HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

“Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.”“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
“Here's to the bright New Year, and a fond farewell to the old; here's to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold.”
My dear Lifesigners, may all of you have a productive and great year 2008! Be safe and have a fantastic new year 2008 guys and gals!

RC CARS GALORE!

When we were children we always had one thing persistently in our minds, and that is great toys! And that became the foundation for most of us for our fascination with Remote Control Cars.
The thought of controlling superb high tech mini real life counter parts of exotic and luxury RC vehicles is like an adrenaline rush of excitement. Everything-RC-Cars is the ultimate shop for all your RC vehicles requirements.
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HOSTING SIMPLICITY

You are thinking about starting your own website. Whether its nature is business or personal oriented, one thing is certain: you need the most reliable website hosting available. You just cannot afford to have your heart and soul poured into your website just to encounter a 404 error whenever someone tries to view it.
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USING YOUR HOMING INSTINCT

Fruits and vegetables for sale - “Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed. -- Herein lies the difference between them that create and them that enjoy.”

Did you know that the Arctic Tern, that lives about seven degrees south of the North Pole, leaves its home every year and flies all the way to Antarctica and back -- some 23,000 miles in all.

I wonder WHY the bird does that.. Is it looking for a better place to live? Surely it must pass a LOT of good real estate between its home seven degrees south of the North Pole and Antarctica! Can't it find something suitable? Is Antarctica really that much better? Or, if it's getting a little warm, why doesn't the bird just fly up to the North Pole?

But that's not the point. The point is that the bird returns home -- home to its special place near the North Pole. It flies all that distance and returns to just the same spot it once left. I can hardly drive across town without getting lost -- how does it do it? Twenty three thousand miles! But somehow, the Arctic Tern possesses the ability to fly halfway around the globe and return home every year.

You know that the salmon leaves her little mountain stream as a fingerling and swims, perhaps hundreds of miles, to the ocean where she lives. Then, when it's time to lay eggs, she swims back to her place of birth. She somehow finds just the right river, and all of the correct tributaries and streams and creeks until she arrives home. It's the trip of a lifetime -- one she may not survive. But she presses on, somehow knowing just the right paths to take along the way.

Like the arctic tern, the salmon possesses a built-in ability to find her way home.

So it is with humans. Not in a physical sense, for many of us can't get anywhere without a map. But we have a built-in ability to successfully navigate the twists and turns of life.

We may pay a lot of money for counseling, but, as a good counselor knows, it's not advice most of us need. So a skilled therapist will help us to find the way ourselves.

When you feel lost and confused about a path you should take or a decision to be made those answers you need you usually possess -- deep inside. Learn to be still and listen, trust your natural guidance system, and you can most often can find your way home again.

Are you using your homing instinct?

From Lifesupport.

DO YOU HAVE AN ANCHOR?

Ancient great tree - “Ancient lovers believed a kiss would literally unite their souls, because the spirit was said to be carried in one's breath.”

Though I have never seen it, I'm told that the Niagara River has a couple of interesting signs upstream of the famous falls. There is one by the side of the river visible to daredevil boaters that reads, "Do you have an anchor?" Then just downstream is a second sign that says, "Do you know how to use it?"

"Do you have an anchor?" I have found that a solid anchor is indispensable to one who intends to live life fully. To have an anchor is to be centered and well-grounded. It is to have a vital spiritual base.

"Do you know how to use it?" For no amount of faith is enough if it is not used.

We all come to what has been described as the "Red Sea place" in our lives. That is the place where there is no way back and no way around. We have to go through.

You know the places I mean . We find ourselves up against a critical loss, an irreversible setback or a course of action that cannot be changed. There is no way back and no way around. We have to go through.

Even a small ship can weather major storms if it has an anchor. But it is likely to be tossed about and even capsized if the anchor is not used.

What will you do when you get to the next "Red Sea place" in your life? Do you have an anchor? Do you know how to use it?

From Lifesupport.

PROTECT YOUR PIXELS

Year 1999. You've got yourself a spankin' new Playstation2. Now all that you need is a schweet 29" telly to plug it in to. Paradise. Cathode ray tube tellies aren't exactly what dreams are made of these days, 29" or not. What you have sitting in your living room (or hanging on the wall!) are probably LCD, plasma and rear projection TV screens.
If the words "screen burn" and "dead pixels" send shivers down your spine, you would want to check out PixelProtector.com.

PixelProtector is a DVD which, not only fixes screen burn and dead pixels, but guides you through correct calibration of your TV. And why is that important, you ask? That's because over 70% of flat screen TVs underperform due to incorrect set up. Yes, gone are the days where plug and play is the rule of the day. PixelProtector is user-friendly and makes the job relatively painless for you.

If you're looking to prolong the life of your TV, then look no further than PixelProtector. Oh, and you get 3 high quality screen savers too.

LABOR OF LOVE

Sleeping on the job - “Maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep, well nobody likes their job, nobody got enough sleep. Maybe you just had the worst day of your life, but you know, there's no escape, there's no excuse, so just suck up and be nice.”

Too many people think they have nothing to offer. The can't build a house, teach a math course, repair an automobile or paint a beautiful picture! They feel they are less valuable than others.

One man applied for a job as a handyman. The prospective employer asked, "Can you do carpentry?" The man answered in the negative.

"How about bricklaying? " Again the man answered, "No."

The employer asked, "Well, what about electrical work?"

The man said "No, I don't know anything about that, either."

Finally the employer said, "Well, tell me then what is handy about you?"

The man replied, "I live just around the corner."

His greatest ability was his availability. But beyond your availability, you may have more to offer than you think. For WHO you are is often more important than WHAT you do. Let me explain.

Millions of tourists have visited Taj Mahal in India. Some say that stepping through the vast sandstone gate is like immersing oneself in a photo. The Taj Mahal glistens in the light of dawn, glowing like a sculpted ember.

It was built by an emperor of India for his beloved wife, whom he called Taj Mahal. She died in childbirth, and as she departed, the story goes, she asked him to build her something beautiful and to visit the site each year on their anniversary and light a candle.

Millions of precious and semiprecious stones adorn the walls. Lapis, jade, quartz, amber, emeralds and onyx, among others, are set into the white marble. Marvelously detailed arrangements of these polished and shaped stones form garlands of flowers, both timeless and exquisite. One can only imagine gnarled fingers lifting blocks of white marble, shaping and polishing the blocks until they were as smooth as an infant's tummy.

The Taj Mahal was designed to reflect the different moods of the day, and as the sun rises, the mausoleum whitens, almost as though daylight were bleaching it. The white marble wondrously reflects the light around it, seemingly changing colors throughout the day.

Built as a labor of love, it is truly one of the great wonders of the world. Your life, too, can become a labor of love.

The Taj Mahal is made of many of earth's finest materials. Similarly, your life can also be built of the finest of qualities: character, commitment, devotion, integrity and honor.

The Taj Mahal is adorned with jewels. Likewise, your life can bear fruits of love, joy, peace, kindness, hope and more.

You may have more to offer than you realize. Perhaps what you generously give away is your own beautiful life. And that is the best gift of all.

From Lifesupport.

INSURING LIFE

You know that point in your life where you actually ask yourself, "what would happen if I were to die today?" You'd probably think about things not done, words unsaid. But really. The questions you should asking yourself are, "Who's to take care of my family when I'm gone?" "And the mortgage?"It's about time you start thinking about life insurance. It's never too early, for you may not know what may happen tomorrow.

Okay. So where do you start? The (arguably) perennial favourite starting point for almost anything is Wikipedia.

Once you've gotten a rough idea what life insurance from Wikipedia (and please check your sources, people!), what next?
With so many insurance companies, it may not be wise to take on a compare and contrast all by yourself. This is where Lifeinsure.com comes in. When you're there, click on the "About Life Insurance" to get a good low down on life insurance.

Then when you get a picture of what you need, you may find the Instant Life Insurance Quotes Generator greeting you at the front page a really, really helpful. By answering a few simple questions, you get a tabled premium comparison between different insurance companies. Sure beats jumping from one insurance company to another just to get quotes, huh?

If you're still stuck, just pick up the phone and call up the folks at Lifeinsure.com. Oh, and it's a toll free number!

NO WRONG TIME TO SAY THE RIGHT THING

Shopping complex - “Shopping is better than sex. If you're not satisfied after shopping you can make an exchange for something you really like.”

A cartoon depicts a woman shaking hands with her clergyman as she leaves the church. The caption says, "Thank you for the sermon. It was like water to a drowning man." Some compliments are better left unsaid....

Isn't it true that words carry with them immense power? Power to build up and power to tear down. Such was the case with the words of Maude, a woman who learned that there is no wrong time to say the right thing.

It was a cold, rainy day in March. Across the room in the millinery department of the store where Maude worked, sat Laura, a woman about Maude's age. Other workers did not like Laura; they thought her to be snobbish and aloof. And Maude agreed.

But sweeping the bias from her eyes, she made up her mind to say something kind to Laura. Finally, she managed, "Do you know, Laura, that I've worked in this room with you for several years. And whenever I glance up I see your head silhouetted against the window there behind you. I think you have the prettiest profile and hair that I have ever seen on anybody." Her words were not insincere flattery. She meant it.

Laura looked up and began to cry. "That's the first kind word anybody has ever said to me in all the years I've worked here," she said.

Maude discovered that Laura's aloofness was not due to snobbishness, but shyness. The two became friends. Other workers soon began to include Laura in their activities, and she blossomed like a flower that, for the first time, found sunlight. The right words, spoken in kindness, changed a life.

Never underestimate the power of your words. There is no wrong time to say the right thing. And there is no better time than now.

From Lifesupport.

MERRY CHRISTMAS LIFESIGNERS!

“There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.”“Anyone who believes that men are the equal of women has never seen a man trying to wrap a Christmas present”
“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other”

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COMPLIMENT MORE; REPRIMAND LESS

View from the rooftop - “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.”

Alan Loy McGinnis cites an interesting study in his book THE FRIENDSHIP FACTOR (Augsburg, 1979). A second-grade teacher complained that her children were spending too much time standing up and roaming around the room rather than working.

Two psychologists spent several days at the back of the room with stopwatches observing the behavior of the children and the teacher. Every ten seconds they noted how many children were out of their seats. They counted 360 unseated children throughout each 20-minute period. They also noted that the teacher said "Sit down!" seven times during the same period.

The psychologists tried an experiment. The asked the teacher to say "Sit down!" more often. Then they sat back to see what would happen. Now she commanded her students to sit down 27.5 times in an average 20-minute period, and now 540 were noted to be out of their seats during the same average period! Her increased yelling actually made the problem worse. (When she later backed off to her normal number of reprimands, the roaming also declined to the exact same number recorded previously in just two days.)

Then the experimenters tried another tack. They asked the teacher to refrain from yelling "Sit down!" altogether, and to instead quietly compliment those children who were seated and working. The result? Children's roaming decreased by 33%! They exhibited their best behavior when they were complimented more and reprimanded less.

Eleanor Porter said, "Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his real self that can dare and do and win out."

It works for children and it works for adults. There is immense power in encouragement -- power to make a real difference!

From Lifesupport.

CHILDREN SHOPPING

We all love our little bundles of joy! And shopping for them just got easier with baby products on ShopWiki. It does not have to be a hassle when you are trying to find the perfect musical toys or children books for your little ones.

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DECIDING HOW TO LIVE

Golden statues - “Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.”

There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer. When asked to define "great" he said, "I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!"

He now works for a software company, writing error messages.

Those beautiful dreams we have for the rest of our lives too often don't materialize. And, again too often, we look back dissatisfied with the direction we took or the place we finally reached.

Frederick Buechner, in his book THE HUNGERING DARK (New York: Seabury Press, 1968), talks about looking back at high school yearbooks. He plays a sad game, remembering what all his classmates hoped and dreamed of becoming. "In my class, as in any class, at any school," he says, "there were students who had a real flair, a real talent, for something. Maybe it was for writing or acting or sports. Maybe it was an interest and a joy in working with people. Sometimes it was just their capacity for being so alive that made you more alive to be with them. Yet now, a good many years later, I have the feeling that more than just a few of them are spending their lives at work in which none of these gifts is being used. This is the sadness of the game .."

Matt Lamb could have been one of those people. Until 1987, Matt owned and ran his own funeral home in Chicago. But that year, a doctor told Matt that he had a fatal disease. So he closed the funeral home and pursued his true passion, painting.

Soon, Matt's art drew national attention. He became quite successful. Only after Matt had found success in his dream career did doctors discover that they had misdiagnosed him. He wasn't going to die after all.

A misdiagnosis may have saved him from a life of meaninglessness. Not that owning one's own small business is in any way unworthy, but it simply was not Matt's true passion. In his heart, he wanted to paint, and he would never be truly happy until he pursued that dream, wherever it finally led him.

What does it take to move us to follow our passions? Must we face a crisis before we step off the safe, known path onto the unknown trail of adventure we've dreamed of following all our lives?

Singer Joan Baez reminds us: "You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live." That decision is too important to put off another day.

From Lifesupport.

THE FABLE OF MARY LIN

Food stalls - “There are three types of friends: those like food, without which you can't live; those like medicine, which you need occasionally; and those like an illness, which you never want.”

A modernized Chinese fable tells of Mary Lin, who was widely-known as a holy woman. She was a kind mother, a devoted wife, a loyal friend, an active part of her community of faith and a concerned neighbor to those in need. She visited the lonely who had nobody. She assisted the ill, caring for them however she could. She baked for new families who moved to her community. She befriended children and always had time to listen when anybody needed an ear.

Mary Lin was busy and contented. And when she died, everyone who knew her believed she would go to heaven. If there was no heaven, one would certainly be prepared for her, they agreed.

Mary Lin stood at heaven's gate. She was welcomed into a city alive with many voices of joy and praise. A gentle feeling of rest came over her, for here there were no worries, no tears, no sorrows and no losses. She could rest forever and enjoy the companionship of other good souls.

But a strange thing happened. Amid the pleasant sounds of heaven, Mary Lin thought she heard weeping. She concentrated on that sound and discerned that it was the cry of a child far, far away. It was barely audible as it moved up to her from the earth. She knew someone was distraught. Someone was in need.

Mary Lin turned and passed out through the gate....

"If we make our goal to live a life of compassion and unconditional love," said Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, "then the world will indeed become a garden where all kinds of flowers can bloom and grow."

The world can become ... heavenly.

From Lifesupport.

MAILBOX SECURITY

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HOW TO BE HAPPY FOR A LIFETIME

Miniature ship model - “Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.”

Someone said this about happiness:

To be happy for an hour -- take a nap.
To be happy for a day -- go shopping.
To be happy for a week -- take a vacation.
To be happy for a month -- get married.
To be happy for a year -- inherit a fortune.
To be happy for a lifetime -- help others.

You and I may argue with a couple of points on that list, but the
author is exactly right about how to be happy for the rest of
your life. Lasting contentment can always be found in helping
others. It is truly a secret that many people have never
discovered!

Marion Preminger stumbled upon it and wrote about where lasting
happiness is to be found in her autobiography ALL I WANT IS
EVERYTHING. Born in Hungary in 1913, Marion was raised in a
castle, surrounded by wealth, servants and the notoriety of an
aristocratic upbringing.

At a Viennese ball, she met a handsome young man, the son of an
Italian doctor. They rushed into a marriage that lasted only a
year.

She returned to Vienna to embark on a career of acting. There she
fell in love with the German director Otto Preminger. They
married and she followed him to America where he began a
promising career as a Hollywood movie director. But her new
Hollywood lifestyle could not sustain her marriage and Preminger
eventually divorced her.

Marion returned to Europe to live the life of a Parisian
socialite until 1948. Then everything changed when she read that
Dr. Albert Schweitzer was visiting Europe from his home in
Africa. She determined to meet with the notable missionary doctor.

She first encountered Schweitzer doing one of the things he loved
to do best while visiting Europe -- playing a church organ for
his own enjoyment. He invited her to dine with him. After the
meal, Marion knew she had finally found what she'd been looking
for. She accompanied Schweitzer every day during the remainder of
his European visit. He invited Marion to come back to Africa with him
and work as an untrained staff member in the Lamberene hospital.

She left her life of status and ease and moved to Africa.
Once there, the girl who was raised like a princess became a servant.
She changed bandages, bathed bodies and fed lepers. She gave her life
away to the poor and, because of it, found the happiness she'd craved
for so long.

It was Albert Schweitzer who asserted, "One thing I know: the
only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will
have sought and found how to serve."

However, wherever and whomever you choose to help is unimportant.
There are those in need everywhere. But when you figure out how
to sincerely serve other people, you'll have also learned how to be
happy for a lifetime.

From Lifesupport.

HOW YOU'RE LIKE A PENCIL

Transformers Galvatron toy robot - “Nothing is true in self-discovery unless it is true in your own experience. This is the only protection against the robot levels of the mind.”

Did you know that you are like a pencil? Here's how:

1. Like a pencil, you can correct your mistakes. You can't change the past, but you can rectify it. And though you can't erase history, you can erase guilt and anger with forgiveness.

2. Like a pencil, painful sharpening can serve to make you better. Your difficult times can actually sharpen your skills or shape you into the person you were meant to be.

3. Like a pencil, you can do great things when you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand.

4. Like a pencil, you can leave your mark whenever possible. That is what you're here for -- to leave your mark. It may be in small ways, it may be in the lives of people you have touched or nurtured, but you must leave something good behind whenever you can.

5. Like a pencil, it is what is on the inside that matters. Whether it is understanding or intolerance, love or bitterness, peace or unrest, kindness or self-centeredness, hope or despair, courage or fear, what is on the inside matters most.

Next time you use a pencil, pause and think about that little writing tool. It teaches some great lessons about living.

From Lifesupport.

YOUR RIGHT TO BE WRONG

Paper packing boxes - “Love is not written on paper, for paper can be erased. Nor is it etched on stone, for stone can be broken. But it is inscribed on a heart and there it shall remain forever.”

A humorous story has it that a newly appointed young clergy person was contacted by a local funeral director to hold a graveside service at a small country cemetery in Iowa. There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no family or friends left in the state.

The young pastor started early to cemetery, but soon became lost. After making several wrong turns, he finally arrived a half-hour late. The hearse was nowhere in sight and cemetery workers were relaxing under a near-by tree, eating their lunch.

The pastor went to the open grave and found that the vault lid was already in place. He took out his book and read the service. As he returned to his car, he overheard one of the workers say, "Maybe we'd better tell him it's a septic tank."

Why is it we make our biggest mistakes in public? And some people can't avoid it...former hockey goalie Jacques Plante wonders, "How would you like a job where, if you made a mistake, a big, red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?"

But we should never give up our right to be wrong. Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment. It is your right to be wrong. "No (one) ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes," said William E. Gladstone. Great mistakes are opportunities for great learning. And great learning makes for great living.

You have a right to be wrong. And if you are to build a great life, you have a duty to make great mistakes. If possible, laugh at them. Always learn from them. And try to make sure your next mistake is one you haven't made before!

From Lifesupport.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

The calm sea - “Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls”

An army chaplain tells of the time he was asked to preach at a church some 20 miles from the base. He took his family along, but had ne­glected to tell his six-year-old daughter where they were going. After a few miles on the road, she asked, "Dad, when we get to where we're going, where will we be?" A good question! And one all of us should try to answer for ourselves.

Think of your life's journey. When you get to where you're going, where will you be? One year, five years, or even 20 years from now, if you keep heading in the same direction you are head­ing and keep doing what you are doing, what will your life look like? Not only vocationally and fi­nancially, but what kind of person will you be? Do you have a pretty clear picture of the way you would like things to turn out, or will you be as surprised when it happens as everybody else?

It has been my experience that most people do not spend much time with these questions. But as Henry David Thoreau once said, "In the long run, we only hit what we aim at."

To live aimlessly is to waste this precious gift of life. But to live with direction is to live fully.

From Lifesupport.

SHOPWIKI FOR PET SUPPLIES

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WAIT TRAINING

Decorative plants for sale - “Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”

Perhaps you can relate. One man was to meet his wife downtown and spend some time shopping with her. He waited patiently for 15 minutes.

Then he waited impatiently for 15 minutes more.

After that, he became angry. Seeing one of those photograph booths nearby (the kind that accepts coins into a slot and takes four shots while you pose on a small bench), he had an idea. He assumed the most ferocious expression he could manage, which wasn't difficult under the circumstances, and in a few moments he was holding four small prints that shocked even him!

He wrote his wife's name on the back of the photographs and handed them to a clerk behind the desk. "If you see a small, dark lady with brown eyes and an apologetic expression, apparently looking for someone, would you please give her this?" he said.

He then returned to his office content that, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then four photos must be a full-blown lecture!

His wife saved those pictures. She carries them in her purse now. Shows them to anyone who asks if she is married...

How are you with patience? One person calls it "wait-training." It seems that there is always something we are waiting for. We wait on traffic and we wait in lines. We wait to hear about a new job. We wait to complete school or to retire. We wait to grow up or for maturity in a child. We wait for a decision to be made. We wait for someone to change his or her mind.

Patience is an essential quality of a happy life. After all, some things are worth waiting for. Every day presents plenty of opportunities for wait training.

We can resent waiting, accept it or even get good at it! But one thing is certain - we cannot avoid it. How is your wait training coming along?

From Lifesupport.

AUSTRALIA TRAVELER

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MOTIVATING OTHERS

Docking ship at shipyard - “He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.”

There was once a small boy who banged a drum all day and loved every moment of it. He would not be quiet, no matter what anyone else said or did. Various attempts were made to do something about the child.

One person told the boy that he would, if he continued to make so much noise, perforate his eardrums. This reasoning was too advanced for the child, who was neither a scientist nor a scholar.

A second person told him that drum beating was a sacred activity and should be carried out only on special occasions. The third person offered the neighbors plugs for their ears; a fourth gave the boy a book; a fifth gave the neighbors books that described a method of controlling anger through biofeedback; a sixth person gave the boy meditation exercises to make him placid and docile. None of these attempts worked.

Eventually, a wise person came along with an effective motivation. He looked at the situation, handed the child a hammer and chisel, and asked, "I wonder what is INSIDE the drum?"

No more problem.

Good leaders know how to motivate others. They pique their curiosity and tickle their sense of wonder. They teach them to dream and tempt them to do more than they ever thought possible. They challenge them to be a part of something great.

Pilot and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

Do that and there will be no limit to the wondrous places they can travel.

From Lifesupport.

LEARNING TO WAIT

Ceramic wise man statue - “He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues it possesses”

You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the United States from Russia, he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk - you just add water and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice - you just add water and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, "What a country!"

We live in a fast-paced world. We drive fast cars. We eat fast food. We live in the fast lane. We want it now.

One old story tells of a judge who was in a benevolent mood as he questioned the prisoner. "What are you charged with?" he asked. "Doing my Christmas shopping early," replied the defendant."

"That's no offense," said the judge. "How early were you doing this shopping?"

"Before the store opened," countered the prisoner.

Few of us will go to those extremes to satisfy our desire to "get it now," but we know what we want and we wish we could have it yesterday. We don't like to wait.

Though there is certainly a place for decisiveness and action, there is also a place for patience. Have you learned when to wait?

Wait for the sunrise...there will be another day.

Wait for guidance...learn to be still.

Wait for wisdom...it will come with experience.

Wait for growth...it happens in the fullness of time.

Wait and be contented...it is a secret to inner peace.

There is a time to act, but there is also a time to wait. Learn how to tell what time it is, for great things can happen for those who learn to wait. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well: "Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."

From Lifesupport.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

Shopping lot walkway - “I love to go shopping. I love to freak out salespeople. They ask me if they can help me, and I say, "Have you got anything I'd like?" Then they ask me what size I need, and I say, "Extra medium."”

Someone noted that their life and their bank both have something in common - they get out of them about as much as they put in. Which, as far as my bank is concerned, isn't much! But it means I can get a great deal of joy and satisfaction out of life if I am careful about what I put into living.

Gary Player for years was a great competitor in national and international golf tournaments. People constantly said to him, "I'd give anything if I could hit a golf ball like you."

Upon hearing that comment one day, Player responded impatiently: "No, you wouldn't. You'd do anything to hit a golf ball like me, if it were easy! Do your know what you have to do to hit a golf ball like me? You've got to get up at 5:00 every morning, go out to the golf course, and hit a thousand golf balls! Your hands start bleeding, and you walk to the clubhouse and wash the blood off your hands, slap a bandage on it, and go out and hit another thousand golf balls! That is what it takes to hit a golf ball like me!"

His goal was to be at the top of his sport. That lofty dream requires practice, practice and more practice. If your desire, on the other hand, is to excel at living - to give and receive love, to experience joy and to develop fulfilling relationships - then how much of you will you put into your dream? These things, too, are possible with practice.

Do you actually practice love, even when you don't feel like it? Do you practice finding joy even when you're unhappy? Do you work at difficult relationships? It is not always easy, but the payoff is worth it!

From Lifesupport.

THE HISTORY OF MOTHER'S DAY

It is a known fact that Mother's Day is on the second Sunday of May every year. But do you know the history of Mother's Day, of how Mother's Day came to be the day we honor and celebrate mothers throughout the globe?

Mothers Day Central is the definitive online guide of the Mother's Day celebration. Highlighting the complete history of Mother's Day, Mothers Day Central also provides insightful and interesting news on their Mother's Day Blog. For those needing a little help on Mother's Day (who doesn't) there is also the helpful Mother's Day Planning Checklist as well as a great list of Mother's Day activities to engage in.

You can also find great one-liner Motherly quotes in the Motherisms section on Mothers Day Central which is quite fun to read.

LEAVING YOUR MARK

Steel tug boat construction - “When the tides of life turn against you and the current upsets your boat, don't waste those tears on what might have been, just lie on your back and float.”

Did you know...?

That Joan of Arc was only seventeen when she was riding at the head of the army that liberated France from the English?

That John Calvin was twenty-six when he published his "Institutes"?

That John Keats died when he was twenty-six?

That Shelley was thirty when he was drowned, but not before he left English literature his classic "Odes"?

That Sir Isaac Newton had largely discovered the working of the law of gravitation when he was twenty-three?

That Henry Clay, the "great compromiser," was sent to the United States Senate at twenty-nine and was Speaker of the House of Representatives at thirty-four?

That Raphael painted his most important pictures between twenty-five and thirty?

That Mozart only lived thirty-five years?

Of course, most of us will never achieve the prominence of these extraordinary individuals. Nor should we -- we are each cut from a unique pattern. But many people feel as if they should be leaving more of a mark on the world. When I was a young man I wanted to make things happen. After a few years I realized I would have to content myself with watching most things happen. (Now I often find that I have no idea at all what is happening!)

It helps to remember that there is a time for everything -- and everybody. Our time to bear good fruit may be yet to come. In fact, we may do our best work, or find our unique place, later in life.

Colorado aspen trees grow vigorously. After the devastation of a forest fire, frequent occurrences in the Rockies, aspens are sometimes the first trees to return. They re-forest an area quickly, providing shade for slower-growing spruce and pine saplings. These evergreens grow slower, but may live many years longer than the aspens. Each tree grows in its own time.

So does each person. Some people come to fruition quickly, others contribute more significantly in later years.

If you've not yet come into your own, don't worry. Tend to your work and aspirations with care. Don't give up; but rather be patient, for growth can be slow. Remember, storms and disease are devastating, but they can also prune you and make you stronger. With proper nurture, you will in time enjoy a full harvest.

There is a time for everything and everybody. And the time to begin is now.

From Lifesupport.

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