Words of Wisdom.....

Today we have higher buildings and wider highways, but shorter temperments and narrower points of view.

We spend more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses, but smaller families. We have more compromises, but less time. We have more knowledge, but less judgement. We have more medicines, but less health.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk much, we love only a little, and we hate too much.

We reached the moon and came back, but we find it troublesome to cross our own street and meet our neighbors. We have conquered the outer space, but not our inner space.

We have higher income, but less morals… These are times with more liberty, but less joy… With much more food, but less nutrition…

These are days in which two salaries come home, but divorces increase. These are times of finer houses, but more broken homes.

That’s why I propose that as of today -- You do not keep anything for a special occasion, because every day that you live is a special occasion. Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to the needs. Pass more time with your family, eat your favorite food, visit the place you love. Life is a chain of moments of enjoyment; it isn’t only survival.

Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume… use it every time you feel you want it. Take out from your vocabulary phrases like, “one of these days” and “someday”. Let’s write that letter we thought of writing “one of these days…”

Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them. Never pass up a chance at adding laughter and joy to your life. Every day, hour, and minute are special… Because you never know if it will be your last…

If you’re too busy to take some minutes to share this message with someone you love, and you tell yourself that you will share it “one of these days”… “one of these days” can be very far away, and you may not be there to see it…

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups, and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard.

As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt tug on his overalls.

He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."

"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat of the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket,

he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've

got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?"

"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here Dolly!" he called.

Out from the doghouse and down ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.

The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed

something else stirring inside the doghouse.

Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller.

Down the ramp it slid. Then in a awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.

The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.

Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.

"How much?" asked the little boy.

"No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

Read this and let it really sink in...then choose how to start your day tomorrow...

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a

good mood and always has something positive to say. When

someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I

were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad

day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the

positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to

Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive

person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself,

'Mike, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a

good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to

be in a good mood.

"Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim

or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

"Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to

accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of

life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it isn't that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Michael said. Life is all about choices. When you

cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose

how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect

your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. "The

bottom line is: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the tower industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a

serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications

tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care,

Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his

back.

I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked

him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins.

Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone

through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well being of my soon-to-be-

born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Michael continued, "The paramedics were great.They kept

telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me

into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors

and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse

shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was

allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses

stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep

breath and yelled, 'Gravity.' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead'."

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved all the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and spent much of his time exploring the seashores. One day he learned that there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand. The day of the tide he went down to the beach and began picking up the stranded starfish and started tossing them back in the sea. An elderly man who lived next door came to down to the beach to see what he was doing. “I’m saving the starfish.” The boy proudly declared. When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish he shook his head and said, “I’m sorry to disappoint you young man, but if the look down the beach one way, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look the other way, it’s the same. One boy like you isn’t going to make much of a difference.” The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up a starfish, tossed it back into the ocean and said, “I sure made a difference for that one”