THE ROCKING CHAIR TEST FOR LIFE

Fresh vegetables for sale at the market - “Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.”

How are you at making decisions?

Years ago, a city family bought a cattle ranch and moved to the wide-open country. After a month, friends visited the family in their ranch house. "What did you decide to name your ranch?" they inquired.

"Well," the husband replied, "I wanted to call it the Flying W and my wife wanted to name it the Suzy Q, but one of our sons liked the Bar J and the other preferred the Lazy Y. So we compromised and call it the Flying W/Suzy Q/Bar J/Lazy Y."

"I see," said the visitor. "And where are your cattle?"

"None of them survived the branding!" said the rancher.

You, no doubt, make better decisions than that. But what do you do when you have a particularly tough decision to make? What do you do when your options are not at all clear?

When faced with a difficult decision, one man relies on what he calls the "rocking chair test." He imagines himself as an old man, nearing the end of his life. As he sits and rocks on his porch and contemplates his life, he asks himself if this decision will have any meaning to him. Will he be proud or ashamed of his decision? How will this decision have affected the course of his life?

The "rocking chair test" helps him take a long view of his options. If any decision passes the test, then he knows that it was a good choice.

What decisions are you presently struggling with? Take the "rocking chair test" today and make a better decision for tomorrow.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

A LAUGH A DAY FOR LIFE

Peanut the cat in captivity - “All the intelligence and talent in the world can't make a singer. The voice is a wild thing. It can't be bred in captivity.”

"She who laughs, lasts." At least that was Theresa of Avila's philosophy. Theresa, a Spanish nun who founded the reformed order of the Carmelites in 1562, used to look for novices who knew how to laugh, eat and sleep. She believed that if they ate heartily, they were healthy; if they slept well, they were more than likely free of serious sin; and if they laughed, they had the necessary disposition to survive a difficult life.

Abraham Lincoln must have also known that laughter is good medicine. In writing about Lincoln's Civil War years, author Richard Hanser says that on September 22, 1862, the War Cabinet was summoned to the White House for a special session. Lincoln was reading a book as everyone came in. Secretary of War Stanton later said this of the meeting: "Finally the president turned to us and said, 'Gentlemen, did you ever read anything of Artimus Ward? Let me read a chapter that is very funny.'"

The president then read aloud a skit called "Highhanded Outrage at Utica." Stanton was furious, but Lincoln read on and, at the end, he laughed heartily. "Gentlemen," he asked, "why do you not laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me day and night, if I did not laugh, I should die. And you need this medicine as much as I do." It was at this same session that the president pulled a paper from his tall hat and read aloud the now immortalized Emancipation Proclamation.

He's right -- we may likely die without frequent and sustained doses of laughter. After all, they who laugh, last.

Have you had your belly laugh today?

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

GREAT TEACHERS FOR LIFE

Master grade Macross Frontier VF-25F model on display - “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

I met a great teacher. She lived in a small Costa Rican village where my family vacationed. She was no formal educator, philosopher or person of any renown. Actually, she made chocolate to sell to tourists.

She took us into her small home. It consisted of a single, partitioned room with a dirt floor and a wood-burning stove. Its paneless windows were open to an encroaching jungle that surrounded the dwelling. This house, by my North American standards, might not be considered more than a shack or a hut. Yet it was home to a warm and happy family of four.

She showed us how she picks the cocoa beans from her porch, crushes them, boils them in a paste, adds sugar and other ingredients and finally produces chocolate. We sampled chocolate candies, bananas and other native fruit picked from the jungle.

She not only invited us into her home, but into her life. And for a couple of hours, she allowed these strangers a glimpse into her world.

Here was a person who had no TV, no computer, no washer and drier, no microwave oven, no automobile...no floor!...and none of the conveniences of my daily life. I saw no books or magazines and presumed that only her children (two lovely teenaged girls, home that day from school) could read and write. Yet this woman taught me so much. And if I could have stayed longer, I would have learned more - about her life, her world, her culture and her ideas.

Who are not teachers? Who are so humble or so uneducated, so young or so old, or so deficient in some way - that we cannot learn from them? If we only take time to listen, who cannot tell us of things we have never imagined?

Someone advised, "Live each day as if it were your last; learn as if you were to live forever." And it's so easy when we discover that, in some way, everyone is a great teacher.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

YOU'RE NOT ALONE IN LIFE

Wedding dinner at a chinese restaurant - “The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue. It's a choice you make / not just on your wedding day, but over and over again / and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife.”

"The commonest and subtlest of all human diseases," a prominent physician said, "is fear." Fear is an incapacitating, paralyzing disease. We all fear at times, but many carry with them unnec­essary and destructive fears.

We're afraid of the unknown.

We're afraid of old age; afraid of growing senile and dependent.

We're afraid of change; afraid to plunge into that new relationship, job or way of life.

We're afraid of the future.

We're afraid to risk; afraid to fail or ap­pear as if we failed.

We're afraid to love; afraid to trust.

We're afraid of closeness; afraid we might get hurt.

We're afraid to die. Like Henry Van Dyke said, "Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live."

Fear is the most devastating enemy of hu­man personality.

But here's the good news: unnecessary fears can be conquered! Courage to meet fear head-on is actually at our fingertips.

An American slavery abolitionist, Wendell Phillips, made an interesting observation. He noted that it is easy to be brave when all are be­hind you and agree with you. But the difficulty comes when 99 percent of your friends think you are wrong. Then it is the brave soul who stands up – one among 1,000 – remembering that one with God makes a ma­jority!

You see, courage often comes from simply knowing you are not alone.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

MAKE YOUR LIFE AN EXPERIMENT

Yellow flower batik painting design - “Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

Do you experiment with new attitudes and new behaviors? Do you constantly try to improve your skills? Do you make your life an "active science"? It is not hard to see what can happen when we refuse to improve ourselves.

Do you know who set the standard for fine watch-making for most of the 20th Century? If you answered, "The Swiss," you are correct. Swiss wrist watches dominated world markets for at least 60 years and Swiss companies were committed to constant refinement of their craft.

It was the Swiss who came forward with the minute hand and the second hand. They led the world in discovering better ways to manufacture the gears, bearings, and mainsprings of watches. They even led the way in waterproofing techniques and self-winding models. By 1968, the Swiss made 65 percent of all watches sold in the world and laid claim to as much as 90 percent of the profits.

Now...which country sold the most wrist watches in the 1980s? The answer is Japan. By 1980, Swiss companies had laid off thousands of watch-makers and controlled less than 10 percent of the world market. Their profit domination dropped to less than 20 percent. Between 1979 and 1981, eighty percent of Swiss watchmakers lost their jobs.

Why? The Swiss had refused to change the way they traditionally designed watches and utilize the less expensive and more accurate Quartz crystal. (Quartz movement, ironically, was invented by a Swiss.) They did not seriously experiment with a radical new way of designing timepieces.

Our lives are not so different. Without constant experimentation -- daily growth and change to become the best we can be -- our old attitudes, behaviors and skills will no longer work for us. The old ways of thinking and doing will be about as relevant as a grandfather clock on a space shuttle. We need to experiment and improve. We need to turn our lives into an active science.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do," wrote Mark Twain. "So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Make your life an experiment...and something wonderful can happen!

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

LEGACY OF LOVE FOR LIFE

Papercraft Macbook Pro ultrathin notebook computer - “Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thin was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.”

A friend once told me of a caring and much-loved school nurse who died. She was well known by the faculty and students, as she had been there 35 years. When the principal an­nounced her death to the children, many of them began to cry.

To help ease their grief, the school coun­selor had a group of children draw a picture of what the nurse meant to them. One child filled in her pa­per with red. "This is her heart," she ex­plained. "It's too big for the paper."

At her funeral her friends and family clapped and celebrated her life. She left behind a great legacy of love.

How will you be remembered? What leg­acy will you leave behind?

Toward the end of his life, Elton Trueblood made this observation: "At the age of 93, I am well aware that I do not have many years to live. Conse­quently, I try very hard to live my remaining years in such a manner that I really make a difference in as many lives as pos­sible. How do I want to be re­membered? Not pri­marily as a Christian scholar, but rather as a lov­ing person. This can be the goal of every individ­ual. If I can be re­membered as a truly loving per­son, I shall be satis­fied."

After you are gone, people may forget most of what you have done. But they will remem­ber whether you loved them.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ARE YOU READY TO BE SURPRISED FOR LIFE?

Mirror glass tiles on the wall - “Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it.”

Are you ready to be surprised? Life is full of surprises - to those who are aware.

History records amazing coincidences in the lives of two of America's founders - Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams. You are aware that Jefferson labored for two weeks writing the Declaration of Independence. He showed his drafts to Adams and Benjamin Franklin, who edited it, honed Jefferson's ideas and refined the document. When it was finally finished, he brought it before the Continental Congress for approval. And America remembers her birth date, of course, as July 4, 1776.

Jefferson and Adams spent the next 50 years debating ideas about how this new nation should govern itself and what it should eventually become. Their administrations argued philosophies and legislation. Sometimes the two men were contentious, but later in life they seemed to develop more of an appreciation for each other. Though they lived far apart, they kept up through correspondence.

Surprisingly (and coincidentally), they both died the same day! Adams is said to have uttered, just before he died, "Jefferson still lives." He couldn't have known that Thomas Jefferson was also drawing his last breath.

Do you know what that day was? July 4 – Independence Day. Do you know what year? It was 1926, exactly 50 years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And the coincidences don't end there.

Couriers were dispatched with the news of the great men's deaths. From Braintree, the messenger with news about Adams traveled south. Jefferson's messenger came north from Virginia. Do you know where they met? In Philadelphia...under the shadow of the great hall where both men's lives were so dramatically shaped, and where they labored to give birth to a nation.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But historians of the day often attributed these coincidences to providence – as a good omen for a new nation.

Our lives are full of surprises and amazing coincidences. Someone said, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." It's a beautiful way of making sense of the inexplicable.

But whether or not you see the hand of providence in coincidence, life teems with the remarkable. Learn to notice what others do not see, and you'll never ceased to be amazed!

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

LOOK UPON THEM AS WOUNDED IN LIFE

Crunchy deep fried noodles with sweet and sour sauce for breakfast - “Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.”

After vaccinating a young boy with an injection in the arm, a doctor wanted to stick on a bandage. "Please put it on the other arm," the boy pleaded.

"Why do that?" the doctor asked. "This will let everyone know you have been vaccinated and they won't hit your sore arm."

"Please put it on my other arm! Please!" the boy begged. "You don't know the kids at my school."

He couldn't show his weakness. He was afraid to let others know of his vulnerability for fear of being hurt more than he was already.

Adults, too, are pretty good at hiding pain. Not usually physical pain, but the pain of loss or rejection or fear. They like to appear as if they are in control; they can handle whatever life throws them; they're on top of it. And, too often, they end up going it alone. No one understands. No one is there to help.

Susan Muto, in her book Blessings That Make Us Be (Crossroad, 1982), tells a story of a great ruler who needed a second-in-command to help manage his kingdom. When he finally selected the right person, he took him outside onto a balcony of the palace where they could gaze over all the lands under his jurisdiction. His assistant asked the king, "Master, what must I remember most of all if I am to carry out your wishes?"

"My son," the king replied, "there is only one directive to follow - and that is to look upon the people as wounded."

The wise king knew that everyone is in pain in some way. Wounds may not show, but they are there.

Discover where people hurt and you'll finally understand them. Learn where the invisible bandages are and you'll know how to help, heal or reach them. Look upon them as wounded - and you'll know what to do.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

BILLSHRINK IN LIFE

My sister got a brand new iPhone 3GS for her birthday courtesy of her other half. She let me and my cousin played around with it and ever since then my cousin has been eager to get one for himself. With a sudden windfall of luck, he finally got his phone when his father found one lying by the roadside at the airport! After unsuccessfully trying to locate the previous owner, the finders keepers rule applied. The next course of action would be to find the cheapest cell phone plans available.

That is where Billshrink comes into the picture. With a few keystrokes and mouse clicks, Billshrink will find and present you with your best suited plan according to your customized requirements. I just found out that I can save nearly $500 annually by switching to another plan! Now that is something I will definitely look into. In addition, if you are looking for a similar solution that will compare credit cards you are in luck because Billshrink does that as well! The best part is you do not have to pay to use Billshrink: its free!

TO HONOR THEIR SOULS IN LIFE

Papercraft iphone mobile -“Existence is no more than the precarious attainment of relevance in an intensely mobile flux of past, present, and future.”

Perhaps you have never heard of Katherine Lawes. Katherine was the wife of Lewis Lawes, warden at Sing Sing Prison from 1920-1941.

Sing Sing had the reputation of destroying wardens. The average warden's tenure before Lewis Lawes was two years. "The easiest way to get out of Sing Sing," he once quipped, "is to go in as warden." In his 21 years he instituted numerous reforms - and an important part of his success was due to his wife Katherine.

Katherine took seriously the idea that the prisoners are human beings, worthy of attention and respect. She regularly visited inside the walls of Sing Sing. She encouraged the prisoners, ran errands for them and spent time listening to them. Most importantly, she cared about them. And as a result, they cared deeply about her.

Then one night in October of 1937, news was "telegraphed" between the prison cells that Katherine was killed in an accident. The prisoners petitioned the warden to allow them to attend her funeral bier. He granted their strange request and a few days later the south gate of Sing Sing swung slowly open. Hundreds of men – felons, lifers, murderers, thieves – men convicted of almost every crime conceivable, marched slowly from the prison gate to the bier, reassembled at the house and returned to their cells. There were so many that they proceeded unguarded. But not one tried to escape. If he had, the others may have killed him on the spot, so devoted were they to Katherine Lawes, the woman who daily walked into Hell to show the men a piece of Heaven.

Katherine's strength was to see the men less as prisoners and more as individuals. Thomas Moore has said, "We can only treat badly those things or people whose souls we disregard."

To treat people well is to honor their souls. To honor their souls is to understand what it means to love your neighbor.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

GETTING THE BEST FROM THOSE YOU LEAD FOR LIFE

Prawn dipped in lime sauce - “Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you.”

A teacher was sitting at her desk grading papers when her first grade class came back from lunch. One of her students informed her, "Robert has to go to the principal's office."

"I wonder why?" the teacher mused.

"Because he's a following person," the child replied.

"A what?" the teacher asked.

"It came over the loudspeaker: 'The following persons are to go to the office.'"

Some people are "leading people" and some are "following people." And actually, we are each followers and leaders at various times. But if you are ever in a leadership position, this advice from college football coaching legend "Bear" Bryant about how to get the best from those you're leading can be useful.

"I'm just a plow hand in Arkansas," Bear said, "but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they've got one heartbeat together, a team. There are just three things I'd ever say: 'If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it.' That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you."

I suspect that's all it takes to get people to be effective in any situation. For leaders are only as good as those who follow them, and followers are at their best when leaders are quick to give credit for successes.

British classical scholar Benjamin Jowett put it like this: "The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them." That's especially good to know when you're a "leading person."

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

A TOUCHING MOMENT IN LIFE

Peanut the cat perched on the staircase - “Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Are you meeting a friend for lunch? Ac­cord­ing to "The Farmer's Almanac," if you are American you will probably touch each other twice an hour. If you are English, you may not touch each other at all. If you are French, you might touch each other 110 times an hour, and if you are Puerto Ri­can, you just might touch each other 180 times an hour.

There are obvious cultural differences in communication styles, but studies agree that touch­ing is important to human development. Psycholo­gist Wayne Dennis observed a group of babies in an orphanage where they were given practically no stimulation, including touch ("New Mind" by Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich; A Touchstone Book, 1990). Most laid on their backs all day in bare cribs placed in bare rooms. They were touched only when their diapers were changed. At the end of one year, the children's de­velopment was about that of a six-month-old. The good news is that, once adopted into nurturing envi­ronments, these children quickly caught up to other children their age.

Human touch is vital. With it, we thrive. Without it, we wither. And it is good preventive medicine. It is simpler to hold a hand than to hold a consultation. A hanging head needs a shoulder un­der it. A back rub can be the easiest way to get a "monkey off someone's back." And the best way to get somebody's chin up is by lifting it with a gentle hand.

One of the best gifts you can give another may be an encouraging touch. And would you really mind if the gift were returned?

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

A GAME ANYONE CAN PLAY FOR LIFE

Red wine in champagne glass - “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?”

The most miserable people live in their own little worlds of isolation. They do very little for others and rarely have much fun.

I heard of one older gentleman who was considered by the townspeople to be both rich and thrifty. His austerity earned him the reputation of a miser. When he died, everyone expected the authorities to find money stashed everywhere in his home. All they found were a few gallon cans filled with coins.

It came out that he had used most of his money to help put needy young students through college. And the coins filled his pockets as he walked down the streets of the business districts looking for cars whose parking meters had expired. When he found one, he would drop in a coin. One of his neighbors commented, "That explains why he looked so happy and contented!"

Of course! People who go out of their way to help others will always be happy.

When I lived in Denver, I decided to do the same thing. I always have more coins in my pockets than I need, so whenever I parked on a busy street I noticed the parking meters around me. If one was expired, I put in a coin.

Then I learned something disturbing. It is illegal to do that in Denver! (The government found a new way to take a bit of fun out of my life....) Once I learned that I was breaking the law, I quit looking for meters to feed. And I lost that extra bit of joy I used to receive every time I anonymously aided a fellow motorist.

I have moved away from Denver now and I just might go back to feeding an expired meter from time to time. I don't know how the city council feels about my little gifts to unsuspecting drivers, but I know how it feels to be unavoidably late returning to a parked car, and worrying about whether the meter has run out. And if I have to look over my shoulder before I deposit a coin, then somehow I think that may be more fun! It can be a game: do something good and don't get caught!

Everyone is allowed to play.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

TO WALK IN THE LIGHT FOR LIFE

Packed sundries for sale - “Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a vacation trip.”

Jewish humor has it that a rabbi and a priest met at the town picnic and began their usual "kibitzing." "This baked ham is just delicious," the priest teased the rabbi. "You really should try some. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful thing should be forbidden. You just don't know what you're missing. You haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Kennedy's baked ham. Tell me, when are you going to break down and try a little ham?"

The rabbi looked at the priest, smiled and said, "At your wedding."

Truth is light...wherever it is found. Only one sun shines in the noonday sky. Likewise, the source of truth is one, in whatever form it is found. "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark," said Plato. "The real tragedy of life is when [we] are afraid of the light." Afraid of the truth. And afraid of one another.

Someday, we may laugh together. When that day comes, we'll know what it is to walk in the light.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ALL STRESSED UP AND NO PLACE TO BLOW IN LIFE

Restoring broken antique plates - “Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way.”

All stressed up and no place to blow. Does that sometimes sound like you?

It is rarely the big crises of life that cause us destructive worry. Rather, those persistent small concerns do the most long-term damage to our spirits, minds and bodies.

According to Bernard Asbell and Karen Wynn in the book WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT YOU (Random House, 1991) here are the top ten reasons middle-aged people worry:

1. Concern about weight
2. Health of a family member
3. Rising prices
4. House maintenance
5. Too much to do
6. Misplacing or losing things
7. Outside or yard maintenance
8. Property, investments, and taxes
9. Crime
10. Physical appearance

How many times do you find yourself on this list? Yet, none of these is a huge problem. It's true…you don't get ulcers from what you eat -- you get them from what's eating you!

I asked a woman who was facing some truly large problems, "Can you just get through today?" I felt there was no other course of action for her than to concentrate on managing only the concerns of the present. Anything more seemed overwhelming.

She said, "I always take just one day at a time. And sometimes I take one hour at a time. And sometimes it's one minute!"

If worry and anxiety are getting the best of you, first take steps to manage the problem, fix the problem or get rid of the problem. Then, you need only look ahead to the end of the day. Can you get through this day? This hour? If so, that may be enough.

It was the Buddha who said, "The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly." And Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."

It's about learning to live one day at a time. And it's great advice...particularly when you are all stressed up and no place to blow.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

TAKE ACTION IN LIFE

Dried sundries display containers - “From reading too much, and sleeping too little, his brain dried up on him and he lost his judgment.”

One golfer had an absolutely horrible day at the links. His ball lay on an anthill and he swung viciously with a five-iron. Again and again he missed the ball and chopped away at the hill, killing ants and sending sand flying through the air. One frightened ant turned to another and said in panic, "We'd better get on the ball if we want to stay alive!"

So it is with all of us. There is a time to think, but also a time to do. There is a time to learn, but also a time to act. There is a time to gather information, but also a time to make de­ci­sions.

It's been said that knowing something doesn't make a difference. But taking what you know and doing something with it makes all the difference.

If you have been putting off that decision; if you've been procrastinating about beginning that project; or if you've never gotten around to pursu­ing that dream which never seems to go away, then this is your nudge to get on the ball. It's the only way to really live!

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes