Penniless to World Renowned

The power of positivity over poverty

This is the Kindness Magnet newsletter — useful kindness habits you can use to attract more opportunities, better health, relationships, and happiness. I’m Heather Johnston Brebaugh, author and kindness advocate.

Photo Courtesy Pam LeBlanc

There’s a lot to be said for a positive attitude.  There’s even more to be said about someone who has lived a life of positivity, even in the face of adversity. 

David Bamberger grew up in poverty in Ohio Amish country during the depression.  After 17 years selling vacuums door to door, he joined Church’s Chicken, growing it to over 1600 locations. 

In 1969 he intentionally bought 5,500 acres of worn-out wasteland in Blanco County, Texas.  No water. No grass. No wildlife.  Over the next 50 years he turned that dry, eroded land into lush grasslands and rippling creeks, rediscovering underground springs and creating a preserve he named Selah Ranch. 

In 2019, when asked how he was able to achieve this, he said,

I learned more in my seventeen years as a door-to-door peddler than I did at university. The biggest thing I learned was how to handle rejection. You’ve got to knock on a lot of doors, talk to a lot of people.  You’re going to get turned down. You have to be a positive thinker, make the best of the worst.  Don’t take everything as a personal affront. It means you go to the next door and knock with a positive attitude. That one simple thing transposed into all the other things I’ve done in my life.  It applies to your health, your economics, your family, everything.

Fifty years ago, this ranch had the reputation of being the worst piece of real estate in Blanco County. I had to look at it as a positive, and to me it was the greatest opportunity I ever had.   

Bamberger’s message to you and me:

…someone can start out with nothing and—through living an enthusiastic and optimistic life—be able to initiate something and finish something.

What’s the secret to a long life?  

More than anything, it’s an attitude.  You wake up in the morning and it’s a new day for you. 

Bamberger turned 93 on June 11, 2021. 

Wouldn’t you love to meet him?  Thank him for reminding us to wake up each day with a positive attitude?

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Your Turn: How do you keep a positive attitude in the face of adversity?

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May your week be filled with kindness. 💜

Heather Johnston Brebaugh