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Post by Rhonda on Oct 26, 2007 0:08:38 GMT -5
LIFE IS MEANT TO BE LIVED
Life is to be lived. No excuses. No reservations. No holding back.
An enchanting story about violinist Fritz Kreisler tells how he once came across a beautiful instrument he wanted to acquire. When he finally raised the money for the violin, he returned to buy it and learned that it had already been sold to a collector.
He went to the new owner's home in order to try to persuade him to sell the violin. But the collector said it was one of his prized possessions and he could not let it go. The disappointed Kreisler turned to leave, but then asked a favor. "May I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?"
Permission was granted and the great musician began to play. The violin sang out a quality of music so beautiful that the collector himself could only listen in wonderment. "I have no right to keep that to myself," he said after the musician finished. "The violin is yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into world, and let people hear it."
William Arthur Ward said, "If you believe in prayer, pray; if you believe in serving, serve; if you believe in giving, give." For you and I are exquisite violins -- our music is meant to be heard.
I want to live my life that way -- to take it into the world and live it fully. I'd rather burn out than rust out. I'd rather be used up than die not having done whatever I could...wherever I would.
I'm not talking about wearing ourselves out on over-activity. Happiness is never found in excessive busyness. But it is found in investing our lives in others. Saying YES when asked for a hand. Volunteering some time for a worthwhile organization. Spending an hour with a lonely relative.
In the end, I know that my happiness will not have been about by my ability or my inability. It will have been about my availability. My life is meant to be lived.
-- Steve Goodier __________
P.S. AIN'T IT SO Arguing with some people is like trying to blow out an electric light bulb. -- Unknown
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Post by Rhonda on Oct 26, 2007 0:09:30 GMT -5
CHOOSING CONFIDENCE
Carefully examining a display in the drugstore, a man asked the pharmacist, "Do you really guarantee this hair-restorer?"
The pharmacist responded, "Better than that, sir. We give a comb with every bottle." Wouldn't you love to have that kind of confidence?
One man quipped, "When it comes to believing in myself, I'm an agnostic." One of the greatest problems many people experience is lack of confidence. Some don't believe in their ability to speak in public, others are afraid to try something they've never done before, and still others do not have the confidence to overcome their shyness.
Do you know that you can become more confident? One effective technique is to learn to do what you're afraid to do.
I led a seminar a few years ago where I asked for three volunteers to speak to the group the next day. One young woman named Judy was the first to raise her hand. She explained to me later why she did so: "When you asked for three volunteers," Judy said, "I felt a knot of fear in my stomach. I've never done anything like this before and I've never really believed I could. But the fear was telling me something," she continued. "So...BECAUSE I felt so anxious, I decided that this was something I had to do. But I must to tell you, I'm terrified!"
She made up her mind to DO that which she was afraid to do. And the following day, Judy's five-minute talk was superb! She was honest and genuine, speaking right from her heart. Now she is more confident about her ability to speak in public.
People who are confident have choices. People who are fearful too often avoid much of life because they are afraid to venture into unknown territory.
Jim Loehr said, "With confidence, you can reach truly amazing heights; without confidence, even the simplest accomplishments are beyond your grasp." When you make what you're afraid to do what you CHOOSE to do, you will soon have the confidence TO DO whatever you choose!
-- Steve Goodier __________
P.S. CELEBRITY QUIP In the beginning there was nothing. God said, "Let there be light!" And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better. -- Ellen DeGeneres
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Post by Rhonda on Oct 26, 2007 0:10:32 GMT -5
ALIVE AND PRESENT
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told of a childhood incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life. It happened when he was nine years old. It was winter. Young Frank was walking across a snow-covered field with his uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field.
"Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle said. "And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."
Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how this experience had greatly contributed to his life's philosophy. "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."
He determined to be alive and present. To be fully aware and squeeze as much life out of each moment as possible.
We will miss most things in life if we live in the past. Let us learn from the past, but not live there.
We will miss most things in life if we live in the future. Let us plan for the future, but not live there.
We will miss little if we live in the present. And we'll have more fun along the way!
-- Steve Goodier __________
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P.S. JUST WONDERIN' What's another word for 'Thesaurus? -- Steven Wright
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Post by Rhonda on Oct 26, 2007 0:11:28 GMT -5
ATTRACTING PEOPLE TO YOU
In West Virginia folklore there is a story of a country doctor who was called out to a holler late one night to assist a woman about to give birth. By the time the doctor arrived at the farmhouse, things had progressed to a point where the doctor asked the husband to help him by holding a gas lantern up high in order to illuminate the makeshift delivery room.
Before long, the courageous mother delivered a healthy baby boy. As the father lowered the lantern, the doctor barked an order to keep the lantern aloft: "We're not done yet." Shortly, a second child appeared on the scene, a healthy baby girl. Shaken by the unexpected arrival of twins, the father heard the doctor say once again, "We can't stop now. It looks as if it's going to be triplets." To which the stunned father, still holding the lantern high, replied, "Do you think it's the light that's attracting them?"
Light has a quality of attraction. I recently left my office door open late one afternoon in our mountain home and, at dusk, the light from within attracted -- a hummingbird! (Coaxing a hummingbird out of the house is a little like pushing a rope. Mostly, whatever you do doesn't work.)
You, too, have a light that attracts...an inner light. Not visible to the naked eye, but apparent just the same. We speak of a "twinkle" in the eye or a "flicker" of warmth in the heart. Some people shine with a light of kindness. Others emit a light of hope. There are those who glow with enthusiasm and still others who radiate love.
Almost all creatures are drawn to light, including humans. Do you want to attract people to you? Positive and life-affirming inner qualities can attract people like a warm fire on a cold night. What will draw other people to you best cannot be purchased in any department store. They will respond to that which radiates from within.
You may not always see it, but your light is shining through. And it's one of your most attractive qualities!
-- Steve Goodier __________
P.S. CELEBRITY QUIP Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a meaning of which I disapprove. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
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Post by Rhonda on Nov 3, 2007 4:38:39 GMT -5
PRACTICING PATIENCE
"I grew up with six brothers," says comedian Bob Hope. "That's how I learned to dance, waiting to get into the bathroom."
Patience may not come easily for you. But whether or not you share a bathroom with others, you can get plenty of practice. We're presented daily with amply opportunity to learn patience.
After moving to the city. I grew impatient with the bumper-to-bumper traffic. I decided to keep a harmonica in the glove compartment, along with a beginner's book. When traffic was held up, I took out my harmonica and played. I figured I could either practice patience or practice the harmonica. The harmonica seemed like more fun. My patience still needs practice, but the harmonica is coming along.
Benjamin Franklin learned that persistence and patience were crucial to the success of his scientific experiments. He once said, "Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience." So he practiced patience.
You can be a genius...just be patient! All it takes is practice.
-- Steve Goodier __________
P.S. AIN'T IT SO A lifelong friend is someone you haven't borrowed money from yet.
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Post by Rhonda on Nov 3, 2007 4:40:39 GMT -5
YOUR VALUABLE FRIENDS
I heard a story about an older woman who stood in line at the Post Office. She struck up a conversation with a young man next to her. He noticed that she had no packages to mail, and asked why she was standing in line. She said that she just needed a few stamps.
"Ma'am, you must be tired standing here. Did you know there's a stamp machine over there in the corner?" He pointed to the machine built into the wall.
"Why yes, thank you," the lady replied, "but I'll just wait here a little while longer. I'm getting close to the window."
The customer became insistent.
"But it would be so much easier for you to avoid this long line and buy your stamps from the machine."
The woman patted him on the arm and answered, "Oh, I know. But that old machine would never ask me how my grandchildren are doing."
She had a need greater than the need for postage stamps -- a need to feel connected to other people. And it was a need that could not be met by a stamp machine.
When Harry Truman was thrust into the U.S. presidency at the death of Franklin Roosevelt, a colleague and friend -- Congressman Sam Rayburn of Bonham, Texas -- gave Truman some fatherly advice.
Rayburn said, "Harry, from here on out, you're going to have lots of people around you. They'll try to put a wall around you and cut you off from any ideas but theirs. They'll tell you what a great man you are, Harry. But you and I both know you ain't." Friends can say those things to each other.
Later, when Sam Rayburn discovered that he was seriously ill, he told his friends in Congress that he was going home to Bonham for medical tests. "But there are excellent doctors and medical facilities in Washington D.C." some of them argued. "Why would you want to go to Bonham?"
"Because," the congressman replied, "Bonham is a place where people know it when you're sick, and where they care when you die."
Rayburn had a need greater than good medical assistance. He needed friends. Someone to ask how his grandchildren were doing. Someone to sit by him and stop by his home. Someone to care. A few close friends meant more than the best medical facilities in the world.
Who is such a friend to you? That person is more valuable than your greatest possession.
Have you said ... thanks?
-- Steve Goodier __________
P.S. CELEBRITY QUIP Keeping up with the Joneses was a full-time job with my mother and father. It was not until many years later when I lived alone that I realized how much cheaper it was to drag the Joneses down to my level. -- Quentin Crisp
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Post by Rhonda on Nov 3, 2007 4:43:20 GMT -5
A BETTER PRAYER
One man, too inebriated to drive, was walking home along railroad tracks when his foot suddenly became stuck. He pulled and tugged, but could not free it from the tracks.
Then he heard a noise and turned around to see an oncoming train. In a panic, he prayed. "Dear God, please get my foot out of these tracks and I'll stop drinking."
Nothing happened.
With the speeding train closer, he tried again. "Oh, Lord, get my foot out of these tracks and I'll stop drinking AND I'll quit cheating on my wife!"
Still nothing, and now the train was just seconds away.
He tried one last time. "Lord, if you get my foot out of the tracks, I'll quit drinking, cheating, AND ... I'll become a minister!"
Suddenly his foot shot out of the tracks and he dove out of the way of the passing train. Dusting himself off, he looked toward Heaven and said, "Never mind, Lord, I got it out myself."
Does that kind of prayer sound familiar? How often are prayers, even when one is not in a state of emergency, concerned only about physical needs -- health and safety?
Mahatma Gandhi claimed to have never made even a minor decision without prayer. Gandhi was known best as an Indian nationalist and spiritual leader, but he was also a man of rare courage. He developed the practice of nonviolent disobedience that eventually forced Great Britain to grant India's independence.
He spoke often about spirituality and prayer. He told about traveling to South Africa to oppose a law there directed expressly against Indians. His ship was met by a hostile mob and he was advised to stay on board. They had come, he was told, with the express intention of lynching him. Gandhi said of the incident: "I went ashore nevertheless. I was stoned and kicked and beaten a good deal; but I had not prayed for safety, but for the courage to face the mob, and that courage came and did not fail me."
Gandhi preferred courage over safety. If accomplishing his goals put him in the way of danger, then he wanted to face that danger bravely. His prayer was to receive enough courage to do what needed to be done, not to live his life free from harm.
Rabbi Harold Kushner speaks about such prayer. He reminds us that "people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered. Their prayers helped them tap hidden reserves of faith and courage that were not available to them before."
The courage you need will come, and will not fail you.
-- Steve Goodier __________
____ P.S. CELEBRITY QUIP I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph. -- Shirley Temple
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Post by Rhonda on Nov 3, 2007 4:45:29 GMT -5
AUTOGRAPH YOUR WORK WITH EXCELLENCE
My mother used to say, "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well." I am not talking about perfectionism, for "perfect" is found only in the dictionary. Those who think a thing must be perfect before it is finished will accomplish very little. I have yet to write a perfect letter, prepare a perfect meal or give a perfect speech. (I admit, I've made a perfect fool of myself at times, but then I wasn't trying!
Most of the time, however, my mother's admonition was on the mark. If a thing is worthy of my time, it is worthy of my best time.
In some of his speeches, Louis T. Rader relates that many top executives feel that a 99 percent effort is good enough. But here is the eye opener - if this figure (99 percent good enough) were converted into our daily non-industrial life, it means that more than 30,000 babies would be accidentally dropped by doctors and nurses each year. Electricity would be off for fifteen minutes every day.
Others have calculated that 99 percent good enough means that: 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily; 114,500 mismatched pairs of shoes will be shipped each year; 18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled per hour; 2.5 million books will be shipped with the wrong cover; two planes will crash daily at Chicago's O'Hare airport; 315 entries in Webster's Dictionary will be misspelled; and 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly.
Sometimes 99 percent really isn't good enough. Texas' first African-American congresswoman, Barbara Jordon, once said, "Each day you have to look into the mirror and say to yourself, 'I'm going to be the best I can no matter what it takes.'" She never said, "I will be the best." She said, "I will be the best I can." And it was because of her desire to be her best ... that she became one of our best.
Perfect is only found in the dictionary, but doing and being one's best is an important part of a happy and fulfilled life. "Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it," Jessica Guidobono reminds us. "
Autograph your work with excellence."
-- Steve Goodier
P.S. CELEBRITY QUIP You can't break a bad habit by throwing it out the window. You've got to walk it slowly down the stairs. -- Mark Twain,
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Post by Rhonda on Nov 3, 2007 4:47:41 GMT -5
LAUGHING DURING TOUGH TIMES
Laughter and tears are part of living. But do you find enough time for laughter? I am not asking if you experience lots of good times. Of course we should laugh during the happy times. But do you also laugh during the difficult times?
Erma Bombeck is known for her humorous books, but she wrote one that covered a more serious topic: cancer in children. The book is titled, I WANT TO GROW HAIR, I WANT TO GROW UP, I WANT TO GO TO BOISE (Harper and Row, 1989). Erma talks with numerous children with cancer and learns important life lessons from them. She learns, for instance, that cancer survivors know how to laugh.
She cites the experience of 15-year-old Jessica from Burlington, VT. Jessica's leg was amputated at the knee because of cancer. She was learning to wear a prosthesis. Jessica tells about playing soccer. She kicked the ball hard and it flew off in one direction while her artificial leg flew another way. Then "the tall, gorgeous person that I am," she said, "convulsed on the floor in laughter."
Jessica may not have laughed about her cancer, but she laughed about dealing with the consequences of it. And her laughter helped her cope.
Then there is the story of 17-year-old Betsy. She made her way to the radiation room for her regular radiation therapy. As usual, she dropped her hospital gown and, wearing only her birthday suit, climbed onto the table and waited. After a couple of moments she began to realize something disturbing: the extra people in the room were not the medical students she had thought, but rather painters giving an estimate on painting! Betsy laughs heartily about the incident. And like Jessica, her ability to laugh helped her to cope with one of the most difficult things a young person can endure -- cancer.
Biblical wisdom teaches that "there is a time to weep and a time to laugh." Do you find plenty of occasions for laughter? You can...if you also find reasons to laugh during the especially difficult times.
Survivors know how to laugh. If you can laugh even when the going is rough, you'll make it. And you'll smile at the end.
-- Steve Goodier __________
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P.S. ADVICE Laugh until your cheeks hurt. -- Unknown
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Post by Rhonda on Nov 3, 2007 4:49:57 GMT -5
AIN'T NOTHIN' YOU CAN DO
Jewish humor has it that a rookie recruit for the New York City Police had passed all of his examinations except public health. The police surgeon said, "Well, Murphy, you've done very well. I'll ask you one question and if you do all right on that, you can become a cop."
He wanted to ask him how he would respond if a rabid dog bit somebody; for instance, what does he know about the disease, how would he treat the victim, whom would he call and so forth. The doctor said, "Now, tell me, what is rabies, and what are you going to do about it?"
"Well, Captain," Murphy replied, "rabies is Jewish priests, and there ain't nothin' you can do about it."
There "ain't nothin' you can do" about quite a few situations! And it's true with people, too. There ain't nothin' you can do about the way they are, so it is fruitless to try to change them into something else. You are wise to learn to accept them without conditions, understand them the best you can and love them anyway. For they probably won't change much and there just ain't nothin' you can do about it.
Sam Keen Christine said, "We come to love, not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." It's all about acceptance.
-- Steve Goodier __________
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P.S. CELEBRITY QUIP See what will happen if you don't stop biting your fingernails? -- Will Rogers (1879 - 1935), to his niece on seeing the Venus de Milo
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