Welcome
to the
SELF
DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
number
33
I
hope you will receive a fortnightly dose of motivation, inspiration, laughter
and thought-provoking quotes. If you find yourself bogged down in our
competitive, stressful work world, take a few minutes to read and then think
about the positive messages you will receive.
1. Inspirational
Quotes
2. Short Story by Joe Mazzella – Gift from the
Soul
3. Find of the
week
4. Wild
Trivia
5.
Metaphor
6.
Ken Warren
7.
Finding The
8. Jokes
9. Motivational
No trees
were destroyed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of
electrons were significantly inconvenienced
1. Inspirational
Quotes
Christian Bumper Stickers
Give God what's right,
not what's left!
Man's way leads to a
hopeless end! God's way leads to an endless hope!
We're too blessed to
be depressed.
God loves everyone,
but probably prefers "fruits of the spirit" over "religious
nuts"!
Don't wait for 6
strong men to take you to church.
Plan ahead, it wasn't
raining when Noah built the ark.
Most people want to
serve God-but only in an advisory capacity.
Coincidence is when
God chooses to remain anonymous.
Wisdom has two parts:
1) having a lot to say. 2) Not saying it.
A clean conscience
makes a soft pillow.
Nothing ruins the
truth like stretching it.
You can tell how big a
person is by what it takes to discourage him.
He who is good at
making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
Kindness is difficult
to give away because it keeps coming back.
He who angers you
controls you!
Forbidden fruits
create many jams.
Deciding not to choose
is still making a choice.
Worry is the darkroom
in which "negatives" are developed.
****************
Yesterday is a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note.
Today is cash....Spend it
wisely."
****************
Back Stabbing - If you let
someone stab you in the back enough times, eventually you will bleed to death.
2. GIFTS FROM
THE SOUL By: Joseph J.
Mazzella
It is a beautiful Spring weekend as I write this. Children are outdoors
running, laughing, riding bikes and playing basketball. Dogs are sleeping in the
afternoon sun content just to be alive. A family of ducks are waddling back home
to a neighbor’s farm after taking a quick swim in a
stream that runs behind the local grade school. Adults are talking on their
porches and swinging slowly on their porch swings. Everywhere around me I can
feel the gentle kiss of God’s wind on my cheek and love in my heart. It is one
of those special times when you can hear the voice of love, peace, and joy
coming from your own soul and saying: "See, I was here all the time. You only
needed to slow down long enough to notice me."
I only wish that everyone in this world could
have a quiet moment like this when they could see that the love, joy, and peace
that they chase after so desperately and try to find in so many things was
within them all along. Maybe then they would sit down and get to know that love
in their hearts, joy in their souls, and peace in their lives. Maybe then they
would quit trying to get so much out of life and start putting something back
into it. Maybe then they would see that choosing and sharing love and joy is
really what life is all about.
God gives us so much. Life gives us so much.
There is beauty, wonder, peace, joy, love, goodness, and delight all waiting to
be chosen and all waiting to be shared. Let’s stop chasing madly after them
then. Let’s instead sit down, notice them smiling at us from within our own
souls, take them by the hand, and give them to the world. Let’s do our work with
our joy, live our lives with our love, and share our goodness with everyone we
meet. Let’s make all of our days a glorious gift of love from our souls to
God.
2.
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3.
Gratitude Exercise
"When" is now I'll be happy when...
SOMETIMES: We convince ourselves that life will be better
after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the
kids aren't old enough and
we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have
teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that
stage. We tell ourselves that our
life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together,
when we get a nicer car, when
we are able to go on a nice vacation or when we retire. The truth is there's no
better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will
always be filled with challenges.
It's best to
admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.
Happiness is
the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you
shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with ...
and remember that time waits for no
one.
So, stop
waiting ...
Until your
car or home is paid off.
Until you get
a new car or home.
Until your
kids leave the house.
Until you go
back to school.
Until you
finish school.
Until you
lose 10 lbs. Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get
married.
Until you get
a divorce.
Until you
have kids.
Until you
retire.
Until
summer..
Until spring.
Until winter.
Until
autumn
Until you die.
There is no
better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So
work like you don't need money, love
like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.
4.
Wild
Trivia
Oil Recipe for Most
skin conditions
30mls
30mls
20mls Healtheries cold pressed
avocado oil
10mls Organic
10mls
Add 3-5 drops of your
favourite essential oil to cover the fishy odor. It
only takes a few drops. I use lime or cedar wood. Babies with eczema respond
well. One patient used only this and still gave her baby dairy based formula and
the eczema disappeared. A 19yr old boy with acne was frightened to put oily
stuff on his face but we started under the jaw line and then he applied it every
night to go to bed. He loved it.
#*#*#*#*#*#*
Do people in
Does killing time
damage eternity?
Why is it that night
falls but day breaks?
Why is the third hand on the watch called a second
hand?
Can you buy an entire
chess set in a pawn-shop?
Daylight savings
time. Why are they saving
it and where do they keep it?
How many weeks are
there in a light year?
If blind people wear
dark glasses, why don't deaf people wear earmuffs?
If tin whistles are
made out of tin, what do they make foghorns out of?
Why do the signs that
say "Slow Children" have a picture of a running child?
Why do they call it
"chilli" if it's hot?
Why is the time of day
with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
TAKE A
LUNCH
Our studies show that
more than half of business and professional people do not take a lunch break,
working through lunch, hoping to carve out more "productive"
time.
The result is
generally the opposite. After doing what you do for several hours, you start to
"dull out" and tend to procrastinate important items in the afternoon. A lunch
break, a vacation during the day, will charge up your batteries and help you to
get going on more of those important items in the afternoon and actually
increase your productivity over the long run.
Interesting
facts:
Only one person in two
billion will live to be 116 or older.
Women blink nearly
twice as much as men.
A snail can sleep for
three years.
No word in the English
language rhymes with "MONTH."
TYPEWRITER is the
longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the
keyboard.
Now about Gilligan’s
Each one of the
characters represents one of the 7 deadly sins:
Ginger represents LUST
- she wears skimpy outfits, is obsessed with her looks, and is a borderline
nymphomaniac.
Mary Ann represents
ENVY - she is jealous of Ginger's beauty.
The Professor
represents PRIDE - he is an annoying know-it- all.
Mr. Howell represents
GREED - no explanation needed.
Mrs. Howell represents
SLOTH - she has never lifted a finger to help on any of their escape plans.
The Skipper represents
two sins: GLUTTONY - again, no explanation needed and ANGER - he violently hits
Gilligan on each show.
This leaves Gilligan.
Gilligan is the person who put them there. He prevents them from leaving by
foiling all of their escape plots. Also, it is HIS island. Therefore, Gilligan is SATAN. Crazy?
He does wear red in
every episode...
5.
Metaphor
INSPIRATIONAL STORY
FROM THE EAST.
An emperor in the
The kids were shocked!
But the emperor 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 this one
seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be
the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling was
there that day and he, like the others, received
a seed. He
went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting
soil, and he planted the seed and watered it
carefully.
Every day he would
water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the
other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning
to grow.
Ling kept checking his
seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a
plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's
pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had
trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends,
however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.
A year finally went by
and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for
inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But
honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his
mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.
When Ling arrived, he
was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were
beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of
the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey
nice try."
When the emperor
arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to
hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,"
said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next
emperor!"
All of a sudden, the
emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his
guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm
a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the
front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids
were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down.
He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor!
His name is Ling!"
Ling couldn't believe
it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the
emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here 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 which would not grow.
All of you, except
Ling, 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.
Ling 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
emperor!"
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 victory
If you plant consideration, you
will reap harmony
If you plant hard work, you will
reap success
If you plant forgiveness, you will
reap reconciliation
If you plant openness, you will
reap intimacy
If you plant patience, you will
reap improvements
If you plant faith, you will reap
miracles
But
If you plant dishonesty, you will
reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will
reap loneliness
If you plant pride, you will reap
destruction
If you plant envy, you will reap
trouble
If you plant laziness, you will
reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will
reap isolation
If you plant greed, you will reap
loss
If you plant gossip, you will reap
enemies
If you plant worries, you will
reap wrinkles
If you plant sin, you will reap
guilt
Again I would like to include
something from Ken Warren from
Queensland. He is a fellow member of the Australian Counselling Association. He
has kindly allowed me to forward the following article of his which I think is
excellent. I
Parenting - quantity does not equal
quality
There
has been an interesting debate lately as to whether single women should be
entitled to IVF treatment. Opponents have argued strongly that children should
be entitled to growing up with the love from both a mother and a father.
Whilst I doubt that anyone would suggest that this is not
the ideal for children, I wonder if the debate should be more around the quality
of the parenting rather than the quantity of the parents. I am afraid there are
just too many people, who grew up with both parents, and say they were not
raised in a loving environment, or they had a conflicted relationship with at
least one of their parents.
In
the past, research has focused around the fact that some children raised in
single-parent families are more likely to be represented among groups of people
with problems in later life – relationship breakdown, mental health problems,
addictions, etc. However, given the number of people in these groups that come
from families with both a mother and a father, I wonder if we need to be asking
other questions. There are obviously other factors involved, for example, the
extent to which children are exposed to conflict or abuse.
Is it
possible for children raised by one parent to mature as healthy, functioning
individuals? The vast majority of single parents would agree. Is it harder to
raise children by oneself? Undoubtedly it is. But when has parenting ever been
easy? There are no perfect families or parents. We are all human and parenting
is, after all, the last preserve of the amateur.
When
parents are asked what they want for their children, their typical response is
that they “just want them to be happy”. By this, they usually mean they want
them to have good relationships, to achieve and make their own decisions, to
discover their passions and what they enjoy in life, and to live their life
well. The challenge for all parents is how we can best cultivate such qualities
in our children.
It is
strange how we need to sit for an examination to gain a driver’s license, but it
is all too easy to become a parent . No skills testing is required. I would prefer to see more
resources to parent education and support programs. We can usually imagine the
potential benefit had our own parents attended such training, but are often
reluctant to attend ourselves. Some of us are very fortunate to have had
excellent role models in our parents. But not one of us knows it all when it
comes to parenting. Children are all different, and they always have something
new to teach us.
Please contact Ken if you need a speaker for your next team
meeting or professional development day. Ken Warren BA, M Soc Sc, CPC, MACA
(clinical) Counsellor and Trainer
31-33 Plaza Parade Maroochydore Qld 4558
Telephone: (07) 5443 7626 Facsimile: (07) 5443 9638
Visit www.counsel.com.au Email:
8. THE
TOP 11 HINTS FOR LIFE
Author
Unknown
1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return, but what
is more painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let that person
know how you feel.
2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who means a lot
to you, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and you just
have to let go.
3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch
swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best
conversation you've ever had.
4. It's true that we
don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's true that we don't know
what we've been missing until it arrives.
5. It takes only a
minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love
someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.
6. Don't go for looks;
they can deceive. Don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who
makes you smile because it only takes a smile to make a dark day seem
bright.
7. Dream what you want
to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be; because you have only
one life and one chance to do all the things you want
to.
8. Always put yourself
in the other's shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other
too.
9. A careless word may
kindle strife; a cruel word may wreck a life; a timely word may level stress; a
loving word may heal and bless.
10. The happiest of
people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of
everything that comes along their way.
11. Love begins with a
smile, grows with a kiss, ends with a tear. When you were born you were crying
and everyone around you was smiling. Live life so that when you die... you are
the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.
7.
Jokes
A bloke comes up to a
workmate and says: "Hey, would you like to buy a raffle ticket? Frank in
Production died suddenly last week. It's for his wife and four children."
"No thanks," his
workmate replied, "I've already got a wife and two
kids."
TODAY'S QUICKIES
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your
day. Tomorrow is not looking
good either.
I love deadlines. I especially like the Whooshing sound
they make as they go flying by.
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along
without it.
Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't
there the first time, chances are you won't be needing
him again.
I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception
problem.
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky
and I thought to myself,
where the hell is the ceiling?
My reality check bounced.
On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the
escape key.
I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through
peanut butter.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their
level then beat you with experience.
Don't be irreplaceable - if you can't be replaced, you
won't be promoted.
Q: What do you call a
bee born in between April 30 and June 1?
A: A
maybe
Back in the cowboy
days, a westbound wagon train was lost and low on food. No other people
had been seen for days. Unexpectedly, they saw an old Jewish man sitting
beneath a tree. The leader rushed up to him and said, "We're lost.
Is there someplace ahead where we can get food?"
"Vell," the old Jewish man said, "I vould definitely NOT go up dat
hill und down other side. Somevun told me you'll
run into a big bacon tree."
"A bacon tree?" asked
the wagon train leader.
"Yah, yah ah bacon
tree. Trust me.
For nutting vud I lie."
The leader went back
and told his people that, if nothing else, they might be able to find food on
the other side of the next ridge.
"So why did he say not
to go there?" some pioneers asked.
"Oh, you know the
Jewish folks . They don't eat bacon."
So the wagon train
went up the hill and down the other side. Suddenly, Indians attacked and
massacred every one except the leader. He managed to escape back to where
the old Jewish man was sitting and enjoying his drink.
The near-dead man
starts shouting, "You fool! You sent us to our deaths! We followed
your instructions, but there was no bacon tree. Just
hundreds of Indians. They killed everyone but me."
The Jewish man held up
his hand and said, "Oy, vait
a minute, vait a minute." He got out an
English-Yiddish dictionary and began thumbing through it.
"Gevalt, I made myself ah big mistake. It vuz not a bacon tree.
It vuz a ham
bush!"
8. Motivational
The Six Basic Messages
of a Motivational Speaker By Chris
Widener
Like it or not, most
people consider me a motivational speaker. That has an upside and a downside!
Some people really appreciate motivational speakers while others think they are
all fluff and no meat (Some are I guess).
So I have been
thinking lately about what it is that a good motivational speaker should do,
what they should communicate and how they should move
people.
Below are the six
basic messages of a good motivational speaker (Hint: If you are in a position of
motivating anyone, kids, employees or the like, these will be good for you to
reflect upon too!)
Here are the six basic
messages:
The basic message that
"You can!" So many people today
just simply believe that they can’t accomplish their dreams. For one reason or
another they have been told that they won’t be able to fulfil their dreams.
Maybe they have failed before and left it at that. Maybe their parents didn’t
believe in them. Whatever the reason, they have settled into a state of
disbelief.
But I have good news
... "You can!" I do not believe that there are people who are smarter, better,
more talented, more destined, etc. I believe that there are people who do and
those who do not.
Yes, someone may
currently have more talent, but anyone can increase his or her talent. It is
possible! So one of my messages is to remind you that yes indeed you can do
whatever you set your mind to.
The basic message to
persevere, because sometimes "You won’t!" I can’t remember the
exact quote but in Dr. Seuss’ book, "Oh the Places You’ll Go," (One of the best
self help books ever written ... I kid you not), there is the build up about how
you will conquer the world and go anywhere and everywhere, and then you turn the
page and it says, "Except when you don’t Because sometimes you won’t." This is
so true. If you are pursuing your dreams and taking risks, there will be times
when you will fail.
But the key is to
persevere even when you fail. As I like to say, "Failure is only failure if you
fail to learn from it!" Instead of quitting, we pick ourselves up, we brush
ourselves off, and we continue to take one step after another. This is the way
all people who have succeeded much have done it (What, you think that successful
people haven’t failed?).
The basic message that
there is nothing to fear. Fear is that ugly
monster that, when looked at closely, doesn’t really exist. At first glance you
hear his roar; he seems so big and so ugly. He forces you to be aware of his
presence and his threats. And then, if we are wise, we realize that all of what
he is saying is not true.
There is nothing to
fear. Rarely do we experience that which we fear. Most of the
time it is quite the opposite. If we keep our minds and hearts, as well
as our actions, going in the right direction ... in the direction of our dreams
and vision ... we can walk right past that fear of
ours.
It is sort of like
when you were a child and you were walking along and saw a huge dog in a front
yard up the street a bit. Do you remember how afraid you were? And then you
realized that the dog was tied up and couldn’t get to you, so you strut on by.
This is how it is with our fear.
Know that fear is on a
leash!
The basic message to
get off your duff and work for it. I am a man of action.
People who are successful are that way. Anyone who has ever been successful has
done something. Think about it: Even someone who is a successful "thinker" (as
opposed to a "doer") is usually only known because they DID something that let
us know about their brilliant thoughts. They wrote a book. They gave a speech.
Whatever it was, they did something!
Life rewards actions.
What we do is determines what we get. My message has always been and always will
be that if you want anything in this life you must first determine the actions
that will get you there and then you must take those
actions.
If you aren’t willing
to get off your duff and go get it, not only will you never attain it, but
someone else most assuredly will!
The basic message to
keep a positive attitude. People will say, "Oh
you motivational speakers... All that positive attitude
stuff." Well, let me ask you a few questions: Isn’t it true that everyone
has to have some attitude? Yes? And we choose our attitude, correct? And there
are only two basic attitudes and outlooks on life; either
positive or negative, true? Then we choose: Will we have a positive or
negative attitude?
And the cold, hard
truth is that whatever attitude you choose is almost always exactly what you
will experience and what life will give you! Those with positive attitudes get
and achieve and those with negative attitudes will most likely not. In
everything we do, we should keep a positive attitude, knowing that it will
reward us.
The basic message to
help others. Life is meant to be
lived in relationship with others. Relationships are intended to teach us how to
love one another and help one another. I cannot imagine in any way where I would
be now if it weren’t for friends and family who have been so very helpful to
me.
I have said before and
still believe that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. Look in
their lives and you will see that many people helped
them.
And so when we achieve
some level of success and can give back, then we can and should help others. I
had someone help me significantly just the other day. I was truly humbled by the
gesture. When I spoke with this person about it, he simply said, "When it comes
to fruition and you reap the benefits, do it for someone else." WOW ...
powerful!
You
CAN!
Persevere!
Walk past your
fear!
Take
action!
Be
positive!
Help
others!
These are the six
basic messages of a motivational speaker!
Follow them all the
way to your success!
Questions for
reflection:
Have you embraced the
fact that you can do what you want?
Have you come to grips
with the fact that you must persevere sometimes?
Have you looked at
your fear and walked on by?
Have you committed to,
and taken, action?
Have you chosen to be
a person who has a positive attitude?
Have you helped others
and made it a part of your life plan to continue doing
so?
_________
Chris Widener is a
popular speaker and writer as well as the
President of Made for
Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn their potential
into performance, and succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their
dreams. Visit his two sites at: www.madeforsuccess.com and
www.extraordinaryleaders.com