PASSIONATE LIVING FOR LIFE

Scotch-brite mouse decor display - “Never play cat and mouse games if you're a mouse.”

One man quipped: "It's not that I'm afraid of dying. It's just that I've been alive for as long as I can remember, and I'm kind of set in my ways."

Some people ARE afraid of dying. Others are not concerned about their death ... but they worry about how they're going to get there. Will illness linger? Or will it be sudden?

I can't even guess how or when I might die, but knowing this present existence will end has actually helped me to live passionately. Others have discovered the same phenomenon.

Journalists Bill and Judith Moyers did a documentary on death and dying in the U.S. They learned that many of the terminal patients they interviewed were peaceful about their impending deaths. In fact, many of them found greater meaning and beauty in life after learning that they would die!

According to Moyers, one man lived four years past his doctor's prognosis. In that time, he learned to cherish every moment of life. As he said, "If you are told you will never see spring again, and you live to see spring, spring takes on a whole new life." ("Modern Maturity," Sept./Oct. 2000)

Psychologist Abraham Maslow had a similar experience. After his first heart attack he realized that his remaining days on earth were short. He wrote about it to a friend: "My river never seemed so beautiful (Maslow lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the Charles River). The confrontation with death -- and reprieve from it -- makes everything look so precious, so sacred, so beautiful and I feel more strongly than ever the impulse to love it, to embrace it, and to let myself be overwhelmed by it...." Can you imagine feeling that way about death? He ends with this remarkable statement: "Death, and its ever present possibility makes love, passionate love, more possible. I wonder if we could love passionately, if ecstasy would be possible at all, if we knew we'd never die."

But we DO know we'll die! And, strange as it may seem, knowing life is short can help us to live ... beautifully, meaningfully, passionately.

A book's ending helps us to decide how we liked the book. A movie that seems to go on endlessly loses enjoyment for most viewers . A never-ending meal may cause diners to become disinterested in the food. Likewise, knowing life is all too short gives power to live it passionately and enjoy it fully.

I'll someday die. And so will you. Be glad! It is BECAUSE of that knowledge that we can live every day -- every moment -- with passion!

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ADVICE THAT RINGS TRUE FOR LIFE

Scribbled handwriting on paper - “Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.”

An efficiency expert once concluded his lecture with the comment, "Please don't try these techniques at home."

"Why not?" he was asked.

"I used to watch my wife prepare breakfast and wondered why she made so many trips to the table carrying only one item at a time," he replied. "One day I asked her, 'Wouldn't it be quicker and more efficient if you organized yourself to carry several things to the table at once?'"

"Did it work?" he was asked.

"Oh, yes, it worked," the expert replied. "It used to take my wife twenty minutes to prepare breakfast. Now I do it in seven."

Not all advice is readily received. And sometimes it is not heard the way it was intended. But neither should all advice be followed; rather, wisdom learns to separate kernels of truth from weeds.

Some advice worthy of consideration, though, comes from one of the richest people in the United States, offered to 380 high school students in Omaha, Nebraska. Here are five suggestions multi-billionaire Warren Buffett gave his audience:

1. Avoid credit cards. If you are going to make progress, you will not do it by borrowing at 18 to 20 percent interest.

2. Develop integrity, which guides intelligence and energy. Buffett said he looks for these three qualities in hiring people. "If they don't have the first one, integrity, the other two will kill you."

3. Establish good habits, picking people to admire and following their example, while learning to weed out attributes that are not admirable. "If you do that," he admonished, "two or three years from now you'll find out the person you admire most will be yourself."

4. Learn about companies before investing in them; do not rely on someone else's advice.

5. Choose professions for love of the work, not money.

My "Internet" friend, Alan Hillman, who sent this list, adds an excellent comment: "I believe the same advice is true for all of us, even someone like me who is about to enter my sixth decade of life. Seven years ago I decided to do what I loved most - loving people. Since that time my cup has slowly been filled and is now flowing over the brim with love. Simultaneously, while seeking humility and significance, I lost pride and prominence. In the meantime, I became debt-free and have a high six-figure net worth.

"During those seven years I have had several mottoes. Probably the most significant one is: If you are not loving life, you are not living love."

Some advice just rings true. The wise will follow.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

LEARN TO LIVE FOR LIFE

Mama cat breast feeding kittens - “We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted.”

Charlie Hough says, "Listen to everyone. Learn from everyone. Nobody knows everything but everyone knows something."

At her citizenship hearing in 1967, Immaculata Cuomo (mother of Mario Cuomo) was asked by the judge how many stars were on the US flag. She said she didn't know, but could she ask the judge a question? After he agreed, she asked him how many hands of bananas were on a stalk. He admitted he didn't know, so she proudly said, "Well, I do." Her citizenship was granted. Here was a judge who wisely realized that everyone has something to teach.

"Live to learn and you will learn to live," says a Portuguese proverb. For life cannot be lived well in ignorance. In fact, those who live life to the fullest have a PhD in living! This is what a PhD in living means:

P is for "poor in knowledge." Those who live best realize that they can never learn enough.

H is for "hungry to learn." Those who hunger for knowledge will always find plenty to eat.

D is for "desire to succeed." Those who desire to learn and improve, and those who persist in spite of obstacles, will live fully.

Realize you're poor in knowledge, become hungry to learn and desire to succeed. Everybody and every occasion can become your teacher, and this is the PhD that will open the door of success.

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

HOW YOU'RE LIKE A PENCIL IN LIFE

Cold fizzy soft drinks - “The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.”

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

1. Like a pencil, you can correct your mistakes. You can't change the past, but you can rectify it. And though you can't erase history, you can erase guilt and anger with forgiveness.
2. Like a pencil, painful sharpening can serve to make you better. Your difficult times can actually sharpen your skills or shape you into the person you were meant to be.
3. Like a pencil, you can do great things when you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand.
4. Like a pencil, you can leave your mark whenever possible.
That is what you're here for -- to leave your mark. It may be in small ways, it may be in the lives of people you have touched or nurtured, but you must leave something good behind whenever you can.
5. Like a pencil, it is what is on the inside that matters. Whether it is understanding or intolerance, love or bitterness, peace or unrest, kindness or self-centeredness, hope or despair, courage or fear, what is on the inside matters most.

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

From Lifesupport.

Lifesigns Life Quotes

MATH HOMEWORK HELP FOR LIFE

Believe it or not, my worst recurring nightmare is one of me sitting in the school exam hall, cracking my head over some math exam, and wishing that I had gotten math homework help.

I was never good with maths. It didn't help matters much that math homework helper didn't usually come free back during my days in school. The maths teachers in school (like most of the teachers I had) would tackle the subject matter without a speck of interest; we on the other hand would just sit there twiddling our thumbs till recess time.

There was no such thing as online homework help back then. If one were to need algebra homework help, just hop on over to the teacher's house (with tuition fees of course).

Kids are way luckier these days. There is a wealth of information right there on the internet. And it's not that hard to find free online homework help. A new tuition center just popped up in our neighborhood, and my neighbor had wanted to send his kid for maths tuition. I told my neighbor to check out online homework help at TutorVista. Times are hard and it's only wise to be frugal.