Thought 29AUG2008

WISE & WHEREFORES
o Believe in miracles but don't depend on them.
o When you hear a kind word spoken about a friend, tell him so.
o Spoil your spouse, not your children.
o Remember, it's not your job to get people to like you, it's your job to like people.
o To help your children turn out well, spend twice as much time with them and half as much money.
o Remember that the only dumb question is the one you wanted to ask but didn't.
H Jackson Brown Jr - Life's Little Instruction Book Volume III
One falsehood spoils a thousand truths - Ashanti Proverb from Ghana

Thought 28AUG2008

DO WHAT YOU LOVE - THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW
In Srully Blotnick's research reflected in Getting Rich Your Own Way (Playboy Paperbacks, 1982), 1500 people were divided into two groups are followed for 20 years. Group A made up 83% of the sample. These people are embarking on a career chosen for the reason of making money now in order to do what they wanted later. Group B, the other 17% chose their career based on what they wanted to do now and would worry about the money later.
The data revealed some startling discoveries : At the end of the 20 years, 101 of the 1500 had become millionaires. Of the millionaires, all but one - 100 out of 101 - were from Group B, the group that had chosen to pursue what they loved!
extracted from "Heart at Work", Jack Canfield & Jacqueline Miller, McGraw-Hill, 1996
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet - Ashanti Proverb from Ghana

Thought 27AUG2008

Explore - Dream - Discover
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
Money is sharper than a sword - Ashanti Proverb from Ghana

Thought 26AUG2008

REKINDLE
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer
It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man - Ashanti Proverb from Ghana

Thought 25AUG2008

NOW THAT'S FAST
Three boys were comparing notes about their father's abilities. With an air of arrogance and pride, the first boy said, "My dad is so fast he can shoot an arrow at a target and catch the arrow before it reaches the target."
"That's pretty good," the second boy responded, "but my dad is so fast he can shoot at a deer and tackle the deer before the bullet gets there."
Listening quietly, the third lad could restrain himself no longer. "My dad is faster than both of yours. He can get off work at 4:30 and be home by 4:15."
Extracted from 'Speaker's Sourcebook II' by Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for something - African Proverb

Thought 22AUG2008

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
When Robert Fulton's first American steamboat was finished, a trial run was scheduled on the Hudson River. A curious crowd gathered to watch the fate of the Clermont. One skeptical observer predicted. "They'll never get it running." But the Clermont did run. In fact, the steamboat picked up speed as black billows of smoke poured from its stack. The crowd erupted in celebrating applause.
How about the negative skeptic? He shook his head in disbelief as he turned to walk away and then commented. "They'll never get it stopped."
Extracted from 'Speaker's Sourcebook II', Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped - African Proverb

Thought 15AUG2008

IT'S UP TO YOU
One song can spark a moment, One flower can wake the dream, One tree can start a forest, One bird can herald spring, One smile begins a friendship, One handclasp lifts a soul. One star can guide a ship at sea, One word can frame the goal, One vote can change a nation, One sunbeam lights a room.
One candle wipes out darkness, One laugh will conquer gloom. One step must start each journey, One word must start each prayer. One hope will raise our spirits, One touch can show you care. One voice can speak with wisdom, One heart can know what's true, One life can make the difference.
You see, it's up to you!
Author Unknown - extracted from "A 4th course of Chicken Soup for the Soul", Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch McCarty and Meladee McCarty; Health Communications, Inc., 1997.
Pure gold does not fear furnace - Chinese Proverb

Thought 14AUG2008

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
He was admitted to emergency receiving and placed on the cardiac floor. Long hair, unshaven, dirty, dangerously obese, with a black motorcycle jacket tossed on the bottom shelf of the stretcher, he was an outsider to this sterile world of shinning terrazzo floors, efficient uniformed professionals and strict infection control procedures. Definitely an untouchable.
The nurses at the station looked wide-eyed as this mound of humanity was wheeled by, each glancing nervously at Bonnie, the head nurse. "Let this one not be mine to admit, bathe and tend to ... " was their pleading unspoken message. One of the true marks of a leader, a consummate professional, is to do the unthinkable. To tackle the impossible. To touch the untouchable. It was Bonnie who said, "I want this patient myself." Highly unusual for a head nurse - unconventional - but the stuff out of which human spirits thrive, heal and soar.
As she donned her latex gloves and proceeded to bathe this huge, very unclean man, her heart almost broke. Where was his family? Who was his mother? What was he like as a little boy? She hummed quietly as she worked. It seemed to ease the fear and embarrassment she knew he must be feeling. And then on a whim she said, "We don't have time for back rubs much in hospitals these days, but I bet one would really feel good. And it would help you relax your muscles and start to heal."
The thick, scaly, ruddy skin told a story of an abusive lifestyle: probably lots of addictive behavior with food, alcohol and drugs. As she rubbed those taut muscles, she hummed and prayed. Prayed for the soul of a little boy grown up, rejected by life's rudeness and striving for acceptance in hard, hostile world. The finale was warmed lotion and baby powder. Almost laughable - such a contrast to this huge, foreign surface. As he rolled over his back, tears ran down his cheeks and his chin trembled. With amazingly beautiful brown eyes, he smiled and said in a quivering voice, "No one has touched me for years. Thank you. I am healing."
Naomi Rhode - extracted from 'Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work', Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss, Health Communications, Inc., 1996.
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones - Chinese Proverb

Thought 13AUG2008

GOING THE RIGHT WAY
In 1939, in a small town in Oklahoma, a young couple had been married a few short and disappointing months. He never dreamed there were so many ways to ruin fried chicken. She couldn't imagine why she ever thought his jokes were funny. Neither one said aloud what they were both thinking - the marriage was a big mistake. One hot afternoon, they got into a terrible argument about whether they could afford to paint the living room. Tempers flared, voices were raised, and somehow one of the wedding gift plates crashed to the floor. She burst into tears, called him heartless and a cheapskate. He shouted that he'd rather be a cheapskate than a nag, then grabbed the car keys on his way out. His parting words, punctuated by the slam of the screen door, were, "That's it! I'm leaving you!"

But before he could coax their rickety car into gear, the passenger door flew open and his bride landed on the seat beside him. She stared straight ahead, her face tear-streaked but determined. "And just where do you think you're going?" he asked in amazement. She hesitated only a moment before replying, just long enough to be sure of the answer that would decide the direction of their lives for the next forty-three years. "If you're leaving me," my mother said, "I'm going with you."
By Lynne Kinghorn - from A Second Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul, Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne and Marci Shimoff
The beginning and the end reach out their hands to each other - Chinese Proverb

Thought 12AUG2008

CHILDHOOD INGENUITY
When Johnny arrived home from downtown with an ice cream in each hand, his mother queried, "Did you spend all of your allowance?"
"Nope, I didn't spend anything," he responded.
"Did someone buy the ice cream for you?"
The little boy shook his head.
"You didn't steal them, did you?"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't steal," said Johny. "I just put a chocolate cone in one hand, vanilla in the other. Then I told the clerk she could get the money from my pocket, but please be careful for Franky my pet frog."
Extracted from 'Speaker's Sourcebook II' by Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
In all the world, things are two and two - Uganda

Thought 11AUG2008

WHERE'S THE MONEY?
Here is another classic story told to me by an attorney friend who represented a man arrested for robbery.
"You are sure," queried the lawyer of his client, "that you have told me all the truth? If I am to successfully defend you, I need to know the whole truth." "Yah, you know it all," the man responded.
"Good. I am confident we can get your case dismissed on lack of evidence. Now one more time, have you given me all of the facts?"
"Hey man, I've told you everything ... except where the money is hidden." Whoops!
Extracted from 'Speakers Sourcebook II', Glenn Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
A little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing - Madagascar

Thought 08AUG2008

THE STATION
Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls. But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into a station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering - waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.
"When we reach the station, that will be it!" we cry. "When I'm 18." "When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz!" "When I put the last kid through college." "When I have paid off the mortgage!" "When I get a promotion." "When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!" Sooner or later, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly out-distances us.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today. So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. This station will come soon enough.
Robert J. Hastings - extracted from Chicken Soup Series by Jack Cranfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne and Marci Shimoff, Health Communication, Inc, 1995
When you see clouds gathering, prepare to catch rainwater - Gola

Thought 07AUG2008

ON DESIRE
As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you, or when it seems to interfere with that which is more greatly desired.
Mohandas K Gandhi - Extracted from 'Speaker's Sourcebook II', Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
Rain does not fall on one roof alone - Cameroon

Thought 06AUG2008

ATTITUDE AFFIRMS SUCCESS
A man attending a business convention in Las Vegas decided to spend the evening "observing" the events of the casino floor. Tempted by the opportunity to make it big, he placed a two-dollar bet at the roulette table. His number won. He continued betting and winning. Within a short time, he had accumulated $50,000.00 in winnings.
Elated with his good fortune, he made his way to the cashier. Before reaching the window, he felt the urge to bet one more time. He went back to the roulette table and wagered his entire winnings on 14 red. The wheel spurn around and round and finally stopped on 12 black. His entire winnings were lost. The fellow turned from the table and made his way back to the hotel room.
"Well," his wife asked, "did you bet any money?"
"Sure did."
"How did you do?"
"Not bad," he responded. "I lost two dollars."
Extracted from 'Speaker's Sourcebook II', Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
After three days without reading, talk becomes flavourless - Chinese Proverb

Thought 05AUG2008

CONGRATULATIONS
A newspaperman one summer amused himself by sending telegrams to twenty of his friends. Each message consisted of one word, "Congratulations." As far as he knew, not one of the people had done anything particular to be congratulated for. But each took the message as a matter of course and wrote him a letter of thanks. The newspaperman's little joke led to an important insight : There are few people who are not proud of something they have done or are doing and who do not regard themselves as worthy of congratulations.
Source Unknown - Extracted from 'Bits & Pieces', The Economic Press, Inc., Fairfield New Jersey (From the Library of Puan Hajah Zaihani Abdul Hamid)
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket - Chinese Proverb

Thought 04AUG2008

ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE
Robert Louis Stevenson was bedridden much of his life with tuberculosis. One day, his wife heard him hacking loudly and said, "I suppose you still believe it is a wonderful day." Turning toward a window ablaze with sunlight, Stevenson responded, "I do! I will never let a row of medicine bottles block my horizon."
Circumstances are uncontrollable. Life's events happen. Our responsibility is to choose our responses - our attitude. Situations may colour your view of life, but you have been given the power to choose what colour will be.
Extracted from 'Speaker's Sourcebook II', Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, all must be tasted - Chinese Proverb