29 November 2013

The Law of the Garbage Truck


The law of the garbage truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally, just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

25 November 2013

From the Quote of the Week Files; November 25, 2013

Welcome to the Quote of the Week!  The place to go to where you can get timeless wisdom at bargain basement prices. Can a commercial for Johnny Walker Red Label serve as the Quote of the Week?  The answer is YES!
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"Your entire life ~ every routine, every risk, every moment, every step forward and every step back has led you to the next step and it has the power to change everything. Your entire life, the routines, the risks, the moments steps forward and the steps back have led you to the next step where all the possibilities lie.  Your entire life, all of it, leads to the next step. The chance to define yourself by where you're headed rather than by where you stand.Keep Walking."

Johnny Walker Red Commercial
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To see the commercial, click on the link below...



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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” 


Soren Kierkegaard
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!
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22 November 2013

A Story: Alexander and Diogenes

Alexander and Diogenes

Now when Alexander [the Great] appeared before the Greek leaders in Corinth they greeted him warmly and paid him lavish compliments- all of them, that is but one. A funny fellow, a philosopher named Diogenes. He had views not unlike those of the Buddha. According to him, possessions and all the things we think we need only serve to distract us and get in the way of our simple enjoyment of life. So he had given away everything he owned and now sat, almost naked, in a barrel in the market square in Corinth where he lived, free and independent like a stray dog.

Curious to meet this strange fellow, Alexander went to call on him. Dressed in shining armour, the plume on his helmet waving in the breeze, he walked up to the barrel and said to Diogenes: 'I like you. Let me know your wish and I shall grant it.' Diogenes, who had until then been comfortably sunning himself, replied: 'Indeed, Sire, I have a wish.' 'Well, what is it?' 'Your shadow has fallen over me: stand a little less between me and the sun.' Alexander is said to have been so struck by this that he said: 'If I weren't Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes.'



"A Little History Of The World" by E.H. Gombrich

18 November 2013

From the Quote of the Week Files; November 18, 2013

Here is this week's Quote!!  Enjoy!
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Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.”

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

If at any time, anyone struggles with unanswered questions that disrupt serenity, I offer the following reflection:

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.
Don't search for the answers that could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.  And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now.  Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke
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Wishing you a MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY, wherever this may find you!

15 November 2013

Inspirational Poem: Carry On by Robert W. Service


Carry On

It's easy to fight when everything's right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It's a different song when everything's wrong.
When you're feeling infernally mortal;
When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

Carry on! Carry on!
There isn't much punch in your blow.
You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You're muddy and bloody, but never mind.
Carry on! Carry on!
 You haven't the ghost of a show.
It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life
It's easy to fight when you're winning;
It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there's a man of God's choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven's own height
Is the man who can fight when he's losing.

Carry on! Carry on!
Things never were looming so black.
But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,
And though you're unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!
Brace up for another attack.
It's looking like hell, but - you never can tell;
Carry on, old man! Carry on!

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there's the real sunshine of living.

Carry on! Carry on!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believe in you mission, greet life with a cheer;
There's big work to do, and that's why you are here.
Carry on! Carry on!
Let the world be the better for you;
And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

Robert W. Service

13 November 2013

11 November 2013

From the Quote of the Week Files, Veterans Day, November 11, 2013

It is Veteran's Day in America in which we honor those who have so bravely served this country. A quote by Dan Lipinski reminds us of this day. 
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"On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free."

Dan Lipinski
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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
To allow my living to open me,
To make me less afraid,
More accessible.

To loosen my heart until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
To live so that which came to me as seed
goes on to the next as blossom
And that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

Dawna Markova 
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Wishing you a most BEAUTIFUL day, wherever this may find you!

08 November 2013

Weekends! Ogden Nash

Your hair may be brushed, but your mind's untidy.
You've had about seven hours of sleep since Friday.
No wonder you feel that lost sensation.
You're sunk from a riot of relaxation.

Ogden Nash

Have a GREAT One!!

A Nudge from Melody Beattie! Thank you!

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."


Melody Beattie

06 November 2013

A Nudge from Albert Schweitzer

"To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude."


Albert Schweitzer

04 November 2013

From the Quote of the Week Files; November 4, 2013

"You are far greater than you have ever dreamed of being. And no matter what you are experiencing in your life right now, trust that all is good and unfolding in your best interests. It may not look pretty, but it is exactly what you need to learn for you to grow into the person you have been destined to become. Everything occurring in your life has been perfectly orchestrated to inspire your maximal evolution as a human being and bring you into your true power. Learn from life and allow it to take you where you are meant to go - it has your highest interests in mind."

Robin Sharma:"Discover Your Destiny with the Monk Who Sold his Ferrari"
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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

"The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less."

Piet Hein
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

03 November 2013

Socrates Nudges

“If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.” Socrates  

01 November 2013

An Inspiring Book Excerpt

"Whenever there is worry in the mind, all we can think about is what might go wrong or what has gone wrong. In the absence of any obvious problem or concern, the worrying mind will simply manufacture problems. (What we perceive as problems are often only circumstances). Restlessness is a similar agitated state. When meditators are caught up inagitation, there are so many mental objects seeming to clamour for their attention – regretful thoughts, neurotic thoughts, anxieties, speculations, assumptions – the volume of mental activity can seem overwhelming. A surprisingly simple and useful technique for countering worry is to deliberately put to one side the specific concerns that are dominating the mind. Certainly there are things in life that need planning but so much of what we call planning is actually worry. So often, we try to solve problems when we don’t have all the necessary information – concerns that are purely speculative – ‘what might happen if’ – are a complete waste of time. The significant feature of a restless or worried mind is the absence of happiness. When we introduce happiness into the mind, restlessness and worry fall away. Choosing to think positively – we can think about everything that is good in our lives, as opposed to what’s wrong. As the mind stops jumping back into the past or forward into the future it becomes content to settle into the moment. Concerns that loomed large now seem insignificant; we wonder why we ever got so het up."

From "Buddhism: The Plain Facts" 
Robert Mann & Rose Youd