reading

I love to read, once i open a book I'm interested in, it's near impossible to get me to put it down, & my eyes have to actually be physically unopenable to make me stop at night. Reading is an irreplaceable form of self-development & once you discover the joy of reading, you'll never want to stop. I found some really good quotes on reading which I liked, maybe they'll appeal to the reader in you as well...


I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke in me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. ~ Malcolm X ~

It is with books as with men - a very small number play a great part, the rest are lost in the multitude. ~ Voltaire ~

I've traveled the world twice over, Met the famous; saints and sinners, Poets and artists, kings and queens, Old stars and hopeful beginners, I've been where no-one's been before, Learned secrets from writers and cooks All with one library ticket To the wonderful world of books. ~ Unknown ~

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends.
~ Dawn Adams ~

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn,
~ Joseph Addison ~

Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors. ~ Joseph Addison ~

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~ Joseph Addison ~

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. ~ Mortimer J. Adler ~

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.
~ Amos Bronson Alcott ~

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. ~ Francis Bacon ~

Books are men of higher stature; the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.
~ E.S. Barrett ~

He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes. ~ Barrow ~

A book is good company. It is full of conversation without loquacity. It comes to your longing with full instruction, but pursues you never. ~ Henry Ward Beecher ~

The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the soul of him who is occupied with it, whereas the mere reader never discovers the new aspects of his inner self that are opened by the text, that road cut through the interior jungle forever closing behind it: because the reader follows the movement of his mind in the free flight of day-dreaming, whereas the copier submits it to command. ~ Walter Benjamin ~

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. ~ Joseph Brodsky ~

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.(1994) ~ Emilie Buchwald ~

Books are masters who instruct us without rods or ferules, without words or anger, without bread or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if you seek them, they do not hide; if you blunder, they do not scold; if you are ignorant, they do not laugh at you. ~ Richard De Bury ~

All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been-- it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of Books. ~ Thomas Carlyle ~

Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading. ~ Rufus Choate ~

The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man: nothing else that he builds ever lasts monuments fall; nations perish; civilization grow old and die out; new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts, of the hearts of men centuries dead. ~ Clarence Day ~

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Our high respect for a well read person is praise enough for literature. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

To read is to empower To empower is to write To write is to influence To Influence is to change To change is to live. ~ Jane Evershed ~

If the riches of the Indies, or the crowns of all the kingdom of Europe, were laid at my feet in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn them all. ~ Francois FéNelon ~

When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day. ~ Jean Fritz ~

The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
~ Elizabeth Hardwick ~

To use books rightly, is to go to them for help; to appeal to them when our own knowledge and power fail; to be led by them into wider sight and purer conception than our own, and to receive from them the united sentence of the judges and councils of all time, against our solitary and unstable opinions. ~ John Ruskin ~

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. ~ Atwood H. Townsend ~

edification

Edification is, simply put, the practice of exalting & promoting someone else instead of yourself. The concept is that anybody can promote anybody. Meaning that while it's hard to promote yourself, it's easy to promote another person no matter who you are. An illustration that I've heard on this topic pointed out that whenever you see a review written for either a movie or a book or even a shop, maybe you'll notice that the comments are put in very big print, while the peoples names who made the statements are in much smaller print. Plus most of the time we have no notion of who the person is, but for some reason we take notice of what they are saying anyway. i mean think about it-it's true. So then no matter who said it, right away we have this impression that the thing they are trying to promote is GREAT!
Another analogy is in business, like in mine-when i try to promote it to people, they may question it. However, if i promote a colleague as being very smart, or successful or highly influential, - right away, all that person has to do is say a few words about why what i have to offer is a good idea & it holds way more credibility. do you see what i mean?
I suppose this also falls in line with just simply speaking constructively of others. In fact, it says a lot about you when you talk about someone else & in what manner. AND if you're always speaking constructively of other people, others will start speaking that way of you & will be promoting YOU.
So, if you want to promote yourself, promote others.

duplication

The concept of duplication pretty much means exactly what it says. Whether we like it or not, we're constantly absorbing information, behaviour, or habits that we're exposed to. Whether it's through advertisements, pictures, behaviour, language, or whatever.
If someone looks up to you as a role model, it's possible they will think that it's cool or acceptable or even important for them to act as you do, so they duplicate it. At other times, even if people do not go out of their way to pick up on your behaviour they just do, because they're exposed to you on a constant basis & it automatically rubs off on them, similar to the way you start singing a song if you've heard it playing, even if you loathe the song or if it's a very silly song.
Something I have to constantly be aware of, & I think most parents will relate to, is that there's a little person always around who's picking up on everything I do. I am reminded everytime I am tempted to swear in frustration, or take shortcuts in different situations. I have to make sure what I do is duplicatable. It's not about what works, it's about what duplicates. Is the language I use something i want to hear her using? Is the way I react to things positive so she will learn to react that way too? Am I solution oriented? Am I praiseful & appreciative of people? I can't chow down junk food all day & yet be preaching at her to eat fruits & vegetables. I can't toss her dirty laundry around unless I want her to end up doing the same thing.
But this concept doesn't just apply to people with kidz. It's true of every person. We're all influencing others on a constant basis & we are also picking up things from the environment we're in. You know how they say that we're a product of our environment? Well that basically means we've duplicated the things we've been exposed to.
This is not only true of us duplicating outside influences, but it also means that if we have a negative attitude it will duplicate within us to where we are negative about everything. If we have a positive attitude, it will duplicate more positive thoughts about things.
So, what can we get from this?
Firstly, guard your psychological environment. What are you allowing yourself to be exposed to? Is it something you want to become? Is it positive, uplifting & constructive?
Secondly, look at your own actions & language, - is it something worth duplicating? Are you as a person, worth duplicating?
Try using this concept in your daily occurences & you'll start to see why it's so important.
I hope it's a help to you in some way.
What are you duplicating? And who's dupliating you?

dreams....

In the last post, I listed that I'd learned to not be afraid to 'dream big!' This is an awesome topic because EVERYBODY wants something. So, this post should appeal to everyone reading it. Think about it a bit. What do YOU want? What are your dreams? You must have some, because life holds little or no joy without dreams.
Maybe you want to do something great & make history. Maybe you're not that vain & want to feed lots of hungry people without any recognition. Maybe you're the crazy type & want to jump out of the sky tied to a rope. Perhaps you want to go white-water rafting in the Zambezi, or swim with pink dolphins in the Amazon.
W. Clement Stone said: "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Think about that for a second. You can do, be, or have ANYTHING you want! It's exciting. So, don't be afraid to dream MASSIVE dreams because it's possible if you decide it is.
A study at Yale revealed that only 3% of people write down their dreams. But of that 3%, 98% of them accomplish them.
Hey I'm just the messenger. Those are the facts & the statistics. It's just up to you to decide which category of people you want to be in.
William Jones said: "A man may never do everything that he's dreamed, but he will never EVER do anything that he hasn't dreamed!"
These are powerful words guys. If you're a big dreamer like me, i hope they make an impact on you.
Since I've given myself permission to dream, it's incredible that the list of dreams just keeps on growing. I may never accomplish them all, but I know now that I'll do a heck of a lot more than if I never allowed myself the privilege of dreaming them. In case anyone is interested, I'm gonna do a series of posts on some of my dreams. But I'd love to know what other's dreams are. It's interesting. And I'd love to get to know my friends a lot better. So tell me some things YOU want to do. I'm waiting impatiently for your feedback. Talk to you soon.

my business....

Some people that know me, know that I've started a business recently. It's been quite a challenge, but also a lot of fun, because I've been learning so much that I somehow neglected to know & practice before. In our business we have a personal development program which helps us develop to our full potential. It's exciting knowing that I'm furthering myself as a person & also as a business woman. The stuff I've had to learn has taught me so much, not only about business, but also about life. The principles in the business world & in one's personal life are sometimes very similar & employ very parallel concepts.
I'll list some of the things I've learned here, but I think I'll do a series of posts where i can tell you about them more in depth, so look out for that. I hope they can be a help to you as well to keep you striving to live your life to the very max! (hee, no pun intended.) Kay here they are:

• duplication
  
• edification
• posture (do you see now why I'm gonna have to explain some of these?)
  
• not being afraid to have big dreams
• setting goals
• deciding what I want, devising a strategy & executing it.
  
• personality types & how to relate to different types of people
• acquiring people skills (:0))
  
• believing in & being passionate about what i do
• listening to people
  
• shut up shut up shut up (sorry, it doesn't do to tell me once.)
• respecting & being willing to learn from those that have been where i am & are where i would like to be. be teachable.
  
• be willing to fight for what i want
• not let anything or anyone stand in the way of that
• be willing to be very uncomfortable
• stretch myself & do things I've never done before.
• associate with new people
• brush shoulders with successful, passionate people
• the power of reading
• the power of motivational cd's
• learning to love the struggle
• just wanting to become the person I will be as a result of achieving what I want.
• getting what I want by helping other people get what they want.
• financial intelligence
• putting money in the right perspective
  
• building people
• being a role model people want to follow

I'll stop there for now, if i come up with anymore, I'll be sure to let you know....& if any of these interest you, then come back & read about them a bit more later....