Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

Positively Contagious

This week we share a very powerful message from author and speaker, Jon Gordon. Jon's message is a great reminder about how contagious our attitudes and emotions are. Is your attitude worth catching?
The Flu is not the only thing you catch at work. Turns out you are just as likely to catch someone's bad mood and negative attitude. Yes, the latest research demonstrates what we’ve all known to be true, emotions are contagious. Researchers call them emotional contagions and they impact our work environments, productivity, teamwork, service and performance in significant and profound ways.

As we know all too well, one negative employee can pollute an entire team and create a toxic work environment. One negative leader can make work miserable for his/her team. An employee in a bad mood can scare away countless customers. Complaining can act like a cancer and spread throughout the entire organization and eventually destroy your vision and goals. And pervasive negative attitudes can sabotage the morale and performance of teams with great talent and potential.

That’s the bad news... but there’s also good news.

Positive emotions are just as contagious as negative emotions. One positive leader can rally a group of willing people to accomplish amazing things. One Chief Energy Officer who sits at the welcome desk can positively infect every person who walks in your business/school/workplace. One positive team member can slowly but surely improve the mood and morale of her team. And pervasive positive attitudes and emotions at work can fuel the productivity and performance of your organization.

Emotional contagions are the reason why when I speak to businesses, schools and sports teams I say that everyone in the organization contributes to the culture of it. You are not just a creation of your culture but rather you are creating it every day through your thoughts, beliefs and actions. What you think matters. How you feel matters. And the energy you share with others, whether it’s positive or negative, really matters.

You can be a germ and attack your organization's immune system or you can act like a dose of Vitamin C and strengthen it.

So the next time you head into work with a bad mood you might want to stop before you walk in the door and consider what your leader would say if you had the Flu. She would tell you to stay home until you are healthy and not contagious. And in that moment, as you stand at the door you have choice: You can go home so you don’t infect anyone with your bad mood, or you can choose to get healthy right there, change your attitude, and decide to be positively contagious.

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

 

Share the Warmth This Winter

Thank You For Your Support!

The Words of My Life was published on June 30th, 2016

The first ship date noted from the publisher was July 31st, 2016

106 Books Sold To Date! Thank you for your support!!

The Words of My Life - My First Published Book .... # 2 is in the works.....

Opposites Attract for a Reason

It seems to be a fundamental law of the universe that a thing cannot exist without its opposite.

Negatively charged electrons revolve
around positively charged protons.
Male and female.
Inhale and exhale.
Extend and contract.
Seedtime and harvest.

Every good thing exists in a state of duality.

A voice spoke into the darkness,

“Let there be light,”

and the first duality was born.

Darkness didn’t go away; it simply met an opposing force.

Whether you believe the Bible to be ancient folk wisdom or the word of God or something in between doesn’t really matter. Most of us can agree that something about it caused the Bible to be remembered for millennia.

According to the first chapter of Genesis, after the voice pierced the darkness with light, it spoke five other dualities into existence and proclaimed each of the six pairs of opposites to be good.

I’m not writing to you about religion.
I’m writing to you about wisdom.

I’m glad to see you’re still reading!  I’m sneaking up on an important point. Stay with me.

Good and evil are not a duality.
Love and hate are not a duality.
Peace and war are not a duality.
The first is life and the second is death.

It shouldn’t be hard to choose between them.

The only difficult choices in life are the choices between two good things.

Freedom and Responsibility are two good things that we must often choose between.
Likewise, a tension exists between Justice and Mercy.
Honesty and Loyalty are also good things.

Have you ever had to choose between them?

Which one is good and which one is evil?

The next time you see two antagonistic groups throwing word-grenades at each other, peer beneath the emotional language and you’ll notice that one group believes in freedom while the other group believes in responsibility. Or one side is pushing for justice while the other side pushes for mercy.

Niels Bohr wasn’t a touchy-feely philosopher. He was a scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Among his discoveries was this:

“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.”

Stanislaw Lec said it this way,

“Proverbs contradict each other. That is the wisdom of a people.”

Then F. Scott Fitzgerald challenged you and me to step into a larger realm of living,

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

Don’t fall into the trap of believing you have to choose one and disparage the other.

Every creative person is familiar with the magnetism that exists between opposites. A skillful articulation of this energy is the secret behind hit songs, big movies, bestselling books and successful ad campaigns.

A voice spoke light into the darkness and said it was good.

And Niels Bohr said “Amen.”

And Stanislaw Lec said “Amen.”

And F. Scott Fitzgerald said “Amen.”

So please tell me, if you will,
What say you?

Roy H. Williams

Jackson Kiddard

Anything that annoys you is for teaching you patience.

Anyone who abandons you is for teaching you how

To stand on your own two feet.

Anything that angers you is for teaching you

Forgiveness and compassion.

Anything that has power over you is for teaching

You how to take your power back.

Anything you hate is for teaching you

Unconditional love.

Anything you fear is for teaching you

Courage to overcome your fear.

Anything you can’t control is for

Teaching you how to let go and

Trust the Universe.

-          Jackson Kiddard

I Hope You Are Enjoying The Words of My Life!

Just Go For It!

There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it.

 

Judith McNaught

Who am I Becoming? By Drago Adam

This week we share a powerful message from author and leadership expert, John Maxwell. John's message is a great reminder to focus on the process of growth and not be so fixated on instant results.

A group of tourists walked through a quaint English village in wonderment. They were enamored by the town's winding cobblestone streets, the beauty of its courtyards and plazas, and the sense of history emanating from its ancient churches. While strolling through the local park, the tourists struck up conversation with an elderly gentleman and found out that he had lived in the town for his entire life. One of the tourists, eager to hear more about the town's history, asked, "Sir, have any great men been born in this village?" "Nope," said the old man, "only babies."

Personal Growth Is a Process

In our twenties, we think ahead to when we'll be ideally situated in our career, positioned to do exactly what we enjoy, and enjoying immense influence in our occupation. Like children on the way to Disneyland, we impatiently await arrival at our destination instead of appreciating the journey there. However, as we age we encounter an uncomfortable truth: growth doesn't happen automatically. We cannot coast through life hoping one day to stumble across our dreams. Unless we set aside time to grow into the person we desire to be, we'll not reach our potential.

Leaders develop daily, not in a day. They commit themselves to the process of growth, and over time they reap the rewards of daily investments in their development. In this lesson, I'd like to share five principles to encourage you to adopt a lifestyle of personal growth.

#1 Growth is the great separator of those who succeed and those who do not.

When I went to college, there was no gap between my peers and me-none at all. We started on the same level. However, at the age of 17, I made a commitment to spend an hour a day on my personal growth. I studied and read, filing the lessons I learned along the way. Now, in most cases, the gap between my former classmates and me is pretty wide. Am I smarter than they are? Absolutely not. Many of them got better grades than I did in college. It's the growth factor-my commitment to the process of personal growth-that has made the difference.

#2 Growth takes time, and only time can teach us some things.

When it comes to personal growth, you cannot substitute for time. Yet, the mere passage of time doesn't make you wise. Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is the best teacher. To gain insights from your experience, you have to engage in reflective thinking. I have a habit of taking ten minutes every evening to look back on the day. As I reflect on what happened, lessons emerge, and I capture them in my notebook so that I can learn from them.

#3 Growth inside fuels growth outside.

The highest reward of our toil is not what we get for it, but who we become by it. At the age of 17, I decided that I would read, file, and begin to prepare lessons. From that simple discipline I accumulated a wealth of content that fueled my speaking and writing. I never set out to be a leadership specialist; I was simply diligent about reading, filing, and studying. With respect to personal growth, take the long view on results. The most important question to ask is not "What am I getting?" from the discipline of personal growth, the most important question is, "Who am I becoming?"

#4 Take responsibility for your own growth.

For 15 to 20 years, the school system holds us responsible for growth. Educational curriculum clearly spells out, "here's what you do next," and "here's the next step." Then we graduate with diplomas and certificates, and we no one longer have anyone to map out the next step for us. If we want to continuing growing, we have to do it ourselves. We have to put together a game plan so that we become students of life who are always expanding our minds and drawing upon our experiences.

#5 Determine the areas of your life in which you need to grow.

You've probably heard someone say, "You can do anything as long as you put your mind to it." Sadly, as nice as that sounds, it simply isn't true. In watching people grow, I have discovered that, on a scale of 1-10, people can only improve about two notches. For instance, I love to sing; that's the good news. The bad news is that I can't carry a tune. Now, let's be generous and say that, as a singer, I'm a "two." If I put lots of money, effort, and energy into developing my voice, perhaps I can grow into a "four." News flash: on a ten-point scale, four is still below average. With regards to my career, it would be foolish for me to focus my personal growth on my voice. At best, I'd only become an average singer, and no one pays for average.

Don't work on your weaknesses. Devote yourself to fine-tuning your strengths. I work exceptionally hard on personal growth in four areas of my life. Why only four? Because I'm only good at four things. I lead, communicate, create, and network. That's it. Outside of those areas, I'm not very valuable. However, within those areas of strength I have incredible potential to make a difference.

Where can you make a difference?

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

“To live in a vast and proud tranquility; always beyond . . . To have, or not to have, one's emotions, one's For and Against, according to choice; to lower oneself to them for hours; to SEAT oneself on them as upon horses, and often as upon asses:--for one must know how to make use of their stupidity as well as of their fire. To conserve one's three hundred foregrounds; also one's black spectacles: for there are circumstances when nobody must look into our eyes, still less into our "motives." And to choose for company that roguish and cheerful vice, politeness. And to remain master of one's four virtues, courage, insight, sympathy, and solitude. For solitude is a virtue with us, as a sublime bent and bias to purity, which divines that in the contact of man and man--"in society"--it must be unavoidably impure. All society makes one somehow, somewhere, or sometime--"commonplace."

I Ache For The First Meeting

10 Things Your Relationship Needs to Thrive

A relationship cannot survive on its own. It needs the care and nurturing of two adults, giving to each other in a way that creates a mutually beneficial connection. To foster a deep and loving relationship, there needs to be:

1. Kind, constant, and honest communication. Without talking, your relationship will not survive. The more you communicate, the closer you will be.
2. The willingness to work through difficulties and disagreements. Throwing in the towel, even if you don’t walk out the door, is not the path to happiness. You must face the discomfort that comes with differing opinions and ideas.
3. A sense of humor, some fun, and a bit of distraction from the rigors of daily life. Just as we need to breathe to survive, your love needs a breath of fresh air to flourish. Giving your relationship what it needs to thrive is a truly loving gesture. You can’t spend all your free time “working” on your relationship—don’t make it a hobby. Discuss what you like to do, where you’d like to go, and how you both like to have fun. Then go do it.
4. Sharing life lessons with the one you love. When you discover something about life, or you make a self-correcting move that is healthy for your relationship, let your partner know. You’ll be surprised by the positive response.
5. Emotional support, validation, and compliments. If you don’t feel that you partner likes and respects you, there will not be a strong connection. You have to lift each other up and let each other know the depth of your caring.
6. Love, intimacy, romance, and sex. These are the cornerstones of a loving relationship. Being great roommates just won’t cut it. There has to be the desire to be together as a couple. You may think the spark has gone, but there are too many ways to rekindle it. All you have to do is try.
7. Sharing goals and dreams that resonate with both of you. We are happier when we are working toward a goal than when we have achieved one. Make sure you always have something to look forward to and that you are pursuing it as a couple.
8. Compassion, acceptance, and forgiveness. These will show you the way through a difficult time. If you are together for a while, there will be losses, challenges, and some things that you just can’t fix. Weathering the storms together is a big part of what relationships are all about.
9. A mutual desire to step outside the box. The tried-and-true is good, but the never- attempted-before may be better. Couples who share new experiences together develop a stronger bond.
10.  Being able to admit mistakes and to talk about them. We all screw up. Learning to understand and let go of mistakes that you or your partner make will turn your life around and give you more time for joy.

Just as we need to breathe to survive, your love needs a breath of fresh air to flourish. Giving your relationship what it needs to thrive is a truly loving gesture.

Barton Goldsmith Ph.D.

May You Always Feel Loved

Sandra Sturtz Hauss

May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known and conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone.

May you discover enough goodness in others to believe in a world of peace.

May a kind word, a reassuring touch, a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them.

Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.

Teach love to those who know hate, and let that love embrace you as you go into the world.

May the teaching of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and who have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than its form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart.

Find time in each day to see the beauty and love in the world around you.

Realize that each person has limitless abilities, but each of us is different in our own way. What you may feel you lack in one regard may be more than compensated for in another. What you feel you lack in the present may become one of your strengths in the future.

May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself, and not be dependent on another's judgements of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.

 

The History of Love – Nicole Krauss

"So many words get lost. They leave the mouth and lose their courage, wandering aimlessly until they are swept into the gutter like dead leaves. On rainy days you can hear their chorus rushing past. IwasabeautifulgirlPleasedontgoItoobelievemybodyismadeofglassIvenever-

lovedanyoneIthinkof myselfasfunnyForgiveme...

There was a time when it wasn't uncommon to use a piece of string to guide words that otherwise might falter on the way to their destinations. Shy people carried a little bundle of string in their pockets, but people considered loudmouths had no less need for it, since those used to being overheard by everyone were often at a loss for how to make themselves heard by someone. The physical distance between two people using a string was often small; sometimes the smaller the distance, the greater the need for the string.

The practice of attaching cups to the ends of the string came much later. Some say it is related to the irrepressible urge to press shells to our ears, to hear the still-surviving echo of the world's first expression. Others say it was started by a man who held the end of a string that was unraveled across the ocean by a girl who left for America.

When the world grew bigger, and there wasn't enough string to keep the things people wanted to say from disappearing into the vastness, the telephone was invented.

Sometimes no length of string is long enough to say the thing that needs to be said. In such cases, all the string can do, in whatever its form, is conduct a person's silence."

More From J. Raymond

“Slightly battered, deeply bruised, and tired of the strained days. Certainly she had the right to give up, or give in, to toss out whatever fight she had left within. But she refused. She knew it a fools fate to quit after she’d made it this far. And she instead, felt compelled to pick herself back up. Brush the dust off her spirits, and with the slightest of smiles, decided that this place, right here, this space is the perfect place to start this story from. The story of who she could become.”

 

-          J. Raymond

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A Thursday with J. Raymond

She went through a few things. Of course she was going to make enemies along the way. A smart woman is a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman is a dangerous woman. A dangerous woman is an intimidating woman. And those reasons alone are too much for some. It mattered to her though. She still carried some of the dead weight she swore to shed. It wasn’t easy letting everyone, or anyone, in. You can’t force a flower to bloom. It does so at its own pace, under just the right conditions. And there’s no going back. Only growth. Only forward. I suppose that’s what the thorns are for. Whether you could handle her or not, you sure as hell would feel her.

 

J. Raymond

More From The Words of My Life....

Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

“Having been taught since we were children that we are separate, finite beings, we have a very hard time when it comes to love. Love feels like a void that threatens to overwhelm us, and that’s because, in a certain sense, it is and it does. It overwhelms our small self, our lonely sense of separateness. Since that sense of separateness is who we think we are, we feel like we’ll die without it. What’s dying is the frightened mind, so the love inside us can get a chance to breathe.”

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Drago's Thoughts Worth Thinking About

Success is a very complex phenomenon that cannot be summed up in a few sentences. To achieve success you must strive very hard to meet your goals, and that requires big ideas and an indeterminate will to execute them. If you were to ask any successful person or motivational coach about how to achieve success, then their first piece of advice would most probably be to “think positively.”

The following are 15 thoughts from Joel Brown that will lead you to succeed!

Positive thoughts are the key to making your dreams and goals come true. Nevertheless, thinking positively is more about you and your abilities, rather than the goals or the processes required to achieve them.

Oftentimes, we put a limit on our dreams due to fear or lack of confidence in our abilities. Positive thoughts can help us break those challenges and attain success.

1. Every Day Is A Gift

Life is very precious and can take the turn for the worse at any moment. Once you get this idea into your mind, you’ll stop procrastinating and put all your ideas into motion. If you live like today is your last day on the planet, then you will gain a renewed sense of appreciation for everything around you. With this appreciation in mind, you’ll start planning things in advance, work harder and act wisely. This is the ultimate motivation you can give yourself to reach the next level of success.

2. Work Is Not a Chore

Work is not a chore that you have to do for money. It is something that you do because you love it and would like to make difference in this world. Some of the most successful people didn’t work because they’d have to, but because they wanted to.

Only work on things that interest you; this way, you will make sure that you will work harder and smarter.

3. Success Takes Time

Success is not handed to you on a platter. It takes time, effort and dedication to achieve success. Staying committed to your goals even in the face of many challenges is very important.

Recognize the importance of perseverance and always stay committed, even when the going gets tough.

4. Passion Is Everything

An idea isn’t the only essential factor to achieve success. If you don’t have passion towards what you’re doing, then you’re bound to give it up in the long-term. Passion fuels your desire to work during the hard times, and then it carries you over to an altogether different level of success.

Without passion towards what you’re doing, achieving success would be very hard.

5. Individuality is Important

You don’t need to follow other successful people to be successful yourself. Individuality is a key factor to make sure that you are satisfied with your work and are happy in your life. Don’t be afraid to be different; some of the best ideas were initially frowned upon by many people.

It takes courage and determination to stand out from the crowd and try something new.

6. Ordinary Life is Boring

Ordinary people are comfortable with ordinary choices and goals. However, successful people yearn for something extraordinary, and won’t settle until they have achieved that. There is always a way to go beyond what you think is possible, and once you realize this, there will be nothing that can stop you in your endeavors.

7. Think Outside The Box

This is such a common positive thinking strategy that is almost a cliché now. However, thinking outside the box doesn’t just mean coming up with weird quirky ideas. The ideas should be innovative and practical. Brainstorm your ideas with others, discuss them loudly, assimilate knowledge, and engage with people outside your professional zone.

There is always a better way of doing something.

8. Set Your Own Standards

You shouldn’t measure your accomplishments based on standards set by others. The moment you judge yourself based on others’ standards, you let them dictate your life, rather than you dictating yours. Strive to satisfy yourself instead on someone else, and you’ll be happy for the rest of your life.

9. If You Like it, Just Do It

Sometimes, too much of time is wasted in thinking about things that you really like to do. If you genuinely like something, then just do it without any hesitation. Even if you are not sure whether you like something, it is easier to know whether you like it or not when you try it out.

10. There Is Always Enough Time

Every person on this planet has the same amount time as everyone else, and still many think that there is not enough of it. The problem lies not with the time, but how you perceive and manage it. Make a schedule and take out time for things you’d like to achieve.

Successful people don’t go around asking people for time, they make use of it.

11. No One's Holding You Back

Even despite your best efforts, you cannot control other people in your life. You are the master of only yourself. Concentrate on how you can influence the outcome of your work, rather than how someone else isn’t doing what they are supposed to do. It's not your fault when someone disappoints you or holds you back.

12. Opportunities Are Endless

Opportunities are never lost. There are endless opportunities waiting for you right now, and all you have to do is go and pick them up. Even if you miss one opportunity, there is always another waiting right behind it. Waiting for the right opportunity to come knocking on your door will get you nowhere.

13. Failure Is Not The End

While failure is definitely not a desired outcome, it is still a part of your success. Many successful people have failed a lot of times in their lives, and that is one of the main reasons why they’re successful today.

Embrace failures and learn from them. Only when you stay positive during failures can you rise up to success tomorrow.

14. Learn To Let Go

Letting go of an idea or a goal can be very painful at times, especially if you have invested a lot of effort and time into it. However, you have to learn to let go to be successful. No matter how great an idea is, or how desirable a goal or dream is, you have to give them up if they are not feasible. Being adaptable in your thoughts is essential to ensure success.

15. You Can Always Make a Difference

No matter what you do, you can always make a difference and leave a legacy behind. No idea or work is small enough to be unimportant. Everyone has the potential to leave a lasting mark on this world. Recognizing this thought is what enables many people to persist even in the face of adversities.

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

 

You Are Brilliant - Christina Marra

Perceptions

“Our perception does not identify the outside world as it really is, but the way that we are allowed to recognize it, as a consequence of transformations performed by our senses.  We experience electromagnetic waves, not as waves, but as images and colors. We experience vibrating objects, not as vibrations, but as sounds. We experience chemical compounds dissolved in air or water, not as chemicals, but as specific smells and tastes. Colors, sounds, smells and tastes are products of our minds, built from sensory experiences. They do not exist, as such, outside our brain. Actually, the universe is colorless, odorless, insipid and silent. Although you and I share the same biological architecture and function, perhaps what I perceive as a distinct color and smell is not exactly equal to the color and smell you perceive. We may give the same name to similar perceptions, but we cannot know how they relate to the reality of the outside world. Perhaps we never will.”

– Dr. Jorge Martins de Oliveira

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Long Weekend Words Of WIsdom

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. –Aristotle



Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. –Dalai Lama


Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. –Benjamin Franklin


People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing.  That’s why we recommend it daily. –Zig Ziglar

Follow Your Dreams

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman

 

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” ― Oscar Wilde

 

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
― Paulo Coelho

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Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom

“Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too, even when you are in the dark. Even when you are falling.”

 

“You cannot substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I’m sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”

 

“As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on – in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here. Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

 

“In business, people negotiate to win. They negotiate to get what they want. Maybe you’re too used to that. Love is different. Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.”

-        Mitch Albom

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This is Her Beauty

 

She loves deep and fast.

With all of herself, or not one bit.

She’ll give people all of her light, in turn

Struggle to understand when they don’t pay that back.

She wants you to think she can’t be hurt, but

Truth is, she gets hurt easier than most.

She is fierceness and tenderness,

Within the same breath.

This is her beauty.

In her total lack of in betweens.

 

Carson Patrick Bowie

Be Brave. Even If You Are Not!

“Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference. Don’t allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It’s there for your convenience, not the callers. Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river. Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Don’t major in minor things. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Learn to say no politely and quickly. Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Don’t waste time grieving over past mistakes Learn from them and move on. Every person needs to have their moment in the sun, when they raise their arms in victory, knowing that on this day, at his hour, they were at their very best. Get your priorities straight. No one ever said on his death bed, ‘Gee, if I’d only spent more time at the office’. Give people a second chance, but not a third. Judge your success by the degree that you’re enjoying peace, health and love. Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly. Leave everything a little better than you found it. Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation. Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life and death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems. Never cut what can be untied. Never overestimate your power to change others. Never underestimate your power to change yourself. Remember that overnight success usually takes about fifteen years. Remember that winners do what losers don’t want to do. Seek opportunity, not security. A boat in harbor is safe, but in time its bottom will rot out. Spend less time worrying who’s right, more time deciding what’s right. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life. Success is getting what you want. Happiness is liking what you get. The importance of winning is not what we get from it, but what we become because of it. When facing a difficult task, act as though it’s impossible to fail.”

— Jackson Brown Jr.

Meet This Week With Courage

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that something is more important than fear; The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.”

― Meg Cabot

Be Positive in Every Thought and Deed

Dwell not on the past.

Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind.

Nothing really matters except

What you do now in this instant of time.

From this moment onwards

You can be an entirely different person,

Filled with love and understanding,

Ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and

Positive in every thought and deed.

 

Eileen Caddy

50 Happiness Quotes to Change the Way You Think

Written by Angel Chernoff

 

“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
―Abraham Lincoln

 

It usually isn’t what you have, where you are, or what you’ve been through that makes you happy or unhappy, it’s how you think about it all.  It starts on the inside.  You control your thoughts.  The only person who can hurt your happiness in the long run is you. Here are 50 thought-provoking quotes about happiness gathered from recent entries in our blog archive that will help you think on the bright side.

1.     It only takes one person to make you happy and change your life:  YOU.

2.     Your life will improve only when you take small chances, and the first and most difficult chance you can take is to be honest with yourself.

3.     Stop focusing on how stressed you are and remember how blessed you are.  It could be so much worse.

4.     It is not what happens to you, but how you respond to what happens to you.  Count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.

5.     Look for something positive about this moment.  Even if you have to look a little harder than usual, it still exists.

6.     When you smile about the life you live, you end up living a life worth smiling about.

7.     Remember, social comparison is the thief of happiness.  You could spend a lifetime worrying about what others have, but it wouldn’t get you anything.

8.     Happiness comes more easily when you feel good about yourself without feeling the need for anyone else’s approval.

9.     Be nice to people on your way up because you might meet them again on your way back down.

10.  Set an example. Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are.  (Read The Four Agreements.)

11.  Kindness is not to be mistaken for weakness, nor forgiveness for acceptance.  It’s about knowing resentment of any kind is not on the path to happiness.

12.  Give as much as you can, but don’t allow yourself to be used.  Listen to others closely, but don’t lose your own voice.

13.  Say what you need to say.  Speak your truth.  There is no greater sadness than holding on to the words you never had the courage to speak.

14.  You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you.  All you can do is change how you react and who you choose to be around.

15.  Negative company will never give you a positive life.  Examine what you tolerate in the long-term.

16.  What you allow is what will continue.  It’s always better to spend more time alone than allow negative people and their opinions to derail you from your destiny.

17.  When other people treat you poorly, walk away, smile and keep being YOU.  Don’t ever let someone else’s bitterness change the person you are.

18.  Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.  It’s their loss, not yours.

19.  One of the most freeing things we learn in life is that we don’t have to like everyone, everyone doesn’t have to like us, and that’s OK.

20.  When someone says, “You’ve changed,” it’s not always a bad thing.  Sometimes it just means you stopped living your life their way.

21.  Never be ashamed of how you feel.  You have the right to feel any emotion that comes to you, and to follow a path that makes you happy.

22.  The unhappiest people in this world are the people who care the most about what everyone else thinks.

23.  You can’t base your idea of success and happiness on other people’s opinions and expectations.  (Read 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)

24.  Happiness and success is all about spending your life in your own way.  Be yourself.  No one can ever tell you you’re doing it wrong.

25.  It’s always better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than the top of the one you don’t.

26.  Work to create a life that feels right to YOU, not one that looks right to everyone else.

27.  No amount of money will make you happy if you aren’t happy with yourself.

28.  Maybe the thing you’re scared of is exactly what you should do.  Sometimes life is about risking it all for a dream no one can see but you.

29.  You can’t always wait for the perfect moment.  Sometimes you must dare to do it because life is too short to regret and wonder what could have been.

30.  The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it.  Participate in life instead of just watching it pass you by.

31.  Nothing’s more fun than doing what people say you can’t do.

32.  Almost anything is possible if you’ve got enough time and enough nerve.

33.  Great challenges make life interesting; overcoming them makes life meaningful.  It’s how you deal with failure that determines your happiness and success.

34.  Let your mistakes be your motivation, not your excuses.  Decide right now that negative experiences from your past won’t predict your future.

35.  What is coming is better than what is gone.  Don’t give up hope.  Good things often happen when you least expect it.

36.  If you take another step, and another, you will be surprised to know how far you can go from the point you thought was the end.

37.  Nothing is more beautiful and powerful than a smile that has struggled through the tears.

38.  Any fool can be happy when times are good.  It takes a strong soul with real heart to develop smiles out of situations that make us weep.

39.  No matter how long it takes, it will get better.  Tough situations build strong people in the end.

40.  As we grow older and wiser, we begin to realize what we need and what we need to leave behind.  Sometimes walking away is a step forward.

41.  At the end of the day, you can either focus on what’s tearing you apart, or what’s holding you together.

42.  One of the most rewarding moments in life is when you finally find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.

43.  Whatever you do, don’t get stuck on the one thing that ruins your day.  Smile and be grateful.  Life is too short to waste on negativity.

44.  The less you expect, the more pleasant life gets.

45.  Patience can be bitter, but the seeds you plant now will bear sweet fruit.  (Read Flourish.)

46.  Live simply.  Love generously.  Speak truthfully.  Breathe deeply.  Do your best.  Leave everything else to the powers above you.

47.  Do not dwell so much on creating your perfect life that you forget to live.

48.  The trick is to enjoy your life today.  Don’t wish it away by waiting for better days ahead.

49.  Pay attention to the little things, because when you really miss “the good old days,” you miss the little things the most, like just laughing with someone special.

50.  Go for long walks.  Indulge in great conversations.  Pay attention to the moment.  Count your blessings.  Let go for a little while and just be and breathe.