Ladder of Achievement

----------- 100% - I did.
---------- 90% - I will.
--------- 80% - I can.
-------- 70% - I think I can.
------- 60% - I might.
------ 50% - I think I might.
----- 40% - What is it?
---- 30% - I wish I could.
--- 20% - I don't know how.
-- 10% - I can't.
- 0% -I won't.

--Authour Unknown

Giving Back

Some people have a belief that every tree, when it burns, gives back the colors that went into its making - they see in the flaming logs the red of many sunsets, the purple of early dawn, the silver of moonrise and the sparkle of stars.

So it is with us;
what we have accepted into our hearts and made a permanent part of ourselves is given back in times of trials.

If you compared your troubles, or challenges, with those of others, you would surely find that there are those whose troubles make yours look like minor inconveniences.

--By Fulton J. Sheen

Ten Commandments of Human Relations

1. Speak to People.
There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.

2. Smile at People.
It takes 72 muscles to frown, but only 14 to smile!

3. Call People by Name.
The sweetest music to anyone's ear is the sound of his or her own name.

4. Be Friendly and Helpful.
If you would have friends, be friendly.

5. Be Cordial.
Speak and act as if everything you do were a real pleasure.

6. Be Genuinely Interested in People.
You can like everyone if you try.

7. Be Generous with Praise, Cautious with Criticism.
Praise will win out when it comes to gaining friends.

8. Be Considerate of the Feelings of Others.
It will be appreciated.

9. Be Thoughtful of the Opinions of Others.
People love their opinions as they do their own children, calling them ugly won't get you anything but anger.

10. Be Alert to Give Service.
What counts most in life is what we do for others!

--By Author Unknown

Think or Worry?

You can think about your problems or you can worry about them, and there is a vast difference between the two.

Worry is thinking that has turned toxic. It is jarring music that goes round and round and never comes to either climax or conclusion.

Thinking works its way through problems to conclusions and decisions; worry leaves you in a state of tensely suspended animation.

When you worry, you go over the same ground endlessly and come out the same place you started. Thinking makes progress from one place to another; worry remains static.

The problem of life is to change worry into thinking and anxiety into creative action.

--By Harold B. Walker

Do Not Be Discouraged

When faced with failure, reflect on this Japanese proverb: "Fall seven times, stand up eight." As long as you keep getting up, you are not failing.

Those who learn how to overcome failure become stronger. Let's face it, we are all confronted with failure. The difference is how we deal with it.

Some people use failure as an excuse to give up, to become bitter, or cynical. Other people look at failure as an opportunity to revisit past decisions and to devise new strategies.

Thousands of successful people did not achieve success on their first try, but they were not discouraged. They picked themselves up and went back at it with an even stronger, single minded tenacity to achieve their goal.

Do not be discouraged if your plans do not succeed the first time. No one learns to walk by taking only one step!

--by Catherine Pulsifer

What It Means To Be Young

Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips, and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means the predominance of courage over timidity, of adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair - these bow the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the starlike things, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child-like appetite for what-next, and the joy of the game of living.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt;
as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear;
as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

--By Samuel Ullman

There is ...

There is
no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
no disease that enough love will not heal;
no door that enough love will not open;
no gulf that enough love will not bridge;
no wall that enough love will not throw down;
no sin that enough love will not redeem...


It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble;
how hopeless the outlook;
how muddled the tangle;
how great the mistake.
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world.

--By Emmet Fox

Having Enthusiasm

Having Enthusiasm

Having enthusiasm in performing any task gives you an abundance of energy. Showing enthusiasm also motivates others around you.

An acronym for enthusiasm:


E nergy

N imble

T enacious

H appy

U nbeatable

S elf-confidence

I nexhaustible

A chievable

S uccess

M otivated

Put lots of enthusiasm in all you do!

--By Catherine Pulsifer

Better Days Are Coming

If you fear losing somebody you love
like rejection would be no surprise
even if they never said it out loud
you just knew by the look in their eyes
accept that anxiety is due to some action
we took while sleepwalking through life
we would be lying if we tried denying
we cause our own misery and strife.

There is a voice inside of our heads
that tells us of what is to come
deja vu turned upside down
is what it may seem like to some
whether it's foresight or just premonition
it leaves you feeling quite strange
whisper or shout, it allows for no doubt
that your fortunes are due for a change.

The cyclical nature of the human condition
prevents us from being at ease
it bars the door to the peace that we seek
it's a lock without any keys
hope and fear are two sides of a coin
a little like Abel and Cane
it's not every day that just one will hold sway
in the end it adds up to the same.

Listen to this then, if you should find
your emotions won't give you a breather
I'm telling you, dreams don't often come true
but the nightmares rarely do either.

--by Wish Belkin, copyright 2001

It's The Journey That's Important

Life, sometimes so wearying
Is worth its weight in gold
The experience of traveling
Lends a wisdom that is old
Beyond our 'living memory'
A softly spoken prayer:

"It's the journey that's important,
Not the getting there!"


Ins and outs and ups and downs
Life's road meanders aimlessly?
Or so it seems, but somehow
Leads us where we need to be,
And being simply human
We oft question and compare....

"Is the journey so important
Or the getting there?"


And thus it's always been
That question pondered down the ages
By simple men with simple ways
To wise and ancient sages....
How sweet then, quietly knowing
Reaching destination fair:

"It's the journey that's important,
Not the getting there!"

--By John McLeod

Be The Best of Whatever You Are

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley-but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass-
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here,
There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,
And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail-
Be the best of whatever you are!

--By Douglas Malloch