Category Archives: encouragement

May 22 2013

Positive Energy Is a Chain Reaction

Funny thing – over lunch today I decided that I was going to take a break (all summer) from blogging and cut way back on my social media interaction.  The plan was to write a post tonight about my summer sabbatical idea.

Then I came back to the office and found an email waiting for me that suggested it was blog-worthy.  And it is.  Thanks Ellie, for passing it my way.  Guess the sabbatical can wait another day. . .

 

This is a re-post from the Harvey Mackay blog.

 

Gordon Dean was a distinguished American lawyer and prosecutor. One of the original members of the Atomic Energy Commission, he became its chairman from 1950 to 1953. It’s said that when Dean died in a plane crash in 1958, among his personal efforts was an envelope with nine life lessons scribbled on the back. These lessons aren’t about the law or about atomic energy. They’re wisdom about his philosophy of life:

  1. Never lose your capacity for enthusiasm.
  2. Never lose your capacity for indignation.
  3. Never judge people – don’t type them too quickly. But in a pinch never first assume that a man is bad; first assume that he is good and that, at worst, he is in the gray area between bad and good.
  4. If you can’t be generous when it’s hard to be, you won’t be when it’s easy.
  5. The greatest builder of confidence is the ability to do something – almost anything – well.
  6. When confidence comes, then strive for humility; you aren’t as good as all that.
  7. The way to become truly useful is to seek the best that other brains have to offer. Use them to supplement your own, and be prepared to give credit to them when they have helped.
  8. The greatest tragedies in the world and personal events stem from misunderstandings. So communicate!

We’re all students of life. Want to get a head of the class? Pay attention and take notes. 

 

May 9 2013

Being Nice

I received this in an email from my friend Tracy today.  Although I have read it before and knew the story, I re-read it again and was reminded of the impact our words can have on a person’s life.  How hard is it really to be nice to one another?

 

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each   name.

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. ‘Really?’ she heard whispered.  ‘I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!’ and, ‘I didn’t know others liked me so much,’ were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter.  The exercise had accomplished its purpose.  The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. ‘Were you Mark’s math teacher?’ he asked. She nodded: ‘yes.’ Then he said: ‘Mark talked about you a   lot.’

After the funeral, most of Mark’s former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

‘We want to show you something,’ his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket ‘They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.’

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him.

‘Thank you so much for doing that,’ Mark’s mother said.  ‘As you can see, Mark treasured it.’

All of Mark’s former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, ‘I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.’

Chuck’s wife said, ‘Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.’

‘I have mine too,’ Marilyn said. ‘It’s in my diary’

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. ‘I carry this with me at all times,’ Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: ‘I think we all saved our lists’

That’s when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don’t know when that one day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

Be nice.  It is that simple.  Let someone know that they are important to you today.

 

May 6 2013

Miracles

 

Do you believe in miracles?

“There are two ways to live – you can live as if nothing is a miracle or you can live as if everything is a miracle” – Albert Einstein

(To be fair, I have to give credit to my husband for writing this quote on a note to one of our daughters.  I stole it from him. Thanks J)

And because this quote made me think of this song, you get a quote AND a song to start out the week.  I know, I am good. . .

Enjoy -

Mar 4 2013

Courage & Honesty

A successful businessman 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.

He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO . 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 – one 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 from 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. Everyday, 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 so 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 to
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, “Behold your next Chief Executive
Officer!

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 Officer!”

* 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.

Thanks for sending this my way today, Tracy.