LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday
but never remembers her age.
--Robert Frost
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the
things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
--Laurence J. Peter
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
If everyone is thinking alike,
then somebody isn't thinking.
--George S. Patton
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child.
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.
--Buddha
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished:
if you're alive, it isn't. --Richard Bach
Vision - The Indispensable Quality of Leadership
All effective leaders have a vision of what they must accomplish. That vision becomes the energy behind every effort and the force that pushes through all the problems. With vision, a leader is on a mission. His or her contagious spirit is felt among the crowd until others begin to rise alongside.
One of the most common questions from people in leadership positions is, "How do I get a vision for my organization?" That is a crucial question, because until it is answered, a person will be a leader in name only.
Although I cannot give you a vision, I can share the process for finding one:
Look Within You - What Do You Feel?
You can't borrow somebody else's vision. It must come from inside of you. The thing that brings it out is passion.
Look Behind You - What Have You Learned?
Every leader's vision is based on his or her own personal experience. What does your past tell you about your future?
Look Around You - What Is Happening to Others?
As a leader, you must always take into account other people. If others aren't with you, you aren't leading.
Look Ahead of You - What Is the Big Picture?
Leaders don't get bogged down in the moment. They see everything from the vantagepoint of the mountaintop. That's why their goals are called vision.
Look Beside You - What Resources Are Available to You?
Your vision must be bigger than you. The greater it is, the more resources it will require. The best leaders bring all of the resources in their world into play to accomplish something great.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
a dedication to all women
The One Flaw In Women
Author Unknown
Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have vital things to say and everything to give.
However, if there is one flaw in women, it is this;
they forget their worth and how remarkable they truly are!
P
Author Unknown
Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have vital things to say and everything to give.
However, if there is one flaw in women, it is this;
they forget their worth and how remarkable they truly are!
P
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
You will never be happy if you continue to search for
what happiness consists of. You will never live if
you are looking for the meaning of life.
--Albert Camus
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of
preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
--Colin Powell
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
--Colin Powell
"There will always be tension between your enthusiasm for your goal and the fear of failing to achieve it. Quite frankly, you want it that way. The trick is learning how not to surrender to fear but to thrive on its tension."
~Gary Ryan Blair
Goals: The 10 Rules for Achieving Success
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow,
but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work.
--Author Unknown
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Never make a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Tomorrow never comes and yesterday never comes back, so live today
to it's fullest so that your yesterdays will be remembered with
happiness and your tomorrows will be full of brightness and hope.
--Nick Smith
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Nothing but heaven itself is better than
a friend who is really a friend.
--Plautus
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
--Auguste Rodin
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
To me faith means not worrying.
--John Dewey
"Life without dreams is no life at all. When our existence gets reduced to a list of problems to solve or things to check off, passion dries up. Imagine a different list, one comprised of projects and activities that are the expression of your heart and soul. Reconnect to what makes you happy. Do you know what that is?"
~Marcia Wieder
Dreams are Whispers from the Soul
Excerpt from:
Goals...The 10 Rules for Achieving Success,
by Gary Ryan Blair
On everyone's short list of things to do during their lifetime are the accomplishment of worthy goals and the fulfillment of one's purpose.
Achieving a goal is like opening a combination lock. You need the correct numbers in the correct right, left, right sequence. There are thousands of possible combinations; and if you are aware of the settings but not the sequence, your efforts will prove futile.
The Ten Rules of Goal Setting is the combination that opens the lock of success. Each rule is one piece of the combination; each seamlessly integrates with the other nine; each one counts!
This book provides the goal setting information you need in a straightforward and systematic manner. You will be hard pressed to find a goal that does not require each of these ten rules.
Not all goals are equal, but all goals contain the same foundational elements. When it comes to setting goals, we often don't know what we don't know. And, what you don't know can - and most likely will - hurt you by limiting or compromising your success. Each rule calls for and requires know-how of multiple disciplines. No one is born with all the talents to achieve a goal - you learn as you go on the fly!
If I could carve ten rules for achieving a goal into the walls of your mind, they would be the ones contained in this book. The ten rules work because they are simple, and they are simple because they work.
Success, of course, is individual. Your definition of "the good life" may be very different from mine. Yet the underlying steps toward that end are the same. That similarity helps you to understand what success really is.
Success is the ability, first, to recognize opportunity; second, to form plans and strategies that leverage opportunity; and, third, to develop the necessary skills needed to execute those strategies. The ten rules, like anything else in life, operate best if they are self-enforced!
Success is beautiful because of how it looks to you, how it works, how it feels and how it represents the fulfillment of goals pursued. Grow accustomed to prosperity and confident in the process of achieving a goal. Embrace these ten rules of goal setting and give witness to a powerful transition in your life.
And finally, my goal for this book is to simply...help you reach yours.
(Gary Ryan Blair)
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without
and know we cannot live within.
--James A. Baldwin
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing
in life is to keep your mind young.
--Henry Ford
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable,
and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
--Christopher Reeve
Sometimes when life is not giving you what you think you want, it is helping you to not settle for less than what you really want.
-- Alan Cohen
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.
--Audrey Hepburn
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Growing old is no more than a bad habit which
a busy person has no time to form.
--Andre Maurois
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
--Carl Jung
I have a rabbit's foot, a four leaf clover, and a lucky charm -- only problem is, none of them become effective until I do.
-- Ziggy
Shake it off and take a step up
author unknown
One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway; so it just wasn't worth it to him to try to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. Realising what was happening, the donkey at first cried and wailed horribly. Then, a few shovelfuls later, he quieted down completely.
The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw. With every shovelful of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.
Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off, to the shock and astonishment of all the neighbours. Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to not let it bury you, but to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone.
We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!
++++++++++++++++++
The moral to the story is very simple. Life is going to shovel dirt at you. You have two choices:
You can be buried alive by the dirt life throws at you
or
You can shake it off and step up
+++++++++++++++++++
What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him… All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
If we face our problems and respond to them positively and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity… the adversities that come along in life usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us!
Introduction from:
Secrets of the World Class,
by Steve Siebold
I have had the privilege of competing against, coaching, being coached by and observing world-class performers since I was six years old. As a junior tennis player competing throughout the United States from ages 7 - 18, I became fascinated with what it takes to become a champion. My dream was to be ranked among the Top 10 players in the world, but I fell short. At my best, I hovered around the Top 500 in the world, and that's as high as I could seem to reach. Deep down, I knew I had the talent to make my dream a reality, and I knew the missing link was mental. After I hung up my racquet for the last time, I became obsessed with uncovering the mental toughness secrets of champions.
Starting in 1984, I spent every free moment conducting interviews with champions, reading their books and studying everything I could get my hands on about the psychology of peak performance. My friends said I was obsessed. They were right. This book is the result of my 20-year obsession.
When I started to implement the ideas in this book, my whole life changed. It wasn't overnight, but sometimes it seemed like it. There's no magic here, just practical thought processes, habits and philosophies drawn from the greatest performers in the world.
This book contains no theories. Every secret comes straight from the street of experience, either my own or that of our clients. This book is loaded with ideas you can implement immediately. Some will be familiar and some new. All of them have the power to catapult your results, no matter how high you're flying. It's been said that speakers and writers espouse wisdom on the very topic they need most. Now that you know my story, you know this is true for me. After 20 years of studying and teaching mental toughness to people throughout the United States, Canada and 10 other countries, I can honestly tell you that many times I still think like a complete amateur, operating out of the same middle-class consciousness that I ridicule in this book. After all these years, my mental toughness growth is still a work in progress. The good news is that mental toughness is a skill that can be learned, and the tougher you get, the bigger you'll dream and the more fun you'll have.
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
True love begins when nothing is looked for in return.
--Antoine De Saint-Exupery
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities.
In the expert's mind there are few.
--Shunryu Suzuki
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts
into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and
make his dreams come true.
--Napoleon Hill
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Energy, mental clarity, and positive regard for others are the
three most important benchmarks of well-being.
--Jeanne Segal Ph.D
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Live a balanced life--learn some and think some and draw and
paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
--Robert Fulghum
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is
all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
--Marcus Aurelius
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
I've always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see
my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.
--Leo Buscaglia
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Everything Counts!
--Gary Ryan Blair
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
We sometimes feel that what we do is just a drop in the ocean,
but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
--Mother Teresa
An Excerpt from
Good to the Core
by John Blumberg
I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.
Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.
Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.
The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.
We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!
We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
There can be no friendship when there is no freedom.
Friendship loves the free air, and will not be
fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.
--William Penn
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
I don't know the key to success, but the key
to failure is trying to please everybody.
--Bill Cosby
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
--Helen Keller
You will never be happy if you continue to search for
what happiness consists of. You will never live if
you are looking for the meaning of life.
--Albert Camus
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of
preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
--Colin Powell
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
--Colin Powell
"There will always be tension between your enthusiasm for your goal and the fear of failing to achieve it. Quite frankly, you want it that way. The trick is learning how not to surrender to fear but to thrive on its tension."
~Gary Ryan Blair
Goals: The 10 Rules for Achieving Success
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow,
but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work.
--Author Unknown
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Never make a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Tomorrow never comes and yesterday never comes back, so live today
to it's fullest so that your yesterdays will be remembered with
happiness and your tomorrows will be full of brightness and hope.
--Nick Smith
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Nothing but heaven itself is better than
a friend who is really a friend.
--Plautus
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
--Auguste Rodin
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
To me faith means not worrying.
--John Dewey
"Life without dreams is no life at all. When our existence gets reduced to a list of problems to solve or things to check off, passion dries up. Imagine a different list, one comprised of projects and activities that are the expression of your heart and soul. Reconnect to what makes you happy. Do you know what that is?"
~Marcia Wieder
Dreams are Whispers from the Soul
Excerpt from:
Goals...The 10 Rules for Achieving Success,
by Gary Ryan Blair
On everyone's short list of things to do during their lifetime are the accomplishment of worthy goals and the fulfillment of one's purpose.
Achieving a goal is like opening a combination lock. You need the correct numbers in the correct right, left, right sequence. There are thousands of possible combinations; and if you are aware of the settings but not the sequence, your efforts will prove futile.
The Ten Rules of Goal Setting is the combination that opens the lock of success. Each rule is one piece of the combination; each seamlessly integrates with the other nine; each one counts!
This book provides the goal setting information you need in a straightforward and systematic manner. You will be hard pressed to find a goal that does not require each of these ten rules.
Not all goals are equal, but all goals contain the same foundational elements. When it comes to setting goals, we often don't know what we don't know. And, what you don't know can - and most likely will - hurt you by limiting or compromising your success. Each rule calls for and requires know-how of multiple disciplines. No one is born with all the talents to achieve a goal - you learn as you go on the fly!
If I could carve ten rules for achieving a goal into the walls of your mind, they would be the ones contained in this book. The ten rules work because they are simple, and they are simple because they work.
Success, of course, is individual. Your definition of "the good life" may be very different from mine. Yet the underlying steps toward that end are the same. That similarity helps you to understand what success really is.
Success is the ability, first, to recognize opportunity; second, to form plans and strategies that leverage opportunity; and, third, to develop the necessary skills needed to execute those strategies. The ten rules, like anything else in life, operate best if they are self-enforced!
Success is beautiful because of how it looks to you, how it works, how it feels and how it represents the fulfillment of goals pursued. Grow accustomed to prosperity and confident in the process of achieving a goal. Embrace these ten rules of goal setting and give witness to a powerful transition in your life.
And finally, my goal for this book is to simply...help you reach yours.
(Gary Ryan Blair)
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without
and know we cannot live within.
--James A. Baldwin
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing
in life is to keep your mind young.
--Henry Ford
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable,
and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
--Christopher Reeve
Sometimes when life is not giving you what you think you want, it is helping you to not settle for less than what you really want.
-- Alan Cohen
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.
--Audrey Hepburn
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Growing old is no more than a bad habit which
a busy person has no time to form.
--Andre Maurois
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
--Carl Jung
I have a rabbit's foot, a four leaf clover, and a lucky charm -- only problem is, none of them become effective until I do.
-- Ziggy
Shake it off and take a step up
author unknown
One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway; so it just wasn't worth it to him to try to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. Realising what was happening, the donkey at first cried and wailed horribly. Then, a few shovelfuls later, he quieted down completely.
The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw. With every shovelful of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.
Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off, to the shock and astonishment of all the neighbours. Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to not let it bury you, but to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone.
We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!
++++++++++++++++++
The moral to the story is very simple. Life is going to shovel dirt at you. You have two choices:
You can be buried alive by the dirt life throws at you
or
You can shake it off and step up
+++++++++++++++++++
What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him… All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
If we face our problems and respond to them positively and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity… the adversities that come along in life usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us!
Introduction from:
Secrets of the World Class,
by Steve Siebold
I have had the privilege of competing against, coaching, being coached by and observing world-class performers since I was six years old. As a junior tennis player competing throughout the United States from ages 7 - 18, I became fascinated with what it takes to become a champion. My dream was to be ranked among the Top 10 players in the world, but I fell short. At my best, I hovered around the Top 500 in the world, and that's as high as I could seem to reach. Deep down, I knew I had the talent to make my dream a reality, and I knew the missing link was mental. After I hung up my racquet for the last time, I became obsessed with uncovering the mental toughness secrets of champions.
Starting in 1984, I spent every free moment conducting interviews with champions, reading their books and studying everything I could get my hands on about the psychology of peak performance. My friends said I was obsessed. They were right. This book is the result of my 20-year obsession.
When I started to implement the ideas in this book, my whole life changed. It wasn't overnight, but sometimes it seemed like it. There's no magic here, just practical thought processes, habits and philosophies drawn from the greatest performers in the world.
This book contains no theories. Every secret comes straight from the street of experience, either my own or that of our clients. This book is loaded with ideas you can implement immediately. Some will be familiar and some new. All of them have the power to catapult your results, no matter how high you're flying. It's been said that speakers and writers espouse wisdom on the very topic they need most. Now that you know my story, you know this is true for me. After 20 years of studying and teaching mental toughness to people throughout the United States, Canada and 10 other countries, I can honestly tell you that many times I still think like a complete amateur, operating out of the same middle-class consciousness that I ridicule in this book. After all these years, my mental toughness growth is still a work in progress. The good news is that mental toughness is a skill that can be learned, and the tougher you get, the bigger you'll dream and the more fun you'll have.
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
True love begins when nothing is looked for in return.
--Antoine De Saint-Exupery
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities.
In the expert's mind there are few.
--Shunryu Suzuki
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts
into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and
make his dreams come true.
--Napoleon Hill
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Energy, mental clarity, and positive regard for others are the
three most important benchmarks of well-being.
--Jeanne Segal Ph.D
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Live a balanced life--learn some and think some and draw and
paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
--Robert Fulghum
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is
all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
--Marcus Aurelius
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
I've always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see
my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.
--Leo Buscaglia
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Everything Counts!
--Gary Ryan Blair
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
We sometimes feel that what we do is just a drop in the ocean,
but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
--Mother Teresa
An Excerpt from
Good to the Core
by John Blumberg
I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.
Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.
Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.
The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.
We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!
We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
There can be no friendship when there is no freedom.
Friendship loves the free air, and will not be
fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.
--William Penn
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
I don't know the key to success, but the key
to failure is trying to please everybody.
--Bill Cosby
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
--Helen Keller
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE WOLVES????
Excerpt from:
Wisdom of Wolves, by Twyman Towery
No other mammal shows more spirited devotion to its family, organization or social group than the wolf. The members of the wolf pack hunt together to insure survival of the group, but they also play, sing, sleep, scuffle and protect each other. A wolf's purpose for existing is to insure the survival of the pack.
A wolf pack is made up of parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, half brothers and half sisters - it is truly an extended family organization. And though generally only the Alpha male and Alpha female produce pups, every member of the pack participates in the nurturing and education of the young. Each pack member assumes responsibility for the food, shelter, training, protection and play where the pups are concerned, for the pack realizes that the young are their future.
The loyalty exhibited between wolves is well known and documented. But a Montana man who has used his summers for years to study wolves in Alaska gave me a different view of wolf loyalty. He told about a couple he knew who lived in an extremely remote area with their two sons in a log cabin they had made by hand. This family also included two wolves they had raised from earliest puppyhood, rescuing them from their den after their mother had been indiscriminately shot and the pups left to die. This was the only family the wolves had ever known, having only lived with humans as their pack mates.
One day the parents were cutting wood about a mile from home when one of the boys accidentally turned over a kerosene lamp (there was no electricity), and a raging fire began to consume the wooden structure. The two wolves immediately dashed toward the flaming cabin where the two boys were trapped inside, immobilized by smoke and fear. The parents were far behind, so the wolves gnawed and fought their way into the cabin and pulled the boys outside to safety. Though both wolves were badly burned, their loyalty to their "pack" meant the difference between life and death for these two members of their "pack."
The Wolf Credo written by Del Goetz truly captures what the wolf is all about:
Respect the elders
Teach the young
Cooperate with the pack.
Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between.
Share your affections
Voice your feelings
Leave your mark.
© Del Goetz
Wisdom of Wolves, by Twyman Towery
No other mammal shows more spirited devotion to its family, organization or social group than the wolf. The members of the wolf pack hunt together to insure survival of the group, but they also play, sing, sleep, scuffle and protect each other. A wolf's purpose for existing is to insure the survival of the pack.
A wolf pack is made up of parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, half brothers and half sisters - it is truly an extended family organization. And though generally only the Alpha male and Alpha female produce pups, every member of the pack participates in the nurturing and education of the young. Each pack member assumes responsibility for the food, shelter, training, protection and play where the pups are concerned, for the pack realizes that the young are their future.
The loyalty exhibited between wolves is well known and documented. But a Montana man who has used his summers for years to study wolves in Alaska gave me a different view of wolf loyalty. He told about a couple he knew who lived in an extremely remote area with their two sons in a log cabin they had made by hand. This family also included two wolves they had raised from earliest puppyhood, rescuing them from their den after their mother had been indiscriminately shot and the pups left to die. This was the only family the wolves had ever known, having only lived with humans as their pack mates.
One day the parents were cutting wood about a mile from home when one of the boys accidentally turned over a kerosene lamp (there was no electricity), and a raging fire began to consume the wooden structure. The two wolves immediately dashed toward the flaming cabin where the two boys were trapped inside, immobilized by smoke and fear. The parents were far behind, so the wolves gnawed and fought their way into the cabin and pulled the boys outside to safety. Though both wolves were badly burned, their loyalty to their "pack" meant the difference between life and death for these two members of their "pack."
The Wolf Credo written by Del Goetz truly captures what the wolf is all about:
Respect the elders
Teach the young
Cooperate with the pack.
Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between.
Share your affections
Voice your feelings
Leave your mark.
© Del Goetz
Thursday, March 04, 2010
food for thot
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
There can be no friendship when there is no freedom.
Friendship loves the free air, and will not be
fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.
--William Penn
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
I don't know the key to success, but the key
to failure is trying to please everybody.
--Bill Cosby
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
--Helen Keller
Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were all born to manifest the glory of God within us. It’s not just some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson from her bestselling book A Return to Love
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action
of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
--Mother Teresa
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end.
It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's
when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.
--Lord Acton
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
--Stephen Covey
"Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time."
~Marion Edelman
Finding Joy
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.
--Anthony J. D'Angelo
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do.
Where there is love and inspiration,
I don't think you can go wrong.
--Ella Fitzgerald
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to
start a thing. Action always generates inspiration.
Inspiration seldom generates action.
--Frank Tibolt
There can be no friendship when there is no freedom.
Friendship loves the free air, and will not be
fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.
--William Penn
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
I don't know the key to success, but the key
to failure is trying to please everybody.
--Bill Cosby
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
--Helen Keller
Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were all born to manifest the glory of God within us. It’s not just some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson from her bestselling book A Return to Love
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action
of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
--Mother Teresa
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end.
It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's
when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.
--Lord Acton
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
--Stephen Covey
"Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time."
~Marion Edelman
Finding Joy
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.
--Anthony J. D'Angelo
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do.
Where there is love and inspiration,
I don't think you can go wrong.
--Ella Fitzgerald
INSPIRATION & MOTIVATION
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to
start a thing. Action always generates inspiration.
Inspiration seldom generates action.
--Frank Tibolt
food for thot
Say Something Nice
Recently I witnessed something unusual. A few high school students were sitting in a circle with their teacher. The teacher pointed to a student and asked everybody to say something nice about him. Everybody was quiet. The going was slow initially. People had a hard time articulating what they wanted to say and the person was getting embarrassed. But soon the atmosphere began to change. There were raised hands, laughter as people recounted funny memories, and friendly leg pulling. The atmosphere had started to lighten up and camaraderie was starting to build.
During our daily interactions, we witness positive as well as negative attributes of others. While we do not hesitate to provide negative feedback, we seldom make time to say something nice.
Imagine what would happen if every once in a while people got together with those who matter to them and said something nice to them.
There is a potential that the positive characteristics and attributes of a child would get reinforced and her self esteem would increase. Perhaps, the dad would learn that the time spent on the floor roughhousing with the kids is what the kids appreciate most, and perhaps the mom would come to realize that not everything she does is unappreciated after all. A boss may find out that her encouraging words did not go unnoticed and a subordinate may actually realize the impact of his hard work on the company. A teacher may realize that the hours spent grading and providing feedback are actually beneficial to the student, and the student may come to know that it is his tenacity and determination that are more important to the teacher than his grades.
Next time you catch yourself saying or thinking something negative about somebody, make sure to finish the conversation on a positive note, highlighting a particular characteristic that you appreciate about him.
The positive effect that it will have on both of you will be amazing.
Yours,Didi Ji
Recently I witnessed something unusual. A few high school students were sitting in a circle with their teacher. The teacher pointed to a student and asked everybody to say something nice about him. Everybody was quiet. The going was slow initially. People had a hard time articulating what they wanted to say and the person was getting embarrassed. But soon the atmosphere began to change. There were raised hands, laughter as people recounted funny memories, and friendly leg pulling. The atmosphere had started to lighten up and camaraderie was starting to build.
During our daily interactions, we witness positive as well as negative attributes of others. While we do not hesitate to provide negative feedback, we seldom make time to say something nice.
Imagine what would happen if every once in a while people got together with those who matter to them and said something nice to them.
There is a potential that the positive characteristics and attributes of a child would get reinforced and her self esteem would increase. Perhaps, the dad would learn that the time spent on the floor roughhousing with the kids is what the kids appreciate most, and perhaps the mom would come to realize that not everything she does is unappreciated after all. A boss may find out that her encouraging words did not go unnoticed and a subordinate may actually realize the impact of his hard work on the company. A teacher may realize that the hours spent grading and providing feedback are actually beneficial to the student, and the student may come to know that it is his tenacity and determination that are more important to the teacher than his grades.
Next time you catch yourself saying or thinking something negative about somebody, make sure to finish the conversation on a positive note, highlighting a particular characteristic that you appreciate about him.
The positive effect that it will have on both of you will be amazing.
Yours,Didi Ji
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