Be a Frog Kisser

Energetic.  Enlightening.  Entertaining.

Three words used by the audience to describe Dave Weber’s presentation, Some Days You’re the Pigeon, Some Days the Statue!. 

Mr. Weber is an internationally recognized speaker with a track record of success.  This talented presenter engaged our alumni members this past Saturday at our 2014 Dawson Academy Alumni Association Retreat in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The title of Weber’s presentation, on the surface, is simple to interpret.  In life, we are either being pooped on or pooping on.  We get in situations with our words, actions and attitudes.  He transfixed the audience with his energetic humor and opened our eyes to the potency of how words impact relationships, relationships impact culture and climate, culture and climate impact results.

Weber coins the phrase, Kidding down, defined as passive-aggressive words and actions, which create barriers in relationship and erodes them.  We don’t think about what we’re saying or its effects on others. The tongue, Weber exclaims, is the strongest muscle in the human body.  Although it weighs so little, many people cannot hold it.

He spoke on the importance of listening and being present in the moment.  Stating nothing gets in your head when your mouth is open.  Everyone rolled with laughter as he defined A.D.O.S. as Attention Deficit?.oooh shiny, exclaimed the energetic Weber as he walked across the stage distracted by one of the lights.  Point taken.

The way we often perceive the world is through the eyes of what Weber says is a bamboo tube.  We tend to be so focused on what’s going on that we can’t actually see the whole picture.  Though his message was serious, his delivery was so funny that it allowed the audience’s perceptions to be penetrated, opened and explored. Laughter opens the head and the heart to let in new experiences, says Weber, as he introduced new ways to look at relationships we have and ways to look at ourselves.

Weber challenges that there are seven different people in every single one of us – the 7 me’s I am.  No, he’s not referring to a multiple personality disorder; he’s describing the different elements of how we’re perceived and how we perceive ourselves.  Our views vary because we see people through filters.  Filters are our own unique set of life experiences that cause us to see things in our own way.  Ergo, the more I understand how you’re put together, the better I understand not only how you see me, but why you see me that way.  Knowing what someone is going through can dramatically change how our conversations and relationships are interpreted.

Weber claims, to the degree you give this ÷me clarity that is the degree to which you can become it.  He then guided us through a numbers game that visualized his point.  At the end, he opened a sealed envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper with C-12 written in black marker the same letter and number combination of the one picked by the audience.  How did he do that?  It wasn’t voodoo, although looking at the faces of those in attendance you’d think it was magic.

In reality, Weber explained how he guided the audience to pick what he wanted simply by knowing what he wanted us to choose and using the right words.  He tasked us to write down the me we want to be and strive for it.  When you know who you want to be, it’s much easier to achieve.  Being happy with life, feeling fulfilled, is not just about the destination; it’s about the trip, says Weber.  Fall in love with the trip.

Power of words makes all the difference.  Weber says this world would be a much better place if we had more frog kissers and less frog giggers.  Frog kissers, he explains, praise, build up, edify, encourage, and affirm.  Frog giggers conversely are those people that when they open their mouth, they condemn, put up barriers, and criticize.  You can gigg someone with actions, words, even facial expressions.

Weber is a behavioral comedic artist.  He made the daily struggles we have with ourselves funny.  With sidesplitting humor and compelling anecdotes, he guided our minds outside the box, without even realizing we were doing so.  With our words, actions and attitudes, we can make our lives and the world around us a better place.  Be the frog kisser or the frog gigger the choice is yours.

For more information on Dave weber, visit www.daveweber.com