an original piece of sports/advertising art by LeRoy Neiman and her grandfather’s Nobel Prize in Physiology. The appraisers were all about the Nobel. The prize was awarded in 1944 to Joseph Erlanger for his “discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres.” His work in creating a low-voltage oscilloscope marked the beginning of understanding the inner workings of nerves and neuroreceptors in the brain, allowing other researchers to unlock communication mysteries and better understand how our brains work.
I’d say that’s a high-water mark for brains, right? If your contributions were to be awarded, in what category would you win the Nobel Prize? Don’t laugh…I’m serious. Think about your own super-power – maybe you’re a peace-maker among your family and friends, maybe you’re a person who lifts the spirits of others simply by being near them, and maybe you really are a rocket scientist.
Whatever your super-power is, give yourself credit for it today. Maybe even create a picture of yourself accepting the Nobel Prize. Because what you bring the world matters, whether you ever win a real Nobel Prize or not.
Wags,
Sandy Weaver
The Voice of Wagaliciousness
PS...want more? Subscribe to the Mind, Body, Soul Sessions podcast, a weekly mental spa treatment for your total self! #podcast #success #leader #lawofattraction #personaldevelopment #mentalwellbeing
