~Author Unknown
A Good Apology
Fear and Buccaneer Leadership (post by Kirk Weisler)
Today’s T4D comes to us from fellow subscriber Sue Neufeldt who shares this piece she pulled from one of her favorite fiction novels.
“Fear holds us and binds us and keeps us from growing. It kills a small piece of us each day. It holds us to what we know and keeps us from what’s possible, and it is our worst enemy. Fear doesn’t announce itself; it’s disguised, and it’s subtle. It’s choosing the safe course; most of us feel we have ‘rational’ reasons to avoid taking risks. The brave man is not the one without fear but the one who does what he must despite being afraid. To succeed, you must be willing to risk total failure; you must learn this!” — Raymond E. Feist, The King’s Buccaneer
I think this scenario holds true in all of our lives, whether it’s personal or business. If we don’t take risks, even knowing it could fail, then we will never know what we are capable of accomplishing.“Sue Neufeldt
Thank you Sue
Kirk Out
Renewable Dreams! (post from The Ripples Project)
be passionate about your dreams
don’t sway off the intended course
you may run out of gas at times
let hope be your driving force.
-written and shared by Marie Toole in Delray Beach, FL
Dreams are renewable.
No matter what
our age or condition,
there are still
untapped possibilities within us
and new beauty waiting to be born.
-Dr. Dale Turner, shared by Pete in Ouray, CO
Do you have any persistent daydreams that you haven’t taken any action on? Have you discarded any dreams because they seemed too big or too unlikely or too difficult or just too *something* for you to believe and act on them?
I think we all need to review our past dreams and check for any new sparks of inspiration or energy that could renew a dream, and perhaps upgrade it to a dare.
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. Can you believe that next week is Thanksgiving? If you’d like to prepare with a sampling of all the gratitude-themed quotes we’ve used over the past 13 years, you can send a blank email to Thanks@TheRipplesGuy.com
Friends
The family we choose for ourselves
by BJ Gallagher
Who celebrates the good times and helps you through the bad times in your life? Who listens when you just had a fight with your spouse? Who sees the ‘real you’ and likes you anyway?
The answer to those questions can be summed up in one word: Friends.
Things change in life. Jobs and addresses may come and go but, if we’re lucky, our friends stay with us throughout our lives, making each day better. No one knows that better than author BJ Gallagher, who has done it again with her latest book, Friends: The family we choose for ourselves.
This book is a celebration of friendship, with the centerpiece being BJ’s original poetry. In Friends, BJ shares her thoughts on the ABC’s of true friendship. Here’s just one example from the book:
GOAL!
You’re such a good influence on me.
You’re like my coach,
my cheerleader,
my marching band
all rolled into one person.
Your confidence in me
gives me confidence in me.
I can never fail
with you in my corner.
I go for the goal
‘cause you’ve got my back.
I give it all I’ve got
because you would expect nothing less.
Friends is a book that you’ll want to read…and more importantly, one you’ll want to share with all of your friends in gratitude for their gifts of time, encouragement and support.
As BJ says, “…the heart is where we hold our friends—like precious gems in a jewel box.”
Having you as my friend makes me a winner.
A Better View From Down Under (post by Kirk Weisler)
Here’s a few great thoughts from Australians. Down Under Hope, Courage, and the Temptation to end the long toil of mortality.
“Hope is like a magic wand that whisks away your troubles and fulfills all your dreams and courage is like a golden key that opens a special door and gives you a brand new life.” ~AINERE ANTHONEY
Sometimes the paths we take are long and hard, but remember those are often the ones that lead to the most beautiful views. Have the courage to make that journey.” AINERE ANTHONEY
“Fallen into a crevasse: Exhausted, weak and chilled (for my hands were bare and pounds of snow had got inside my clothing) I hung with firm conviction that all was over except the passing. Below was a black chasm; it would be but the work of the moment to slip from the harness, then all the pain and toil would be over. It was a rare situation, a rare temptation – a chance to quit small things for great – to pass from the petty exploration of a planet to the contemplation of vaster worlds beyond. But there was all eternity for the last and, at its longest, the present would be but short. I felt better for the thought. ” SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON, The Home of the Blizzard
Have hope on your journey, don’t be afraid of the harder path…. and when quitting might seem to be the easiest way out…don’t. Remember quitting can be a forever thing whereas the current difficulties that we may dealing with will eventually pass away. When it does, it will only be a memory and hopefully a lesson learned that propels you to a better place, with a better view.
Kirk Out
Make It Your Job
POSTED: 11.11.2013
By Leo Babauta
When you’re feeling resentful or angry about something, it’s worth stopping to consider why.
This morning, I woke up to a dirty kitchen, and as I do most mornings, I started cleaning it up. Washing dishes, wiping counters, putting dishes away, and so on. I do this a lot.
And I found myself feeling resentful. Why didn’t other people clean this up? Why am I the one who has to clean it up all the time?
And I watched my resentment.
And I saw at its root a feeling of entitlement, that everyone should do things the way I want them to do it. A feeling of wanting to control others. A feeling that others should be what I want them to be. I’m at the center of the universe, and everyone else is a supporting character in my story.
Of course, that’s not true. They are their own people, and don’t want to be controlled, and want to live how they want to live. I’m only a supporting character in their lives.
So I could have tried to force them to act my way. Better: I could teach them to clean up after themselves, to pitch in and be good members of our family.
But what I did instead this morning is assumed that I am a servant, and that it is my job to clean the kitchen. It’s my job to serve my family.
The effect is that I released the idea that they should serve me, that they should do things my way. And instead I did the work without complaint, lovingly in the service of my loved ones.
I’ll still teach them, because that’s my job too, to serve them by showing them the best ways to live life. But I won’t do it with the resentment, only with the love.
http://zenhabits.net/
Police Officer’s Final Act of Kindness Caught on Tape Before Dying
This is truly heart-wrenching but it’s also inspirational. We can all ask ourselves, how will the rest of the world talk about us when we’re gone? In the case of this police officer, he will never be forgotten.
Sleeping Stranger Subway Picture On Q Train Defines Empathy And Is A Lesson In Being Good
Compassion.
This man has it.
When Isaac Theil let a sleepy stranger take a little catnap on his shoulder, it was because “I simply remembered the times my own head would bop on someone’s shoulder because I was so tired after a long day,” he recounted to Tova Ross of Tablet Magazine.
Another subway rider was so struck by Theil’s nonchalant empathy that he snapped a picture and put it on Reddit, from which it was then posted to Facebook by Charidy.
Redditor Braffination wrote, “Heading home on the Q train yesterday when this young black guy nods off on the shoulder of a Jewish man. The man doesn’t move a muscle, just lets him stay there. After a minute, I asked the man if he wanted me to wake the kid up, but he shook his head and responded, ‘He must have had a long day, let him sleep. We’ve all been there, right?'”
Theil himself has been completely surprised at the attention he’s received for his small act of kindness, as the photo has been shared over 20,000 times on Facebook.
“Maybe the photo wouldn’t have become so popular if people weren’t seeing a Jewish man with a yarmulke and a black man in a hood, and because they might not necessarily correlate the two,” speculated Theil to Tablet. “But there is only one reason that I didn’t move, and let him continue sleeping, and that has nothing to do with race. He was simply a human being who was exhausted, and I knew it and happened to be there and have a big shoulder to offer him.”
Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield, president of The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, was moved by Theil’s recollection of his own fatigue as an explanation for his kindness, and told The Huffington Post that it was a perfect demonstration of human empathy. Hirschfield said, “To be able to draw on past hardship to soften our hearts towards others is one of the most repeated commandments to the Jewish people, and is the core of many spiritual traditions.”
“I would love for people to use this as a lesson to just be good to each other,” Theil said toTablet.
Zig Ziglar (post by Simple Truth)
After a speech one day, Zig Ziglar was approached by someone in the audience who said:
“Zig, it was a great speech, but…motivation doesn’t last.”
Zig said, “Bathing doesn’t either. That’s why I recommend it daily!”
Like me, Zig loved quotes and believed that the right quote could provide “a-ha” moments and could help to reinforce a positive attitude. Here’s what he said:
“Reading has been my fuel for motivation. If the ‘a-ha’ I get when I’m reading is not already reduced into one or two sentences, I’ll take the essence of what I’ve read and chunk it into easily remembered bites of information. That information is what becomes ‘quotable.’ You would not sit still for me to read every book I’ve ever read to you. But if you’re the least bit like me, you’ll jump at the chance to bypass all the churning and scoop the cream right off the top—that is what quotes are…the cream of our learning.”
Failure is the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
~ Henry Ford
To say I’m honored to publish a book of Zig Ziglar’s is an understatement. Sixty Minutes said, “He’s a legend in the industry. He’s the Bill Gates, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison of enthusiasm.” What I loved about Zig, however, was his heart. His ability to help people realize their potential was unsurpassed and his belief that, “You can have everything you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want,” was the foundation of all he had accomplished.
Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.
~ Woodrow Wilson
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