TURTLES CAN'T FLY IN LIFE

Mix vegetables and sausages with rice for lunch - “An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.”

A determined little turtle once climbed a tree. He somehow made it to
the first branch. Then he jumped into the air waving his front legs
and crashed to the ground.

After a while he slowly climbed the tree again. And again he jumped.
This time he flapped all four of his limbs, but still plummeted to the
hard ground.

The persistent turtle tried again and again with the same results. A
couple of birds perched on a branch nearby watched his futile efforts.
One of them turned to her mate and said, "Dear, don't you think it's
time to tell him he's adopted?"

There are simply some things we cannot do. Turtles can't fly.

Comedian Bob Hope once thought of pursuing a career in boxing. Later
in life he quipped about it: "I ruined my hands in the ring" he said.
"The referee kept stepping on them."

Fighting is something he could not do well. But he became a great
comedian.

Lots of people have ability and talent. And most people have an idea
about what they think they can do. So why do some excel but many do
not?

The famous American caricaturist Al Hirschfield explained it like
this: "I believe everybody is creative and everybody is talented," he
said. "I just don't think that everybody is disciplined. I think that's a rare commodity."

The secret seems to be discipline. Whatever ability we are born with
is not enough. Even raw talent requires discipline to be nurtured and
developed. And enough hard work and discipline can turn the most
meager skill or ability into a great strength.

A man jumped into a taxi cab in New York and asked the driver, "How do
I get to Yankee stadium?"

The cabbie replied, "Practice! Practice! Practice!"

He's right. And although discipline and practice may never get a
turtle to actually fly, it will probably get you and me just about
wherever we want to go.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

TRUE LOVE FOR LIFE

Participants seated waiting for lunch to be served - “May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams. May the laughter that you find in your tomorrow wipe away the pain you find in your yesterdays.”

I'm not sure I can always tell love from passion. One father said of
his teenaged son, "I don't know if he's in love or in heat!" What
teenager would know? Besides, feelings of attraction can change more
quickly than a pouty expression.

But love, in its truest form, is greater than feelings. It is as much
a decision as it is a feeling.

Love is what Mr. and Mrs. Strauss shared. Mrs. Isadore Strauss was one
of the few first class women passengers to go down with the Titanic in
1912, and she drowned because she could not bear to leave her husband.

They remained calm throughout the excitement of the sinking vessel.
They both aided frightened women and children to find places aboard
lifeboats. Finally, Mr. Strauss, who had repeatedly urged his wife to
claim a spot safely aboard a lifeboat, forced her to enter one.

She was seated but a moment, however, when she sprang up and climbed
back on deck before he could stop her. There, she caught his arm,
snuggling it familiarly against her side, and exclaimed, "We have been
long together for a great many years. We are old now. Where you go, I
will go."

Where you go, I will go. It is a decision to be together, come what
may. I suspect she said something like that to him many times before.
Maybe the words she used were different, but the meaning was the same.
I want to be with you. Let's do this together.

Where you go, I will go. It's a decision to love. It is deciding to be
there, wherever "there" may be. It is a decision to sacrifice, if
sacrifice is needed. And it is choosing to re-decide it all over again
tomorrow and the next day and the next.

As the ship sank beneath icy water on that cold and dark, April night,
the Strausses merely re-made a decision they had made many times
before throughout their life together. They decided on each other.

Where you go, I will go. At the heart of true love is often a
decision, made again and again, to face the next day together … hand
in hand.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ARE YOU HAVING FUN YET FOR LIFE?

Business broadband products and services promotional booth - “The art of winning in business is in working hard - not taking things too seriously”

Plato said that work should be play. Some airline employees have taken his injunction seriously. After landing, one flight attendant announced, "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride." There's a flight attendant who knows how to turn her work into play.

She may have been the same one who, as the passengers disembarked from the aircraft, announced, "Last one off the plane must clean it."

A British insurance agent has fun with the accident reports he reads from some of his clients. Like the one who wrote: "I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought." You know, stationary traffic can be like that.

Another client reported, "Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo." Voodoo would be a worry.

Before he became an actor, Ray Liotta worked in a cemetery. "I had a hundred people under me, and it was quiet," he fondly remembers. Actually, that doesn't sound half bad.

I have friends in the medical industry. She is a pharmacist and he is a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company. When I first met them I asked what they did for a living. He said, "She make drugs and I sell them."

I like the idea of injecting some play into work. And one of the great benefits is this: when our work is more fun, we like it better. And when we like it better, we do it better.

Are you having fun yet?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

CAN YOU SAY, "AWE" IN LIFE?

Office in a box service promotion booth - “It is high time that the ideal of success should be replaced by the ideal of service”

Albert Einstein said that wonder is the source of all true art and all
science. "He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer
pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes
are closed."

I remember standing in rapt awe when I gazed upon the wonders of the
ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru. That amazing city was
built above the clouds, and it was more than the high altitude that
took my breath away. Can you say, "Awe"?

I'm reminded of the little girl who rode a train with her mother.
Looking out the window, she exclaimed, "Look! A horse!" And a moment
later, "Look! Houses!"

She gave every indication of keeping this up, so her embarrassed
mother apologized to the man next to her. "I'm sorry my daughter is
going on like this," she said. "She still thinks everything is
wonderful."

When do we stop thinking everything is wonderful? When we grow up?
When do we stop saying, "Awe"? Does growing older mean growing jaded?

And must we travel to faraway places to marvel once again? Can't we
experience wonder and awe today - this moment?

The slice of raisin toast I ate this morning was no less marvelous
today than when I first tasted it. But I did not notice how good it
really was. I think that few things are commonplace in themselves –
it's our reaction to them that grows dull over the years.

A man on his way to lunch happened to notice a visitor in Venice's
Piazza San Marco standing among the pigeons and gazing in apparent
rhapsody at the Doge's Palace. After his meal he noticed the same man
still studying the magnificent structure. Curious as to whether he'd
been standing there all morning, he asked the man, "How long have you
been here?"

"Twenty six years," came the reply, "and I never grow tired of it."

As Einstein observed, those who will "pause to wonder and stand rapt
in awe" will TRULY LIVE. They will see what others miss. They will
feel what others cannot. Life will be for them both exquisite and
mysterious when they learn to say, "Awe."

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

JOY IN THE JOURNEY IN LIFE

Product promotion seminar - “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it”

Anonymous did it again. Whoever this person is put it well: "Follow
your dream! Unless it's the one where you're at work in your underwear
during a fire drill." Yes – some dreams should be forgotten as soon as
possible.

But when it comes to life dreams, rather than sleep dreams, I am
coming to believe that it is less important whether you actually reach
a goal or achieve a beautiful dream than just to follow. Simply start
following and see where it leads.

Let me explain.

Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they
were working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch.

"What are you doing?" asked one of the visitors.

"We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth!" one of the
brothers volunteered excitedly.

The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a
hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a long
silence, one of the diggers picked up jar full shiny pebbles, worms
and a wide assortment of odd insects. He showed it to the scoffing
visitors and said quietly and confidently, "Even if we don't dig all
the way through the earth, look what we found along the way."

Maybe their goal was too ambitious, but it did get them to dig. And
that is what following a dream is about – our best dreams point us
where we want to go and then nudge us in that direction. In other
words, they set us to digging.

But you know how it goes – you just won't achieve everything you
attempt. You may shoot for the moon and only hit the neighbor's
window.

You may fully intend to be in love for a lifetime. But not every
relationship will endure. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every
endeavor will be completed. Not every dream will be realized.

But here is the wonder of it all …when you fall short of your aim,
perhaps you can say, "Yes, but look at what I found along the way.
Look at the wonderful things which have come into my life because I
tried to do something."

I think those boys got it right. It is in the digging that life is
lived. It's the joy in the journey that matters most.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

GETTING UP WHEN YOU'RE FEELING DOWN FOR LIFE

Toll free phone service promotion booth - “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”

Do you ever feel blah? Ever wish you had a permanent "picker-upper" ? If so, this may be for you.

In the 1920s, if you were looking for a little pick-me-up with your mid-afternoon snack, you might have reached for a cold, refreshing glass of 7-Up. Well, it wasn't called 7-Up back then, it was called "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda." (Say THAT three times fast!)

Inventor C. L. Griggs' original recipe included the antidepressant lithium until the 1940s as a "picker-upper" (www.cadburyschwepp es.com). The original Coca-Cola formula also included a "picker-upper" -- cocaine.

Today, people not suffering from serious depression understand that they usually don't need mood-altering drugs to cope with daily life. But most folks struggle with bouts of mild depression, despondency or "the blahs" from time to time. How do you pick yourself up when you're feeling down, without the aid of Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda?

I hope I'm not telling you anything new when I say that talking about the reasons you're down, making needed changes, watching your diet, getting enough exercise and sleep, developing a positive mental outlook and utilizing spiritual resources are all important pieces of our emotional puzzles. But one important strategy for feeling better (and one that's LEAST used) is as important as the rest. It is helping others in need.

* Visit a shut-in neighbor.
* Write a letter.
* Call a friend who has been struggling.
* Volunteer at church, synagogue or the local food pantry.
* Rake someone's leaves.
* Bake homemade bread for a new neighbor.
* Wash your spouse's car.
* Volunteer to baby-sit for a young mother.
* Plan an unexpected act of kindness.
* Give a gift for no reason at all.

The needs are abundant, and those who put aside some regular time to do something kind for others will often forget they were feeling low. Why does is work? I don't know … it just does. Reach out and lift somebody else up and for some wondrous and magical reason, you lift yourself up, too.

Corrie Ten Boom beautifully said, "The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation." And if you've been feeling low, the best time to donate a piece of yourself is now.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

NO ROOM IN THE BANK FOR LIFE

Wheat grass drink - “See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Is your life full and busy? If you're like me, maybe it is TOO busy.
Sometimes I fill my life so full doing things I think I SHOULD do, I don't have time for the things I WANT to do, even if some of those things are important. It seems that I have a thousand deadlines to meet, and too often I can't find enough time to write, I skip my exercise routine, or I neglect uninterrupted time spent solitude and meditation.

But it helps to remember a story about a young girl and her bank.
The little girl's father had just given her a silver dollar to put into her bank. She excitedly ran off to her room to "deposit" the coin. However, in afew minutes she returned and handed the silver coin back to her father.

"Daddy," she said sadly, "here's your dollar back. I can't get it into my bank."

"Why not?" her concerned father asked.

"It's too full," she said, obviously disappointed.

Her father accompanied her back to her room and, sure enough, her bank was too full to accept even one more coin. It was stuffed with pennies.

If your life ever like that bank? So full of errands, obligations and
activities of no lasting value, that there simply is no room left for what is truly important - the silver dollars?

Author Grenville Kleiser once said, "To live at this time is an inestimable privilege, and a sacred obligation devolves upon you to make right use of your opportunities. Today is the day in which to attempt and achieve something worthwhile."

Have you made room for a few large coins in your bank; for something you believe to be worthwhile? If not, you may have to take out a few pennies, but I suspect you will never know they are gone.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

WHEN OTHERS GRIEVE FOR LIFE

Informational brochures and pamphlets to give away - “Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more 'user-friendly' Their best approach, so far, has been to take all the old brochures, and stamp the words, 'user-friendly' on the cover”

People should never have to suffer loss alone. Yet, how do you comfort
those who hurt? I think that offering genuine comfort to another is
one of the most important things we can do for others. And sometimes
one of the most difficult.

Experts tell us, among other things, to simply say, "I'm sorry" or "I
love you." They warn us against trying explain away the death or loss;
against theologizing or philosophizing about it. Often, the less said,
the better, so long as you are present, you care and you listen.

American poet Edgar Guest told of a neighbor by the name of Jim
Potter. Mr. Potter ran the drug store in the neighborhood where Edgar
Guest lived. Their relationship was cordial, if not deep. Mostly they
smiled and exchanged greetings when they happened to see one another.

One tragic night the poet's first-born child died. He felt crushed and
overcome with grief. Several days after the death, Guest had reason to
go to the drug store run by his neighbor. When he entered, Jim Potter
motioned for him to come behind the counter.

"Eddie," he said, "I really can't express to you the great sympathy
that I have for you at this time. All I can say is that I am terribly
sorry, and if you need for me to do anything, you can count on me."

Many years later Edgar Guest reflected on that encounter. He said,
"Just a person across the way -- a passing acquaintance. Jim Potter
may have long since forgotten that moment when he extended his hand to
me in sympathy, but I shall never forget it -- never in all my life.
To me it stands out like the silhouette of a lonely tree against a
crimson sunset."

As the poet thought back to that unhappy time, one vivid memory of a
brief and genuine moment of comfort still lingered years later. It was
a moment that meant everything to a grieving father.

Those who comfort others bring no less than a piece of heaven to
earth.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

NO ONE TO PHONE FOR LIFE

Papercraft convenience store - “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

One afternoon after the death of her grandfather, Carol lay huddled on
her bed, sobbing forlornly. Her mother sat beside her and asked,
"What's
the matter, honey?"

"I miss my grandpa, and I miss talking to him about my problems," the
girl said.

"I know, dear," sympathized her mother. "I miss him too. But can't you
talk to me?" Carol shook her head vehemently.

"Why not?" her mother persisted.

"Because you're what we talked about," sobbed Carol.

Children may not always confide in their parents. And adults may
choose not to confide in many of their friends and family. But it is
important to have someone with whom we can be emotionally intimate.

Tragically, it has been estimated that the majority of men, and many
women, have nobody they could phone at 2:00 in the morning if their
lives fall apart. They believe there is nobody who really wants to
hear from them in a crisis. Too many of us are utterly without close
and intimate friends.

The philosopher Goethe once observed, "The world is so empty if one
thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here
and there who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is
close to us in spirit, this makes the earth an inhabited garden."

Who can you be vulnerable with? Is the earth, for you, more like a
lonely desert or an inhabited garden? The difference may simply be in
whom you feel free to call at your most wounded moments. Do you have
such a person? And are you such a person for someone else?

As it has been said, "A friend is someone who knows the song in your
heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
If we are to find the kind of friend who knows the song in our hearts,
we must also BE that kind of friend. And since good friends take time
to grow, today is a good day to work on those friendships.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR LIFE

Mix jelly tea drink - “Love is strange and mysterious.. Just like Jelly beans..”

Author Erynn Miller said: "It takes a lot of understanding, time and
trust to gain a close friendship with someone. As I approach a time in
my life of complete uncertainty, my friends are my most precious
asset."

I had a friend who felt that way. I sat next to Hal's "death-bed" and
thought about the fact that I had known him for over twenty years. Hal
knew he was dying and that these next few days would be his last. I
held his hand.

We spent time reminiscing about his long and fruitful career as a
church pastor. We talked about old friends. We chatted about his
family. And I listened as he offered a piece of sage wisdom to someone
he believed represented a "younger generation."

Hal seemed to carefully consider what he was about to say next. Then
he squeezed my hand, gazed intently into my eyes and whispered, just
loud enough for me to hear, "Nothing is more important than
relationships. "

I knew that this utterance somehow mattered a great deal to him. He
seemed to consider a lifetime of experiences - personal, professional,
spiritual and family - and this one simple observation surfaced above
the rest: "Nothing is more important than relationships. "

"Don't get too caught up in your career," he said. "And don't use
people just to get what you want, then throw them away. No project, no
program, no task - NOTHING - is more important than your friends and
family." I never knew Hal that well, but I wondered if he were talking
as much to himself as to me.

Remember," he repeated, "that in the end, only your relationships will
matter. Tend them well."

Writer Og Mandino put it this way: "Beginning today," he said, "treat
everyone you meet as if he or she were going to be dead by midnight.
Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can
muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never
be the same again."

At the end of a long life, my friend Hal would have agreed.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

WHAT GREATNESS IS ALL ABOUT IN LIFE

Infoblast product promotion booth - “There are those of us who are always about to live. We are waiting until things change, until there is more time, until we are less tired, until we get a promotion, until we settle down / until, until, until. It always seems as if there is some major event that must occur in our lives before we begin living.”

A school music teacher received this essay from an eight-year-old
student concerning Johann Sebastian Bach: "He was a GREAT composer. He
had 20 children and had an old spinster in the attic to practice on."

Actually, I don't know the exact number of children he had, but it
seems to be quite a few. And I don't know what he kept in the
attic ... or what he practiced on. But the student was absolutely
right
about one thing: Bach was a GREAT composer.

Not all of us can be great at what we do. I try to do some things the
very best I can. But that means I cannot give much attention to some
of the less important tasks.

But what about just being good at WHO WE ARE? Good human beings? Even
being GREAT at who we are?

Author James Michener learned something about greatness on a stormy
night in the South Pacific. His plane was trying desperately to land
on the Tontouta airstrip but could not do so. After several attempts
in the dark of night, his knuckles were white with fear. When they
finally landed safely, Michener went out and walked the length of the
airstrip, looking at the dim outlines of the mountains they had so
narrowly missed. He wrote this:

"And as I stood there in the darkness I caught a glimpse of the
remaining years of my life and I swore an oath when peace came, if I
survived, I would live the rest of my years as if I were a great man.
I did not presume to think that I would be a great man. I have never
thought in those terms, but I could conduct myself as if I were. I
would adhere to my basic principles. I would bear public testimony to
what I believed. I would be a better man. I would help others. I would
truly believe and act as if all men were my brothers. And I would
strive to make whatever world in which I found myself a better place.
In the darkness a magnificent peace settled over me, for I saw that I
could actually attain each of those objectives, and I never looked
back."

Michener says that the very next day he started to draft the book
TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC.* And if it can ever be said that he
became a great man, I suspect it was only because he decided to be a
better man than he was before.

Greatness may never have been your goal. But you and I can be a little
better today than we were yesterday. We can help others a bit more
today than yesterday. We can act more deliberately as if all people
are our sisters and brothers. We can leave the world a better place
tomorrow than we found it today.

And if that is the way to greatness, then we all can head that
direction. One step at a time ... beginning today.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

GOOD PEOPLE FOR LIFE

Papercraft gas station - “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”

A doctor said to his patient, "You have a slight heart condition, but
I wouldn't worry about it."

"Really, Doc?" the patient replied. "Well, if you had a slight heart
condition, I wouldn't worry about it either."

We can sometimes get the impression that most of the world is more or
less out for themselves and that people care little about the plight
of others. But I choose to believe differently. I believe that a lot
of people are basically concerned about others, even if they don't always know how to express it. That is perhaps why a certain story, clipped years ago and filed away, has remained one of my favorites to this day.

A trucker relates that he was traveling through rural North Carolina
on I-95 when a brown sedan merged onto the highway. It weaved back and
forth between lanes, causing the driver of the truck to shift into a
lower gear. At first he thought the driver was drunk, but when he came
closer, the trucker saw an old man shaking uncontrollably behind the
wheel. He noticed a Citizen's Band aerial whipping to and fro as the
car jerked between lanes, so he called on the radio: "You in the brown
Chevy, if you can hear me, pull over. Pull off the road!"

Amazingly, he did! The trucker pulled up behind the car and climbed
from his cab. The elderly man staggered from his auto and fell into
the trucker's arms. He poured out a story of months of fear and pain
that accompanied the illness of his only daughter.

Now he was returning from the hospital where it was decided that she
would cease any further treatment. In the hospital he remained "strong" and stoic for his daughter, but out on the road he fell
apart.

The two men talked for the good part of an hour. The father eventually
decided to share his pain with his daughter and said he felt good
enough to drive home. The men embraced and the trucker followed him
for 50 miles. As they drove along, the two talked together on the
radio.

The older man finally acknowledged that his exit was ahead and thanked
his new friend again for the help. The trucker asked if he could make
it home all right and, suddenly, a third voice broke in on the
conversation: "Breaker 19, don't worry, good buddy. Go your way. I'll
see him home!" Glancing in his mirror, he saw a livestock truck move into the exit lane behind the brown sedan.

I think there are good people the world over. People who will gladly
give that caring touch, a needed warm embrace or a patient and
listening ear. They are like angels who lift us to our feet when our
wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

Look around. You're sure to see one. And look in the mirror. You might
spot one there, too.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

PUTTING IT OUT THERE IN LIFE

Rows of seats - “A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows and rows of natural objects, classified with name and form”

We used to play spin the bottle when I was a kid," says comedy writer
Gene Perret. "A girl would spin the bottle, and if the bottle pointed
to you when it stopped, the girl could either kiss you or give you a
nickel. By the time I was 14, I owned my own home."

Gotta admire persistence. Because rejection is hard to take.
Especially when it comes from someone you know. Or, come to think
about it, someone you don't know.

And we all want to be appreciated. We like being valued for what we do
and who we are.

American football coach Bum Phillips lives in a world where one can
become a hero or a heel in an amazingly short time. One mediocre
season and a coach, even a good one, can be out of a job. Like
Phillips once said, "There's only two kinds of coaches -- them that's
been fired and them that's about to be fired." Sounds like they might
want to make friends with rejection.

Few things hold people back more than the fear of rejection. They
don't ask for what they need because the answer may be no. They don't
ask their boss for a raise or for more time off. They don't ask for
help. They are afraid to be the first to say "I love you" (what if
they don't hear "I love you" back?). They don't ask for a better deal
or a lower interest rate. They don't submit that manuscript to a
publisher. In short, they don't let their wants and needs be known,
for fear of being turned away, turned down or turned out.

But the wonderful truth is this: If you can accept NO for an answer,
you can ask for anything. ANYTHING. When no is an acceptable and okay
answer to what you'd like, you can fearlessly ask for whatever you
need.

I love the expression, "I'm just putting it out there." Just put it
out there. Ask. And don't worry about the response. Nobody can say YES
if you never asked. Just put it out there and don't be afraid -- you
may be surprised at the answer you get. Sometimes people just need to
be asked. And if you don't get the response you want, are you any
worse off than before?

Hey -- I'm just putting it out there.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

FOR CLOSENESS: T-R-A-V-E-L FOR LIFE

Fried rice vermicelli with prawns - “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”

For closeness: travel. No, I don't mean to go to take a road trip or
to fly away to some exotic place. But there are ways to go deeper into a relationship -- like traveling. And there are things we can do to help a relationship really go somewhere. Let me explain.

Inmate Mitchell King had a visitor -- his wife. King was serving a
six-year jail term in Auckland, New Zealand for armed robbery. But his wife didn't want to be away from him for that long. So they held
hands. She wanted them to always stick together - through it all. Hand in hand, forever joined. And they did stick together. She had rubbed her palms with Super Glue.

Their new-found closeness was short-lived. And their separation
painful. (I suggest we put the Super Glue idea on a short list of
"THINGS NOT TO DO" when we want to grow closer.)

But if you want a deeper connection with someone your care about, if
you want relationships that are more intimate, more meaningful and
longer-lasting, then try this simple technique. Just remember the word "TRAVEL."

T is for TRUST. If we're seeking a glue to cement us to another, then
trust is that bond. A relationship will go nowhere without it.

R is for RESPECT. Some people talk about how much they have always
respected their cherished friends and family at a funeral. But why
wait? People want to know that we hold them in high regard. It's about valuing others and letting them know you respect them.

A is for AFFECTION. Sometimes affection means love. Sometimes it means a touch. Or a hug. Always it means kindness.

V is for VULNERABILITY. Though we may feel afraid to let another too
close, no relationship will go anywhere without taking a risk. Like
entrepreneur Jim Rohn says, "The walls we build around us to keep out
the sadness also keep out the joy." And the love.

E is for EMOTIONAL INTIMACY. It about learning to be open. Learning to communicate freely. The quality of relationships we make are largely determined by how openly we communicate.

L is for LAUGHTER. Victor Borge got it right when he said, "Laughter
is the shortest distance between two people." It's also the most
enjoyable.

So for a relationship that can really go somewhere, just remember the
word "TRAVEL." Then enjoy the trip.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

EIGHT GIFTS THAT DON'T COST A CENT IN LIFE

Groceries shopping at the frozen food section - “In a sense, words are encyclopedias of ignorance because they freeze perceptions at one moment in history and then insist we continue to use these frozen perceptions when we should be doing better.”

This simple checklist can help measure how you are nurturing your
relationships. The author of these thoughts is unknown, but deeply
appreciated.

The Gift of Listening
But you must really listen. Don't interrupt, don't daydream, don't
plan your response. Just listen.

The Gift of Affection
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and
handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for
family and friends.

The Gift of Laughter
Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say,
"I love to laugh with you."

The Gift of Solitude
There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone.
Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.

The Gift of a Favor
Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

The Gift of a Written Note
It can be a simple "Thanks for the help" note or a full sonnet. A
brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime.

The Gift of a Compliment
A simple and sincere, "You look great in red," "You did a super
job," or "That was a wonderful meal" can make someone's day.

The Gift of a Cheerful Disposition
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone.

These are eight important ways we can contribute toward whole and
healthy relationships. They cost nothing, yet they may well be the
most valuable gifts we can ever offer another.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ENJOYING WHAT YOU DO IN LIFE

Crispy butter chicken rice - “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

Plato said that work should be play. Some airline employees are
taking him seriously. After landing, one flight attendant announced,
"Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed
giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."
(I like the honest approach.)

As a plane touched down and was slowing to a stop in Washington, a
lone voice came over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!" (Who
says you can't have fun with your job?)

One pilot made this weather announcement: "Weather at our
destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try
to have them fixed before we arrive."

"As you exit the plane," a flight attendant said, "please make sure
to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be
distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave
children or spouses."

And passengers reported that they heard this from the crew just as
they began to exit: "Last one off the plane must clean it."

To enjoy your work more, I think it helps to put some play in what
you do. And if you don't like your work, can you find something to
do you enjoy more?

Authors Doug Hall and David Wecker tell the story of Ken Davis, a
man who found a simple way to enjoy his work (MAKING THE COURAGE
CONNECTION; Fireside Books, 1997). Ken just couldn't find his
occupational niche. He worked at a variety of jobs and disliked them
all. While Ken was working as a door salesman, he noticed that at
least half of his customers had malfunctioning doorbells. And
suddenly, Ken's life career became clear. He opened his own doorbell
repair service.

Ken's wife laughed when she first heard his idea. When she realized
he was serious, she cried. Whoever heard of making a living
repairing doorbells? But Ken is making a comfortable living at his
unique job, and he's happier than he's ever been. Ken didn't enjoy
what he was doing, so he is now doing what he enjoys.

"The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are
working for somebody else," Earl Nightingale asserts. "Job security
is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the
individual. Remember, jobs are owned by the company; you own your
career!"

It's true that, no matter where you work, you actually work for
yourself. After all, it's your life. And with a little creativity
and imagination, maybe your work can seem less like drudgery and
more like play. Wouldn't you really rather have it that way?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

DOING SOMETHING GREAT IN LIFE

Toy train decoration - “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”

When was the last time you were challenged to do something really...
well... great?

President Abraham Lincoln helped me to understand that there is a
bit of greatness within all of us. It is said that he often slipped
out of the White House on Wednesday evenings to listen to the
sermons of Dr. Phineas Gurley at New York Avenue Presbyterian
Church.

He generally pre­ferred to come and go unnoticed, so when Dr.
Gur­ley knew the president was coming, he left his study door open.
On one of those occasions, the president quietly entered through a
side door of the church, took his seat in the minister's study,
located just off the sanctuary, and propped the door open just wide
enough to hear the preacher.

During the walk home one Wednesday even­ing, an aide asked Mr.
Lincoln his appraisal of the sermon. The president thoughtfully
replied, "The content was excellent... he delivered with
elo­quence... he had put work into the message.."

"Then you thought it was an excellent ser­mon?" questioned the aide.

"No," Lincoln answered.

"But you said that the content was excel­lent, it was delivered with
eloquence and it showed much work," the aide pressed.

"That's true," Lincoln said. "But Dr. Gur­ley forgot the most
important ingredient. He forgot to ask us to do something great."

There is nothing wrong with average lives and average
accomplishments. Most of the good of the world is built on the
accumulated efforts of everyday people. But, as Lincoln seemed to
know, a life should strive for some greatness.

Are you part of a relationship that, if given more effort, could be
outstanding? Or do you volun­teer for an organization which is truly
doing something excellent? Have you joined a cause that is
attempting something great? Or have you ever said to yourself
concerning a beautiful dream, "I could never do that," while knowing
that if you were to attempt it and succeed, you just might
ac­com­plish something significant?

If Abraham Lincoln is right, then every life should strive to reach
a little further today than it did yesterday, for there is some
greatness in each of us.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

RACKING SPICES IN LIFE

Last week I went to visit my cousin as he has just moved in to his new house. To be honest, I thought long and hard about the ideal house warming gift for the occasion but came out blank. So I went to visit him empty handed. As he was showing me around the new house, something caught my eye in the kitchen. My cousin likes to cook during his free time and he stocks quite a bit of spices in his kitchen. The thing that caught my eye was the wooden old rickety spice rack he was using to store his spices. Then it dawned on me that I should get him a few spice racks for his kitchen.

When I reached home, the first thing that I did was to search online for suitable kitchen spice racks as my cousin's house warming gifts. I was slightly astounded by the various shapes and sizes that modern spice racks come in. Well after much consideration, I have decided upon an elegant yet functional wall spice rack. That way, my cousin can have more table top space available during his cooking process.

HOW THIRSTY ARE YOU FOR LIFE?

Papercraft air plane - “Why don't they make the whole plane out of that black box stuff.”

A man had an operation, and the doctor, by mistake, left a sponge in
him. A friend asked him if he had any pain because of it. "No," said
the man, "but I sure do get thirsty."

Isn't it wonderful when we get thirsty - not for water, but thirsty
to chase a dream or to so something different? I think it is those
people who crave something with an unquenchable thirst who, in the
end, are likely to be most satisfied with their lives.

Author Napoleon Hill said, "Desire is the starting point of all
achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire
which transcends everything." He is really talking about a deep
thirst.

Alan C. Elliott tells in his book A DAILY DOSE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
about a five-year study that was undertaken to discover what made
some people extraordinarily successful. The study consisted of
detailed research into the lives of 120 of the nation's top artists,
athletes, and scholars.

He reports that the researcher was surprised to find that natural
abilities played only a small part in the development of those
individuals. As children, these unusually successful adults were
often mediocre musicians, athletes or students. But research found
that they possessed a powerful thirst to succeed. They practiced the
piano for hours every day, rose well before school in the morning to
practice swimming or running, or spent huge chunks of time alone
(time they could have spent hanging out with friends) working on
science projects or painting.

Parental support was also a key factor. Parents of these
extraordinarily thirsty young people helped out, exposing their
children to great ideas and influential persons. Many sacrificed to
ensure that their offspring received good training. But in the end,
it was their children's thirst and single-mindedness that made the
difference.

The principle applies to adults, too. If you want to be more
successful, the question you might first ask yourself is, "How
thirsty am I?" Your success in any field you choose, anything you
want to be or anything you want to do will hinge on your answer to
that simple question.

How thirsty are you?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS FOR LOVE IN LIFE

Bigby the loving dog - “What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.”

A sign in a pet store read, "If anybody has seen the Bluebird of
Happiness, would you please notify this pet store?"

Happiness seems to be in short supply for many people. If the
results of recent surveys can be trusted, there is a general decline
of happiness in today's world. And people were not all that
cheerful a few years back! It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who stated,
"I might have been a minister for aught I know, if a certain
clergyman had not looked and talked like an undertaker." (I have to
say, though, that some clergy and undertakers I've known could teach
the rest of us something about joy.)

Joy and happiness are not always the same things. Happiness can be
thought of as more of a temporary, emotional condition, often based
on outside circumstances. Joy, on the other hand, is deeper. It is
often contentment in spite of the unsettling present. We can be
basically joyful, regardless of a particular unhappy situation that
we may be enduring. It is sometimes just a matter of keeping
perspective on our troubles, and especially when those troubles
seem to be in long supply.

You may know the story of the man who had a marvelous way of keeping
joy in his life. He was a carpenter. He followed the same ritual
every day when he came home from the job. He stopped by a small tree
in his front yard and placed his hand on a couple of branches. Then,
when he walked into his home, it was as if a magical transformation
had occurred. All of a sudden, the stress was lifted from him. He
became energetic and joyful, able to fully interact with his
children and his wife.

He explained it this way: "That tree is my trouble tree. When I come
home I stop by the tree and, just like I leave my tools in the
truck, I leave my troubles outside of my home. I hang them on that
tree before greeting my family. Anything that does not have to come
in my house stays outside. Anything that I do not have to deal with
at home, I leave on that tree. And in the morning, I stop by the
tree and pick up the troubles I left there in the evening."

Then he adds, "It's a funny thing, though. Every morning I always
find fewer troubles remaining than I hung the night before."

Here is a man who has no doubt seen the Bluebird of Happiness.
Chances are, it is nesting in a tree just outside his home.

There is wisdom in knowing that some problems can wait until
tomorrow. And more wisdom in knowing what to hang on the tree and
what to bring in. Managing daily problems well is vital to
maintaining joy.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY FOR LIFE

Rear view of the proton saga base line model - “Maybe I could have loved you better. Maybe you should have loved me more. Maybe our hearts were just next in line. Maybe everything breaks sometime.”

Groucho Marx quipped, "Those are my principles, and if you don't
like them... well, I have others." Though he is joking, I wonder if
he is actually hitting close to home. I need to regularly check in
with myself and ask questions like, "Is the thing I'm doing now
guided by sound principles?

Principled people are the heart and soul of a society. But who
teaches our young people about character? Who teaches them how
important it is to be honest and to do what is right?

Even ETHICS classes might not touch on matters of character. They
discuss the medical ethics of cloning, stem cell research and
genetic engineering. They consider euthanasia, abortion and capital
punishment. And they even look at the ethics of governments and
multi-national corporations.

But one college professor recently made a disturbing discovery: she
assumed her students shared her principles of honesty, honor,
integrity, and the like. She taught ethics, but assumed that her
students shared her personal ethical standards.

Then one day she dropped an armful of final exams on her desk in
disgust and complained that over 50% of her students CHEATED on
their social justice exam. (Do you think they caught the irony
here?) They'd spent months learning about ethical issues most
societies face, but they never discussed personal morality. They
could talk convincingly about good and bad behaviors of
corporations, governments and societies, but they cheated on their
exams. They just didn't get it: cheating is wrong. And can we expect
societies, governments and businesses to do better than the people
who run them and live in them?

Principled people are the heart and soul of our lives together.
Church leader John Wesley simplifies it for us. In regards to what
is right and wrong, he says simply this:

"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can."

I think those are principles I want to live by.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

HEALTH INSURANCE IN LIFE

Fried noodles packed up and ready to go - “He had to deal all at once with the packed regrets and stifled memories of an inarticulate lifetime”

Have you noticed how health insurance is like a hospital gown: every
time you turn around, you find something that isn't covered? But
health researchers are discovering what many people have known all
along -- that getting healthy is about more than medicine and
treatment. It also involves a healthy outlook on life.

Various studies have validated the mind/ body connection. Cancer is
often diagnosed within months of the death of one's spouse. People
who are cynical or angry have been shown to be more prone to heart
attacks than those with a more positive outlook. And former Saturday
Evening Post editor Norman Cousins has demonstrated for years how
humor, laughter and hope can aid the healing process.

Not only is a healthy mental outlook necessary, but a healthy
spiritual outlook seems to be equally important. Noted psychologist
Carl Jung (1865-1961) made a telling observation about the
connection between one's mental health and spiritual outlook.
"During the past 30 years, people from all civilized countries of
the earth have consulted me," he said. "Among all my patients in the
second half of life -- that is to say, over 35 -- there has not been
one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a
(spiritual) outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of
them fell ill because he had lost that which living religions of
every age have given to their followers.."

A healthy person is not one with a certain lifestyle, a certain
income or certain favorable circumstances. A healthy person is
usually one with certain attitudes. Positive mental attitudes and
fruitful spiritual attitudes are part of it. One might say that a
robust spiritual outlook is good health insurance.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

LETTING YOUR SOUL CATCH UP FOR LIFE

Office in a box table and stools - “Most of us who turn to any subject we love remember some morning or evening hour when we got on a high stool to reach down an untried volume, or sat with parted lips listening to a new talker, or for very lack of books began to listen to the voices within, as the first traceable beginning of our love.”

Did you know that practicing some form of relaxation is one of the
greatest gifts you can give yourself? Taking time each day to quiet
your mind and breathe deeply, can make a big difference in how you
feel throughout your day and into the night. And dedicating a day
every week for mental and spiritual renewal is equally important.

We're told that the word "relax" has its origin in the Latin word
"relaxare," which means "to loosen." When we relax, we are in effect
loosening tension, releasing tightly held energy and letting go.
From the state of relaxation we can experience calm peacefulness.

Another great word is the Hebrew word "Shabbat" which, of course, is
a day of rest. But it quite literally means to "quit; stop; take a
break." Whatever you are doing, stop it. Whatever you are saying, be
quiet. Sit down and take a look around. Don't do anything. Don't say
anything. Fold your hands. Take a deep breath... .

Extended periods of rest are a biological necessity. The human body
is like an old-fashioned wind-up clock. If it is not rewound by
rest, ultimately it will run itself down.

A group of Americans made a trip with Brazilian natives down the
Amazon River. The first day they rushed. The second day they rushed.
The next day they rushed. One day, anxious to continue the trek,
they were surprised to find the natives seated together in a circle.

When asked the reason for the delay, a guide answered, "They are
waiting. They cannot move further until their souls have caught up
with their bodies."

Do you owe yourself time to let your soul catch up with your body?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

THE GIFT FOR LOVE IN LIFE

Butter chicken rice - “Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.”

A story about an old Bendix washing machine helped one man get
through the valley of loss. *

His parents acquired the washer when John Claypool was a small boy.
It happened during World War II. His family owned no washing machine
and, since gasoline was rationed, they could ill afford trips to the
laundry several miles away. Keeping clothes clean became a problem
for young John's household.

A family friend was drafted into the service, and his wife prepared
to go with him. John's family offered to store their furniture while
they were away. To the family's surprise, the friends suggested they
use their Bendix while they were gone. "It would be better for it to
be running," they said, "than sitting up rusting." So this is how
they acquired the washer.

Young John helped with the washing, and across the years he
developed an affection for the old, green Bendix. But eventually the
war ended. Their friends returned. In the meantime he had forgotten
how the machine came to be in their basement in the first place.
When the friends came to take it away, John grew terribly upset --
and let his feelings be known.

His wise mother sat him down and said, "Wait a minute, Son. You must
remember, that machine never belonged to us in the first place. That
we ever got to use it at all was a gift. So, instead of being mad at
it being taken away, let's use this occasion to be grateful that we
had it at all."

The lesson proved invaluable. Years later, John watched his
eight-year-old daughter die a slow and painful death of leukemia.
Though he struggled for months with her death, John could not
really begin healing from the loss until he remembered the old
Bendix.

"I am here to testify," he said, "that this is the only way down the
mountain of loss...when I remember that Laura Lou was a gift, pure
and simple, something I neither earned nor deserved nor had a right
to. And when I remember that the appropriate response to a gift,
even when it is taken away, is gratitude, then I am better able to
try and thank God that I was ever given her in the first place."

His daughter was given to him to love and nurture. She never
belonged to him, but he had the awesome privilege of sharing her
life for a while. When he realized that simple fact, everything
changed. He could now begin healing from the tragedy of her loss by
focusing instead on the wonder of her life. He started to see Laura
Lou as a marvelous gift that he was fortunate enough to enjoy for a
time. He felt grateful. He found strength and healing. He finally
knew he could get through the valley of loss.

We all experience loss -- loss of people, loss of jobs, loss of
relationships, loss of independence, loss of esteem, loss of things.
What if you view that which is lost as a gift you were given for a
time? Perhaps that simple choice of trying to reframe your loss will
change sad memories into thankful ones. And perhaps it will get you
unstuck and back on the road to healing and wholeness.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

NEVER TOO LATE IN LIFE

Dinner banquet food table - "There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.”

Katharine Hepburn once said, "Life is hard. After all, it kills
you." And it can kill you early if you don't figure out how to
change. Let me explain.

The expression "turning over a new leaf" refers to turning pages of
a book. Just as the plot of a novel changes from page to page,
people, too, can change their lives. Indeed they have to if they are
to live well.

I enjoy reading about ancient cultures. And it occurs to me that
most of the old civilizations are gone. Some have left little behind
except ruins and rubble. What happened? Where are the people, their
music and ideas? Why are they nothing more today than a collection
of stones visited by tourists and curious historians?

The answer, of course, is not the same the world over. But Arnold
Toynbee, in his work THE STUDY OF HISTORY (1987), says that the
great lesson of history is this: civilizations that changed when
confronted with challenges thrived. Those that did not change died.
In other words, when life got hard, it killed off those who didn't
make needed changes. The key to survival is often about "change."

And what about us? What about you and me? It's good to accept
ourselves as we are, but when an unhealthy attitude or a destructive
behavior gets in the way, when we wish we could change something
about ourselves, we had better change. People who embrace change
thrive; those who resist it die.

If you have been waiting for a sign to make that needed change, this
may be it. I am convinced that it is never too late to be the person
you might have been. It's never too late to be happy. It's never too
late to do something different or to do something better. It's never
too late to change a habit. It's never too late to live.

Begin making that necessary change today. Then tomorrow, and every
tomorrow thereafter, can truly be different.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

STEEL AND VELVET IN LIFE

Ice lemon tea - "When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”

An unusual tribute was paid to Abraham Lincoln by Carl Sandburg. The
poet wrote, "Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on
earth who is both steel and velvet, who is as hard as rock and soft
as drifting fog, who holds in his heart and mind the paradox of
terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect."

Lincoln demonstrated then and now how a person can possess both a
will of iron and a heart of tenderness. Nothing deterred the
president during the American Civil War from his "noble" cause, and
few persons have ever endured more criticism and detractors than
Lincoln. Yet he was no more a man of steel than one of velvet.

When General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army, contrary to the
advice of some of his generals, Lincoln sent an unexpected message
to the enemy commander. "Tell your men they may keep their horses;
they'll need them for plowing," said the president. Then this: "Tell
your men they may keep their rifles; they'll need them for hunting."
When Lee read those words he wept.

For each of us there is a time for toughness and a time for
tenderness. A time for resolve and a time for compassion. An iron
will is not the same as an iron spirit. Another courageous American,
Martin Luther King, Jr. some hundred years later encouraged us to
exhibit tough minds and soft hearts... not the other way around.

I know that mental toughness, particularly an iron resolve and
determination, will often be needed if I am to get where I want to
go. But I also know that a soft heart - compassion and love - will
make the journey worth it.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ODDS PREDICTION IN LIFE

Just the other day I met up with the manager from my previous job in the retail chain industry to catch up with each other. Both of us have moved on from that company in different directions but we still keep in touch when the opportunity presents itself. During dinner, we talked about the rising cost of living and how our salaries are not keeping up with the rapid change. While on the subject of possible side incomes to offset the living expenses, I jokingly mentioned online sports betting and to my surprise he was rather interested to the suggestion.

He is an avid fan of the NFL and NBA. Hence from that point onwards he carried on with the conversation for more than an hour talking about his love for the two sports. I listened intently to his explanation of the games and when he was done, I asked him why not to consider NBA betting since he is rather knowledgeable in the subject. I advised him to limit his budget on the endeavor and to have a clear mind when choosing which sides to place his money on. Since then, he told me generally he is making minor earnings from it but the risk is always there.

KEEP ON SWINGING FOR LIFE

Front view of proton sage base line model - "If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own . . . how much kinder, how much gentler he would be.”

They say that opportunity only knocks once. But temptation seems to
pound on my door forever. Even opening up and letting it in doesn't
seem to make it go away. More temptations come along and the beating
goes on.

Those temptations that cause me the most problems are those that
pull me away from being my best self. So I can relate to the Swiss
woman who was served dinner on a domestic American flight. She
opened up her dessert - a delicious looking piece of chocolate
cake - and immediately sprinkled a generous layer of salt and pepper
over it. A shocked flight attendant exclaimed, "Oh! It's not
necessary to do that!"

"But it is," the woman replied, smiling. "It keeps me from eating
it."

She found a way to drive temptation away from her doorstep, at least
for a while.

The most persistent temptations in my life are distractions that
keep me from doing what is in my best interest.

I forgo some much-needed exercise because I "just don't feel like
it" today. Have you ever felt like that?

You may want to quit that reading group, that difficult class or
those music lessons. It's easy to become distracted and get
discouraged.

Or maybe we say we just "can't find the time" to spend with those
closest to us, such as family. We may want to do these things; it's
just that sometimes we need a nudge.

Something baseball great Hank Aaron once said can help out here. "My
motto was to keep swinging," he said. "Whether I was in a slump or
feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do
was to keep swinging."

Sometimes we just need to keep swinging. And if we tell ourselves
that all we need to do today is to take one more swing, that may be
enough. We can always take one more swing. And who knows -- today we
might hit a home run.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ARE YOU READY TO BE SURPRISED FOR LIFE?

A bouquet of flowers - Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires

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!

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Lifesigns Life Quotes

LEGACY OF LOVE IN LIFE

Malaysa Airlines plane on the runway - If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.

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.

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MAKE YOUR LIFE AN EXPERIMENT

View inside the cabin of the plane - There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.

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!

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LEISURE GAME TRIP IN LIFE

Just the other day my uncle told me that he booked a cheap flight to Singapore to patronize the new Marina Bay Sands Casino. Now my uncle is known to be a leisure gambler with the intent of making some profit out of it. That said, he is no stranger when it comes to online casino gambling. A good tip from him is to pick one which has a live video feed of the dealer and the online roulette game table to minimize casino frauds and scams.

He also mentioned something about staying away from computerized online video poker machines as the odds are against the player. So whenever the local airline is throwing out cheap air fares, my uncle will check his personal schedule to slot in a trip or two to frequent a physical casino establishment to get his game on. Usually, his close friends will accompany him on his trip to keep each other in check as to stay within their budget limitations.

YOU'RE NOT ALONE IN LIFE

Economy seats on Malaysia Airlines - Even when opportunity knocks a man still has to get up off his seat and open the door

"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.

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Lifesigns Life Quotes

GREAT TEACHERS FOR LIFE

Aerial photo of the mouth of the river - Unless your heart, your soul, and your whole being are behind every decision you make, the words from your mouth will be empty, and each action will be meaningless. Truth and confidence are the roots of happiness.

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.

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MOVING ON WITH LIFE

I got in touch with my good friend who was living in Florida last month. She was my travel buddy during my tour of Europe back in 2008. I was quite surprised when she told me she was moving to New York in a couple of weeks and was frantically looking for suitable Long Distance Movers to get the job done. When we talked on the phone I could feel that she was stressed out about the whole thing.

Naturally I told her to calm down and start off by getting a few Moving Estimates and Local Moving Quotes. She told me that she has already approached several Local Movers but was disappointed about the related charges incurred for obtaining quotes. I then told her not to worry as I know of a great information portal site that is perfect for her needs: movers.com

Within minutes she was feeling positive again about the big move as she found reliable movers to help her out. I am just glad that I can help out a friend in need.

A LAUGH A DAY FOR LIFE

Malaysian Airlines in flight meal - Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

"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?

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Lifesigns Life Quotes

THE ROCKING CHAIR TEST IN LIFE

The MRT subway map found at Changi airport - Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

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.

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