Shipwrecked

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.
He prayed to be rescue, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened and everything he had was lost.He was stunned with grief and anger. He cried out with anger not understanding how or why this terrible thing had again happened to him.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" Asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

The lesson is that it is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we need to hang in there and hold on through the tough times - there is usually something good on its way.

Being Happy

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.

~Author unknown but greatly appreciated

You Will Become

You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.

~James Allen

Genius

Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.

~C.W. Ceran

The Bamboo Tree

One day a man planted a bamboo seedling. He cared for it and each day he watered it and tended to it, making sure it had the proper sunlight to grow. After a year's time, the man saw that the plant had not grown at all, but he continued to water it, tend to it, and make sure it was nourished by proper sunlight. 

Again, after the second year the plant had not grown. He watered and tended it through the third year and the fourth. Suddenly, as if by magic, in the fifth it began growing. In fact, it grew two and a half feet a day until in six weeks it was ninety feet tall.

The bamboo tree's growth is not magic. During its first five years, when it seems nothing is happening, it develops miles and miles of roots beneath the ground. Though no growth is visible, the foundation is being established and strengthened.

The lesson is that there are times where we feel our lives are stagnating, or nothing is changing or no dramatic events are happening.  In reality, those are the days we are building our own roots and growing strong for the days when growth hits us in spurts.  This way our lives remain balanced. 

I Firmly Believe

I firmly believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others, but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria by which you live, the chances are you'll be a person worthy of your own respect.

~Neil Simon

To Look

to look up and not down,
To look forward and not back,
To look out and not in, and
To lend a hand.

~ Edward Everett Hale

Ability

There is something that is much more scarce , something rarer than ability.  It is the ability to recognize ability.

~ Robert Half

Extra...

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.

~Author unknown but greatly appreciated

The Reward

The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.

~John Ruskin

Happiness

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

~Franklin Roosevelt

Greatness

The price of greatness is responsibility.

~ Winston Churchill

The Rate of the Pack

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

~Author unknown but greatly appreciated

Hustle...

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

~ Abraham Lincoln

All things

All things are difficult before they are easy.

~John Norley

Excellence

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.

~Vince Lombardi

Those Who Do Not Know

Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either.

~Golda Meir

Make a Contribution

When you cease to make a contribution you begin to die.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Success

Success can make you go one of two ways.  It can make you a prima donna, or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.

~Barbara Walters

Accept What Comes

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best you have to give.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

I Am Only One...

I am only one; but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

~Helen Keller

Willingness

It is not fair to ask of other what you are not willing to do yourself.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Being Powerful

Being powerful is like being a lady.  If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

~Margaret Thatcher

Mistakes

Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.

~Pearl S. Buck

Aspirations

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.

~ Louisa May Alcott

God Does Not Ask

Got does not ask your ability or your inability.  He only asks your availability.

~Mary Kay Ash

We Must Do....

I gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which I must stop and look fear in the face...I say to myself, I've lived through this and can take the next thing that comes along...
We must do the things we think we cannot do.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

What Remains...

I never notice what has been done.
I only see what remains to be done.

~Madame Curie

How Full is Your Cup?

Nan-in, a Japanese Zen master, received a visit from a university professor who wanted to know about zen. They sat and visited and talked for a while.

Nan-in then took out tea cups and tea and proceeded to pour tea for his guest. He filled his guest's cup and continued to pour as the tea spilled over the sides. The professor, unable to restrain himself, cried : "Stop. The cup is full, no more will go in." Nan-in replied: "Like this cup, you too are full.  You area already full of your own judgments, speculations, ideas and opinions. How can you begin to learn until you empty your cup first?"

The lesson for us is that we cannot learn if we believe we already know everything.  How often do you think you are open but in reality, your cup is already full?

Love

The more a person perceives that he or she is loved, the less they will interfere with the lives of others.

~Dr. William Glasser

Silence

There are times when silence has the loudest voice.

~Leroy Brownlow

Conversation

Conversation means being able to disagree and still continue the discussion.

~Dwight MacDonald

Experience

One thing about experience is that when you don't have very much you're apt to get a lot.

~Franklin P. Jones

How to Live

Live so that your friends can defend you, but never have to.

Arnold H. Glasow

Cowardice

To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.

~Confucius

Things

The most important things in life aren't things.


~ Author unknown but greatly appreciated

Judgement

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Opinions

Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

~ John F. Kennedy

Humor

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
~Henry Ward Beecher

Trust

To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.

 
~George MacDonald

What to Overlook

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

~William James

Blame

Big people are always giving someone credit and taking blame; little people are always seeking credit and giving blame.

~Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones