In our lifetime, we meet many types of people. The ones that stand out for me are the ones who overcome challenges and have a positive outlook on life.
Most recently, I have had the pleasure of communicating with John McLeod, or as he goes by, Jaymac. He writes poetry, and has sent me poems for the site. Through emails, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jaymac, and his story is an inspiring one.
You see, Jaymac became ill at the age of 10. He had a rheumatoid condition that left him disabled. He was only able to walk with the use of crutches. Jaymac is now 60 years old. He retired in 1991, and to quote Jaymac, "I retired in 1991 when my health crashed very badly and my arms, on which I had, literally, 'walked' with crutches for the best part of 40 years finally decided they'd had enough! Most unsporting of them!!!"
Jaymac talks about life and, as you will read in the paragraph quoted below he has a great outlook on life:
"Life, though, is full of compensations and I have been well blessed throughout my 'Life Journey' with good friends met and made along the way. Life is a kind of swings and roundabouts situation; if you can't kick a football you turn to other pursuits. So I read and learned and learned and read, endlessly curious about the World and its mysteries. I loved and love music and movies, good drama, good quality TV, anything scientific, anything, which makes me think about those things, which lie just beyond understanding. I am also a radio-ham holding a full Class A transmitting license since 1979. So while disability imposes its physical restrictions I am able to go out and meet the world via the air-waves. I speak to other 'Hams' all over the world."
We all face challenges in our lives. But how we handle these challenges, how we look at life is truly what matters. We can all look at life one of two ways:
1. we can focus on the good and move forward, or,
2. we can focus on the negative and wallow in self pity.
Our hope in sharing Jaymac's story with you is that you will focus on all the good in your life and move forward no matter what your situation!
by Catherine Pulsifer
Sunday, February 28, 2010
I Can't Wait To Go To the Dentist!
I had a dental appointment this morning. I loved every minute of it.
Well, okay, maybe I didn't enjoy every minute. But, I did look forward to it weeks in advance, and I woke up happy and exhilarated at the thought of going to the dentist this morning.
Really, I did!
By now, you're thinking, "Boy, Heidi's been playing Chinese checkers on her computer screen way too long and is more than a marble short!"
While I won't argue with you on the one-marble-too-short claim, I did have a motive for my anticipation.
You see, I'm a mother of four children all of whom I homeschool. I'm also and entrepreneur and co-owner of a successful business which I run out of my home. You can imagine how hectic my life is on a daily basis.
What does this have to do with the dentist?
In two words...READING TIME!
Now, like all good entrepreneurs, I get my hands on everything I can to read. I have walls of bookcases filled with books and courses on marketing and other entrepreneurial delicacies. I have books on my bed stand, magazines in the bathroom, binders of printed eBooks in my car.
I, literally, have reading material with me everywhere I go, even on dates with my husband. Actually, we usually end up talking business over dinner and then going to the bookstore.
Neither of us can imagine running our business without the wealth of knowledge available to us.
So...
As my dental appointment drew closer, I excitedly went through all my reading piles to select one bit of reading material that had been screaming at me for the last month.
Ahhh, a chance to sit quietly with no children, no interruptions, no phone calls...just myself and my book. Oh, yes, and my pencil for taking notes.
I was a reading maniac, soaking in every word.
So, where in the world is this article going? I'm going to make a confession to you...
My husband and I both attribute our success to the knowledge we have gained through reading and studying, and then...putting that knowledge to work.
Actually, I have another confession to make...
The quest for knowledge to become successful never ends.
It doesn't matter which successful entrepreneur you talk to. They will all have these things in common: they have boatloads of books, they read everyday, and they view their marketing efforts as a continually evolving and learning adventure.
So, I issue you this challenge. Turn off the T.V. tonight and find something worthwhile to read that will help your business or your personal growth.
And, if necessary, make an appointment to visit the dentist.
by Heidi Perry,
Well, okay, maybe I didn't enjoy every minute. But, I did look forward to it weeks in advance, and I woke up happy and exhilarated at the thought of going to the dentist this morning.
Really, I did!
By now, you're thinking, "Boy, Heidi's been playing Chinese checkers on her computer screen way too long and is more than a marble short!"
While I won't argue with you on the one-marble-too-short claim, I did have a motive for my anticipation.
You see, I'm a mother of four children all of whom I homeschool. I'm also and entrepreneur and co-owner of a successful business which I run out of my home. You can imagine how hectic my life is on a daily basis.
What does this have to do with the dentist?
In two words...READING TIME!
Now, like all good entrepreneurs, I get my hands on everything I can to read. I have walls of bookcases filled with books and courses on marketing and other entrepreneurial delicacies. I have books on my bed stand, magazines in the bathroom, binders of printed eBooks in my car.
I, literally, have reading material with me everywhere I go, even on dates with my husband. Actually, we usually end up talking business over dinner and then going to the bookstore.
Neither of us can imagine running our business without the wealth of knowledge available to us.
So...
As my dental appointment drew closer, I excitedly went through all my reading piles to select one bit of reading material that had been screaming at me for the last month.
Ahhh, a chance to sit quietly with no children, no interruptions, no phone calls...just myself and my book. Oh, yes, and my pencil for taking notes.
I was a reading maniac, soaking in every word.
So, where in the world is this article going? I'm going to make a confession to you...
My husband and I both attribute our success to the knowledge we have gained through reading and studying, and then...putting that knowledge to work.
Actually, I have another confession to make...
The quest for knowledge to become successful never ends.
It doesn't matter which successful entrepreneur you talk to. They will all have these things in common: they have boatloads of books, they read everyday, and they view their marketing efforts as a continually evolving and learning adventure.
So, I issue you this challenge. Turn off the T.V. tonight and find something worthwhile to read that will help your business or your personal growth.
And, if necessary, make an appointment to visit the dentist.
by Heidi Perry,
My Two Best Friends
Todd and Tim were two of my best friends. Everyday I walked with Tim in school and everyday we would pass a big sign that says "U drink, U drive, U lose" and when I looked at it, Tim would look at it.
Tim also read the SADD bags we made for SADD. SADD bags were little paper bags with slogans about how not to drink and drive on them. We were going to give them to the Liquor store down the road. Anyway Tim read the bags I made and after he read them he said, "those are pretty cool."
Then one night I was talking to Tim online and he said that him and Todd were going out to drive around. He invited me but I couldn't go. I even said to Tim not to be stupid. He knew what I meant by that.
Him and Todd went out and they didn't listen to me. They crashed into another car and they were both thrown out of the car. Todd died instantly. Tim was driving and he lived, but is most likely going to die very soon. Tim hasn't woken up since the crash, which was almost a month ago. He's in a coma, and has double pneumonia. He has to have plastic surgery done on his face and because he made a stupid decision Tim didn't graduate with the class of 2002. He's not going to go into the Marines as planed. He'll be lucky if he even lives.
Drinking and Driving just isn't worth it!!
Thanks for reading the story. Hopefully it will help people think twice about drinking and driving.
Emily
Tim also read the SADD bags we made for SADD. SADD bags were little paper bags with slogans about how not to drink and drive on them. We were going to give them to the Liquor store down the road. Anyway Tim read the bags I made and after he read them he said, "those are pretty cool."
Then one night I was talking to Tim online and he said that him and Todd were going out to drive around. He invited me but I couldn't go. I even said to Tim not to be stupid. He knew what I meant by that.
Him and Todd went out and they didn't listen to me. They crashed into another car and they were both thrown out of the car. Todd died instantly. Tim was driving and he lived, but is most likely going to die very soon. Tim hasn't woken up since the crash, which was almost a month ago. He's in a coma, and has double pneumonia. He has to have plastic surgery done on his face and because he made a stupid decision Tim didn't graduate with the class of 2002. He's not going to go into the Marines as planed. He'll be lucky if he even lives.
Drinking and Driving just isn't worth it!!
Thanks for reading the story. Hopefully it will help people think twice about drinking and driving.
Emily
Christmas Bears
In the forest Christmas is a very exciting time. All of the animals gather together to celebrate the very special day, all but one bear that is.
"Mom, what is Christmas" the little bear asked one December morning as his mom was hurriedly storing food for the winter hibernation. "Why, Christmas is the birthday of Jesus, it is an extra special day, why do you ask dear?"
The little bear suddenly felt as though he would be missing something, he wanted to celebrate the holiday like the other animals in the forest. He looked outside the window to see all of his playmates decorating and having so much fun. Jerry, his mouse friend was stringing beads in the trees, Sammy the squirrel was decorating a small bush nearby and they all looked like they were having so much fun.
L.B. felt very sad as he watched all of his friends playing and having so much fun outside in the snow covered forest. His mom just kept packing and getting ready for their winter hibernation. "Hurry JB, we need to pack our things and be ready, the hard freeze is coming and we are nearly ready."
The little bear just could not bring himself away from the window; he was just fascinated to see all of this activity. He also saw a large sign that read " CHRISTMAS PARTY AT 6:00 PM TONIGHT EVERYONE WELCOME". Well, the wheels were turning for the little cub; he wanted so badly to experience some of the magic of Christmas before going into hibernation for several months.
"Mom, I have an idea," he said hastily. LB just knew his mom would say no but he thought it was worth a try to ask her. "What is it dear?" There is a Christmas party in the forest tonight, can we go, can we?" His mom just stood staring at the bear wondering why he so wanted to go to this party. She hesitated with her answer then replied, "Sure LB, just keep packing between now and then and you can go to the party, you have been a good bear all year so this is the least I can do."
The bear just jumped up and down, he went to the window and yelled out to all of his friends that he will be at the party tonight. The bear packed his winter goods for the rest of the afternoon until time to get ready for the party. He had never been to a party, and this one was extra special since it was a "Christmas party." LB suddenly remembered that he needed to bring a gift to this party, "Oh no I don't have a gift for anyone," he exclaimed.
His mother heard LB and with a sad look told him that there was not much time to get a gift and he would just have to go to the party without a gift. LB's mother knew this did not please the little bear, he so wanted to fit in and be liked and this would not be a good thing to come empty handed.
"I have one idea," his mother said. "Do you see that box in the corner with the big bow on top?" The little bear knew that box was for him for some time now and it took everything he had not to peek into it, "Yes Mom I see it." The little bear had a feeling of what his mother would say but he listened anxiously anyway.
"That was a gift to you from your father and I, do you want to bring it to the party, it is not much but it is better to give than to receive LB and your friends who are less fortunate could really use what is in that box. The little bear thought about it and then remembered how a lot of the forest friends told him that they envied him for having two parents who loved him as many of them were orphans, they also envied him for having a warm place to sleep in the winter time. "Ok mom, I will bring that gift to the party tonight, thank you for loving me and being my Mom" The bear hugged his mom as a small tear came to her eye "I love you too son."
The bear got ready and went to the party excited as can be. He put his wrapped box under a small decorated tree with several other small gifts from various forest friends. The animals sang, danced and enjoyed the Christmas air in the forest. The small lights glistened against the fresh snow and the air was much colder than they expected. "Its gift time", exclaimed Sammy the squirrel. The animals all exchanged gifts and opened the gifts with much anticipation. LB's gift was opened by another small bear named Bobby. Bobby lost his mom last year and now just lives with his father. He always looks very sad and does not have his mom to help him pack for the winter hibernation. He opened the gift and exclaimed, "A scarf", he was so happy to receive this gift, as he did not have a scarf to keep warm in the winter. "Oh thank you LB, this is just what I needed, how did you know?"
LB felt so glad that he was able to help one of the other animals and it didn't matter that he would not be receiving a gift on Christmas morning, he already received his gift.
by Jackie Sagner
"Mom, what is Christmas" the little bear asked one December morning as his mom was hurriedly storing food for the winter hibernation. "Why, Christmas is the birthday of Jesus, it is an extra special day, why do you ask dear?"
The little bear suddenly felt as though he would be missing something, he wanted to celebrate the holiday like the other animals in the forest. He looked outside the window to see all of his playmates decorating and having so much fun. Jerry, his mouse friend was stringing beads in the trees, Sammy the squirrel was decorating a small bush nearby and they all looked like they were having so much fun.
L.B. felt very sad as he watched all of his friends playing and having so much fun outside in the snow covered forest. His mom just kept packing and getting ready for their winter hibernation. "Hurry JB, we need to pack our things and be ready, the hard freeze is coming and we are nearly ready."
The little bear just could not bring himself away from the window; he was just fascinated to see all of this activity. He also saw a large sign that read " CHRISTMAS PARTY AT 6:00 PM TONIGHT EVERYONE WELCOME". Well, the wheels were turning for the little cub; he wanted so badly to experience some of the magic of Christmas before going into hibernation for several months.
"Mom, I have an idea," he said hastily. LB just knew his mom would say no but he thought it was worth a try to ask her. "What is it dear?" There is a Christmas party in the forest tonight, can we go, can we?" His mom just stood staring at the bear wondering why he so wanted to go to this party. She hesitated with her answer then replied, "Sure LB, just keep packing between now and then and you can go to the party, you have been a good bear all year so this is the least I can do."
The bear just jumped up and down, he went to the window and yelled out to all of his friends that he will be at the party tonight. The bear packed his winter goods for the rest of the afternoon until time to get ready for the party. He had never been to a party, and this one was extra special since it was a "Christmas party." LB suddenly remembered that he needed to bring a gift to this party, "Oh no I don't have a gift for anyone," he exclaimed.
His mother heard LB and with a sad look told him that there was not much time to get a gift and he would just have to go to the party without a gift. LB's mother knew this did not please the little bear, he so wanted to fit in and be liked and this would not be a good thing to come empty handed.
"I have one idea," his mother said. "Do you see that box in the corner with the big bow on top?" The little bear knew that box was for him for some time now and it took everything he had not to peek into it, "Yes Mom I see it." The little bear had a feeling of what his mother would say but he listened anxiously anyway.
"That was a gift to you from your father and I, do you want to bring it to the party, it is not much but it is better to give than to receive LB and your friends who are less fortunate could really use what is in that box. The little bear thought about it and then remembered how a lot of the forest friends told him that they envied him for having two parents who loved him as many of them were orphans, they also envied him for having a warm place to sleep in the winter time. "Ok mom, I will bring that gift to the party tonight, thank you for loving me and being my Mom" The bear hugged his mom as a small tear came to her eye "I love you too son."
The bear got ready and went to the party excited as can be. He put his wrapped box under a small decorated tree with several other small gifts from various forest friends. The animals sang, danced and enjoyed the Christmas air in the forest. The small lights glistened against the fresh snow and the air was much colder than they expected. "Its gift time", exclaimed Sammy the squirrel. The animals all exchanged gifts and opened the gifts with much anticipation. LB's gift was opened by another small bear named Bobby. Bobby lost his mom last year and now just lives with his father. He always looks very sad and does not have his mom to help him pack for the winter hibernation. He opened the gift and exclaimed, "A scarf", he was so happy to receive this gift, as he did not have a scarf to keep warm in the winter. "Oh thank you LB, this is just what I needed, how did you know?"
LB felt so glad that he was able to help one of the other animals and it didn't matter that he would not be receiving a gift on Christmas morning, he already received his gift.
by Jackie Sagner
People in our Lives
I sat reflecting on the past year when my friend Charley came into the room. Charley took one look at my face and she could tell I was off in another world. Charley immediately snapped me out of my thoughts by saying, "you have that look on your face!". I immediately laughed and said, "Oh Charley, I was just reflecting on the past year".
Charley has always had the ability of drawing everything out of me. She can read my face and she knows when I am deep in thought; she knows when I am upset; she knows when I am happy. She sat down and said, "Tell me what your were thinking".
"Well Charley", I replied, "I was listening to a song on the radio that asked what have you done over the last year. I was thinking about the last year. When I reflect on the year, I have had such good fortune, with a few bumps along the way. Charley, at the beginning of the year my life was in such turmoil, challenges with my work, challenges financially, major decisions that I had to make and now here we are at the end of the year and so much has happened".
Charley immediately focused my thoughts and asked, "Tell me about the three things that impacted you the most during this year"?
I sat thinking if I had to pick only three things that impacted me what would they be? After a few minutes, I looked Charley straight in the eye and said, "Okay here are the three things that impacted me the most:
1. My family.
I realized they are the most important part of my life. Throughout the year I had many challenges, but my family were always there offering support and encouragement. My husband. He understands and supports me even when I perhaps don't deserve such support. I have great children who make me proud. My parents, my sister and brothers are always there for me no matter what is happening in my life.
2. My friends. Over the years I have shared my dreams and my goals with my friends. Some goals I have realized and other goals I have not. But friends like you Charley always supported and encouraged me. It really has made a difference. As you know, I am going to make some major changes in my life in the coming year realizing a goal that is about 5 years behind but is finally coming to realization. A goal that will take me many miles away from my dear friends like you Charley but you still supported and encouraged me.
3. My colleagues. I have worked with some amazing people over the last year. People of whom I had a different perception. But, once I worked with them I realized how wrong my perception was. Sometimes, we past judgment on people and we really don't realize what they are all about. This year, I had many of my perceptions change. I have been very, very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some excellent people over the last year.
Also Charley, the people who I have met through my website. People like M. K; Claire; Jackie; Josh; and others who have contributed to my website. They have truly had an impact on my life. They have shared their talents and contributed to my site not expecting anything in return only to help make a positive contribution to other peoples lives."
Charley smiled and said, "Do you realize that everything you have said has one thing in common"?
"What are you saying, Charley?" I asked.
She replied, "The one common denominator is people. The material things in your life, nor your actual job have had the most meaning in your life. It is the people in your life that have had the biggest impact. People have made the biggest difference in your life!"
I smiled. Leave it to Charley to see this and point it out to me. Material things are not important, and while our jobs provide the means, the important things in life are the people who touched our lives.
by Catherine Pulsifer
Charley has always had the ability of drawing everything out of me. She can read my face and she knows when I am deep in thought; she knows when I am upset; she knows when I am happy. She sat down and said, "Tell me what your were thinking".
"Well Charley", I replied, "I was listening to a song on the radio that asked what have you done over the last year. I was thinking about the last year. When I reflect on the year, I have had such good fortune, with a few bumps along the way. Charley, at the beginning of the year my life was in such turmoil, challenges with my work, challenges financially, major decisions that I had to make and now here we are at the end of the year and so much has happened".
Charley immediately focused my thoughts and asked, "Tell me about the three things that impacted you the most during this year"?
I sat thinking if I had to pick only three things that impacted me what would they be? After a few minutes, I looked Charley straight in the eye and said, "Okay here are the three things that impacted me the most:
1. My family.
I realized they are the most important part of my life. Throughout the year I had many challenges, but my family were always there offering support and encouragement. My husband. He understands and supports me even when I perhaps don't deserve such support. I have great children who make me proud. My parents, my sister and brothers are always there for me no matter what is happening in my life.
2. My friends. Over the years I have shared my dreams and my goals with my friends. Some goals I have realized and other goals I have not. But friends like you Charley always supported and encouraged me. It really has made a difference. As you know, I am going to make some major changes in my life in the coming year realizing a goal that is about 5 years behind but is finally coming to realization. A goal that will take me many miles away from my dear friends like you Charley but you still supported and encouraged me.
3. My colleagues. I have worked with some amazing people over the last year. People of whom I had a different perception. But, once I worked with them I realized how wrong my perception was. Sometimes, we past judgment on people and we really don't realize what they are all about. This year, I had many of my perceptions change. I have been very, very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some excellent people over the last year.
Also Charley, the people who I have met through my website. People like M. K; Claire; Jackie; Josh; and others who have contributed to my website. They have truly had an impact on my life. They have shared their talents and contributed to my site not expecting anything in return only to help make a positive contribution to other peoples lives."
Charley smiled and said, "Do you realize that everything you have said has one thing in common"?
"What are you saying, Charley?" I asked.
She replied, "The one common denominator is people. The material things in your life, nor your actual job have had the most meaning in your life. It is the people in your life that have had the biggest impact. People have made the biggest difference in your life!"
I smiled. Leave it to Charley to see this and point it out to me. Material things are not important, and while our jobs provide the means, the important things in life are the people who touched our lives.
by Catherine Pulsifer
What Do You Perceive As The Seven Wonders Of The World?
A group of students was asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World." Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:
1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall
While gathering the votes, the teacher noticed that one quiet student hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."
The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."
The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:
1. to see
2. to hear
3. to touch
4. to taste
5. to feel
6. to laugh
7. and to love."
The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous!
A gentle reminder - that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.
1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall
While gathering the votes, the teacher noticed that one quiet student hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."
The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."
The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:
1. to see
2. to hear
3. to touch
4. to taste
5. to feel
6. to laugh
7. and to love."
The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous!
A gentle reminder - that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.
What A Greek Wedding
Anyone that has read my column knows well that I am a collector of success stories. I believe they are extremely important to us.
Not to look in awe at others, but instead to gain strength from them and in turn apply their lessons to the challenges we face as we set out towards our own dreams.
Recently I was flipping through the channels and as soon as I hit the Oprah Winfrey Show something literally grabbed that channel changer and stopped me... I am so glad that it did, because I believe I ended up hearing one of the most inspiring stories I've heard in a while.
The story behind the story of My Big Fat Greek Wedding...
On the surface the Nia Vardalos' story might easily be fluffed off as just another lucky person who made it big in a hit movie. I'm telling you right now however that nothing could be farther from the truth.
While it is true that Nia reached super star status almost over night in a movie that grossed 120 million dollars and was reported to cost only 5 million dollars to make, the odd twist is the story behind the film's production and phenomenal success.
If this was anything resembling luck, it was home made luck...Nia explained that the story she'd written originally was born out of the necessity to work. She was an actress looking for work and after hearing the various reasons why she didn't fit into the stereotypical roles that were out there, Nia decided to write her own role.
Hence was born the little one woman play that actress Rita Wilson took her family to see after seeing a small clip advertising it in the newspaper. Perhaps even more incredible is that the ad that led them to the show was a one time running, because that was all that Nia could afford at the time.
Rita was so impressed with the show, that she encouraged her husband, Tom Hanks, to take it from the theater to the big screen. You see, we're not talking just luck here. There are countless examples of people, just like you and I that took that leap of faith and along the way something far greater then us came up behind us and filled in the missing pieces.
Set out each day believing in your dreams.
Know without a doubt that you were made for amazing things.
Understand that it is ok to be scared or uncertain,
however right beyond those barriers ultimately lies your dreams...
Yours in success,
Josh Hinds
Not to look in awe at others, but instead to gain strength from them and in turn apply their lessons to the challenges we face as we set out towards our own dreams.
Recently I was flipping through the channels and as soon as I hit the Oprah Winfrey Show something literally grabbed that channel changer and stopped me... I am so glad that it did, because I believe I ended up hearing one of the most inspiring stories I've heard in a while.
The story behind the story of My Big Fat Greek Wedding...
On the surface the Nia Vardalos' story might easily be fluffed off as just another lucky person who made it big in a hit movie. I'm telling you right now however that nothing could be farther from the truth.
While it is true that Nia reached super star status almost over night in a movie that grossed 120 million dollars and was reported to cost only 5 million dollars to make, the odd twist is the story behind the film's production and phenomenal success.
If this was anything resembling luck, it was home made luck...Nia explained that the story she'd written originally was born out of the necessity to work. She was an actress looking for work and after hearing the various reasons why she didn't fit into the stereotypical roles that were out there, Nia decided to write her own role.
Hence was born the little one woman play that actress Rita Wilson took her family to see after seeing a small clip advertising it in the newspaper. Perhaps even more incredible is that the ad that led them to the show was a one time running, because that was all that Nia could afford at the time.
Rita was so impressed with the show, that she encouraged her husband, Tom Hanks, to take it from the theater to the big screen. You see, we're not talking just luck here. There are countless examples of people, just like you and I that took that leap of faith and along the way something far greater then us came up behind us and filled in the missing pieces.
Set out each day believing in your dreams.
Know without a doubt that you were made for amazing things.
Understand that it is ok to be scared or uncertain,
however right beyond those barriers ultimately lies your dreams...
Yours in success,
Josh Hinds
To Make Rainbows You Need
For as long as I can remember, my aunt had stained glass hanging in her window. She had pieces from all over the world, each one hand crafted by a stained glass artist.
She loved them all, but there was one piece that hung in her kitchen window and she often referred to it as her "motivational stained glass". She told me that she hung this particular piece in her kitchen window where she would see it every day.
The stained glass piece, which she was referring to, was a rainbow. And on the rainbow someone had written the saying:
"Remember, to make rainbows you need sun and rain."
The motivational stained glass piece was one of the smaller pieces of her wonderful collection, and was not particularly well done. I asked her why she kept it there. She said it gave her motivation on days when life presented challenges. It reminded her that we need to have some bad times to appreciate the good times. And, on the days when life was good, it always reminded her that life doesn't get any better than this.
I was at our local farmers market and found a stained glass rainbow similar to the one my aunt had hanging in her window. The one I bought did not have the saying on it, but every time I look at it I can remember my aunts words and the saying ….
"To make rainbows you need sun and rain".
She loved them all, but there was one piece that hung in her kitchen window and she often referred to it as her "motivational stained glass". She told me that she hung this particular piece in her kitchen window where she would see it every day.
The stained glass piece, which she was referring to, was a rainbow. And on the rainbow someone had written the saying:
"Remember, to make rainbows you need sun and rain."
The motivational stained glass piece was one of the smaller pieces of her wonderful collection, and was not particularly well done. I asked her why she kept it there. She said it gave her motivation on days when life presented challenges. It reminded her that we need to have some bad times to appreciate the good times. And, on the days when life was good, it always reminded her that life doesn't get any better than this.
I was at our local farmers market and found a stained glass rainbow similar to the one my aunt had hanging in her window. The one I bought did not have the saying on it, but every time I look at it I can remember my aunts words and the saying ….
"To make rainbows you need sun and rain".
A Music Lesson
One day while walking through the forest, LB bear saw a sign "Forest Band Tryouts Next Week".
"Wow, a band, I would love to be in a band," he thought. LB had never played an instrument before but he was willing to try. He had seen concerts in the forest before and really admired the animals that could sing and play instruments.
He hurried home to tell his parents of the tryouts. LB's Mom was cooking dinner; Dad was sitting in his favorite chair reading the newspaper when LB rushed in with the news.
"Mom, Dad guess what, I am going to be in a band." Well his parents were stunned since they knew the little cub did not know the first thing about a musical instrument. LB's Mom just hesitated for a second and then said, "Well, that is great dear, uh, what will you play." She did not want to disappoint the cub so she tried to be encouraging.
"I am going to play the harmonica," he replied. " I just know I can do that, I know I can." He then ran to his room to practice, and he practiced every day for the next week until the tryouts. He woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed on the day of the tryouts and ran to the forest only to see all of his friends there. Sammy the squirrel was there with his guitar, Robby the rabbit with his drum set and everyone was practicing until their name was called. Finally they got to LB and he was nervous but he went in and did his very best. When he was finished he was told that he was good but not quite good enough for the band, the judges were sorry but he just could not be in the band.
LB was heart broken especially since all the other animals were chosen for the band and he wasn't. With his head down he headed home, trying not to cry. He was almost home when he heard his name being called, "Wait LB, wait, I have to talk to you," said one of the judges running toward him. LB could not imagine what was going on since he was already told he could not join his friends in the band.
"LB we need a manager for the band, can you do that." LB stood for a second and then replied, "I don't know how to be a band manager, what if I mess up?"
"Well, you won't know until you try, and anyway, all of your friends want you to be a part of the band, so will you do it?" Just at that time all the other animals joined LB. "Please do it," they all shouted. "Come on LB you can do it," said Sammy the squirrel.
"OK, I will do it, thanks guys." Everyone won that day, the other animals would be in the band and LB would be their manager.
It just goes to show that if you don't find success in one area, have patience and you will find it in another!
"Wow, a band, I would love to be in a band," he thought. LB had never played an instrument before but he was willing to try. He had seen concerts in the forest before and really admired the animals that could sing and play instruments.
He hurried home to tell his parents of the tryouts. LB's Mom was cooking dinner; Dad was sitting in his favorite chair reading the newspaper when LB rushed in with the news.
"Mom, Dad guess what, I am going to be in a band." Well his parents were stunned since they knew the little cub did not know the first thing about a musical instrument. LB's Mom just hesitated for a second and then said, "Well, that is great dear, uh, what will you play." She did not want to disappoint the cub so she tried to be encouraging.
"I am going to play the harmonica," he replied. " I just know I can do that, I know I can." He then ran to his room to practice, and he practiced every day for the next week until the tryouts. He woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed on the day of the tryouts and ran to the forest only to see all of his friends there. Sammy the squirrel was there with his guitar, Robby the rabbit with his drum set and everyone was practicing until their name was called. Finally they got to LB and he was nervous but he went in and did his very best. When he was finished he was told that he was good but not quite good enough for the band, the judges were sorry but he just could not be in the band.
LB was heart broken especially since all the other animals were chosen for the band and he wasn't. With his head down he headed home, trying not to cry. He was almost home when he heard his name being called, "Wait LB, wait, I have to talk to you," said one of the judges running toward him. LB could not imagine what was going on since he was already told he could not join his friends in the band.
"LB we need a manager for the band, can you do that." LB stood for a second and then replied, "I don't know how to be a band manager, what if I mess up?"
"Well, you won't know until you try, and anyway, all of your friends want you to be a part of the band, so will you do it?" Just at that time all the other animals joined LB. "Please do it," they all shouted. "Come on LB you can do it," said Sammy the squirrel.
"OK, I will do it, thanks guys." Everyone won that day, the other animals would be in the band and LB would be their manager.
It just goes to show that if you don't find success in one area, have patience and you will find it in another!
A Simple Gesture
A little boy selling magazines for school walked up to a house that people rarely visited. The house was very old and run down and the owner hardly ever came out. When he did come out he would not say hello to neighbors or passers by but simply just glare at them.
The boy knocked on the door and waited, sweating from fear of the old man. The boy's parents told him to stay away from the house, a lot of the other neighborhood children were told the same from their parents.
As he was ready to walk away, the door slowly opened. " What do you want?" the old man said. The little boy was very afraid but he had a quota to meet for school with selling the magazines.
"Uh, sir, I uh am selling these magazines and uh I was wondering if you would like to buy one." The old man just stared at the boy. The boy could see inside the old man's house and saw that he had dog figurines on the fireplace mantle. "Do you collect dogs?" the little boy asked. "Yes, I have many collectibles in my house, they are my family here, they are all I have." The boy then felt sorry for the man, as it seemed that he was a very lonely soul. "Well, I do have a magazine here for collectors, it is perfect for you, I also have one about dogs since you like dogs so much." The old man was ready to close the door on the boy and said, "No boy, I don't need any magazines of any kind, now goodbye."
The little boy was sad that he was not going to make his quota with the sale. He was also sad for the old man being so alone in the big house that he owned. The boy went home and then had an idea. He had a little dog figure that he got some years ago from an aunt. The figurine did not mean nearly as much to him since he had a real live dog and a large family. The boy headed back down to the old man's house with the figurine. He knocked on the door again and this time the old man came right to the door. "Boy, I thought I told you no magazines."
"No, sir I know that, I wanted to bring you a gift." The boy handed him the figurine and the old man's face lit up. "It is a Golden Retriever, I have one at home, this one is for you." The old man was simply stunned; no one had ever given him such a gift and shown him so much kindness. "Boy, you have a big heart, why are you doing this?" The boy smiled at the man and said, "Because you like dogs."
From that day on the old man started coming out of the house and acknowledging people. He and the boy became friends; the boy even brought his dog to see the man weekly.
This simple gesture changed both of their lives forever.
by Jackie Sagner
The boy knocked on the door and waited, sweating from fear of the old man. The boy's parents told him to stay away from the house, a lot of the other neighborhood children were told the same from their parents.
As he was ready to walk away, the door slowly opened. " What do you want?" the old man said. The little boy was very afraid but he had a quota to meet for school with selling the magazines.
"Uh, sir, I uh am selling these magazines and uh I was wondering if you would like to buy one." The old man just stared at the boy. The boy could see inside the old man's house and saw that he had dog figurines on the fireplace mantle. "Do you collect dogs?" the little boy asked. "Yes, I have many collectibles in my house, they are my family here, they are all I have." The boy then felt sorry for the man, as it seemed that he was a very lonely soul. "Well, I do have a magazine here for collectors, it is perfect for you, I also have one about dogs since you like dogs so much." The old man was ready to close the door on the boy and said, "No boy, I don't need any magazines of any kind, now goodbye."
The little boy was sad that he was not going to make his quota with the sale. He was also sad for the old man being so alone in the big house that he owned. The boy went home and then had an idea. He had a little dog figure that he got some years ago from an aunt. The figurine did not mean nearly as much to him since he had a real live dog and a large family. The boy headed back down to the old man's house with the figurine. He knocked on the door again and this time the old man came right to the door. "Boy, I thought I told you no magazines."
"No, sir I know that, I wanted to bring you a gift." The boy handed him the figurine and the old man's face lit up. "It is a Golden Retriever, I have one at home, this one is for you." The old man was simply stunned; no one had ever given him such a gift and shown him so much kindness. "Boy, you have a big heart, why are you doing this?" The boy smiled at the man and said, "Because you like dogs."
From that day on the old man started coming out of the house and acknowledging people. He and the boy became friends; the boy even brought his dog to see the man weekly.
This simple gesture changed both of their lives forever.
by Jackie Sagner
How Many Points Would You Score?
We sat around the table trying to decide who was the best candidate for the job. Mary felt Sam should get the job. "Just look at his education," she said to Mark and I. "Based on his resume, he has the knowledge to do the job".
"But Mary look at Ellen. Her references said she is a hard worker, and, from the interview, you could tell she works hard. That is what we need here. Someone who is not afraid of a lot of work," exclaimed Mark.
I sat and listened to Mark and Mary debate over who was the best candidate for the job. Then they turned to me and said, "What do you think Kate? Is it knowledge or is it a hard worker we need for this job?"
"Both are important but there is one thing you are both missing," I said. They both looked at me like I was crazy. I explained by saying, "Knowledge is certainly important, but knowledge can be learned. And working hard is important. But if a person just works hard but they fail to see things that could be improved or fail to see a smarter way to work rather than just working and working, than that won't help us."
I could tell by the look on their faces that they wished they had not asked me to sit on this interview. We had been interviewing for 3 days now and they had narrowed it down to the two candidates that we were discussing. Now, here I am saying that it was neither of these candidates!
"I think Ruth would be the best candidate for the job." They looked at each other, but I held up my hand in protest and said, "Hear me out before you say anything. My reason for picking Ruth is because of her attitude."
"Attitude", both Mary and Mark said at the same time! "Yes, attitude," I replied.
"Let me explain. Ruth has good education credentials, and I agree that her credentials are not as good as Sam's. And Ruth's answers to the interview questions showed she would look for ways to improve how she performs a job rather than just working and working. The one thing that impressed me the most was her attitude. From the reference checks, it confirms that she has a positive attitude and influences those around her. We need someone who can look at how and what we are doing, someone who will question the why and someone who will look for solutions."
I could see that Mark agreed with my thinking, but Mary was still impressed with Sam's education. "Mary, you can teach anyone the theory, but you can not teach someone the right attitude." Mary sat for a minute and thought about this. Finally, she replied, "You know Kate listening to you reminds me of my grandmother. She once showed me something that I had forgotten about. As you were talking, it flashed in my mind. Let me share my grandmothers way of thinking with you."
She stood up and went to the flipchart, and start writing the alphabet. Mark and I exchanged looks but let Mary continue.
She explained, "If you numbered the alphabet it would look like this."
She then proceeded to write on the flip chart,
A...B...C...D...E...F...G...H...I...J.....K...L...M....N....O
1...2....3....4....5...6....7....8...9..10..11..12. 13...14...15
P....Q....R....S....T.....U....V....W....X....Y....Z 16..17..18..19...20...21...22...23...24...25...26
She continued to write on the flip chart:
K = 11
N = 14
O = 15
W = 23
L = 12
E = 5
D = 4
G = 7
E = 5
Total 96 points
H = 8
A = 1
R = 18
D = 4
W = 23
O = 15
R = 18
K = 11
Total 98 points
A = 1
T = 20
T = 20
I = 9
T = 20
U = 21
D = 4
E = 5
Total 100 points
I was surprised when she was finished. I had never seen this done before. I suddenly realized I no longer had to explain to Mary the importance of attitude; her grandmother had done that for me. We all laughed and all agreed that Ruth was the successful candidate for the job!
You can work hard, you can have excellent educational credentials, but how many points would your attitude score?
by Catherine Pulsifer
"But Mary look at Ellen. Her references said she is a hard worker, and, from the interview, you could tell she works hard. That is what we need here. Someone who is not afraid of a lot of work," exclaimed Mark.
I sat and listened to Mark and Mary debate over who was the best candidate for the job. Then they turned to me and said, "What do you think Kate? Is it knowledge or is it a hard worker we need for this job?"
"Both are important but there is one thing you are both missing," I said. They both looked at me like I was crazy. I explained by saying, "Knowledge is certainly important, but knowledge can be learned. And working hard is important. But if a person just works hard but they fail to see things that could be improved or fail to see a smarter way to work rather than just working and working, than that won't help us."
I could tell by the look on their faces that they wished they had not asked me to sit on this interview. We had been interviewing for 3 days now and they had narrowed it down to the two candidates that we were discussing. Now, here I am saying that it was neither of these candidates!
"I think Ruth would be the best candidate for the job." They looked at each other, but I held up my hand in protest and said, "Hear me out before you say anything. My reason for picking Ruth is because of her attitude."
"Attitude", both Mary and Mark said at the same time! "Yes, attitude," I replied.
"Let me explain. Ruth has good education credentials, and I agree that her credentials are not as good as Sam's. And Ruth's answers to the interview questions showed she would look for ways to improve how she performs a job rather than just working and working. The one thing that impressed me the most was her attitude. From the reference checks, it confirms that she has a positive attitude and influences those around her. We need someone who can look at how and what we are doing, someone who will question the why and someone who will look for solutions."
I could see that Mark agreed with my thinking, but Mary was still impressed with Sam's education. "Mary, you can teach anyone the theory, but you can not teach someone the right attitude." Mary sat for a minute and thought about this. Finally, she replied, "You know Kate listening to you reminds me of my grandmother. She once showed me something that I had forgotten about. As you were talking, it flashed in my mind. Let me share my grandmothers way of thinking with you."
She stood up and went to the flipchart, and start writing the alphabet. Mark and I exchanged looks but let Mary continue.
She explained, "If you numbered the alphabet it would look like this."
She then proceeded to write on the flip chart,
A...B...C...D...E...F...G...H...I...J.....K...L...M....N....O
1...2....3....4....5...6....7....8...9..10..11..12. 13...14...15
P....Q....R....S....T.....U....V....W....X....Y....Z 16..17..18..19...20...21...22...23...24...25...26
She continued to write on the flip chart:
K = 11
N = 14
O = 15
W = 23
L = 12
E = 5
D = 4
G = 7
E = 5
Total 96 points
H = 8
A = 1
R = 18
D = 4
W = 23
O = 15
R = 18
K = 11
Total 98 points
A = 1
T = 20
T = 20
I = 9
T = 20
U = 21
D = 4
E = 5
Total 100 points
I was surprised when she was finished. I had never seen this done before. I suddenly realized I no longer had to explain to Mary the importance of attitude; her grandmother had done that for me. We all laughed and all agreed that Ruth was the successful candidate for the job!
You can work hard, you can have excellent educational credentials, but how many points would your attitude score?
by Catherine Pulsifer
Found in a Book
As many of you are aware by my past writings I have a love of books. In reading books I have found mentors, stories of people who have faced challenges and overcame them; people whom I admire.
I have also found wisdom, and words that make me stop and think, words that have given me an "aha" moment! And, some books have given me hope. These writings that have encouraged me to continue with my goals, or have inspired me to take action.
I was recently reading a book of poetry that was written in the 1930's. I bought this book at an auction. To me, older books are treasures; they contain wisdom that still applies today.
While I was reading this book, I noticed there we clippings of poems inserted throughout the book. Someone, many years ago, took the time to clip out these poems. I carefully opened these clippings and found, much to my delight, a poem that reminded me to be thankful for all that I have been blessed with. The poem was called "When I Whine". It showed Author Unknown. So I got on the Internet and found the poem; it was written by Red Foley. Upon further research, I found Mr. Foley was a singer during the post-war era who sold some 25 million records between 1944 and 1965. He was born in 1910 and his real name was Clyde Julian Foley. He died on September 19, 1968, but his words of wisdom still live on. Below is Mr. Foleys poem, When I Whine.
When I Whine
By Red Foley
Today upon a bus, I saw
A lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her - she seemed so gay -
And oh, I wished I were so fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle,
She had one foot and wore a crutch,
But as she passed, a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two feet - the world is mine.
And when I stopped to buy some sweets,
The lad who served me had such charm;
He seemed to radiate good cheer,
His manner was so kind and warm.
I said, "It's nice to deal with you,
Such courtesy I seldom find."
He turned and said, "Oh, thank you, sir!"
And I saw that he was blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two eyes - the world is mine.
Then, when walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play;
It seemed he knew not what to do,
I stopped a moment, then I said:
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word,
And then I knew; He could not hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two ears - the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go,
With eyes to see the sunset's glow,
With ears to hear what I should know:
I'm blessed indeed, The world is mine;
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
So the next time you are having an "its all about me day", or on a day when you are feeling sorry for yourself, or on a day that you catch yourself complaining about the things that truly are not issues, remember Mr. Foleys poem, "When I Whine".
By Catherine Pulsifer
I have also found wisdom, and words that make me stop and think, words that have given me an "aha" moment! And, some books have given me hope. These writings that have encouraged me to continue with my goals, or have inspired me to take action.
I was recently reading a book of poetry that was written in the 1930's. I bought this book at an auction. To me, older books are treasures; they contain wisdom that still applies today.
While I was reading this book, I noticed there we clippings of poems inserted throughout the book. Someone, many years ago, took the time to clip out these poems. I carefully opened these clippings and found, much to my delight, a poem that reminded me to be thankful for all that I have been blessed with. The poem was called "When I Whine". It showed Author Unknown. So I got on the Internet and found the poem; it was written by Red Foley. Upon further research, I found Mr. Foley was a singer during the post-war era who sold some 25 million records between 1944 and 1965. He was born in 1910 and his real name was Clyde Julian Foley. He died on September 19, 1968, but his words of wisdom still live on. Below is Mr. Foleys poem, When I Whine.
When I Whine
By Red Foley
Today upon a bus, I saw
A lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her - she seemed so gay -
And oh, I wished I were so fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle,
She had one foot and wore a crutch,
But as she passed, a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two feet - the world is mine.
And when I stopped to buy some sweets,
The lad who served me had such charm;
He seemed to radiate good cheer,
His manner was so kind and warm.
I said, "It's nice to deal with you,
Such courtesy I seldom find."
He turned and said, "Oh, thank you, sir!"
And I saw that he was blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two eyes - the world is mine.
Then, when walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play;
It seemed he knew not what to do,
I stopped a moment, then I said:
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word,
And then I knew; He could not hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two ears - the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go,
With eyes to see the sunset's glow,
With ears to hear what I should know:
I'm blessed indeed, The world is mine;
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
So the next time you are having an "its all about me day", or on a day when you are feeling sorry for yourself, or on a day that you catch yourself complaining about the things that truly are not issues, remember Mr. Foleys poem, "When I Whine".
By Catherine Pulsifer
IF and WHEN
IF and WHEN were friends. Every week they met and had lunch. Their conversation usually centered on all the things they were going to achieve. They both had many dreams and they loved to talk about them.
This particular Saturday when they met, WHEN sensed that IF was not in a great mood. As usual they sat at the table reserved for them and ordered their lunch. Once they placed their order, WHEN questioned IF. "IF what is wrong with you? You don't seem your usual cheery self?"
IF looked at WHEN and replied, "I'm not sure, I just don't feel like I am making any progress. This last week I saw a course I wanted to take if only I had the time to take it."
WHEN knew exactly how IF felt. "Yeah," replied WHEN, "I too saw a course and I am going to register when I get enough money together." WHEN then said, "well what about that new job you were going to apply for. You were so excited about it last week, did you apply?"
IF responded, "If my computer didn't break down last week, I would have applied. But, my computer is not working, so I could not type my resume."
"Don't worry about it IF, when you are ready another job will come through. I have been thinking about looking for another job also, but I will wait and when the weather gets nicer I will look then." WHEN then went on to tell IF about his week, hoping that it would cheer him up a bit.
The man at the next table couldn't help overhear WHEN and IF. They both were talking about when this and if that, finally he couldn't take it anymore. "Excuse me gentlemen," the man said. IF and WHEN both looked at the man and wondered what he wanted. The man continued, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help hearing your conversation. I think I know how you could solve your problems."
IF smiled and thought, how could a complete stranger know how to solve all of their problems. If only he knew. When he realized the challenges they faced there was no way he could solve their problems! Curious, IF asked the gentleman, "How do you think you can solve our problems?"
The gentleman smiled and said, "You only need listen to yourselves. It reminds me of an old proverb:
'If and When were planted, and Nothing grew'."
IF and WHEN looked puzzled. The gentleman smiled and said, "Start counting how many times you use the words 'if' and 'when'. Rather than thinking 'if and when', start doing, take action, stop talking about 'if and when'."
IF and WHEN both looked surprised, and suddenly realized that what the gentleman had said was so true. Both of them were guilty of thinking, acting and living their life for the "ifs and whens". The gentleman left and IF and WHEN's conversation changed. They made a pact that when they met for lunch next week, there would be no "ifs and whens"; they would only talk about what they accomplished!
by Catherine Pulsifer
This particular Saturday when they met, WHEN sensed that IF was not in a great mood. As usual they sat at the table reserved for them and ordered their lunch. Once they placed their order, WHEN questioned IF. "IF what is wrong with you? You don't seem your usual cheery self?"
IF looked at WHEN and replied, "I'm not sure, I just don't feel like I am making any progress. This last week I saw a course I wanted to take if only I had the time to take it."
WHEN knew exactly how IF felt. "Yeah," replied WHEN, "I too saw a course and I am going to register when I get enough money together." WHEN then said, "well what about that new job you were going to apply for. You were so excited about it last week, did you apply?"
IF responded, "If my computer didn't break down last week, I would have applied. But, my computer is not working, so I could not type my resume."
"Don't worry about it IF, when you are ready another job will come through. I have been thinking about looking for another job also, but I will wait and when the weather gets nicer I will look then." WHEN then went on to tell IF about his week, hoping that it would cheer him up a bit.
The man at the next table couldn't help overhear WHEN and IF. They both were talking about when this and if that, finally he couldn't take it anymore. "Excuse me gentlemen," the man said. IF and WHEN both looked at the man and wondered what he wanted. The man continued, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help hearing your conversation. I think I know how you could solve your problems."
IF smiled and thought, how could a complete stranger know how to solve all of their problems. If only he knew. When he realized the challenges they faced there was no way he could solve their problems! Curious, IF asked the gentleman, "How do you think you can solve our problems?"
The gentleman smiled and said, "You only need listen to yourselves. It reminds me of an old proverb:
'If and When were planted, and Nothing grew'."
IF and WHEN looked puzzled. The gentleman smiled and said, "Start counting how many times you use the words 'if' and 'when'. Rather than thinking 'if and when', start doing, take action, stop talking about 'if and when'."
IF and WHEN both looked surprised, and suddenly realized that what the gentleman had said was so true. Both of them were guilty of thinking, acting and living their life for the "ifs and whens". The gentleman left and IF and WHEN's conversation changed. They made a pact that when they met for lunch next week, there would be no "ifs and whens"; they would only talk about what they accomplished!
by Catherine Pulsifer
A Gift of Love
"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred.
When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks.
He blurted out the tragedy. "A boy, a big boy...called me a freak." He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. "But you might mingle with other young people," his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart.
The boy's father had a session with the family physician. Could nothing be done? "I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured" the doctor decided. So the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. Then, "You are going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret" said the father.
The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and college became a series of triumphs. Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. "But I must know!" He urged his father. "Who gave so much for me? I could never do enough for him."
"I do not believe you could," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know...not yet." The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come . . . one of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to reveal that the mother had no outer ears.
"Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," he whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"
Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance,
but in the heart.
Real treasure lies not in what that can be seen,
but what that cannot be seen.
Real love lies not in what is done and known,
but in what that is done but not known.
When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks.
He blurted out the tragedy. "A boy, a big boy...called me a freak." He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. "But you might mingle with other young people," his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart.
The boy's father had a session with the family physician. Could nothing be done? "I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured" the doctor decided. So the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. Then, "You are going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret" said the father.
The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and college became a series of triumphs. Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. "But I must know!" He urged his father. "Who gave so much for me? I could never do enough for him."
"I do not believe you could," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know...not yet." The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come . . . one of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to reveal that the mother had no outer ears.
"Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," he whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"
Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance,
but in the heart.
Real treasure lies not in what that can be seen,
but what that cannot be seen.
Real love lies not in what is done and known,
but in what that is done but not known.
Something For Stevie
I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His Placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react to Stevie. He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down Syndrome.
I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade. The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truck stop germ"; the pairs of white shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and peppershaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses onto cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their Social worker, who stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.
That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Down syndrome often had heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery and doing fine. Frannie, head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of the 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Belle Ringer a withering look. He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was that all about?" he asked. "We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK" she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I didn't get that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off," she said. "This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup." She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie."
"Pony Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I told about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving! Me this." She handed me another paper napkin that had "Something For Stevie" scrawled on its outside. Two $50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply "truckers."
That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back.
Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.
"Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!" I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said. I tried to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother.
"There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. "Happy Thanksgiving!"
Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well. But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
Best worker I ever hired. Plant a seed and watch it grow.
I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade. The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truck stop germ"; the pairs of white shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and peppershaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses onto cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their Social worker, who stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.
That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Down syndrome often had heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery and doing fine. Frannie, head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of the 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Belle Ringer a withering look. He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was that all about?" he asked. "We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK" she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I didn't get that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off," she said. "This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup." She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie."
"Pony Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I told about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving! Me this." She handed me another paper napkin that had "Something For Stevie" scrawled on its outside. Two $50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply "truckers."
That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back.
Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.
"Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!" I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said. I tried to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother.
"There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. "Happy Thanksgiving!"
Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well. But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
Best worker I ever hired. Plant a seed and watch it grow.
The Vase
One day I was lying on the bed, reading, when my mother came into the room. She held out a vase - a rather ugly vase. She asked, "Would you like to have this vase?"
I replied quickly, "No, I don't want it."
As she turned to walk away, I picked up something that said to me, wait a minute, there is something here. So I asked, '"Where did you get it?'"
She said, "Oh, I got it when I filled an order."
Filled an order? I thought - no communication here. So I asked, "What do you mean, filled an order?'"
"Well," she said, "when I was a little girl, the Smith Company mailed catalogs to people. I would take the catalog around the neighborhood, and I'd get people to order from it. When I filled an order and sent it in, they gave me a prize. One time, I got a porch swing for my family."
Now you have to understand that my mother is 81 years old. She is one of six children in a family that her father deserted when she was quite young. Money was real hard to come by. My grandmother managed to keep the family together through the years, although I don't know how. For my mother to win a luxury like a porch swing was a significant accomplishment. Although she no longer had the swing, she had the vase -a vase full of meaning - which she offered to me.
Instantly I said, "Mom, I want the vase." Now it sits in a prominent place in my living room.
It symbolizes a precious meaning which my mother and I share. Unless you and I are sensitive to the other person and hear meaning, as well as words, we may miss wonderful opportunities in life.
I replied quickly, "No, I don't want it."
As she turned to walk away, I picked up something that said to me, wait a minute, there is something here. So I asked, '"Where did you get it?'"
She said, "Oh, I got it when I filled an order."
Filled an order? I thought - no communication here. So I asked, "What do you mean, filled an order?'"
"Well," she said, "when I was a little girl, the Smith Company mailed catalogs to people. I would take the catalog around the neighborhood, and I'd get people to order from it. When I filled an order and sent it in, they gave me a prize. One time, I got a porch swing for my family."
Now you have to understand that my mother is 81 years old. She is one of six children in a family that her father deserted when she was quite young. Money was real hard to come by. My grandmother managed to keep the family together through the years, although I don't know how. For my mother to win a luxury like a porch swing was a significant accomplishment. Although she no longer had the swing, she had the vase -a vase full of meaning - which she offered to me.
Instantly I said, "Mom, I want the vase." Now it sits in a prominent place in my living room.
It symbolizes a precious meaning which my mother and I share. Unless you and I are sensitive to the other person and hear meaning, as well as words, we may miss wonderful opportunities in life.
The Wooden Bowl
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor". So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinners together.
Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.
The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when you get old." The four year old smiled and went back to work.
The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
I've learned that children's eyes observe more than there ears ever hear and the example we set for them determines their actions.
I've learned that make a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life".
I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that people will forget what you said ...people will forget what you did......but people will never forget how you made them feel.
I've learned that life is about people and making a positive difference.
I've learned that you should take care of yourself and those you love - Today and Everyday!
I've learned I still have a lot to learn!
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor". So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinners together.
Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.
The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when you get old." The four year old smiled and went back to work.
The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
I've learned that children's eyes observe more than there ears ever hear and the example we set for them determines their actions.
I've learned that make a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life".
I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that people will forget what you said ...people will forget what you did......but people will never forget how you made them feel.
I've learned that life is about people and making a positive difference.
I've learned that you should take care of yourself and those you love - Today and Everyday!
I've learned I still have a lot to learn!
The Beaver And His Goals
It started last fall when we had a beaver move in the small stream beside our house. He immediately began taking down small trees, and within a couple of weeks our small stream turned into a small pond. Everyday he added more to his damn and to his house.
We're sure you've all heard the saying, "busy as a beaver", but we never really appreciated it until we saw the work that this beaver did over a very short period of time.
With the stream now damned and his house built, we thought that would be the last of the beaver's busy activity as winter set in. But, to our amazement, he started chewing on a very large maple tree. And, we mean large. The tree is over 60 feet tall and is approximately five feet in diameter at the base. We were amazed at the challenge this beaver was attempting. Over the winter, he would come out and chew a bit more. He had setbacks as we faced major winter storms and freezing weather. We thought that he will never chew through this tree. But sure enough, when the weather allowed, he kept coming back and would chew a bit more.
With spring finally arriving, we went down to see the beaver's progress and sure enough the tree is going to come down soon!! Our beaver has now almost completely chewed around and through the entire tree.
The beaver's original goal was survival - to build a home for the winter. Working every day with that particular focus in mind, he achieved that goal. But the large maple tree he started chewing on last fall was a future goal - he wanted the large tree for the spring, to provide new food and branches to continue damning in anticipation of the spring thaw. And, even with the setbacks he faced over the winter, he never gave up.
Our point in sharing our beaver experience with you is to remind you that sometimes we have a goal to just survive, but we also need to set goals for tomorrow. And sometimes, just surviving seems to occupy all of our time - working everyday, looking after our family, going to school, and so forth. But, if you do just a little bit when times allows, and keep focused on your future goal, you will achieve it.
It is also vitally important that when faced with setbacks in achieving a goal, you need to stay focused and not let the setbacks discourage you.
We know what it means to face setbacks along the way because we were once just like the beaver. We worked it seemed just for our survival, but we also had a future goal and we constantly kept moving forward to achieve that goal. Sometimes, though, weeks would pass before we could work on our goal again, and many times we had to deal with some sort of setback. While at times we felt we would never reach our goal, we never gave up and we never lost our focus. But, over more than 5 years, we did achieve our goal.
By Byron and Catherine Pulsifer
We're sure you've all heard the saying, "busy as a beaver", but we never really appreciated it until we saw the work that this beaver did over a very short period of time.
With the stream now damned and his house built, we thought that would be the last of the beaver's busy activity as winter set in. But, to our amazement, he started chewing on a very large maple tree. And, we mean large. The tree is over 60 feet tall and is approximately five feet in diameter at the base. We were amazed at the challenge this beaver was attempting. Over the winter, he would come out and chew a bit more. He had setbacks as we faced major winter storms and freezing weather. We thought that he will never chew through this tree. But sure enough, when the weather allowed, he kept coming back and would chew a bit more.
With spring finally arriving, we went down to see the beaver's progress and sure enough the tree is going to come down soon!! Our beaver has now almost completely chewed around and through the entire tree.
The beaver's original goal was survival - to build a home for the winter. Working every day with that particular focus in mind, he achieved that goal. But the large maple tree he started chewing on last fall was a future goal - he wanted the large tree for the spring, to provide new food and branches to continue damning in anticipation of the spring thaw. And, even with the setbacks he faced over the winter, he never gave up.
Our point in sharing our beaver experience with you is to remind you that sometimes we have a goal to just survive, but we also need to set goals for tomorrow. And sometimes, just surviving seems to occupy all of our time - working everyday, looking after our family, going to school, and so forth. But, if you do just a little bit when times allows, and keep focused on your future goal, you will achieve it.
It is also vitally important that when faced with setbacks in achieving a goal, you need to stay focused and not let the setbacks discourage you.
We know what it means to face setbacks along the way because we were once just like the beaver. We worked it seemed just for our survival, but we also had a future goal and we constantly kept moving forward to achieve that goal. Sometimes, though, weeks would pass before we could work on our goal again, and many times we had to deal with some sort of setback. While at times we felt we would never reach our goal, we never gave up and we never lost our focus. But, over more than 5 years, we did achieve our goal.
By Byron and Catherine Pulsifer
The Emperor and The Seed
An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?
Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"
If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.
But
If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.
So be careful what you plant now, It will determine what you will reap tomorrow, The seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better, your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?
Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"
If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.
But
If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.
So be careful what you plant now, It will determine what you will reap tomorrow, The seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better, your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.
The Rewards and Risks of Personal Freedom
One of the first things I noticed about my newly purchased parrot, was that he couldn't fly. Chico's wings had been clipped and he was stuck here on earth just like us humans. Once the weather turned nice I took Chico and sat him on a branch of a tree in my backyard, hoping to make him happier. At first he seemed confused. He walked back and forth on the branch looking like an agitated father pacing back and forth in the maternity waiting room. I was surprised to see that he didn't flap his wings in an attempt to fly. Somehow he knew he was incapable. I always wondered how he knew such a thing.
One day, while sitting on his branch, Chico got way more agitated then he had been when I first took him outside months ago. He was pacing back and forth and talking up a storm. Then all of a sudden, he stopped pacing, let out a spine tingling scream, and started madly flapping his wings for the first time ever. About three seconds later, he lifted off from the branch like the space shuttle at Cape Canaveral! I was amazed and shocked. Little did I know his feathers had been growing back in, and just like a sly convict, Chico had been biding his time until the moment was ripe for escape!
Chico made his break for freedom on a late Monday afternoon, and by late Monday night I knew he was not coming home. Finally, on Tuesday evening Chico returned, but stayed way out of reach. I talked to him and showed him some food, but to no avail. Then I took his cage inside so he would not relate coming back to getting locked up again. Finally, I made him a firm promise that if he did come back I would let him out every day the weather was nice. Shortly after making my solemn oath, he flew onto my shoulder and I took him upstairs.
From that day on, whenever the weather was good I would let him out early and he would fly around and be back before dark. This routine lasted for about two months and then suddenly Chico became ill. The vet said that he had contracted a disease from the pigeons in the neighborhood. Within a few days he died, and I mourned his loss.
Just once the thought crossed my mind that if I had not set him free to fly every day, he would still be alive. It was then that I realized that the quality of one's life is much more important than the number of years one lives. What sense is there in being a bird if you can't fly?
Chico made his initial break for freedom on a late Monday afternoon in April. When will you make yours? You too can take a chance when the conditions are right, knowing you too in your own way, were built to fly. If you don't set yourself free, what will be the purpose of your life? I would suggest that the quality of one's life is dependant on feeling one's essence, and living the design that is you. If you are a fish, your life needs to be all about swimming. If you are a bird, your life needs to be all about flying and spreading your message to all that you meet along the way. What sense is there in being you, if you don't really let yourself free and express your heart?
By Charlie Badenhop
One day, while sitting on his branch, Chico got way more agitated then he had been when I first took him outside months ago. He was pacing back and forth and talking up a storm. Then all of a sudden, he stopped pacing, let out a spine tingling scream, and started madly flapping his wings for the first time ever. About three seconds later, he lifted off from the branch like the space shuttle at Cape Canaveral! I was amazed and shocked. Little did I know his feathers had been growing back in, and just like a sly convict, Chico had been biding his time until the moment was ripe for escape!
Chico made his break for freedom on a late Monday afternoon, and by late Monday night I knew he was not coming home. Finally, on Tuesday evening Chico returned, but stayed way out of reach. I talked to him and showed him some food, but to no avail. Then I took his cage inside so he would not relate coming back to getting locked up again. Finally, I made him a firm promise that if he did come back I would let him out every day the weather was nice. Shortly after making my solemn oath, he flew onto my shoulder and I took him upstairs.
From that day on, whenever the weather was good I would let him out early and he would fly around and be back before dark. This routine lasted for about two months and then suddenly Chico became ill. The vet said that he had contracted a disease from the pigeons in the neighborhood. Within a few days he died, and I mourned his loss.
Just once the thought crossed my mind that if I had not set him free to fly every day, he would still be alive. It was then that I realized that the quality of one's life is much more important than the number of years one lives. What sense is there in being a bird if you can't fly?
Chico made his initial break for freedom on a late Monday afternoon in April. When will you make yours? You too can take a chance when the conditions are right, knowing you too in your own way, were built to fly. If you don't set yourself free, what will be the purpose of your life? I would suggest that the quality of one's life is dependant on feeling one's essence, and living the design that is you. If you are a fish, your life needs to be all about swimming. If you are a bird, your life needs to be all about flying and spreading your message to all that you meet along the way. What sense is there in being you, if you don't really let yourself free and express your heart?
By Charlie Badenhop
Your Weakness
This is a story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.
The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"
"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.
Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.
This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the Sensei intervened. "No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.
On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defence for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
The boy's greatest weakness had become his greatest strength.
The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"
"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.
Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.
This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the Sensei intervened. "No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.
On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defence for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
The boy's greatest weakness had become his greatest strength.
Some Kind of Miracle
Everything comes gradually at its appointed hour.-Ovid.
My mother had been in a deep sleep for three days, taking in no food at all, and a minimum of forced liquid. A "Do Not Resuscitate" sign hung over her bed. Every time I looked at the sign, I shuddered. The finality of the words chilled me, even though the heat in her bedroom was way too high.
She was 88 years old and had reached the end of a long illness. She was still in her own apartment, but I had arranged for round-the-clock nursing care for her; I did not leave her side during those three days.
On the fourth morning, a Sunday, I called my husband and asked him to pick me up and drive me home (some forty minutes from my mother's apartment) so that I could get clean clothes. I had been wearing the same pair of jeans and blouse for four days, having had no idea when I arrived that the end was so near.
As we drove home that Sunday, my husband and I decided that before we went back to my mother's apartment, we would stop at the funeral home to make arrangements. The doctor had said that she would not last more than a few days at most, and the previous evening, the visiting nurse agreed with his prognosis. We felt it would be better to make the funeral arrangements while we were still relatively calm, rather than after the emotional trauma of death had set in.
I also wanted to stop at the grocery store so there would be some food in the refrigerator for the nurses and myself.
Once at my house, I quickly showered and dressed, then threw a few clothes into a shopping bag. We got back into the car. Suddenly, I told my husband that I had changed my mind about stopping off at the funeral home. And I did not want to take time to buy groceries, either. Something inside me told me that we had to get back to my mother in a hurry-before it was too late.
I rang the bell in the lobby and the daytime nurse, Callie, buzzed me in. After the elevator ride up to the 22nd floor, I saw Callie at the end of the hall, a look of amazement on her face. "It's some kind of miracle!" she exclaimed. "Your mother's eyes are open!"
Hurrying into my mother's bedroom, I was shocked to see that her eyes were open. She was propped up in the rented hospital bed, staring straight ahead. At first, I thought she was dead, and my heart started racing. But then she shifted her gaze and looked straight at me. She had a puzzled, questioning look on her face, as if to ask, "Where am I?" Or, perhaps, "Where am I going?" Then a grimace passed over her face-a grimace that I have replayed in my mind over and over again. Was it a grimace of physical pain? Of fear? Of sadness? I think by then, she felt no more pain, so it must have been a combination of fear and sadness-deep sadness at leaving, and fear of the unknown. She needed the comfort of being in my arms when she began her journey.
I held her frail body gently, and spoke to her softly, telling her how much I loved her. And then I could feel, and see, that she was gone.
I asked Callie how long my mother's eyes had been open before I arrived.
"Only a few minutes," she said. "When I heard you ring the bell downstairs, I said to your mother, 'There's your daughter. Now you just hold on there. Don't you die before she gets here.' And she did hold on. She waited for you."
Thinking about the fact that something told me not to stop for anything on the way back to my mother's apartment, but to hurry as fast as I could; thinking about the fact that my mother opened her eyes when I rang the bell, and kept them open until I got there, so that I was able to say goodbye to her, I suspect that Callie was right. It was some kind of miracle. It was the Hand of Fate.
By Arlene Uslander,
from the book, The Simple Touch Of Fate
My mother had been in a deep sleep for three days, taking in no food at all, and a minimum of forced liquid. A "Do Not Resuscitate" sign hung over her bed. Every time I looked at the sign, I shuddered. The finality of the words chilled me, even though the heat in her bedroom was way too high.
She was 88 years old and had reached the end of a long illness. She was still in her own apartment, but I had arranged for round-the-clock nursing care for her; I did not leave her side during those three days.
On the fourth morning, a Sunday, I called my husband and asked him to pick me up and drive me home (some forty minutes from my mother's apartment) so that I could get clean clothes. I had been wearing the same pair of jeans and blouse for four days, having had no idea when I arrived that the end was so near.
As we drove home that Sunday, my husband and I decided that before we went back to my mother's apartment, we would stop at the funeral home to make arrangements. The doctor had said that she would not last more than a few days at most, and the previous evening, the visiting nurse agreed with his prognosis. We felt it would be better to make the funeral arrangements while we were still relatively calm, rather than after the emotional trauma of death had set in.
I also wanted to stop at the grocery store so there would be some food in the refrigerator for the nurses and myself.
Once at my house, I quickly showered and dressed, then threw a few clothes into a shopping bag. We got back into the car. Suddenly, I told my husband that I had changed my mind about stopping off at the funeral home. And I did not want to take time to buy groceries, either. Something inside me told me that we had to get back to my mother in a hurry-before it was too late.
I rang the bell in the lobby and the daytime nurse, Callie, buzzed me in. After the elevator ride up to the 22nd floor, I saw Callie at the end of the hall, a look of amazement on her face. "It's some kind of miracle!" she exclaimed. "Your mother's eyes are open!"
Hurrying into my mother's bedroom, I was shocked to see that her eyes were open. She was propped up in the rented hospital bed, staring straight ahead. At first, I thought she was dead, and my heart started racing. But then she shifted her gaze and looked straight at me. She had a puzzled, questioning look on her face, as if to ask, "Where am I?" Or, perhaps, "Where am I going?" Then a grimace passed over her face-a grimace that I have replayed in my mind over and over again. Was it a grimace of physical pain? Of fear? Of sadness? I think by then, she felt no more pain, so it must have been a combination of fear and sadness-deep sadness at leaving, and fear of the unknown. She needed the comfort of being in my arms when she began her journey.
I held her frail body gently, and spoke to her softly, telling her how much I loved her. And then I could feel, and see, that she was gone.
I asked Callie how long my mother's eyes had been open before I arrived.
"Only a few minutes," she said. "When I heard you ring the bell downstairs, I said to your mother, 'There's your daughter. Now you just hold on there. Don't you die before she gets here.' And she did hold on. She waited for you."
Thinking about the fact that something told me not to stop for anything on the way back to my mother's apartment, but to hurry as fast as I could; thinking about the fact that my mother opened her eyes when I rang the bell, and kept them open until I got there, so that I was able to say goodbye to her, I suspect that Callie was right. It was some kind of miracle. It was the Hand of Fate.
By Arlene Uslander,
from the book, The Simple Touch Of Fate
If and When Were Planted
How is "if and when" planted? The short stories below are examples of planting "if and when":
Karen, one of my coworkers was stressed about where she was living. She hated the apartment she was in and complained every day about it. One day over coffee, I asked her why she didn't look for another apartment - it seemed like an easy solution to me. Karen's reply to this was, "I will look for another apartment when I come back from vacation."
Sam hated his job. He dreaded getting up in the morning. He hated the work he was doing and it started to take a toll on him. He had a love for photography and was currently taking a two-year course to obtain his certificate. Every night he complained about his work. After listening to his complaints for a month, I asked him why he didn't finish his course and start a small business doing photography on the weekends. His reply, "if only I had more time to finish my course. When I finish my course I will start a business."
Sarah had saved all her life and now was retired and living comfortably. The house she bought had a dishwasher in it; however, the dishwasher was old and didn't work. She hated doing dishes, and every time we visited with her she complained about doing the dishes. One night, I asked her, "Why don't you buy a new dishwasher Sarah." Her reply, "I have been thinking about it, if they would only come on sale I would."
Larry worked for a company that allowed early retirement. Larry had both the years of service and his age, which allowed him to retire, but at a reduced pension. He was having difficulty coping with all the changes that were being made in his work. He had a couple of mild attacks, not a heart attack but similar to one. He called me and we talked for hours. I was worried about the stress of his job and the effects it was having on his health. "Why don't you retire Harry? Do something that you have always wanted to do," I asked. Harry's reply to my question was, "If only I was older then I would get my full pension." I got bolder in my conversation with him, "But Harry, you have your house paid off, you have no bills, the kids are grown up. You could sell your house and downsize, it really is not worth your health is it? Harry then said, "When the summer comes maybe I will."
All of these stories have the same theme running through them. There is a proverb that says it all:
"If and when were planted, and nothing grew."
Now a year later,
Karen is still living in the apartment she hates!
Sam is still complaining about his job and still has not finished his course!
Sarah is still washing dishes!
Larry is still working and his health is not what it used to be!
The sad part of all of these stories is that all of these people had a lot of stress in their lives that they could have taken action to reduce. But, all of them defeated themselves by thinking "if" or "when". Life is too short for "if's and when's".
The next time you are in a stressful situation and you find yourself saying or thinking - "if or when" - remember the saying, "If and when were planted and nothing grew!" Change your thinking and take action, so that you can reduce your stress right now.
By Catherine Pulsifer
Karen, one of my coworkers was stressed about where she was living. She hated the apartment she was in and complained every day about it. One day over coffee, I asked her why she didn't look for another apartment - it seemed like an easy solution to me. Karen's reply to this was, "I will look for another apartment when I come back from vacation."
Sam hated his job. He dreaded getting up in the morning. He hated the work he was doing and it started to take a toll on him. He had a love for photography and was currently taking a two-year course to obtain his certificate. Every night he complained about his work. After listening to his complaints for a month, I asked him why he didn't finish his course and start a small business doing photography on the weekends. His reply, "if only I had more time to finish my course. When I finish my course I will start a business."
Sarah had saved all her life and now was retired and living comfortably. The house she bought had a dishwasher in it; however, the dishwasher was old and didn't work. She hated doing dishes, and every time we visited with her she complained about doing the dishes. One night, I asked her, "Why don't you buy a new dishwasher Sarah." Her reply, "I have been thinking about it, if they would only come on sale I would."
Larry worked for a company that allowed early retirement. Larry had both the years of service and his age, which allowed him to retire, but at a reduced pension. He was having difficulty coping with all the changes that were being made in his work. He had a couple of mild attacks, not a heart attack but similar to one. He called me and we talked for hours. I was worried about the stress of his job and the effects it was having on his health. "Why don't you retire Harry? Do something that you have always wanted to do," I asked. Harry's reply to my question was, "If only I was older then I would get my full pension." I got bolder in my conversation with him, "But Harry, you have your house paid off, you have no bills, the kids are grown up. You could sell your house and downsize, it really is not worth your health is it? Harry then said, "When the summer comes maybe I will."
All of these stories have the same theme running through them. There is a proverb that says it all:
"If and when were planted, and nothing grew."
Now a year later,
Karen is still living in the apartment she hates!
Sam is still complaining about his job and still has not finished his course!
Sarah is still washing dishes!
Larry is still working and his health is not what it used to be!
The sad part of all of these stories is that all of these people had a lot of stress in their lives that they could have taken action to reduce. But, all of them defeated themselves by thinking "if" or "when". Life is too short for "if's and when's".
The next time you are in a stressful situation and you find yourself saying or thinking - "if or when" - remember the saying, "If and when were planted and nothing grew!" Change your thinking and take action, so that you can reduce your stress right now.
By Catherine Pulsifer
May the Budgie of Happiness Sit on Your Head
My grandmother, Mimi, was a great solitaire player. My family legacy is mainly memories, so I especially cherish my few tangible mementos. Especially a photograph of Mimi, when she was in her mid-70's, sitting at the kitchen table, solitaire game in progress and a small green "budgie" (aka parakeet in this country) atop her head.
You need to realize that my grandmother was a lady. She'd been an executive secretary in her working days, and there was a dignity about her that somehow hadn't translated into subsequent generations. Genteel, she was. Prim. Proper even.
That's why the budgie picture is such a delight. If it is possible for my grandmother to relax enough to tolerate a bird in her hair - and allow a photograph! -- then it is possible for anyone to let go, let down and play. She knew what could happen. She knew what birds do . . . and she yet, let it sit there, let this fragile little creature just be.
The approaching summer will bring opportunities, and if we're not careful we'll find ourselves too busy . . . too tired . . . too dignified . . . too preoccupied . . . to step outside the lives of our safe and comfortable everyday. We'll be too worried about being careful . . . to concerned about acting our age . . . too busy thinking about tomorrow to pay attention today.
And yet: When something knocks on your door and asks, "Can [your name] come out to play?", remember. You can't know if this invitation is one of many or the last one that may come your way. Life is like that.
I have a new bumper sticker that says, "Don't Postpone Joy." I think this is what Alice Walker had in mind when she wrote, in The Color Purple, "I think it [irritates] God when you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it" (Those of you who remember the book will realize I've tidied up the verb somewhat, although I admit the sentiment was more effective written her way!)
Joy, playfulness, doing your version of letting a budgie sit on your head - these are our human way of saying "thank you" to the Universe for the gift of life - long life, short life, whatever weeks and days and years remain.
So, here's my summer wish for you: Let the budgie of happiness sit on your head. Recognize there are consequences, but live with it. Let your motto be, "Don't Postpone Joy." Make room for happiness, make time for play. Every day
You need to realize that my grandmother was a lady. She'd been an executive secretary in her working days, and there was a dignity about her that somehow hadn't translated into subsequent generations. Genteel, she was. Prim. Proper even.
That's why the budgie picture is such a delight. If it is possible for my grandmother to relax enough to tolerate a bird in her hair - and allow a photograph! -- then it is possible for anyone to let go, let down and play. She knew what could happen. She knew what birds do . . . and she yet, let it sit there, let this fragile little creature just be.
The approaching summer will bring opportunities, and if we're not careful we'll find ourselves too busy . . . too tired . . . too dignified . . . too preoccupied . . . to step outside the lives of our safe and comfortable everyday. We'll be too worried about being careful . . . to concerned about acting our age . . . too busy thinking about tomorrow to pay attention today.
And yet: When something knocks on your door and asks, "Can [your name] come out to play?", remember. You can't know if this invitation is one of many or the last one that may come your way. Life is like that.
I have a new bumper sticker that says, "Don't Postpone Joy." I think this is what Alice Walker had in mind when she wrote, in The Color Purple, "I think it [irritates] God when you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it" (Those of you who remember the book will realize I've tidied up the verb somewhat, although I admit the sentiment was more effective written her way!)
Joy, playfulness, doing your version of letting a budgie sit on your head - these are our human way of saying "thank you" to the Universe for the gift of life - long life, short life, whatever weeks and days and years remain.
So, here's my summer wish for you: Let the budgie of happiness sit on your head. Recognize there are consequences, but live with it. Let your motto be, "Don't Postpone Joy." Make room for happiness, make time for play. Every day
Keep your Eye On The Ball
As a little girl my father loved to play catch with me. I wasn't very good at it but he would play anyway. He was always telling me " keep your eye on the ball" as I would not be able to catch even the easiest of throws.
As I got older, we didn't play catch as much. If I had a problem and would go to my father and ask for his advice, he would try to make a joke with me and say" keep your eye on the ball". We would both laugh because usually that advice did not apply to the problem, but he would just try to make me smile.
My father became ill in 1995 when I was 23. There weren't any more conversations, as he was paralyzed from having a stroke. He could not speak; he could only mouth words which were sometimes hard to understand. I seemed to be pretty good at reading his lips after a while, even better than the nurses that were caring for him.
During one of our last conversations, I was telling him about a problem I was having with my then boyfriend. Once again, I could read his lips, "Keep your eye on the ball" he said, we both chuckled. That was the last time I saw my father before he passed away.
Sometimes now, all those years later when I get in a stressful situation I just tell myself "keep your eye on the ball."
By Jackie Sagner
As I got older, we didn't play catch as much. If I had a problem and would go to my father and ask for his advice, he would try to make a joke with me and say" keep your eye on the ball". We would both laugh because usually that advice did not apply to the problem, but he would just try to make me smile.
My father became ill in 1995 when I was 23. There weren't any more conversations, as he was paralyzed from having a stroke. He could not speak; he could only mouth words which were sometimes hard to understand. I seemed to be pretty good at reading his lips after a while, even better than the nurses that were caring for him.
During one of our last conversations, I was telling him about a problem I was having with my then boyfriend. Once again, I could read his lips, "Keep your eye on the ball" he said, we both chuckled. That was the last time I saw my father before he passed away.
Sometimes now, all those years later when I get in a stressful situation I just tell myself "keep your eye on the ball."
By Jackie Sagner
Believe in Your Dreams and Yourself!
I hope this story encourages you in times when your dreams seem far away, or, when you are not able to believe any words of encouragement deep in your heart.
I was doing a diploma course. When the course ended, placements started. The first company came and I was not selected. My roommate got selected though. I felt good for her, but miserable myself because I started thinking that I'm not worth anything good. I'm worthless. My room mate had not come in until dark and I was feeling so miserable that I did not even want to enter the room we shared because I had memories of both of us studying in it all through the course. I felt so miserable that I found myself crying standing on the road talking to one of my classmates, unable to control my tears. When my roommate came, she consoled me, said all the words to encourage me, pointed out the mistakes I had made in the interview so that I would do better the next day. She made me gather strength for the next set of companies that were scheduled to come the next day.
She went to bed, saying that I should wake her up if I wanted to know something about the topics we had to study for the interview. After she went to sleep, I started saying to myself half-heartedly, "Tomorrow is MY day. The company cannot go without selecting me. I will get myself selected tomorrow." I did not feel this from deep inside but I kept on saying this the whole night, probably in my sleep too, and in the morning until I faced my interview. It went ok, not too good. Still I kept on saying these one-liners to myself but now there was a difference. I found a little belief started growing that "It actually IS my day" and now it was not half-heartedly that I said all that, I started to believe it. I was so charged up by this time by my growing belief that I found myself totally at ease and confident of selection that I found myself singing with my class-mates while people were going through the interview in their respective turns.
I went through the last stage of selection, which went quite well. In the evening when the results were announced I was not selected. I went home thinking that something is wrong, this was not possible. I was not in the mood to read the topics for the interview next day with some other company.
Morning came and I sat for another written exam for the first company, still thinking about what had happened yesterday. Before sitting for the exam, I was crying when one of my classmates tried to console me that I should not worry, everything will be fine. They gave the exam and it went bad.
I came out of the room and one student told me that our head of the placements was searching for me. I went to his cabin and he congratulated me saying, "You have been selected by the company that came yesterday". I couldn't believe it. I found myself saying, "I knew this had to happen". My heart said to me, "See! I told you, you could do it. Just believe in yourself!"
My belief eventually had made me achieve what I was wishing for. Then at that point I remembered that I had an intuition that I would get selected by this company when they had come to give their pre-placement talks.
So if you have a dream then just believe that you can achieve it no matter what. Even when you can't feel deep in your heart any words of encouragement, just believe in your dream and your heart will finally show you the way. And believe that there is God who sees us every moment. Believe in intuitions and gut feelings for they are voices of your sub-conscious mind.
By Shuchi Gupta
I was doing a diploma course. When the course ended, placements started. The first company came and I was not selected. My roommate got selected though. I felt good for her, but miserable myself because I started thinking that I'm not worth anything good. I'm worthless. My room mate had not come in until dark and I was feeling so miserable that I did not even want to enter the room we shared because I had memories of both of us studying in it all through the course. I felt so miserable that I found myself crying standing on the road talking to one of my classmates, unable to control my tears. When my roommate came, she consoled me, said all the words to encourage me, pointed out the mistakes I had made in the interview so that I would do better the next day. She made me gather strength for the next set of companies that were scheduled to come the next day.
She went to bed, saying that I should wake her up if I wanted to know something about the topics we had to study for the interview. After she went to sleep, I started saying to myself half-heartedly, "Tomorrow is MY day. The company cannot go without selecting me. I will get myself selected tomorrow." I did not feel this from deep inside but I kept on saying this the whole night, probably in my sleep too, and in the morning until I faced my interview. It went ok, not too good. Still I kept on saying these one-liners to myself but now there was a difference. I found a little belief started growing that "It actually IS my day" and now it was not half-heartedly that I said all that, I started to believe it. I was so charged up by this time by my growing belief that I found myself totally at ease and confident of selection that I found myself singing with my class-mates while people were going through the interview in their respective turns.
I went through the last stage of selection, which went quite well. In the evening when the results were announced I was not selected. I went home thinking that something is wrong, this was not possible. I was not in the mood to read the topics for the interview next day with some other company.
Morning came and I sat for another written exam for the first company, still thinking about what had happened yesterday. Before sitting for the exam, I was crying when one of my classmates tried to console me that I should not worry, everything will be fine. They gave the exam and it went bad.
I came out of the room and one student told me that our head of the placements was searching for me. I went to his cabin and he congratulated me saying, "You have been selected by the company that came yesterday". I couldn't believe it. I found myself saying, "I knew this had to happen". My heart said to me, "See! I told you, you could do it. Just believe in yourself!"
My belief eventually had made me achieve what I was wishing for. Then at that point I remembered that I had an intuition that I would get selected by this company when they had come to give their pre-placement talks.
So if you have a dream then just believe that you can achieve it no matter what. Even when you can't feel deep in your heart any words of encouragement, just believe in your dream and your heart will finally show you the way. And believe that there is God who sees us every moment. Believe in intuitions and gut feelings for they are voices of your sub-conscious mind.
By Shuchi Gupta
Motivational Speakers and Authors - The Secret to Their Success
"Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." -- Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
"You become what you think about." -- Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)
"Fear of failure becomes fear of success for those who never try anything new." -- Wayne Dyer
"You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." -- Zig Ziglar
The four most prominent motivational speaker-authors share five similarities that help account for their success:
(1) Childhoods laden with hardships
(2) Insatiable curiosity about human potential
(3) Desire to help others
(4) Backgrounds in careers that required speaking and outgoing personalities, i.e, sales, broadcasting or journalism.
(5) Persistence, persistence
Napoleon Hill was born into poverty in rural Virginia and his mother died when he was 10. Earl Nightingale also grew up poor, in Long Beach, California during the Depression, and his father left the family when he was 12. Wayne Dyer spent the first decade of his life in foster homes and orphanages. Zig Ziglar was born in rural Alabama during the Depression and his father died when he was still a boy.
From an early age, Napoleon Hill tried to find the answer to how people from meager backgrounds with no discernible advantages manage to reach tremendous heights in life. Striving to overcome a handicap of birth of ignorance and superstition, he studied the greats-Emerson, Paine, Edison, Darwin, Lincoln, Ford, Carnegie and his namesake, Napoleon-and tried to reshape his own character by emulating them. As a mountain reporter working his way through law school, Hill had an assignment to write a series of success stories of famous men and interviewed Andrew Carnegie. The steel magnate then commissioned the young reporter to interview more than 500 millionaires to find a success formula that could be used by the average person. It took Hill over 20 years to produce his ground-breaking book, Think and Grow Rich, in 1937.
In the book, Hill tells a story that illustrates his philosophy that "whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." A man named Barnes was bent on partnering with Thomas Edison. One day Barnes showed up at Edison's door and Edison thought he looked like a tramp. But impressed with the determination on his face, Edison offered Barnes a job in his office at a nominal wage. It was not exactly the golden horseshoe, but when the opportunity did present itself, it turned out differently than Barnes expected. Edison had invented a dictating machine that left his salesmen unenthused. Barnes knew he could sell it so Edison gave him a contract to market the machine all over the nation. Barnes made a pile of money and proved that he could really "think and grow rich."
Like his idol, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale was hungry for knowledge. As a young boy he would frequent the Long Beach Public Library in California, searching for the answer to a question similar to Hills's: "How can a person, starting from scratch, who has no particular advantage in the world, reach the goals that he feels are important to him, and, by so doing, make a major contribution to others?"
As a member of the Marine Corps, Nightingale volunteered to work at a local radio station as an announcer. Years later, he would become host of his own daily commentary program and for three decades was heard on more than 1,000 radio stations across the U.S., Canada, and 10 foreign countries. When he was 29, he read Think and Grow Rich and its message, "We become what we think about," would become his credo. As owner of an insurance company, Nightingale spent time motivating his sales force to greater accomplishments. His sales manager begged him to put his inspirational words on record. The result, entitled The Strangest Secret, reveals the answer to the question that had inspired him as a youth. The recording was also the first spoken word message to win a Gold Record by selling over a million copies.
Zig Ziglar grew up with insecurities and small expectations. As a salesman, he had little confidence until a sales exec told him that if he would only recognize his ability he'd become a great one. Ziglar went on to become a star salesman and many of his books focus on improving the self-esteem of sales people around the world.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, author of 20 self-help books, is the only author in the self-improvement section of Barnes & Noble on 82nd Street and Broadway, to have a shelf embossed with his name. Affectionately known by fans as the father of motivation, Dyer began his career as an educator and eventually earned a doctorate in counseling psychotherapy.
He too borrowed from Napoleon Hill, especially the philosophy that we become what we think about. One principle he lives by is to focus on what you want and refuse to let anyone stand your way. He uses the example of the Wright Brothers. "I don't think Orville and Wilbur said to each other, 'This thing is heavier than air, so how will it get off the ground?'"
How can we emulate these four masters of self-improvement? While we have no control over our birthright, we can expand our curiosity, help others to achieve their dreams, and always keep our eye on the ball.
By Francine Silverman
"You become what you think about." -- Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)
"Fear of failure becomes fear of success for those who never try anything new." -- Wayne Dyer
"You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." -- Zig Ziglar
The four most prominent motivational speaker-authors share five similarities that help account for their success:
(1) Childhoods laden with hardships
(2) Insatiable curiosity about human potential
(3) Desire to help others
(4) Backgrounds in careers that required speaking and outgoing personalities, i.e, sales, broadcasting or journalism.
(5) Persistence, persistence
Napoleon Hill was born into poverty in rural Virginia and his mother died when he was 10. Earl Nightingale also grew up poor, in Long Beach, California during the Depression, and his father left the family when he was 12. Wayne Dyer spent the first decade of his life in foster homes and orphanages. Zig Ziglar was born in rural Alabama during the Depression and his father died when he was still a boy.
From an early age, Napoleon Hill tried to find the answer to how people from meager backgrounds with no discernible advantages manage to reach tremendous heights in life. Striving to overcome a handicap of birth of ignorance and superstition, he studied the greats-Emerson, Paine, Edison, Darwin, Lincoln, Ford, Carnegie and his namesake, Napoleon-and tried to reshape his own character by emulating them. As a mountain reporter working his way through law school, Hill had an assignment to write a series of success stories of famous men and interviewed Andrew Carnegie. The steel magnate then commissioned the young reporter to interview more than 500 millionaires to find a success formula that could be used by the average person. It took Hill over 20 years to produce his ground-breaking book, Think and Grow Rich, in 1937.
In the book, Hill tells a story that illustrates his philosophy that "whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." A man named Barnes was bent on partnering with Thomas Edison. One day Barnes showed up at Edison's door and Edison thought he looked like a tramp. But impressed with the determination on his face, Edison offered Barnes a job in his office at a nominal wage. It was not exactly the golden horseshoe, but when the opportunity did present itself, it turned out differently than Barnes expected. Edison had invented a dictating machine that left his salesmen unenthused. Barnes knew he could sell it so Edison gave him a contract to market the machine all over the nation. Barnes made a pile of money and proved that he could really "think and grow rich."
Like his idol, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale was hungry for knowledge. As a young boy he would frequent the Long Beach Public Library in California, searching for the answer to a question similar to Hills's: "How can a person, starting from scratch, who has no particular advantage in the world, reach the goals that he feels are important to him, and, by so doing, make a major contribution to others?"
As a member of the Marine Corps, Nightingale volunteered to work at a local radio station as an announcer. Years later, he would become host of his own daily commentary program and for three decades was heard on more than 1,000 radio stations across the U.S., Canada, and 10 foreign countries. When he was 29, he read Think and Grow Rich and its message, "We become what we think about," would become his credo. As owner of an insurance company, Nightingale spent time motivating his sales force to greater accomplishments. His sales manager begged him to put his inspirational words on record. The result, entitled The Strangest Secret, reveals the answer to the question that had inspired him as a youth. The recording was also the first spoken word message to win a Gold Record by selling over a million copies.
Zig Ziglar grew up with insecurities and small expectations. As a salesman, he had little confidence until a sales exec told him that if he would only recognize his ability he'd become a great one. Ziglar went on to become a star salesman and many of his books focus on improving the self-esteem of sales people around the world.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, author of 20 self-help books, is the only author in the self-improvement section of Barnes & Noble on 82nd Street and Broadway, to have a shelf embossed with his name. Affectionately known by fans as the father of motivation, Dyer began his career as an educator and eventually earned a doctorate in counseling psychotherapy.
He too borrowed from Napoleon Hill, especially the philosophy that we become what we think about. One principle he lives by is to focus on what you want and refuse to let anyone stand your way. He uses the example of the Wright Brothers. "I don't think Orville and Wilbur said to each other, 'This thing is heavier than air, so how will it get off the ground?'"
How can we emulate these four masters of self-improvement? While we have no control over our birthright, we can expand our curiosity, help others to achieve their dreams, and always keep our eye on the ball.
By Francine Silverman
The Secret of Happiness
The old man shuffled slowly into the restaurant. With head tilted, and shoulders bent forward, he leaned on his trusty cane with each unhurried step.
His tattered cloth jacket, patched trousers, worn out shoes, and warm personality made him stand out from the usual Saturday morning breakfast crowd. Unforgettable were his pale blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds, large rosy cheeks, and thin lips held in a tight, steady smile.
He stopped, turned with his whole body, and winked at a little girl seated by the door. She flashed a big grin right back at him. A young waitress named Mary watched him shuffle toward a table by the window.
Mary ran over to him, and said, "Here, Sir. Let me give you a hand with that chair."
Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table. Steadying him with one arm, she helped him move in front of the chair, and get comfortably seated. Then she scooted the table up close to him, and leaned his cane against the table where he could reach it.
In a soft, clear voice he said, "Thank you, Miss. And bless you for your kind gestures."
"You're welcome, Sir." She replied. "And my name is Mary. I'll be back in a moment, and if you need anything at all in the mean time, just wave at me!"
After he had finished a hearty meal of pancakes, bacon, and hot lemon tea, Mary brought him the change from his ticket. He left it lay. She helped him up from his chair, and out from behind the table. She handed him his cane, and walked with him to the front door.
Holding the door open for him, she said, "Come back and see us, Sir!"
He turned with his whole body, winked a smile, and nodded a thank you. "You are very kind." he said softly.
When Mary went to clean his table, she almost fainted. Under his plate she found a business card, and a note scribbled on a napkin. Under the napkin was a one hundred dollar bill.
The note on the napkin read...
"Dear Mary, I respect you very much, and you respect yourself too. It shows by the way you treat others. You have found the secret of happiness. Your kind gestures will shine through those who meet you."
The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she, or any of his employees had ever seen him in person.
Note: This story is based on actual events experienced by a friend from St. Paul, Minnesota. The note is the exact wording on the napkin that she has kept in her scrap book for fifteen years.
by Steve Brunkhorst,
His tattered cloth jacket, patched trousers, worn out shoes, and warm personality made him stand out from the usual Saturday morning breakfast crowd. Unforgettable were his pale blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds, large rosy cheeks, and thin lips held in a tight, steady smile.
He stopped, turned with his whole body, and winked at a little girl seated by the door. She flashed a big grin right back at him. A young waitress named Mary watched him shuffle toward a table by the window.
Mary ran over to him, and said, "Here, Sir. Let me give you a hand with that chair."
Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table. Steadying him with one arm, she helped him move in front of the chair, and get comfortably seated. Then she scooted the table up close to him, and leaned his cane against the table where he could reach it.
In a soft, clear voice he said, "Thank you, Miss. And bless you for your kind gestures."
"You're welcome, Sir." She replied. "And my name is Mary. I'll be back in a moment, and if you need anything at all in the mean time, just wave at me!"
After he had finished a hearty meal of pancakes, bacon, and hot lemon tea, Mary brought him the change from his ticket. He left it lay. She helped him up from his chair, and out from behind the table. She handed him his cane, and walked with him to the front door.
Holding the door open for him, she said, "Come back and see us, Sir!"
He turned with his whole body, winked a smile, and nodded a thank you. "You are very kind." he said softly.
When Mary went to clean his table, she almost fainted. Under his plate she found a business card, and a note scribbled on a napkin. Under the napkin was a one hundred dollar bill.
The note on the napkin read...
"Dear Mary, I respect you very much, and you respect yourself too. It shows by the way you treat others. You have found the secret of happiness. Your kind gestures will shine through those who meet you."
The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she, or any of his employees had ever seen him in person.
Note: This story is based on actual events experienced by a friend from St. Paul, Minnesota. The note is the exact wording on the napkin that she has kept in her scrap book for fifteen years.
by Steve Brunkhorst,
The Wise Woman
A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."
Sometimes it's not the wealth you have
but
what's inside you that others need.
Inspirational Quotes to Reflect On:
He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has. Henry Ward Beecher
You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy. Garth Brooks
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Ayn Rand
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."
Sometimes it's not the wealth you have
but
what's inside you that others need.
Inspirational Quotes to Reflect On:
He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has. Henry Ward Beecher
You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy. Garth Brooks
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Ayn Rand
The Greeting Card That Woke Me Up
Life is easy, change is easy, and everything is easy. If only this was true. How often have we looked at successful people in almost any walk of life and wished we could have what they have. It seems so easy for them. Well, nothing is as easy as it seems. But, what makes the difference; what has made other people's success look easy?
Not to long ago, I was faced with what appeared to be a brick wall. After leaving a corporate environment for greener pastures, I found that the other side wasn't any greener, nor did there seem to be any grass at all. No matter what I attempted to do, I was invariably knocked back to square one. So, I started another business venture, again to be knocked back to square one.
I began to doubt my own confidence; maybe I had made a fatal error. Maybe, I should go back to what I did before. At least, it seemed to be a much more secure and safer environment. As I contemplated my future, I received a card in the mail from a friend of mine who knew how I was struggling. The card read: "Persistence; persistence prevails when all else fails".
I sat there reading that card, once, twice, three times. What did these words mean for me? Were these words just that; words, nothing more? When you're faced with an uncertain future, when all you try seems to go nowhere, maybe there was more truth to these words than I realized.
Maybe, I hadn't found the right recipe for success. On the other hand, maybe I had given up too soon. Ever heard the expression 'back up and re-load'. Well, if you haven't, it meant to me that I should start again but this time internalizing the words "persistence prevails when all else fails".
To make a long story short, I did persevere; persistence paid off with a good dose of patience realizing that a new beginning doesn't emerge to success overnight. After all, in my former corporate career, I had invested years of education and training to become successful. Why should it be any different when I started a new business venture?
Failure is the incapacity to learn from your mistakes. Success is the capacity to learn, to persist, to persevere in order to reach your goal. Life can be filled with failures, but only those who don't persevere adopt failure as the way it has to be.
by Byron Pulsifer
Not to long ago, I was faced with what appeared to be a brick wall. After leaving a corporate environment for greener pastures, I found that the other side wasn't any greener, nor did there seem to be any grass at all. No matter what I attempted to do, I was invariably knocked back to square one. So, I started another business venture, again to be knocked back to square one.
I began to doubt my own confidence; maybe I had made a fatal error. Maybe, I should go back to what I did before. At least, it seemed to be a much more secure and safer environment. As I contemplated my future, I received a card in the mail from a friend of mine who knew how I was struggling. The card read: "Persistence; persistence prevails when all else fails".
I sat there reading that card, once, twice, three times. What did these words mean for me? Were these words just that; words, nothing more? When you're faced with an uncertain future, when all you try seems to go nowhere, maybe there was more truth to these words than I realized.
Maybe, I hadn't found the right recipe for success. On the other hand, maybe I had given up too soon. Ever heard the expression 'back up and re-load'. Well, if you haven't, it meant to me that I should start again but this time internalizing the words "persistence prevails when all else fails".
To make a long story short, I did persevere; persistence paid off with a good dose of patience realizing that a new beginning doesn't emerge to success overnight. After all, in my former corporate career, I had invested years of education and training to become successful. Why should it be any different when I started a new business venture?
Failure is the incapacity to learn from your mistakes. Success is the capacity to learn, to persist, to persevere in order to reach your goal. Life can be filled with failures, but only those who don't persevere adopt failure as the way it has to be.
by Byron Pulsifer
What My Widowed Husband Has Taught Me
When two people become one flesh by way of marriage, it is not only their hearts that are united, but their minds and souls as well. Intertwined in unison, this melding of two spirits gives rise to a new way of looking at the world, for it is no longer just your own heart that feels, but your spouse's as well. His pain becomes your pain; his joy becomes your joy…and vice versa. And along this marital road to discovering each other, your spouse's traits which you have learned to love, admire, accept, appreciate, nurture, and respect, become your own personal goals as well.
Before I met my previously widowed husband, I lacked experience in and knowledge about issues such as death, dying, and grief. All I possessed were some basic beliefs about each, but nothing tangible upon which to base them. My husband, however, had cornered the market on all three, sadly enough. Not only had he lost his terminally ill first wife of seven years, but his past also harbored the losses of a dearly loved father and brother. I'm sure we'd all agree that he has endured the greatest tragedies one can ever humanly experience.
But we who are without experience can only speculate how we would handle such occurrences if and when death touches out lives, either directly or indirectly. Yes, we would be heartbroken…our lives shattered and upended…but would we survive, perhaps even thrive, because of it? Via the example set by my husband, and the wisdom he has shared with me, I have learned some valuable insights into this thing called grief and its effects on the lives of its survivors. Through the years of being truly "as one" with him, I have absorbed my husband's character into my own, and now see things not only through more compassionate eyes, but more hopeful and wiser ones as well.
The following are my tender observations and life lessons gleaned from loving a man who has endured tragic loss, and yet has found his way out of the darkness of grief into the light of life anew. They are the reasons why I love my husband eternally, and they are also the inspiration for the best changes I have ever made to my outlook on life. Though they may sound like platitudes or cliches, when learned along the journey of grief or by loving someone who walks this journey daily, they tend to take on a whole new meaning for everyday life and become words to live by:
All things happen for a reason - even if you have no idea what that reason is at the time. After my husband lost his first wife, a minister quoted this line to him in great earnest and sympathy. Thank God he was a man of the cloth, or my husband probably would have pounded him into salt, for the last thing a newly bereaved spouse needs or wants to hear is that their dearly departed was taken from this earth "for a reason". To them, there is no earthly excuse for a loving God to take away a life partner, thereby causing the survivors so much anguish.
Years later, however, my husband came to realize that these words were true. He now, after all these years, possesses the wisdom of hindsight, and has surmised that perhaps his wife died for reasons he cannot and may never fully understand, but are within the perfect will of the Almighty. Having such a tragedy deepen his faith has only served to comfort him when faced with other dark times in his life.
I have learned that there is much peace to be found in accepting that a Higher Power with greater plans for our lives than we can ever fathom - as well as a love that is bigger than we could ever imagine - allows bad things to happen to us so that we might pass the tests of faith, grow, learn, and yes, even prosper because of them.
Life is a choice - as is how you handle the pitfalls along its bumpy road. "You can be better or bitter - the choice is up to you". I have heard these pearls of my mother's sage advice echo in my mind many times when I have experienced devastating blows in my life. But I never really accepted them until I met my widowed husband.
There is something attractive about a man who faces life's challenges with a positive outlook, and often, this perception is forged from great loss. My husband chose to live a positive, productive life after the death of his first wife. He could have remained a bitter, angry survivor, stuck in a rut of self-pity. And while no one could have blamed him should he have chosen this path, it would not have served him well. He made a decision to focus on the positive aspects of the life he now faced, and spent productive time nurturing those seeds until they rooted in his character.
I have learned that life is what you make of it. The power and control of all things, good and bad, lies in how you choose to mold the outcomes of each life situation. There are many things in life that are beyond our control. But there are few things in life that are beyond our power of choice and our ability to make lemonade from lemons if we just put our minds to it while we focus on the gifts of the present
You're stronger than you think you are. As my husband's late wife was dying of cancer, he often thought of how he would cope with her eventual death when it finally happened. At the time, he wasn't sure he would survive it. His dark thoughts of making funeral and burial plans for the love of his life were soon realized, however, and although he numbly attended to the details of her passing and the emotional carnage of her loss, he did survive. He often tells me that in retrospect, it surprised him how much stronger he actually was in spite of his prior thoughts of how weak and unable to handle the grief he might be.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I'm not sure who first quoted these infamous words of wisdom, but whoever it was, he/she was correct. Remember how nervous and insecure you felt the first time you ever gave a speech? Or delivered your first baby? Or went on your first date? You may have thought you'd just die. But you got through all of these scenarios with courage. The next time you spoke to a crowd, or birthed a baby, or took the homecoming queen out to dinner, you weren't as afraid. You had slain the dragons of fear the first time, and danced in their ashes the next. And the next. And so on, until your newfound inner strength became your shield. I have learned that coping with fear is a challenge for which I welcome. It only means that I will become a stronger, more capable person. Giving into fear, and forever allowing it to paralyze you, is the antithesis of growth.
Accept what you cannot change. For my husband, the diagnosis of his late wife's terminal cancer was not something he wanted to accept. He delved into reading all he could learn about this dreaded disease in the hope of finding a miracle cure, perhaps something that his late wife's doctors had not yet thought of. He tells me that he wasted precious time - time he could have been enjoying with his late wife, making the most and the best of her final days - as he desperately searched for something…anything…that would change the inevitable.
Had he accepted the doctors' grim but verifiable declarations that they had exhausted all means available to reverse her cancer or keep it from killing her, my husband might not have felt so guilty about using up the last hours of his late wife's life with meticulous and unrelenting research. Instead, he may have been able to cope much easier, and may have been able to ferret out the sweet memories from the horrific, leaving him less prone to guilt. Hope is a beautiful thing. It gives us peace and strength, and keeps us going when all seems lost. Accepting what you cannot change doesn't mean you have given up on hope. It just means you have to focus your hope on more humanly tangible and attainable goals. It might even mean that you must refocus your hope onto yourself, knowing that whatever the outcome, you will be alright.
I have learned that by accepting what I cannot change, I can embrace the "here and now", live for the moment, and focus on what IS possible, not on what is not.
By Julie Donner Andersen
Before I met my previously widowed husband, I lacked experience in and knowledge about issues such as death, dying, and grief. All I possessed were some basic beliefs about each, but nothing tangible upon which to base them. My husband, however, had cornered the market on all three, sadly enough. Not only had he lost his terminally ill first wife of seven years, but his past also harbored the losses of a dearly loved father and brother. I'm sure we'd all agree that he has endured the greatest tragedies one can ever humanly experience.
But we who are without experience can only speculate how we would handle such occurrences if and when death touches out lives, either directly or indirectly. Yes, we would be heartbroken…our lives shattered and upended…but would we survive, perhaps even thrive, because of it? Via the example set by my husband, and the wisdom he has shared with me, I have learned some valuable insights into this thing called grief and its effects on the lives of its survivors. Through the years of being truly "as one" with him, I have absorbed my husband's character into my own, and now see things not only through more compassionate eyes, but more hopeful and wiser ones as well.
The following are my tender observations and life lessons gleaned from loving a man who has endured tragic loss, and yet has found his way out of the darkness of grief into the light of life anew. They are the reasons why I love my husband eternally, and they are also the inspiration for the best changes I have ever made to my outlook on life. Though they may sound like platitudes or cliches, when learned along the journey of grief or by loving someone who walks this journey daily, they tend to take on a whole new meaning for everyday life and become words to live by:
All things happen for a reason - even if you have no idea what that reason is at the time. After my husband lost his first wife, a minister quoted this line to him in great earnest and sympathy. Thank God he was a man of the cloth, or my husband probably would have pounded him into salt, for the last thing a newly bereaved spouse needs or wants to hear is that their dearly departed was taken from this earth "for a reason". To them, there is no earthly excuse for a loving God to take away a life partner, thereby causing the survivors so much anguish.
Years later, however, my husband came to realize that these words were true. He now, after all these years, possesses the wisdom of hindsight, and has surmised that perhaps his wife died for reasons he cannot and may never fully understand, but are within the perfect will of the Almighty. Having such a tragedy deepen his faith has only served to comfort him when faced with other dark times in his life.
I have learned that there is much peace to be found in accepting that a Higher Power with greater plans for our lives than we can ever fathom - as well as a love that is bigger than we could ever imagine - allows bad things to happen to us so that we might pass the tests of faith, grow, learn, and yes, even prosper because of them.
Life is a choice - as is how you handle the pitfalls along its bumpy road. "You can be better or bitter - the choice is up to you". I have heard these pearls of my mother's sage advice echo in my mind many times when I have experienced devastating blows in my life. But I never really accepted them until I met my widowed husband.
There is something attractive about a man who faces life's challenges with a positive outlook, and often, this perception is forged from great loss. My husband chose to live a positive, productive life after the death of his first wife. He could have remained a bitter, angry survivor, stuck in a rut of self-pity. And while no one could have blamed him should he have chosen this path, it would not have served him well. He made a decision to focus on the positive aspects of the life he now faced, and spent productive time nurturing those seeds until they rooted in his character.
I have learned that life is what you make of it. The power and control of all things, good and bad, lies in how you choose to mold the outcomes of each life situation. There are many things in life that are beyond our control. But there are few things in life that are beyond our power of choice and our ability to make lemonade from lemons if we just put our minds to it while we focus on the gifts of the present
You're stronger than you think you are. As my husband's late wife was dying of cancer, he often thought of how he would cope with her eventual death when it finally happened. At the time, he wasn't sure he would survive it. His dark thoughts of making funeral and burial plans for the love of his life were soon realized, however, and although he numbly attended to the details of her passing and the emotional carnage of her loss, he did survive. He often tells me that in retrospect, it surprised him how much stronger he actually was in spite of his prior thoughts of how weak and unable to handle the grief he might be.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I'm not sure who first quoted these infamous words of wisdom, but whoever it was, he/she was correct. Remember how nervous and insecure you felt the first time you ever gave a speech? Or delivered your first baby? Or went on your first date? You may have thought you'd just die. But you got through all of these scenarios with courage. The next time you spoke to a crowd, or birthed a baby, or took the homecoming queen out to dinner, you weren't as afraid. You had slain the dragons of fear the first time, and danced in their ashes the next. And the next. And so on, until your newfound inner strength became your shield. I have learned that coping with fear is a challenge for which I welcome. It only means that I will become a stronger, more capable person. Giving into fear, and forever allowing it to paralyze you, is the antithesis of growth.
Accept what you cannot change. For my husband, the diagnosis of his late wife's terminal cancer was not something he wanted to accept. He delved into reading all he could learn about this dreaded disease in the hope of finding a miracle cure, perhaps something that his late wife's doctors had not yet thought of. He tells me that he wasted precious time - time he could have been enjoying with his late wife, making the most and the best of her final days - as he desperately searched for something…anything…that would change the inevitable.
Had he accepted the doctors' grim but verifiable declarations that they had exhausted all means available to reverse her cancer or keep it from killing her, my husband might not have felt so guilty about using up the last hours of his late wife's life with meticulous and unrelenting research. Instead, he may have been able to cope much easier, and may have been able to ferret out the sweet memories from the horrific, leaving him less prone to guilt. Hope is a beautiful thing. It gives us peace and strength, and keeps us going when all seems lost. Accepting what you cannot change doesn't mean you have given up on hope. It just means you have to focus your hope on more humanly tangible and attainable goals. It might even mean that you must refocus your hope onto yourself, knowing that whatever the outcome, you will be alright.
I have learned that by accepting what I cannot change, I can embrace the "here and now", live for the moment, and focus on what IS possible, not on what is not.
By Julie Donner Andersen
No Santa?
I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit my Grandma on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything.
She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go" "Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through it doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days "Take this money and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. Suddenly I thought of Bobbie Decker. He sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobbie Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it - Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. From there we watched Bobbie come to the door and pick up his present from "Santa."
Forty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team."
Merry Christmas everyone.....The spirit is in you......Remember that!
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything.
She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go" "Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through it doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days "Take this money and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. Suddenly I thought of Bobbie Decker. He sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobbie Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it - Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. From there we watched Bobbie come to the door and pick up his present from "Santa."
Forty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team."
Merry Christmas everyone.....The spirit is in you......Remember that!
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