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Don't live in the past - it's too late to change it... and you can't live in the future until you get there...
You can only live in today.
Today will be your tomorrow's yesterday. If you want to look back at your yesterdays with fond memories, you only have today to make them. Make today count!
Five Lessons From Geese
by Milton Olson
As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the bird following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if the bird flew alone.
Lesson 1: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the "lifting power" of the bird immediately in front.
Lesson 2: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go (and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to the others).
When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another flies at the point position.
Lesson 3: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership - with people, as with geese, we are interdependent of each other.
The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson 4: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging - and not something else.
When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay until it is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch up with the flock.
Lesson 5: If we have as much sense as geese we too will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strongest.
Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Fritz Perls (1893-1970)
I do my thing
and you do your thing.
I am not in this world
to live up to your expectations
And you are not in this world
to live up to mine.
You are you and I am I.
And if by chance
we find each other, it's beautiful,
If not, it can't be helped.
author unknown
When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high;
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are;
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.
Author Unknown
Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others,
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important,
Only you know what is best for you.
Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart
Cling to that as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.
Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Don't give up when you still have something to give
Nothing is really over … until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect,
It is the fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Don't be afraid to encounter risks,
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold on too tightly,
And the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don't dismiss your Dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope.
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Don't run through life so fast that you forget where you've been,
But also know where you're going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored every step of the way.
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the
affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure
the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one's self;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and
sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived -
This is to have succeeded.
The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: "God bless me! but the Elephant Is very like a wall!" The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried, "Ho! what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!" The Third approached the animal, And happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a snake!" The Fourth reached out an eager hand, And felt about the knee. "What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain," quoth he; " 'Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!" The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: "E'en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!" The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a rope!" And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! Moral: So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!
Some snippets of wisdom...
Native American Wisdom…
- Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins. - Cheyenne
- A brave man dies but once, a coward many times. - Tribe Unknown.
- Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. - Cherokee
- Each bird loves to hear himself sing. - Arapaho
- The way of the troublemaker is thorny. - Umpqua
- We will be known forever by the tracks we leave. - Dakota
"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."
~ Nike ad
How do I change?
If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labour.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.
~ Og Mandino
"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."
~ William Penn
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime."
~ Babe Ruth
"If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that's a big accomplishment... quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life, and there's going to be a life after tennis that's a lot longer than your tennis life. "
~ Chris Evert Lloyd
"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision. "
~ Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
"Sports do not build character. They reveal it. "
~ Haywood Hale Broun
"I concentrate on preparing to swim my race and let the other swimmers think about me, not me about them."
~ Amanda Beard
"I enjoyed every bit of my swimming career. I think that's the most important advice — to enjoy what you do".
~ Summer Sanders 1992 double gold medallist
"There is water in every lane, so it is OK."
~ Ian Thorpe (on being in Lane 5 for a final).
"Enjoy swimming for swimmings sake. We have to spend far too much time in the water to not enjoy the process challenging yourself of moving through the water".
~ Jeff Rouse - Multiple Olympic Gold Medalist and swimming World Record setter
Ability may take you to the top, but it takes character to stay there.
~ Unknown
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. "
~ Thomas Edison
"I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures."
~ Earl Warren
"Sometimes a noble failure serves the world as faithfully as a distinguished success."
~ Dowden
"I am a winner. I just didn't win today."
~ Greg Norman
