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- No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.
- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he can eat everyday.
- If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
- Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else.
- Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
- To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.
- Many people will walk in and out of your life, But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
- Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives, and remembering what one receives.
- Giving is the secret of a healthy life...not necessarily money, but whatever a person has of encouragement and sympathy and understanding.
- My friends are not perfect - no more than I - and so we suit each other admirably. It is one of the charitable dispensations of Providence that perfection is not essential to friendship.
- Shared joy is joy doubled. Shared sorrow is sorrow halved.
- Unless the heart is full, even a rich man is poor.
- The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.They must be felt with the heart.
- Beautiful young people are accidents of nature; But beautiful old people are works of art.
- To cultivate the sense of the beautiful is one of the most effectual ways of cultivating an appreciation of the divine goodness.
- Love is a little blind; when we love someone dearly we unconscioulsly overlook many faults.
- Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
- One cannot tell what passes through the heart of a man by the look on his face.
- Love cures people-both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.
- We attract hearts by the qualities we display; we retain them by the qualities we possess.
- The fragrance of the flower is never borne against the breeze; but the fragrance of human virtues diffuses itself everywhere.
- Life is a journey...not a destination. Enjoy the trip!
- Amazing, isn't it, how some people see the basket half empty and others see it half full. Some see life hopeless, others hopeful. Even when things are less than perfect, if you can think of the good, the beautiful, the hopeful, you'll be more than sustained - you'll conquer.
- Remember the tea kettle, it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings.
- The pleasantest things in the world are pleasant thoughts: and the great art of life is to have as many of them as possible.
- Happy is the man who can keep a quiet heart, in the chaos and tumult of this modern world.
- Anger is one letter short of danger. If someone betrays you once, it is his fault; if he betrays you twice, it is your fault.
- Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
- When we are tired we are attacked by thoughts that we conquered long ago.
- When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
- Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
- It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are.
- No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
- Every individual has a place to fill in the world and it is important in some respects whether he chooses to be so or not.
- Character is what you are in the dark.
- Follow the three Rs: * Respect for self * Respect for others and * Responsibility for all your actions.
- The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
- Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.
- You never really leave a place you love. Part of it you take with you, leaving a part of yourself behind.
- Open your arms to change but don't let go of your values.
- When health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.
- Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
- The best cure of worry, depression, melancholy, brooding, is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one's sympathy the gloom of somebody else.

Priority in Life

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed. He asked his students again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes, it was. The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life.
(1) The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, and your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.
(2) The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, house, or car.
(3) The sand is everything else, the small stuff."
"If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important." Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

GODS WINGS

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. Though the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

"The Rose"

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know.
I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a g! iant squeeze.
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop.
I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was livin! g it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet and I'll never forget what she taught us.
She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.
"You have to laugh and find humor every day. "You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!"
"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.
If I am eighty seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change." "Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the years end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.
One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college stude! nts attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Love, Wealth & Success

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."
"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.
"No", she said. "He's out."
"Then we cannot come in", they replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.
"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"
The woman went out and invited the men in. "We do not go into a house together," they replied.
"Why is that?" she wanted to know.
One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!" he said. "Since that is the case, let invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"
His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"
Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"
"Let us hear our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to his Wife.
"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you Is Love? Please come in and be our guest."
Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"
The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would have stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!
OUR WISH FOR YOU...
Where there is pain, we wish you peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubting, we wish you a renewed confidence in your ability to work through them. Where there is tiredness, or exhaustion, we wish you understanding, patience, and renewed strength. Where there is fear, we wish you love, and courage.

For the under appreciated

Although they can't put a value on us: Never Lose Your Value. A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this..."
He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20."
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value: dirty, clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives come not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are special - Don't ever forget it.

Choose how you start your day tomorrow

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be a twin. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter, " Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or ...I could choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Michael continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read "he's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes, I replied." The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Five simple rules to be happy

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
Disappointments are like road humps, they slow you down a bit but you enjoy the smooth road afterwards. Don't stay on the humps too long. Move on!
When you feel down because you didn't get what you want, just sit tight, because you might get better this way.
When something happens to you, good or bad, consider what it means. Purpose to life's events, to teach you how to laugh more or not to cry too hard.
You can't make someone love you, all you can do is be someone who can be loved, the rest is up to the person to realize your worth.
It's better to lose your pride to the one you love, than to lose the one you love because of pride.
Cherish an old friend. You will never find one who can take his/her place. Friendship is like wine, it gets better as it grows older.
To Friendship.....

Penicillin - A true story

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck,was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of." And that he did.
Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, he graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time?
Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill. Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.

The Butterfly

A man found a COCOON of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body thru that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress.
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further, so the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a SWOLLEN BODY and SMALL, SHRIVELED WINGS. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. NEITHER happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It NEVER was able to FLY. What the man, in his KINDNESS and HASTE, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the STRUGGLE REQUIRED for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were GOD's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Positive People

- Dr. Joyce Brothers said, "Many people succeed even when others don't believe in them, but rarely does a person succeed when he doesn't believe in himself."
- They look for the best in others, and usually find it. People will generally rise to meet your expectations. Your words of encouragement become the wind beneath their wings.
- They see opportunity everywhere. Opportunities are all around us just waiting to be seized. Always try to say "yes," because nothing good happens for people who always say "no."
- They focus on solutions. Anybody can see problems, faith-filled people focus on solutions. Ever notice how things turn out best, for those who make the best of how things turn out?
- They look for ways to give back. Psychiatrist Carl Menninger says, "Generous people are rarely mentally ill, because giving to others is the highest level of living."
- They are persistent. Many people fail because they subscribe to the adage, "If at first you don't succeed - try something else!" Dreams come true for those who refuse to let discouragement get the upper hand.
- They take responsibility for themselves. Positive people understand that nothing good happens until you're willing to step forward and take responsibility for your thoughts and actions. Only then can you look yourself in the eye, discover your strengths and weaknesses, and begin to change.


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