Rich Beyond Words

As I sat on the park bench enjoying the cool night air and gazing at the people who were taking a break from the rest of the world, two young lovers passed me by. And I overheard the woman say, “Honey, why can’t the moon always be as full and beautiful as it is tonight?”

He replied, “I don’t know, dear, but I am glad we were blessed enough to see another one together.” That made me, at first, shed a tear at their exchanged words, but then it made me ask myself, “Why doesn’t it?”

I thought and thought some more. I concluded, “How can we ask the moon to constantly shine so beautifully night after night if we as humans cannot find it in ourselves to do the same? Why can’t we find what it takes to remain illuminating creatures when we bear witness time after time of the glorious dreams we have shown to be so capable of?

Why do we so often blow out our candles and let the darkness escape to cover up a portion of our glow? Do we cycle through our emotions the same as the moon does? Why can’t we consistently find the peace and love that I can so clearly recognize in this young couple: the way they grip each other’s hand as if they never want to let go, the way they walk so slowly in rhythm with one another, as if their heartbeats are setting the pace, and the way they stare at each other as if they have found the gateway to the soul in each other’s eyes.

Then I think again: maybe we can control the moon’s luster, it’s wholeness. Just maybe if we can find it in our hearts, in ourselves, to shine with such radiance, over time we’ll begin to notice as we look toward heaven on a clear night that the moon is as full and bright as we ourselves choose to be. Maybe we only deserve to see this brilliance every so often. And maybe only when enough people can accumulate enough love, peace, and goodwill toward one another shall the moon dazzle us in all her beauty.

So now whenever I think the moon is going through her cycle again, I will tell myself, “No, she is waiting on us to go through ours.”

Author Unknown

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.
The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything wrote in the sand: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.”

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”

The friend who had slapped and then saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand. Now, you write on a stone. Why?”

The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone.

Author unknown

We convince ourselves that life will be better once we are married, have a baby, then another.

Then we get frustrated because our children are not old enough, and that all will be well when they are older.

Then we are frustrated because they reach adolescence and we must deal with them. Surely we’ll be happier when they grow out of the teen years.

We tell ourselves our life will be better when our spouse gets his/her act together, when we have a nicer car, when we can take a vacation, when we finally retire.

The truth is that there is no better time to be happy than right now.

If not, then when?

Your life will always be full of challenges. It is better to admit as much and to decide to be happy in spite of it all.

For the longest time, it seemed that life was about to start. Real life.

But there was always some obstacle along the way, an ordeal to get through, some work to be finished, some time to be given, a bill to be paid. Then life would start.

I finally came to understand that those obstacles were life.

That point of view helped me see that there isn’t any road to happiness.

Happiness IS the road.

So, enjoy every moment.

Stop waiting for school to end, for a return to school, to lose ten pounds, to gain ten ounds, for work to begin, to get married, for Friday evening, for Sunday morning, waiting for a new car, for your mortgage to be paid off, for spring, for summer, for fall, for winter, for the first or the fifteenth of the month, for your song to be played on the radio, to die, to be reborn… before deciding to be happy.

Happiness is a voyage, not a destination.

There is no better time to be happy than… NOW!

Live and enjoy the moment.

Author unknown

In the 1930s, a young traveler was exploring the French Alps. He came upon a vast stretch of barren land. It was desolate. It was forbidding. It was ugly. It was the kind of place you hurry away from.

Then, suddenly, the young traveler stopped dead in his tracks. In the middle of this vast wasteland was a bent- over old man. On his back was a sack of acorns. In his hand was a four-foot length of iron pipe.

The man was using the iron pipe to punch holes in the ground. Then from the sack he would take an acorn and put it in the hole. Later, the old man told the traveler, “I’ve planted over 100,000 acorns. Perhaps only one-tenth of them will grow.”

The old man’s wife and son had died, and this was how he chose to spend his final years. “I want to do something useful,” he said.

Twenty-five years later the now-not-as-young traveler returned to the same desolate area. What he saw amazed him; he could not believe his own eyes. The land was covered with a beautiful forest two miles wide and five miles long.
Birds were singing, animals were playing, and wildflowers perfumed the air.

The traveler stood there recalling the desolation that once was. A beautiful oak forest stood there now – all because someone cared.

What small thing can you do today to make the world a more beautiful place?

By: Brian Cavanaugh

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.

Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.

Take naps and stretch before rising.

Run, romp and play daily.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you’re not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout… Run right back and make friends.

Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.

When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly 16 hours.

Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath, and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea, she struggled on-hour after hour-while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had . . . until then. With only a half- mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” It was not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land, and this time she made it!
Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!

Author Unknown

I wasn’t always blessed with luck – infact I kept having a whole lot of bad luck. I began to believe that I was unlucky and so I would keep having more bad luck – after all we keep getting what we believe don’t we?

So Dov baron’s blog post on becoming lucky is interesting.

When I was a kid I asked my Grandfather if his success at farming was caused by good luck? He smiled at me and said, “If you want to get run over by a truck named Luck you have to walk onto the road or it will miss you every time!”

That of course is true – you make your luck happen.

Dov says there’s one thing you can never get back again and that’s time. Time is the thing a lot of us waste. In my mind anything you do which is not fullfilling you or bringing you closer to your goals is a waste of time. That could be anything – just being stuck in a rut and not believing that there are other opportunities.

All too often I hear people whining about stuff and then when I ask them if it pains them so much why are they doing it, they look at me blankly, like I’m insane. Most people bitch about their jobs and yet they spend most of their waking hours at a job which obviously doesn’t give them a sense of satisfaction. They tell me at least it pays the bills. My God, what a way to live – go to a job to pay your necessary bills and then have no money or time to do things you really like. SAD.

It’s just unfortunate that we’ve been programmed to believe that is the way we’re supposed to be living. To live that way means other’s will always be able to control your destiny. The people that teach us those values are so confined in their own imprisonement that they can’t even imagine other possibilities.

I always encourage my kids to do things they like – I tell them there can be no bigger joy in life than making your play your work. I want them to live full and free lives. Lucky lives.

Dove also talks about making emotional investments – well yes. That’s the difference between people living rich lives and those that are just part of the system. You have to invest your emotions to get where you want.

And lastly even though the Law of Attraction is always working – it’s not always easy. The reason why it’s not always easy is because we have other people telling us not to be ridiculous.

I recall my earliest memories of knowing that my life is a movie. I’m the director, actor and producer. Even if sometimes I have my little procrastination moments.

You can make your luck – infact nobody else is gonna do it for you.

A couple, whom we shall call John and Mary, had a nice home and two lovely children, a boy and a girl. John had a good job and had just been asked to go on a business trip to another city and would be gone for several days. It was decided that Mary needed an outing and would go along too.
They hired a reliable woman to care for the children and made the trip, returning home a little earlier than they had planned.

As they drove into their home town feeling glad to be back, they noticed smoke, and they went off their usual route to see what it was. They found a home in flames. Mary said, “Oh well it isn’t our fire, let’s go home.”

But John drove closer and exclaimed, “That home belongs to Fred Jones who works at the plant. He wouldn’t be off work yet, maybe there is something we could do.” “It has nothing to do with us.” Protested Mary. “You have your good clothes on lets not get any closer.”

But John drove up and stopped and they were both horror stricken to see the whole house in flames. A woman on the lawn was in hysterics screaming, “The children! Get the children!” John grabbed her by the shoulder saying, “Get a hold of yourself and tell us where the children are!” “In the basement,” sobbed the woman, “down the hall and to the left.”

In spite of Mary’s protests John grabbed the water hose and soaked his clothes, put his wet handkerchief on his head and bolted for the basement which was full of smoke and scorching hot. He found the door and grabbed two children, holding one under each arm like the football player he was.
As he left he could hear some more whimpering. He delivered the two badly frightened and nearly suffocated children into waiting arms and filled his lungs with fresh air and started back asking how many more children were down there. They told him two more and Mary grabbed his arm and screamed, “John! Don’t go back! It’s suicide! That house will cave in any second!”

But he shook her off and went back by feeling his way down the smoke filled hallway and into the room. It seemed an eternity before he found both children and started back.
They were all three coughing and he stooped low to get what available air he could. As he stumbled up the endless steps the thought went through his mind that there was something strangely familiar about the little bodies clinging to him, and at last when they came out into the sunlight and fresh air, he found that he had just rescued his own children.

The babysitter had left them at a friend’s home while she did some shopping.

Unknown Author

Okay not all habits are bad habits. So so there is no use in breaking a habit that is good now is there?

Unlike good habits which strengthen us, bad habits break us even if we think they are doing us good.

Take cigarettes for example. I know a lot of people that smoke and they are convinced that smoking calms them, supresses their appetite and a whole lot of other insane excuses.

Now I used to smoke too and drink loads of coffee and eat chocolate. And not just a little.

I really wanted to learn all about breaking a habit but some how couldn’t do it.

I discovered that a habit is just a thing I believed I needed. Sure there are addictions, nicotine, java and chocolate are addictive. But strangely enough when I stopped believing I needed them I stopped craving them.

How did I do this?

I’ll be honest the cigarette thing I stopped just like that. I found the button in my brain and clicked it.

It all happened one night whilst i was working and ran out of cigarettes. And it was cold too. Feeling irritated with myself for having this habit, whilst searching for my car keys, putting on a coat and thinking about which store would still be open it just dawned on me that nobody was making me do this. I was doing this to myself. So I stopped. Right there and then. Never smoked a cigarette again. That was over 10 years ago.

With the coffee and chocolate thing that was another story. Because even though I’m over the coffee I’m still a sucker for chocolate. I have it under control but I’m not chocolate free. But I’ve switched over to raw chocolate – no diary. The diary thing about the chocolate was bugging me because I’m not into diary products. And chocolate is in my opinion a diary product.

But I’m waffling. The truth is I’m the kind of person that isn’t afraid to ask for help. I either go looking for a product or I ask and say, “Help me please”.

A while back I found Mike Brescia’s Think Right Now website. I browsed his site – I was my usual cynical self when I read all about how the things you tell yourself influence your behaviour. And gasp I wasn’t even aware of the stuff I tell myself but what the heck. I bought a couple of his CD’ds and well seriously, I did think it was cheesy listening to affirmation CD’s. But I did it anyway and began to see some hard core habits dissolve and new positive ones emerge. And truth is whilst I was browsing his website i did think that some of the CD’s were silly. And what if some one sees this stuff or knows what I’m listening to on my mp3 player?

I figured I’d rather listen to cheesy CD’s and be happy with myself than continue with habits which were bugging the daylights out of me but somehow I had no power to stop.

So I think I can self assuredly say breaking a habit is easy. Just get yourself help. You know what they say, God only helps those that help themselves.

Thanks for reading.

There was once an 11 year old who went fishing every chance he got from the dock at his family’s cabin on an island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake. On the day before bass season opened, he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching sunfish and perch with worms. Then he tied on a small silver lure and practiced casting. The lure struck the water and caused colored ripples in the sunset, then silver ripples as the moon rose over the lake.

When his pole doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully worked the fish alongside the dock. Finally he very gingerly lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.

The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish, gills playing back and forth in the moonlight. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 p.m. — two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. “You’ll have to put it back, son,” he said.

“Dad!” cried the boy. “There will be other fish,” said his father. “Not as big as this one,” cried the boy. He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.

Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the body could tell by the clarity of his father’s voice

that the decision was not negotiable. He slowly worked the hook out of the lip of the huge bass, and lowered it into the black water.

The creature swished its powerful body and disappeared. The boy suspected that he would never again see such a great fish.

That was 34 years ago. Today the boy is a successful architect in New York City. His father’s cabin is still there on the lake. He takes his own son and daughters fishing from the same dock.

And he was right. He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he landed that night long ago.

But he does see that same fish…again and again…every time he comes up against a question of ethics. For, as his father taught him, ethics are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.

Do we do right when no one is looking? Do we refuse to cut corners to get the design in on time? Or refuse to trade stocks based on information that we know we aren’t supposed to have? We would if we were taught to put the fish back when we were young. For we would have learned the truth. The decision to do right lives fresh and fragrant in our memory. It is a story we will proudly tell our friends and grandchildren. Not about how we had a chance to beat the system and took it, but about how we did the right thing and were forever strengthened.

Author Unknown