Tuesday, 05 August 2008

This is to have succeeded...

"To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false frineds; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, This is to have succeeded."

Friday, 18 July 2008

who r we

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented & fabulous?

Actually, who are we not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fears,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Source: A Return to Love by Marianne WIlliamson (as quoted by Nelson Mandela in his ainaugural speech, 1994)

why hesitate

i really like this one...

Why hesitate?
Upon the plains of hesitation are the
bleached bones of countless millions,
who on the threshold of victory sat down
to wait, and in waiting they died.
- Author Unknown (this guy's pretty famous :))

not you...

Let others lead small lives,
but not you

Let others argue over small things,
but not you

Let others cry over small hurts,
but not you

Let others leave their future in someone else's hands,
but not you.

- Jim Rohn

Monday, 19 May 2008

how far you go....

Every once in a while someone writes something in a birthday card that i don't really want to get rid of. Something that really makes sense & that i'd like to hold on to. I always wondered how i could keep the sentiment without having to harbour the cardboard.....yay, now i have a blog, it's the perfect place!
This time it was my dad-he wrote a pretty cool quote which i just wanted to keep. Here it is:

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young; compassionate with the aged; sympathetic with the striving; and tolerant of the weak and strong.
...Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."
-George Washington Carver-

Tuesday, 26 February 2008

How to think like a leader

A man big enough to be humble appears more confident than the insecure man who feels compelled to call attention to his accomplishments. A little modesty goes a long way.
Praise people for every effort they put forth. Praise is the greatest single incentive you can give people, and it costs you nothing.
Remember, the main job of the leader is thinking. And the best preparation for leadership is thinking. Spend some time in managed solitude everyday and think yourself to success.
In everything you do, show that you put other people first. Just give other people the kind of treatment you like to receive. You'll be rewarded.
Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress. Think improvement in everything you do. Think high standards in everything you do. Be sure the master copy is worth duplicating. Make this a personal resolution: "In life, if it's progress I'm for it."
There is magic in thinking big. But it is so easy to forget. When you hit some rough spots, there is a danger that your thinking will shrink in size. And when it does, you lose.

A. When little people try to drive you down, THINK BIG
To be sure, there are some people who want you to lose, to experience misfortune, to be reprimanded. But these people can't hurt you if you'll remember three things:
1. You win when you refuse to fight petty people. Fighting little people reduces you to their size. Stay big.
2. Expect to be sniped at. It's proof you're growing.
3. Remind yourself that snipers are psychologically sick. Be Big. Feel sorry for them.

Think Big Enough to be immune to the attacks of petty people.

B. When that "I-haven't-got-what-it-takes" feeling creeps up on you, THINK BIG
Remember: if you think you are weak, you are. If you think you are inadequate, you are. If you think you're second-class, you are.
Whip that natural tendency to sell yourself short with these tools:
1. Look important. It helps you think important. How you look on the outside has a lot to do with how you feel on the inside.
2. Concentrate on your assets. Build a sell-yourself-to-yourself commercial and use it. Learn to supercharge yourself. Know your positive self.
3. Put other people in proper perspective. THe other person is just another human being, so why be afraid of him?

Think Big Enough to see how good you really are!

C. When an argument or quarrel seems inevitable, THINK BIG.
Successfully resist the temptation to argue and quarrel by:
1. Asking yourself, "Honestly now, is this thing really important enought ot argue about?"
2. Reminding yourself, you never gain anything from an argument but you always lose something.

Think Big Enough to see that quarrels, arguments, feuds, and fusses will never help you get where you want to go.

D. When you feel defeated, THINK BIG.
It is not possible to achieve large success without hardships and setbacks. But it is possible to live the rest of your life without defeat. Big thinkers react to setbacks this way:
1. Regard the setback as a lesson. Learn from it. Research it. Useit to propel you forward. Salvage something from every setback.
2. Blend persistence with experimentation. Back off and start afresh with a new approach.

Think Big Enough to see that defeat is a state of mind, nothing more.

E. When romance starts to slip, THINK BIG
Negative, petty, "she's-(he's)-unfair-to-me-so-I'll-get-even" type of thinking slaughters romance, destroys the affection that can be yours. Do this when things aren't going right in the love department:
1. Concentrate on the biggest qualities in the person you want to love you. Put little things where they belong-in second place.
2. Do something special for your mate-and do it often.

Think Big Enough to find the secret to marital joys.

F. When you feel your progress on the job is slowing down THINK BIG
No matter what you do and regardless of your occupation, higher status, higher pay come from one thing: increasing the quality and quantity of your output. Do this:
Think, "I can do better." The best is not unattainable. There is room for ding everything better. Nothing in this world is being done as well as it could be. And when you thin, "I can do better," ways to do better will appear. Thinking "I can do better," switches on your creative power.

Think Big Enough to see that if you put service first, money takes care of itself. In the words of Publilius Syrus:

"A wise man will be master of his mind,
A fool will be its slave."


And that brings to the end our book summary of this book. I hoped it's changed you like it has me. To THINK BIG....

Saturday, 09 February 2008

Use goals to help you grow

A goal is an objective, a purpose. A goal is more than a dream; it's a dream being acted upon. A goal is more than a hazy "Oh, I wish I could." A goal is a clear "This is what I'm working toward."
Without goals individuals just wander through life. They stumble along, never knowing where they are going, so they never get anywhere.
Goals are as essential to success as air is to life. No one ever stumbles into success without a goal. No one ever lives without air. Get a clear fix on where you want to go.
The individual who fails to set long-range goals will most certainly be just another person lost in life's shuffle. Without goals we cannot grow.
People these days are measured by the size of their dreams. No one accomplishes more than he sets out to accomplish. So visualize a big future.
"A man is not doing much until he cause he works for possesses all there is of him."
Desire, when harnessed, is power. Failure to follow desire, to do what you want to do most, paves the way to mediocrity.
All of us have desires. All of us dream of what we really want to do. But few of us actually surrender to desire. Instead of surrendering to desire, we murder it.
Throw away those murder weapons. It's never too late to let desire take over.
Successful people have their eyes focused on a goal, and this provides energy.
Goals, intense goals, can keep a person alive when nothing else will.
Use goals to live longer. No medicine in the world-and your physician will bear this out-is as powerful in bringing about long life as is the desire to do something.
The person determined to achieve maximum success learns the principle that progress is made one step at a time. Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments.
Do this: Start marching toward your ultimate goal by making the next task you perform, regardless of how unimportant it may seem, a step in the right direction. Commit this question to memory and use it to evaluate everything you do: "Will this help take me where I want to go?" If the answer is no, back off; if yes, press ahead.
It's clear. We do not make one big jump to success. We get there one step at a time. An excellent plan is to set monthly quotas for accomplishment.
Examine yourself. Decide what specific things you should do to make yourself more effective. Make notes of the things you will do in the next thirty days. Then, when the thirty-day period is up, check your progress and build a new thirty-day goal. Always keep working on the "little" things to get you in shape for the big things.
Lots of conscious effort, invested day by day, made the person what he is. Building new positive habits and destroying old negative habits is a day-by-day process.
Create your first thirty-day improvement guide right now.
Ask yourself "Isn't my future worth this small investment?"

Wednesday, 06 February 2008

How to turn defeat into victory

We can turn setbacks into victories. find the lesson, apply it, and then look back on defeat and smile. Defeat is only a state of mind & nothing more.
Decide right now to salvage something from every setback. Being licked is valuable if we learn from it.
It is true that in this complex world others may trip us. But it is also true that more often than not we trip ourselves. We lose because of personal inadequacy, some personal mistake.
Condition yourself for success this way. Remind yourself that you want to be as nearly perfect as is humanly possible. Be objective. Put yourself in a glass tube and look at yourself as a disinterested third party would look at the situation. See if you have a weakness that you've never noticed before. If you have, take action to correct it. Many people become so accustomed to themselves that they fail to see ways for improvement. Have the courage to face your faults.
Being self-critical is constructive. It helps you to build the personal strength and efficiency needed for success. Blaming others is destructive. You gain absolutely nothing from "proving" that someone else is wrong.
Be constructively self-critical. Don't run away from inadequacies. Be like the real professionals. They seek out their faults and weaknesses, then correct them. That's what makes them professionals.
View your mistakes as "Here's another way to make me a bigger winner."
"A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience."
Stop blaming luck. Blaming luck never got anyone where he wanted to go.
All thoughts are magnetic. As soon as you tell yourself, "I'm beaten. There's no way to conquer this problem,"negative t6houghts are attracted, and each of these helps convince you that you are right, that you are whipped.
Believe instead, "there is a way to solve this problem," and positive thoughts rush into your mind to help you find a solution.
It's believing there is a way that is important.
When you hit a snag, don't throw up the whole project. Instead, back off, get mentally refreshed. Try something as simple as playing some music or taking a walk or a short nap. Then, when you tackle it again, the solution often comes almost before you know it.
Remember, there is a good side in every situation. Find it. See the good side & whip discouragement.

Sunday, 03 February 2008

Get the action habit

Every big job requires a man who thinks action.
Think of it. Everything we have in this world, is just an idea acted upon.
As you study people-both the successful and the just average-you find they fall into two classes. The successful are active. The just average, the mediocre, the unsuccessful are passive.
We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action. It's still good advice to cross bridges as we come to them.
We can't buy an insurance policy against all problems. Make up your mind to do something about your ideas. Ideas are important. Let's make no mistake about that. We must have ideas to create and improve anything. Success shuns the man who lacks ideas.
First, give your ideas value by acting on them. Regardless of how good the idea, unless you do something with it, you gain nothing. Second, act on your ideas and gain mind tranquility.
Someone once said that the saddest words of tongue or pen are these: it might have been.
Action feeds and strengthens confidence; inaction in all forms feeds fear. To fight fear, act. To increase fear-wait, put off, postpone.
The way to combat that kind of fear-yes any kind of fear-is action.
Build confidence,. Destroy fear through action.
Rather than wait for the spirit to move you, sit down and move your spirit.
Lots of good dreams never come true because we say, "I'll start someday," when we should say, "I'll start now, right now."
Live the advice of Benjamin Franklin: "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today."
When you see something that you believe ought to be done, pick up the ball and run.

Sunday, 27 January 2008

i believe....

In a cellar in Cologne, Germany after World War 2 were found these words on the wall:

I believe in the sun ,
even when it is not shining;
I believe in love,
even when i feel it not;
I believe in God,
Even when He is silent.

Saturday, 26 January 2008

doctor small's activities

on that topic, Arwen also arose at 6:30 this morning, and i ordered her to read on her own, since i was still semi-comatose. she got up, grabbed her book, got back on the bed, and read a bit of the story to me: "Doctor Small looks in Ben's ear with an otoscope. He says that Ben needs to have an operation on his sore ear."
I lept out of bed. Not a moment to waste shaping the mind of this young prodigy.

Friday, 18 January 2008

arwen december/january

this is what her art has evolved to of late

see my new slippers?


oh hey, i just came out and found her doing this. gloves n' all. i ran for the camera


duh, preparing for the under 3 chess championships...


scissors are a new fascination at the moment


i assure you, the surprise haircut is eminent any day now (mia knows all about that)




she is IN-LOVE with puzzles




think right toward people

Success depends on the support of other people.
Take the initiative in building friendships-leaders always do.
When you make a pleasant remark to a stranger, you make him feel one degree better. This makes you feel better and helps you relax. Every time you say something pleasant to another person, you compensate yourself. It's like warming up your automobile on a cold morning.
Thoughts breed like thoughts.
The person who does the most talking and the person who is the most successful are rarely the same person.
Conversation generosity wins friends. Conversation generosity helps you learn more about people.
Don't be a conversation hog. Listen, win friends, and learn.
Make yourself lighter to lift. Be likable. Practice being the kind of person people like. This wins their support and puts fuel in your success-building program.
Accept human differences and limitations. Don't expect anyone to be perfect. Remember, the other person has a right to be different. And don't be a reformer.
Find qualities to like and admire in a person, not things to dislike. And don't let other's prejudice your thinking about a third person. Think positive thoughts towards people-and get positive results.
Practice courtesy all the time. It makes other people feel better. It makes you feel better too.
Don't blame others when you receive a setback. Remember, how you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.

Saturday, 12 January 2008

the amazon

see...pink dolphins!




The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon basin of South America. The area, also known as Amazonia or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.2 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers, located within nine nations: Brazil (with 60 percent of the rainforest), Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guina. States or departments in four nations bear the name Amazonas after it. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

The Amazon River or River Amazon of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers flowing into the ocean combined.
The Amazon River accounts for approximately 1/5 of total world's river flow, and it has the largest drainage basin in the world. There is an ongoing dispute regarding it's length and along with the Nile it is one of the contenders for the position as the longest river in the world. Because of its vast dimensions, it is sometimes called The River Sea (o rio-mar in Portuguese), and at no point is it crossed by bridges.













Friday, 11 January 2008

pink dolphins

did anyone else know there are pink dolphins in the amazon?
i'm going!

Thursday, 10 January 2008

cake!!!

it was daddy's birthday yesterday, so we made a cake/employed the toddler for the afternoon.



made the mistake of telling her to smile...

aaand then she just wouldn't stop...

looks good huh!


well, they enjoyed it, that's what counts.



Wednesday, 09 January 2008

arwen's presents

arwen finally got to open her presents the other night, though her main present was just a tad hard to wrap, or hide for that matter, cause it was a trampoline. (tell us more they say...) don't worry, i hear the yawns. so i won't linger.





new years

our new year's was a blast. well it actually was. mainly because i got to bed on time & felt quite rested at the set of 2008. we reveled in a rapturous game of pick up sticks. haha. i seldom drink, so one beer got me good & wasted. then we kicked back with some episodes of friends. this may sound bizarre, but we enjoy doing this sort of stuff....






make your attitudes your allies

How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking. When our attitude is right, our abilities reach a maximum of effectiveness and good results inevitably follow. Right attitudes win for you in every situation.
To activate others, to get them to be enthusiastic, you must first be enthusiastic yourself.
Enthusiasm can make things 1,100 % better.
Results come in proportion to enthusiasm applied. Enthusiasm is simply "This is great!"
To get enthusiastic, learn more about the thing you are not enthusiastic about.
Use the dig-into-it-deeper technique to develop enthusiasm toward other people. Find out all you can about another person-what he does, his family, his background, his ideas and ambitions-and you'll find your interest in and enthusiasm about him mounting. Keep digging, and you're certain to find some common interests. Keep digging, and you'll eventually discover a fascinating person.
In everything you do, life it up. Enthusiasm, or lack of it, shows through in everything you do and say.
People go along with the fellow who believes what he says. Say it with life. Put vitality into your speaking.
And when you put life in your talk, you automatically put more life in you.
Life it up. Be sure everything you do and say tells people, "That fellow is alive." "He means it." "He's going places."
Broadcast good news. Good news does more than get attention; good news pleases people. Good news develops enthusiasm. Good news even promotes good digestion.
No one ever won a friend, no on ever made money, no one ever accomplished anything by broadcasting bad news.
Whenever you leave a person, ask yourself, "Does that person honestly feel better because he has talked with me?"
Good news gets good results. Broadcast it.
Broadcasting good news activates you, makes you feel better, Broadcasting good news makes other people feel better too.

Grow the "you-are-important" attitude.
This is a fact of paramount significance: Each human being, whether he lives in India or Indianapolis, whether he's ignorant or brilliant, civilized or uncivilized, young or old, has this desire: He wants to feel important.
The desire to be important is man's strongest, most compelling non biological hunger.
Make someone feel important, and he cares about you. And when he cares about you, he does more for you.
The big thinker always adds value to people by visualizing them at their best. Because he thinks big about people, he gets their best out of them.
When you help other's feel important, you help yourself feel important too.
Let's not kid ourselves. People who do not have a deep-down feeling of self-importance are slated for mediocrity. Again and again this point mist be driven home: You must feel important to succeed. Helping other s to feel important rewards you because it makes you feel more important. Try it and see.
Practice appreciation. Make it a rule to let others know you appreciate what they do for you. Never, never let anyone feel he is taken for granted. Practice appreciation with a warm, sincere smile. A smile lets others know you notice them and feel kindly toward them.
Practice appreciation by letting others know hos you depend on them.
Practice appreciation with honest, personalized compliments. People thrive on compliments-whether two or twenty, nine or ninety, a person craves praise. He want sot be assured that he's doing a good job, that he is important. Don't feel that you should hand out praise only for big accomplishments. Compliment people on little things: their appearance, the way they do their routine work, their ideas, their loyal efforts. Praise by writing personal notes complimenting people you know on their achievements. Make a special phone call or a special trip to see them.
A person, whether he is a garbage collector or company vice president, is important to you. Treating someone as second-class never gets you first-class results.
Practice calling people by their names. People like to be called by name. It gives everyone a boost to be addressed by name.
Don't hog glory, invest it instead.
Remember, praise is power. When you share praise, your subordinates know you sincerely appreciate their value.

Want to make money? Then get the put-service-first attitude.
It's perfectly natural-in fact, it's highly desirable-to want to make money and accumulate wealth. Money is power to give your family and yourself the standard of living they deserve. Money is power to help the unfortunate. Money is one of the means to living life fully.
Once criticized for urging people to make money, the great minister Russel H. Conwell, author of Acres of Diamonds, said, "Money printed your Bible, money builds your churches, money sends your missionaries, and money pays your preachers, and you would not have may of them, either, if you did not pay them."
The person who says he wants to be poor usually suffers from a guilt complex or a feeling of inadequacy. He's like the youngster who feels he can't make A's in school or make the football team, so he pretends he doesn't want to make A's or play football.
Money, then, is a desirable objective. What's puzzling about money is the backward approach so may people us it trying to make it. Everywhere you see people with a "money-first" attitude. Yet these same people always have little money. Why? Simply this: People with a money-first attitude become so money conscious that they forget money can't be harvested unless they plant the seeds that grow the money.
And the seed of money is service. That's why "put service first" is an attitude that creates wealth. Put service first, and money takes care of itself.
Put service first, and money takes care of itself-always.
Money seeds, of course, grow money. Plant service and harvest money.

Wednesday, 02 January 2008

make it count...

what is new years to most people? okay duh most people go out, get sloshed, act like idiots for the whole night & forget to go to sleep then recover for the next few days when they finally realise that their life is pending.
some of my sisters and i aren't that psyched about that whole scenario & normally avoid it altogether, opting for more sensible forms of entertainment. ooh yes we're such geeks.
someone recently made a comment to one of my sisters when she told them that she'd prefer not to start the new year off with a big hangover, - they said: "oh yeah, its much better to start it with sobriety & goals..." albeit the mocking tone should be eminent. i've temporarily branded him the village idiot....
sobriety & goals.... what an absolutely flipping good idea! i wish it occurred just a little less seldom. that way i wouldn't feel a responsibility to practice sobriety and goals solo with my tiny group of like minds annually & we could actually guiltlessly kick back with a beer.
but anyway, all that to say, stop and think about what the new year means for you. i've heard that if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll end up where you're headed. where's that for you? you're the michaelangelo of your life, and the david you're sculpting is you! will it be a masterpiece? a classic work of art forever etched in history? only you can decide. make this one count. let's kick ass this year!

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." -- Napoleon Hill