• Be thankful for what you have.
• Be creative.
• Be innovative.
• Think differently and positively.

Some things cannot be measured, and the heart is one of them. I think of three former NFL football stars. Mike Singletary, according to the experts, was too short and his 40-yard speed was not that great.

However, they could not measure his heart and they did not measure his speed for the first five to fifteen yards, and at that distance he was exceptionally fast.

As a result, when a running back broke through the line of scrimmage... Singletary was able to stop him in the first couple of yards. That made quite a difference.

Emmitt Smith's 40-yard speed was not earth shattering... but again, the experts could not measure his heart nor the burst of speed he was able to generate the instant he touched the ball.

As a result, he was able to break through the hole at the line and pick up five to eight yards on a consistent basis and frequently break for much longer runs.

Jerry Rice is the other classic example. His 40-yard speed also was not record-breaking, but his commitment to excellence was not measurable. Videotape of Jerry Rice shows him running stride for stride downfield with a defensive back until the pass is thrown to him. At that point, Jerry turns on the afterburners and frequently leaves the defensive back well behind.

There's something here for all of us to learn. We can measure I.Q., speed, strength and a host of other things, but the will to win and the commitment to excellence will enable a person of average ability to excel. So, use what you've got, including your heart, and I'll see you at the top!

Zig Ziglar offers a newsletter filled with more of his inspiring stories as well as practical ideas to help you in the areas of sales, marketing, customer service, and related topics. You can visit Zig at http://www.zigziglar.com

One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written: "Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym".

In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: "Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!".

One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.

There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: "There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU."

You are the only person who can revolutionize your life.

You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself.

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.

"The most important relationship you can have, is the one you have with yourself"

The world is like a mirror: it gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed.

The world and your reality are like mirrors laying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his divine capability to imagine and create his happiness and his success.

It's the way you face Life that makes the difference.

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for work so he asked the wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle and, fascinated with its color, drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed, the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband.

When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.

What do you think were the four words?

The husband just said "I Love You Darling"

The husband's totally unexpected reaction is proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he have taken time to keep the bottle away, this will not have happened. No
point in attaching blame. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.

Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or who to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. We miss out some warmth in human relationship in giving each other support. After all, shouldn't forgiving someone we love be the easiest thing in the world to do? Treasure what you have. Don't multiply pain, anguish and suffering by holding on to forgiveness.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world.

Take off all your envies, jealousies, unwillingness to forgive, selfishness, and fears and you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

As I've been speaking around the country over the past year or so, I've often asked my audiences this question: "How many of you have way too much enthusiasm? You're seeing a psychiatrist for enthusiasm management therapy, and have a seatbelt on your bed to keep you from jumping out too fast in the morning and breaking a leg?" I get lots of laughs, but almost no one raises a hand.

Then I ask how many people would be happier, more productive, and more successful if they could consistently be more enthusiastic than they are now. Almost every hand in the room goes up (those who don't raise their hands are invited to attend my remedial class on honesty).

The good news, I tell them, is that scientists have shown that there is no enthusiasm gene. Enthusiasm is a choice. You decide every morning whether or not you're going to have a good day. You can't decide what happens to you, but you can decide whether you react to it enthusiastically.

Choosing enthusiasm is the triple crown of attitude. Your organization wins because enthusiasm is the added "spark" that puts the smile into customer service. Your family, friends and coworkers win because enthusiasm is contagious, and you're helping them to be happier and more productive.

And, of course, you win because people with a lot of enthusiasm have a lot of life, and people without enthusiasm don't. They're like the man who passed away but had his life insurance denied, because since he'd never really lived, he couldn't have really died.

Energy is the fuel for enthusiasm - it's hard to be enthusiastic when you're physically out of gas. And here again, there's good news: more than we care to admit to ourselves, whether or not we have energy is also a choice.

And here's more good news: human energy is the ultimately renewable resource. The more you use it, the more of it you have.


Joe Tye is president of Paradox 21 Inc., which provides corporate training and culture change initiatives based on a proprietary curriculum of The Twelve Core Action Values of Personal Leadership Effectiveness. He is also the author of several books and audio programs on personal, career, and business success, and a popular motivational speaker. Visit http://www.joetye.com

As you begin to take action toward the fulfillment of your goals and dreams, you must realize that not every action will be perfect.

Not every action will produce the desired result. Not every action will work.

Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right.

Thomas Edison is reported to have tried over 2,000 different experiments that failed before he finally got the light bulb to work. He once told a reporter that, from his perspective, he had never failed at all.

Inventing the light bulb was just a 2,000-step process. If you can adopt that attitude, then you can be free to take an action, notice what result you get, and then adjust your next actions based on the feedback you have received.

Ready, Fire, Aim! - Don't be afraid to just jump in and get started moving toward your goals. As long as you pay attention to the feedback you receive, you will make progress. Just getting into the game and firing allows you to correct and refine your aim.

The Most Valuable Question You May Ever Learn - In the 1980s, a multimillionaire businessman taught me a question that radically changed the quality of my life. So what is this magical question that can improve the quality of every relationship you are in, every product you produce, every service you deliver, every meeting you conduct, every class you teach and every transaction you enter into?

Here it is:

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of our relationship during the last week?"

Here are a number of variations on the same question that have served me well over the years...

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate...

* our service?
* my teaching?
* our product?
* this class/seminar/workshop?
* this meeting?
* our date/vacation?
* our performance?
* this meal?
* my coaching/managing?
* this book/recording/show?
* my parenting/babysitting?

Any answer less than a 10 always gets this follow-up question:

"What would it take to make it a 10?"

This is where the really valuable information comes from. Knowing that a person is dissatisfied is not enough. Knowing in detail what will satisfy them gives you the information you need to do whatever it takes to create a winning product, service or relationship.

There are two kinds of feedback you might encounter negative and positive. We tend to prefer the positive that is, results, money, praise, promotion, raise, awards, happiness, inner-peace, etc. It feels better. It tells us we are on course and doing the right thing.

We tend not to like negative feedback -- lack of results, little or no money, criticism, poor evaluations, complaints, unhappiness, inner conflict, pain, etc.

However, there is as much useful data in negative feedback as there is in positive feedback. It tells us that we are off course, headed in the wrong direction, doing the wrong thing. This is priceless information!

In fact, it's so valuable that one of the most useful projects you could undertake is to change how you respond to negative feedback. I like to refer to negative feedback as information for "improvement opportunities." Here is a place where I can get better.

Ask Yourself for Feedback - In addition to asking others for feedback, you need to ask yourself for feedback, too. More than any other source of feedback, your body will tell you whether or not you are on course or not. When you are relaxed and happy, your body is telling you that you are on track. When you are constantly exhausted, tense, in pain, unhappy and angry, then you are off track.

Take time to listen to what your body is saying to you. Take time to listen to your physical sensations and your feelings. They are sending you important messages. Are you listening?

Remember, Feedback Is Simply Information you don't have to take it personally. Just welcome it and use it.

Source : letstalkmotivation

Just getting back from a tour of Malaysia and Singapore. Beautifully diverse. I met a lot of successful people during the sessions. And it occurred to me that despite their different nationalities, faiths and businesses they all had something in common. They had all overcome big setbacks. As a matter of fact, their success was in direct proportion to the size of the challenges they faced.

The big idea: setbacks are symptoms of success. If you are not facing setbacks then you are probably not dreaming big enough. If you are not experiencing setbacks you are probably playing small with your life.

Without roadblocks there are no victories. Challenges forge the greatness in you. They let you know what isn't working. They force you to be creative. They are the road to your NLG (Next Level of Greatness).

So, the next time you face a setback take a moment to celebrate. I know that roadblocks can be frustrating or depressing or embarrassing. Yet, the best among us find a way to keep on acting in the rainstorm of these emotions (and like rainstorms, emotions eventually pass).

Think of the sales rep who makes the next call after a rejection or the athlete who works as hard at physiotherapy as their game when injured, or the student who changes their study habits after a failed exam. They all keep moving towards their mountaintop because they all know that the path to their greatest life is never straight.

Here are some tactics for learning and moving on after a setback.

Journal - Write about the challenge in your journal. Go through your feelings. Uncover exactly what bothers you most. Journaling helps you acknowledge your feelings and turn them into energy.

Exercise - Working out releases endorphins and gives you a sense of well-being. It also focuses you on something else and gives you a small daily win which improves your energy and confidence.

Find the Upside - After journaling and exercising you are in a better state of mind to discover the opportunity. What doors have now opened? How can solving the problem improve your game?

Watch Your Highlight Reel - Think about the last time you made it through a setback. What worked? How did you feel when you moved on? Visualize your past successes. They'll give you the confidence to move on. They may also provide clues to solving this problem.

Strategize - Create a plan. Find out a way to get the client back, to find new love, to get stronger after an illness. Whatever it is, planning will put you back in control. Then include this plan in your schedule because what gets scheduled gets done.
_____________
Robin S. Sharma, LL.M. is an internationally-known speaker on sales leadership, peak performance and creativity. The bestselling author of several motivational books including MegaLiving, he is the managing partner of Sharma Leadership International. He can be reached at http://www.robinsharma.com

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More Motivation...
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Here's a positive affirmation you may wish to write down and recite to yourself...

"Challenges and adversity are but teachers on the path called life. While they may have the ability to side track me, in each is also the opportunity to learn, grow, and ultimately help me become the type of person I need to become in order to live out the goals, dreams and desires I've set for myself.

Not always easy, but always worth it -- today I move wholeheartedly in the pursuit of my own definition of success. No matter how I may choose to define it."

Back ago, there was a huge Apple tree, A little boy loved to play with it. he love to climb the tree, Love to eat apples... Love to take the nap under its shadow

Times went on... The boy grew up...And he no longer play around the tree

One day the boy came....

the Tree asked him...

"Hi.. Come and Play with me..."

The Boy replied, "I am not a Kid. I don't play around tree." I play with toys. I need money to buy toys.

The Tree said... " I don't have money but you can take all my apples and sell it. You will get the money."

The boy picked all the apples of the tree and went. He sold the apples and got money. He brought lots of toys. But he didn't turn back.

The tree was again sad.

One day the boy came, be became a young man now. The Tree said. "Hi Why are you Sad? Come and Sit under my shadow. I am feeling very lonely without you." The Boy said, "I don't have time. I work for my family. I want to build Home for them. I need money."

The Tree said, "I don't have money. You can take my Branches and Trunk and build your home."

The Boy Became Happy, he cut all the branches and trunk of the tree and built a home for him

Again the tree became alone. The boy didn't turned back.

After a long time the boy came back. He was old, looking sad, tired, and lonely. The tree asked him " why are you sad. I wish I can help you, but, I don't have Apples. I don't have branches. Even I don't have shadow. Nothing to offer you."

The boy (old man) replied, I am tired of my life. I am alone. i just need you. Can I sit down at your roots. The boy sit down. Both were happy and weeping.

Is the boy really cruel and selfish?

No...

We all are like him. And treating our parent like that. The tree is like our parent, we love to play them when we were kids. We leave them alone and come only when We are in need or in trouble. We don't have time for our parents. No matter what, parents will always give everything to make us happy and solve our problems and in return what they want is Just a company of yours.

Please love your parent, don't forget them, Give them Time, Give them your company. They will be happy by seeing you happy.

Please don't leave your parent....

Gratitude them.

One can get Child as many as he want, But parent he gets only once........

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

'It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO,' he said. 'I have decided to choose one of you.'

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued.

'I am going to give each one of you a seed today - a very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown with the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.'

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure. Six months went by - still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick at his stomach. It was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed. A few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back.

'My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown,' said the CEO. 'Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!'

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, 'The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!' When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed. Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim.

He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, 'Here is your next Chief Executive! His name is Jim!'

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new CEO? The others said.

Then the CEO said, 'One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive!'

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday, I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems and be decorated with intricate carvings. Everyone would see my beauty."
The second tree said, "Someday, I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally, the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time, and people will always remember me."
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. One came to the first tree and said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest. At the second tree, one of the other woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The a second tree was happy, because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship. When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened, because it knew that, if it was cut down, its dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree, so I'll take this one," and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenter's, he was made into a feed box for animals, placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth, and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose, and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "Peace," and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets, and the crowd mocked the man who was carrying it. Finally, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus Christ had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that, when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

One of Ralph Waldo Emerson works was a poem on success, and one of his measures of success in that poem was to, 'Leave
the world a bit better.'

That line has always stuck in my head. Emerson said you have succeeded if you leave the world a bit better. And I have made that line part of my life philosophy. When the tide goes out there is a watermark left behind of where the water was.

When the waters of life recede from the shore of my being and my heart pumps for the last time, my desire is that there will be a mark where I stood. My aim is that the mark will say, 'For some decades a man occupied this space who saw others more important than himself and efforted to leave the world a better place for them and those yet to come.'

Our society tells us that success is measured by bank accounts, power, beauty and wealth. These are often the result of hard work, luck or birth. They are not evil and I strive for some of them daily. However, they are not the mark I will measure the success of my life with.

So how do you do it? How do you 'leave the world a bit better?':

* You give a percent of your income away to a charity or church. This makes your community better.

* You save a percentage of your income to pass down to your family when you leave.

* You volunteer your time for those who are less fortunate. Are you volunteering anywhere?

* You mentor someone who needs a positive direction in life.

* You follow and get involved in politics. Our laws and leaders will determine the future. You can have a hand in that future.

Or you can amass as much wealth as you can, spend it as fast as you can on the fading desires of your heart and seek to please yourself first. Our culture might tell you that this is success. Emerson tells us that it is not. I encourage you to realize that the waters of your life will eventually withdraw from the shore. When it does, will there be a watermark?

Ron White
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Ron White is the author of Memory in a Month - Train Your Mind to Work Like a Human Computer in Only 30 Days!, How to Develop the Mind of Einstein, Write It On Your Heart - Simple Steps to Scripture Memory, and 22 Success Lessons From Baseball (eBook). To receive Ron White's Ezine go to http://www.getmotivation.com/qk.cgi/ron-white

He met her at a party. She was so outstanding, many guys chasing after her, while he so normal, nobody paid Attention to him. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised, but due to being polite, she promised. They sat in a nice coffee Shop, he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, she thought, please; let me go home.... suddenly he asked the waiter.

"Would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee." Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously; why you have this hobby? He replied: "when I was a little boy, I was living near the sea, I like playing in the sea, and I could Feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my Hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there". While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched.

That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has Responsibility of home. Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story.

They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such A good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee! Then the story was just like every beautiful love story, the princess married to the prince, and then they were living the happy life... And, every Time she made coffee for him; she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that's the way he liked it.

After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said: "My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only lie I said To you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt. It was hard for me to change So I just went ahead.I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I Was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything... Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I tell you the truth: I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste... But I have had the salty Coffee for my whole life!

Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my Whole life, even though I have to drink the salty coffee again".

Her tears made the letter totally wet.Someday, someone asked her: what's the taste of salty coffee? It's sweet. She replied.

Love is not 2 forget but 2 forgive, not 2 c but 2 understand, not 2 hear but 2 listen, not 2 let go but 2 HOLD ON !!!!

During a consultation with an optometrist you will put your face against a machine called an auto-refractor. The doctor will flip various lenses in front of each eye asking constantly, "Does this make it clearer or worse?"

The application of the metaphor comes easily. We'll just use a Life Chart instead of an eye chart. Does your job make your ability to see what is really important, clearer or worse? Flip. Did your parents make your vision of the world clearer or worse? Flip. How about the lens of education? Flip. What contribution has your marriage made to your vision? Flip. How about the promotion you got last year? Flip. Your own heart attack? Flip. What did going through the re-engineering project do to you? Flip.

Change is simply a combination of such lenses. These change lenses are positive factors in our lives only if we can see through them to something beyond the lens itself. If the lenses are smudged and dirty we start to focus on them rather than on what they were meant to reveal to us. We start to look at the lens rather than through it and end up in a lot of stress.

Many lenses are available to you. Accounting lenses and medical lenses. Lenses for artists and homemakers. A being laid off lens and a being hired lens. Another if you're a man and another if you are a woman. There is one for poverty and one for wealth. Not one of these lenses is an end in itself. Each is simply a viewpoint through which to get a glimpse of the landscape beyond. Change always reveals something beyond itself.

Some of the lenses of our lives make things clearer in the spiritual sense, while others fog and cloud both our out- sight and in-sight. We need to learn how to positively impact the ratio of the two.

It's a spiritual version of what the Endeavor astronauts had to do for the ailing Hubbell space telescope. In addition to installing gyroscopes to keep things in balance, they replaced the Wide Field Planetary Camera so the telescope could see and record things more clearly. That's what we
need -- a Wide Field Planetary Camera for our personal and corporate souls. Come to think of it, we may need a gyroscope too.

Change is the opportunity of a lifetime, learn to see through it.

Copyright The Ian Percy Corporation. Ian Percy is one of North America's most inspirational speakers. Mr. Percy is an international speaker and consultant and can be reached at www.ianpercy.com

Only the ego can be touched. It is very touchy. If somebody just looks at you in a certain way, it is touched. He has not done anything. If somebody smiles a little, it is touched; if somebody just turns his head and does not look at you, it is touched. It is very touchy. It is like a wound, always open, green. You touch it and the pain arises. A single word, a single gesture the other may not even be aware of what he has done to you, but he has touched it.

And you always think the other is responsible, that he has wounded you. No, you carry your wound. With the ego your whole being is a wound. And you carry it around. Nobody is interested in hurting you, nobody is positively waiting to hurt you; everybody is engaged in safeguarding his own wound. Who has got the energy? But still it happens, because you are so ready to be wounded, so ready, just waiting on the brink for anything.

You cannot touch a man of Tao. Why? because there is no one to be touched. There is no wound. He is healthy, healed, whole. This word 'whole' is beautiful. The word 'heal' comes from 'whole', and the word 'holy' also comes from 'whole'. He is whole, healed, holy.

Be aware of your wound. Don't help it to grow, let it be healed; and it will be healed only when you move to the roots. The less the head, the more the wound will heal with no head there is no wound. Live a headless life. Move as a total being, and accept things.

Just for twenty-four hours, try it total acceptance, whatsoever happens. Someone insults you, accept it, don't react, and see what happens. Suddenly you will feel an energy flowing in you that you have not felt before. Somebody insults you: you feel weak, you feel disturbed, you start thinking of how to get your revenge. That man has hooked you, and now you will move round and round. For days, nights, months, even years, you will not be able to sleep, you will have bad dreams. People can waste their whole life over a small thing, just because someone insulted them.

Just look back into your past and you will remember a few things. You were a small child and the teacher in the class called you an idiot, and you still remember it and you feel resentment. Your father said something. Your parents have forgotten, and even if you remind them, they will not be able to remember it. Your mother looked at you in a certain way and since then the wound has been there. And it is still open, fresh; if anybody touches it, you will explode.

Don't help this wound to grow. Don't make this wound your soul. Go to the roots, be with the whole. For twenty-four hours, just twenty-four hours, try not to react, not to reject, whatsoever happens.

If someone pushes you and you fall to the ground fall! Then get up and go home. Don't do anything about it. If somebody hits you, bow down your head, accept it with gratitude. Go home, don't do anything, just for twenty-four hours. And you will know a new upsurge of energy that you have never known before, a new vitality arising from the roots. And once you know it, once you have tasted it, your life will be different. Then you will laugh at all the foolish things you have been doing, at all the resentments, reactions, revenges, with which you have been destroying yourself.

Nobody else can destroy you except you; nobody else can save you except you. You are the Judas and you are the Jesus.

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."

Sometimes it's not the wealth you have but what's inside you that others need

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the Master asked. "Awful," spat the apprentice. The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake.

The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake." As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does it taste?" "Good!" remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things ..... Stop being a glass. Become a lake!"

perfect love is not recieving, its giving and forgiving

There was once a lonely girl who longed desperately for love. One day while she was walking in the woods she found two starving song birds. She took them home and put them in a small gilded cage. She nurtured them with love and the birds grew strong. Every morning they greeted her with a marvelous song. The girl felt great love for the birds. She wanted their singing to last forever.

One day the girl left the door to the cage open. The larger and stronger of the two birds flew from the cage. The girl watched anxiously as he circled high above her. She was so frightened that he would fly away and she would never see him again that as he flew close, she grasped at him wildly. She caught him in her fist. She clutched him tightly within her hand. Her heart gladdened at her success in capturing him. Suddenly she felt the bird go limp. She opened her hand stared in horror at the dead bird. Her desperate clutching love had killed him.

She noticed the other bird teetering on the edge of the cage. She could feel his great need for freedom. His need to soar into the clear, blue sky. She lifted him from the cage and tossed him softly into the air. The bird circled once, twice, three times. The girl watched delighted at the bird's enjoyment. Her heart was no longer concerned with her loss.

She wanted the bird to be happy. Suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her shoulder. It sang the sweetest melody, she had ever heard.

The fastest way to lose love is to hold on too tight, the best way to keep love is to give it -- WINGS! N set it freeee

Lately I've noticed a lot of tragedy in my life and the lives of those around me.

And I've noticed that the only way I've been able to deal with it is by surrounding myself with those who care for me, and I've also noticed that my friends that take the longest to heal are those who spend the most time without their friends and family.

As much as I try to be there for my friends, some would rather be alone and deal with it on their own, and it hurts me to see them hurt.

A few thoughts...

Think of rain as the pain you're feeling in the moment. Think of it as something you drive through, you walk through, that no matter how fast you run or drive, it still engulfs you and makes you wet, and cold.

And maybe you feel alone in that rain. Maybe you don't think it will ever stop, at least not until you're soaked to the skin. The rain is coming down until it stops, and no sooner.

You don't know when it will stop, neither do I. But go and get an umbrella, or look for shelter. It will stop. Trust me. Even Noah only had to go through 40 days of rain.

Think of the rainbow as the time after the rain stops. Think of the beauty of the rainbow, how the many colors couldn't be any more beautiful if an artist drew them for you. Think of the sun, peeking through the clouds.

Think of how the world is a more beautiful place because of the rain, and because of the rainbow, and how nothing can grow without rain, and how we can't enjoy pleasure without pain. Realize the rain was a temporary, though necessary, part of your life.

Don't forget your umbrella and your shelter. Surround yourself with those who love you, who can give you shelter, and warmth, and help you dry off and make it through the storm.

Make it a great day! Enjoy the rain, because after the rain comes the rainbow.

Phil Gerbyshak, motivational speaker and self-improvement advocate, challenges you to "Stop having a nice day... and Make it Great!" His website at http://MakeItGreat.org is updated regularly with thoughts about how you can take control of your life and stop letting life take control of you.