The Power of Words

Written by a 90-year old

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of Cleveland , Ohio.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

God's Wife

LOOK OUT FOR THE LAST STORY....
IT WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF


Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked

about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

Some of the winners were:

A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an

elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman's yard, climbed
onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his mother asked him what he had
said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, 'Nothing, I just
Helped him cry.'

*********************************************

Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were
discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture
had a different hair color than the other members. One of her
students suggested that he was adopted.
A little girl said, 'I know all about
Adoption, I was adopted..'

'What does it mean to be adopted?', asked
another child.

'It means', said the girl, 'that you grew
in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'

*********************************************

On my way home one day, I stopped to
watch a Little League base ball game that was being played in a
park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was
'We're behind 14 to nothing,' he answered With a smile.


'Really,' I said. 'I have to say you
don't look very discouraged.'

'Discouraged?', the boy asked with a
Puzzled look on his face...

'Why should we be discouraged? We haven't
Been up to bat yet.'

*********************************************

Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot
in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott.

Jamie was trying out for a part in the
school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being
in it, though she feared he would not be chosen.

On the day the parts were awarded, I went
with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her,
eyes shining with pride and excitement.. 'Guess what, Mom,' he
shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to
me....'I've been chosen to clap and cheer.'

*********************************************

An eye witness account from New York
City , on a cold day in December,
some years ago: A little boy,
about 10-years-old, was standing before a shoe store on the
roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering
With cold.

A lady approached the young boy and said,
'My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!'

'I was asking God to give me a pair of
shoes,'was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into
the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks
for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water
and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.

She took the little fellow to the back
part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed
his little feet, and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with
the socks.. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him
a pair of shoes..

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks
and gave them to him.. She patted him on the head and said, 'No
doubt, you will be more comfortable now.'

As she turned to go, the astonished kid
caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face, with tears
in his eyes, asked her.

'Are you God's wife?'

A Strong Woman, or a Woman of Strength

Anyway

Good day..,

Please read slowly and pause to think deeply in order to reap the greatest benefits from this for shaping our life!

IF - a poem

by: Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man my son!

Choices that shape your life

In praise of laziness

Listening

How do I listen to others?

As if everyone were my Master

Speaking to me His

Cherished last words.

— Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say,

abstains from giving us worthy evidence of the fact.

— George Elliot

You give another person a precious gift if you will allow him to talk without contaminating his speech with your own material.

— Robert A. Johnson

Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.

— Publilius Syrus

First Century BC, Maxim 914

Effective listeners remember that "words have no meaning - people have meaning." The assignment of meaning to a term is an internal process; meaning comes from inside us. And although our experiences, knowledge and attitudes differ, we often misinterpret each other’s messages while under the illusion that a common understanding has been achieved.

— Larry Barker

The greatest problem of communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

— George Bernard Shaw

Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

— Ambrose Bierce

You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.

— M. Scott Peck

To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only to the 'music,' but to the essence of the person speaking. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our mind’s hearing to your ears’ natural speed, and hear beneath the words to their meaning.

— Peter Senge

Man's inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.

— Carl Rogers

To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.

— Diane Sawyer

ABC Television Anchor

Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable—and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities.

— Peter Nulty

National Business Hall of Fame Fortune Magazine

Many 'active listening' seminars are, in actuality, little more than a shallow theatrical exercise in appearing like you're paying attention to another person. The requirements: Lean forward, make eye contact, nod, grunt, or murmur to demonstrate you're awake and paying attention, and paraphrase something back every 30 seconds or so. As one executive I know wryly observed, many inhabitants of the local zoo could be trained to go through these motions, minus the paraphrasing.

— Robert K. Cooper

Executive EQ

You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen—not just money, but respect.

— Harvey Mackay

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.

— Ralph Nichols

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.

— Turkish Proverb

Man's inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.

— Carl Roger

It’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.

— Dick Cavett

There's a big difference between showing interest and really taking interest.

— Michael P. Nichols

The Lost Art of Listening

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be understood, as to understand.

— St Francis of Assisi

Rumi quote

A strange passion is moving in my head.

My heart has become a bird

Which searches everywhere in the sky.

Every part of me goes in different directions.

Is it really so

That the one I love is everywhere?

~ Rumi

Still point

Anything you do

has a still point.

When you are in that

still point,

you can perform

maximally.

~ Joseph Campbell

Eckhart Tolle on love

Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.

~ Eckhart Tolle

Byron Katie on love

“I’m very clear that everyone in the world loves me. I just don’t expect them to realize it yet.”

~ Byron Katie

Quote from Albert Einstein

"A human being is part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings, as something seperated from the rest -- a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness.

This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living things and all of nature."

~ Albert Einstein

"45 lessons life taught me."

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland ,

Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once

more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and

parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their

journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God
never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is
up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no
for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.
Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will
this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd
grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Ask a teacher

Anything you want to ask a teacher, ask yourself, and wait for the answer in silence.

—Byron Katie

The Art of Forgiving

The most creative power given to the human spirit is the power
to heal the wounds of a past it cannot change.

We do our forgiving alone inside our hearts and minds; what
happens to the people we forgive depends on them.

The first person to benefit from forgiving is the one who
forgives.

Forgiving happens in three stages: we rediscover the
humanity of the person who wronged us; we surrender
our right to get even; and we wish that person well.

Forgiving is a journey; the deeper the wound, the longer
the journey.

Forgiving does not require us to reunite with the person
who broke our trust.

We do not forgive because we are supposed to; we forgive
when we are ready to be healed.

Waiting for someone to repent before we forgive is to
surrender our future to the person who wronged us.

Forgiving is not a way to avoid pain but to heal the pain.

Forgiving someone who breaks a trust does not mean
that we give him his job back.

Forgiving is the only way to be fair to ourselves.

Forgivers are not doormats; to forgive a person is not a
signal that we are willing to put up with what he or she does.

Forgiving is essential; talking about it is optional.

When we forgive, we set a prisoner free and discover that
the prisoner we set free is ourselves.

When we forgive we walk in stride with our forgiving God.


Author: Unknown

Words from Great Personalities

Do you agree with them?

Present Moment Reminder

You are not what happens; you are the space in which it happens. You are not your thoughts; they come and go. You are the vastness in which these thoughts appear and disappear because underneath all your thinking there is the stillness of pure being, pure consciousness, the timeless dimension of yourself.

—Eckhart Tolle