Aila Accad

May 15, 2007

She was trained professionally as a nurse. But Aila Accad observed that nearly all disease is related to stress. Nearly 85 percent.

"All life is marvelous," she told Putnam Rotarians during their luncheon meeting today. "They say about a newborn baby, 'That's a perfect baby!'

"But life goes downhill from there. What happens?

"We say that practice makes perfect. But the truth is that nobody is perfect. That's the dilemma.

"You are striving for something that is impossible to achieve."

Since 1979, as CEO of LifeQuest International, Aila Accad has written, spoken and trained people to "Get a Grip."

Perspective is a key, says the West Virginia Business Woman of the Year for 2005.

She cited the case of a heart specialist who saw himself as a failure. He had performed hundreds of surgeries and extended countless lives. But he was obsessed with his failures: "He only saw the one who didn't make it.

"Where do expectations come from," she asked. "From parents, teachers, the media, your spouse, your church?

"Eighty percent of success is in just showing up," she said.

"You give no thought to your breathing, or your heartbeat -- and that doesn't even touch all the other systems that have to be working. What's missing? Nothing! It was all in the package!

"In your day-to-day living, look at what drives your energy. What makes you excited, what energizes you?

"Find it, and then volunteer to do that which turns you on.

"What is your gift?

"Where can you pay that back?"