Thoughts 23MAY2014

A SIMPLE GESTURE

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was invited for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life."
John W Schlatter - extracted from 'Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen,Health Communication,Inc, 1993.
Cuanto menos se diga, mejor / menos hay que rectificar / Least said, soonest mended - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 19MAY2014

JOSH AND HIS JAG
About ten years ago a young and a very successful executive named Josh was travelling down a Chicago neighbourhood street. He was travelling a bit fast in his sleek, black, sixteen-cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old. He watched for the kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed and - whump - smashed into the Jag's shiny side door. SCREECH !!! Brakes slammed. Gears pounded into reverse and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick was thrown. Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, "Just what was that about? Who do you think you are?" Building up a head of steam he continued, "That's my new Jag; that brick is going to cost you plenty. Why did you throw it?"

"Please ... please, mister, I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do," pleaded the youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop". Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed around the parked car. "It's my brother,mister", he said. "He fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up". Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help him back into his wheelchair? He's too heavy for me". Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He helped the youngster upright the wheelchair and the two of them lifted his brother back into the chair. It was a long, long walk back to the sleep, black, sixteen-cylinder Jaguar XKE - a long and slow walk. Now, Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. It reminded him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention.
Josh Ridker - extracted from "A 5th portion of Chicken Soup for the Soul", Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Health Communications, Inc., 1998
Ability has no school - Kurdish Proverb

Thoughts 16MAY2014

ON ADVICE
If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this : expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me" : Ann Landers
Let bygones be bygones : Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 15MAY2014

AGING
I think we're finally at a point where we've learned to see death with a sense of humour. I have to. When you're my age, it's as if you're a car. First a tyre blows and you get that fixed. Then a headlight goes and you get that fixed. And then one day, you drive into a shop and that man says, "Sorry, Miss, they don't have this make any more".
Katherine Hepburn - extracted from "Speakers's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994
Everyone sees things from his or her own point of view - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 03JAN2014

ON LISTENING

It's a mistake to think we listen only with our ears. It's much more important to listen with the mind, the eyes, the body, and the heart. Unless you truly want to understand the other person, you'll never be able to listen.

Mark Herndon : Writer - Cited in Bits & Pieces

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Fear an ignorant man more than a lion : Kurdish Proverb

Thoughts 02JAN2014

WHY DOES HAIR TURN GRAY?

Despite what your parents may have told you, it's very unlikely that you caused their gray hairs. Severe trauma or some medical conditions have been known to "put snow on the roof", but scientists have yet to link rotten children to the phenomenon. In most cases, the real culprit is Father Time.

 
"Melanocyte" cells are the magic ingredients that give hair its wide range of colour - from lightest blonde to darkest blonde. But by our mid-twenties, the melanocytes become less active. Hairs begin to emerge from follicles with less pigmentation, causing them to look gray. When melanocytes stop working altogether, the hair grows with no pigmentation, just the white colour of its original protein.

Source : Why In The World? : Reader's Digest

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Kind words will unlock an iron door : Kurdish Proverb

Thoughts 31OCT2013

Listen a hundred times; ponder a thousand times; speak once - Kurdish Proverb

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Ahjar xih u gharef milli zaghzugh u ibleh - Maltese Proverb

Better (marry) an old but wise man than a young but foolish man - Maltese Proverb

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A person is a person because of other persons - South Sotho Proverb

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Con el tiempo y la paciencia se adquiere la ciencia - Spanish Proverb

Patience, time and money accommodate all things - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 30OCT2013

LEADERS' ENERGIZED

The world of the '90s and beyond will not belong to managers or those who make the numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the business and jargon we use to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders - people who not only have an enormous amount of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.

Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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There's no substitute for experience - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 29OCT2013

WINNING

Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while ... you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.

  

Unfortunately, so is losing. Make the most of what we have. Make winning, not losing, a habit - Vince Lombardi

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We're all a little crazy in one way or another - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 28OCT2013

ON COURAGE

Courage ... is nothing less than the power of overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there ids always tomorrow.

Dorothy Thompson (1894-1961) Journalist - cited in "Bits & Pieces"

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Mischief comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 25OCT2013

ON EXCELLENCE

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

Mario Andretti - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Sometimes the remedy is worse than the disease - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 24OCT2013

EXCELLENCE

Some people may have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them. They achieve it. They do not achieve it unwittingly, by doing what comes naturally and they don't stumble into it in the course of amusing themselves. All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.

John Gardner - Extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Half the truth is often a whole lie - Spanish Proverb

Thoughts 23OCT2013

THEN WHAT?

Henry Ford always bought flowers for his wife from a shop every Friday evening. Once, he asked the old florist, "Gentlemen, you have a good shop. Why not open a branch?" Florist, "Sir, then what?" Henry Ford, "You will then have several branches in Detroit". Florist, "Sir, then what?" Henry Ford, angrily, "Damn it, you will then be able to relax". Florist, "That is what I am doing even now". Ford walked away sheepishly.

Extracted from "Management Thoughts" by Promod Batra, Golden Book Centre Sdn Bhd, reprinted 1995.

To speak is to sow, to listen is to reap - Kurdish Proverb

Thoughts 22OCT2013

DON'T CRY OVER SPILT SOUP

An old Chinese farmer was walking along the road with a stick across his shoulder. Hanging from the stick was a pot filled with soy bean soup. He stumbled and the jar fell off and broke into pieces. The old farmer kept going, unperturbed. A man rushed up and said excitedly, "Don't you know that you jar broke?" "Yes", the old farmer answered. "I know, I heard it fall." "It's broken; the soup is gone - what can I do about it?" he asked.

extracted from "Management Thoughts" by Promod Batra, Golden Book Centre Sdn Bhd, reprinted 1995

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A thousand friends are too few; one enemy is one too many - Kurdish Proverb

Thoughts 21OCT2013

POINTS TO PONDER

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, that what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company or a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that is our attitude - Charles Swindoll (Strengthening Your Grip) - extracted from Reader's Digest, July 1995 - Points to Ponder

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Live life to the fullest and focus on the positive - Matt Cameron

Thoughts 18OCT2013

ON RELATIONSHIPS

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only what you are expecting to give - which is everything. What you will receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and cannot help giving. If you are very lucky, you may be loved back. That is delicious but it does not necessarily happen - Katherine Hepburn

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The love we give away is the only love we keep - Elbert Hubbard

Thoughts 17OCT2013

POINTS TO PONDER

No organization can depend on genius; the supply is always scarce and unreliable. It is the test of an organization to make ordinary human beings perform better than they seem capable of, to bring out whatever strength there is in its members and to use each man's strength to help all the others perform. The purpose of an organization is to enable common men to do uncommon things.

Peter F Drucker - extracted from "April 1996 Edition of 'Reader's Digest'"

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Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither - C S Lewis

Thoughts 16OCT2013

GOLDEN RULES FOR LIVING

If you open it, close it. If you turn it on, turn it off.

If you unlock it, lock it up. If you break it, admit it.

If you can't fix it, call in someone who can.

If you borrow it, return it. If you value it, take care of it.

If you make a mess, clean it up. If you move it, put it back.

If it belongs to someone else and you want to use it, get permission.

If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone.

If it's none of your business, don't ask questions.

If it will brighten someone's day, say it.

If it will tarnish someone's reputation, keep it to yourself.

Author Unknown - extracted from "A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for The Soul", Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Health Communications, Inc., 1996

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Failure is success if we learn from it - Malcolm Forbes

Thoughts 11OCT2013

ON LEADERSHIP

If people are coming to work excited ... if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly ... if they're having fun ... if they're concentrating on doing things, rather than preparing reports and going to meetings - then somewhere you have a leader

Robert Townsend - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Nothing is impossible to a willing heart - John Heywood

Thoughts 10OCT2013

ON LIVING

Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.

Sydney J Harris (1917-1986), Syndicated Columnist - Cited in "Bits & Pieces"

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Equality is not easy, but superiority is painful : Serere