"What has happened before has brought you to where you are. Yet the past has no control over where you can go from here.Your past history does not create your future. The choices you make right now are what create the substance of that future.Learn from your mistakes, but do not agonize over them. There is nothing you can do to change the fact that they happened, yet there is much you can do to move positively beyond them.When you dwell on the past it holds you prisoner. When you let it go, that allows you to go anywhere you now choose.People change, circumstances change, and you can change too. With each moment comes the opportunity to shake off the old assumptions and limitations, to give new purpose and meaning to life.Give new energy, new effort, new commitment and determination to this day that you have the good fortune to be living. See the bright future that can be, and you will make it so."-
- Ralph Marston
"Rather than asking myself whether I am happy or not, a more helpfulquestion is, 'How can I become happier."... We need to recognize thathappiness is an unlimited resource and then focus on ways in which wecan attain more of it. Becoming happier is a lifelong pursuit."
-- Tal Ben-Shahar
Sometimes, I am called upon to accept unpleasant realities. I may wish to avoid disappointments, but I find the only way to serenity is to become willing to accept the things I cannot change. Acceptance gives me choices." -- Courage to Change.
"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B." -- James Yorke, as quoted by
What's the quickest way out of a negative attitude? Have something ready and waiting that you can immediately and genuinely appreciate."How do you find the hidden value in any situation? Look for something to truly appreciate."When you seek to find things to appreciate, what you'll discover are hidden treasures upon which you can build great value. Look for what you can appreciate, and you'll find positive, powerful tools that will pull you forward.
"Get in the habit of starting each day by thinking of something for which you can be thankful. Then, whenever you catch yourself falling into a negative thought pattern, you'll already have something positive toward which you can redirect your thoughts."Each time you meet a new person, make it a point to find something, at the very outset of the relationship, that you can sincerely appreciate. Every time you find yourself in a new place or situation, look first for what you can appreciate about it."Find something to appreciate, and your effectiveness will increase dramatically. Find something to appreciate, and you'll uncover real treasure"."Continuous effort -- not strength or intelligence -- is the key to unlocking our potential."-- Liane Cordes
"When you put conditions on enjoyment, it turns into just another chore. Let go, and sincerely enjoy the miracle that is your life as it comes to you in each moment. If you become overly attached to specific results, you set yourself up for disappointment and disillusionment. Be ambitious, yet do not be your ambition"... "Today can just be marvelous..........marvelous I say. All I have to do is jump into it with a grateful heart and some willingness to do the work. Hey.....what a coincidence...I have BOTH."-- Pam,
"To find your own way is to follow your bliss. This involves analysis, watching yourself and seeing where real deep bliss is--not the quick little excitement, but the real deep, life-filling bliss". Your thoughts are what frighten you. Choose to change them, and the fear is gone. Your thoughts are what cause you to be frustrated, angry, disappointed, impatient and uncomfortable. And your thoughts can also take you far away from all those things. For your thoughts can transform anger into forgiveness, disappointment into determination, discomfort into inspiration, and fear into love. The choice is always yours". Change your thoughts and change your world!"-- Norman Vincent Peale
"Don't accept rides from strange men, and remember that all men are strange".When it is all too much, when the news is so bad meditation itself feels useless, and a single life feels too small a stone to offer on the altar of peace, find a human sunrise. Find those people who are committed to changing our scary reality. Human sunrises are happening all over the earth, at every moment. People gathering, people working to change the intolerable, people coming in their robes and sandals or in their rags and bare feet, and they are singing, or not, and they are chanting, or not. But they are working to bring peace, light, compassion to the infinitely frightening downhill slide of human life"."Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it".-- Michel de Montaigne
If you want an average successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:1. Become the best at one specific thing.2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don't recommend anyone even try.The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I'm hardly an artist. And I'm not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I'm funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It's the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.I always advise young people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice. If you add that talent to any other, suddenly you're the boss of the people who have only one skill. Or get a degree in business on top of your engineering degree, law degree, medical degree, science degree, or whatever. Suddenly you're in charge, or maybe you're starting your own company using your combined knowledge.Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more "pretty goods" until no one else has your mix. I didn't spend much time with the script supervisor, but it was obvious that her verbal/writing skills were in the top tier as well as her people skills. I'm guessing she also has a high attention to detail, and perhaps a few other skills in the mix. Probably none of those skills are best in the world, but together they make a strong package. Apparently she's been in high demand for decades.At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That's one. Now add to that whatever your passion is, and you have two, because that's the thing you'll easily put enough energy into to reach the top 25%. If you have an aptitude for a third skill, perhaps business or public speaking, develop that too. It sounds like generic advice, but you'd be hard pressed to find any successful person who didn't have about three skills in the top 25%.What are your three?""A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."-- Josh Billings
I was a songwriter, I was struggling, and I loved it. I wanted to be the greatest songwriter. I was writing about everything -- everything I saw. But I was not making money, and I finally agreed with everyone I ever talked to who knew me, who said, ''Boy, you need to get a job -- a real one.'' So I got a job on the Ford assembly line. And every day I watched how a bare metal frame rolling down the line would come off the other end a spanking brand-new car. Wow, I thought. What a great idea. Maybe I can do the same thing with my music -- create a place where a kid off the street can walk in one door an unknown and come out another door a star. That little thought that came to me while running up and down that assembly line at Ford Motor Company became a reality you now know as Motown."-- Berry Gordy
There are lots of temptations and there are plenty of excuses. Keep in mind, though, that you are in control of you... To reach the destination you have chosen, you must follow the path that will take you there. And while diversions and distractions will constantly come along, remember that you are in control of you... Your thoughts, your words and your actions are precisely the ones you choose. They can take you anywhere you would like to go... Though many things are out of your control, you are always in control of you. You can respond, you can adjust, you can persist and you can move in the direction of your dreams, no matter what the outside factors may be. You are in control of you. Your decisions in each and every moment determine the quality of life that you live. It is a heavy responsibility and a magnificent opportunity. You are in control of you, and you will always go right where your actions take you."-- Ralph Marston
"If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin byrealizing that you are the author and every day you have the opportunityto write a new page."Part of noticing intuitive signs, signals, and those gentle nudges is becoming more conscious of what you're doing in your everyday life. This week, if you're having a cup of tea, then just drink your tea. If you're enjoying a meal, then just eat your meal. If you're walking, just walk. Appreciate, focus, and be in the moment. By doing so, you'll remain in the powerful present, and that way, your intuition has a better chance of getting your attention".-- John Holland
"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending".-- Carl Bard
"It is never too late -- in fiction or in life -- to revise."-- Nancy Thayer
