This IS Your Life August 15, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Health & Wellness, Mindfulness, People.comments closed
I don’t remember where I first heard, read, or saw this story, and the particulars are a bit murky, but it’s worth sharing:
A young woman with everything going for her had a serious accident. In an instant, her entire life changed. Instead of being out and about shopping and dining with friends, she lay bed-ridden, in a hospital, riddled with pain.
All her hopes, dreams, and plans for the future lay dead and dying around her as she stared at the ceiling day after day, discouraged and frustrated by her limitations.
Nurses tried to cheer her up to no avail.
One afternoon, a new nurse appeared at her bedside to check her vital signs. The nurse asked the young woman how she was feeling.
In response, the patient screamed, “How do you think I’m feeling? What are you, a moron? Being in pain sucks. Being in the hospital sucks. Everything sucks.”
Then, with a deep sigh, she whispered, “I just want my life back.”
With that, the nurse leaned in and said in a kind voice, “This IS your life.”
Hearing those four words, the patient finally “got it.” She realized that she had to make a choice: continue to wallow in regret for a past that was now beyond her reach, or accept the “what is” and move forward with her life.
She chose to move forward.
* * * * *
“Life is what happens while we’re busy making plans.” ~ John Lennon
Go For It! August 15, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Happiness, Health & Wellness, Life Balance.comments closed
Go For It! {verse omitted} ~ by Bruce B. Wilmer (copyright 1992)
Shake off your doubts and then go for it
Check out your options and act
Find an approach to the future
And turn today’s dreams into fact.
Take a first step to tomorrow
Start on the course of your choice
Look at what life has to offer
Listen to your inner voice.
Don’t live a life of regretting
Stifled by negative force.
Think of what you can accomplish
Steer an affirmative course.
Even though problems may surface
Problems don’t have to prevail
As long as you’re one who is trying
And never just waiting to fail.
The inspirational poems of Bruce B. Wilmer, including Go For It!, are available for purchase as Greeting Cards, Wallet Stuffers, and Little Scrolls.
For more information, or to order, visit Wilmer Graphics.
Related post: A Change Would Do You Good
10 Easy Ways To Be Kind August 15, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Gratitude, Happiness, Life Balance, People.comments closed
Acts of kindness don’t have to be time-consuming or expensive. Give the gift of kindness to others and watch it boomerang back to you:
1. Offer to return the grocery cart for an elderly person or a mother with small children.
2. Leave a treat or brief note of thanks for your mail or newspaper carrier.
3. Give someone an unexpected and sincere compliment.
4. When someone is trying to merge into your lane of traffic, wave them in with a smile.
5. Befriend a new co-worker or student, and introduce them to others.
6. Give your spouse or child an extra hug before bed.
7. Pick up trash when you go for a walk.
8. Smile at everyone you see.
9. Write a thank you note to someone who influenced you years earlier.
10. Let someone with only a few items go ahead of you in the check-out line.
When we let go of our automatic responses and begin to live spontaneously in the here and now, we uncover the joy and happiness within.
Quote: You have not lived a perfect day unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you. – Ruth Smeltzer
Related post: Give A Little Bit
Translating WORD To DEED August 15, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Word Play.comments closed
Words, standing alone, can be powerful:
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
But man cannot live by WORD alone:
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
So, how do we translate WORD to DEED? By rolling up our sleeves and getting to work, or . . . by putting on our thinking caps!
In FUN with WORDS, I tossed out a few doublet challenges for you from the Guinness Book of Words.
Here’s a solution to #10: from WORD to DEED:
WORD ~ WOAD ~ ROAD ~ READ ~ DEAD ~ DEED
Did you have this solution?
A different one?
A shorter one?
Please share your solution below.
More inspirational transformations on the way!
Aphorisms from Aa to Zz: Vv August 15, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Humor, Nature.comments closed
Valor
You must do the thing you think you cannot do. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
People living deeply have no fear of death. ~ Anais Nin
The powerful effect of words on valor differs between the sexes. Women can make men tremble in their boots by uttering four little words: “we need to talk.”
Men, in contrast, terrorize women by saying “don’t worry about it,” when asked why they need the bug spray.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Values
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Don’t sacrifice your values to reach your goals.
He who trims himself to suit everyone else will soon whittle himself away. ~Raymond Hull
Happiness flows from being true to yourself.
What lies before us, and what lies behind us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson or Oliver Wendell Holmes
Vantage Point
We see the world behind our eyes.
If we’re too focused on reaching the destination, we miss all the lovely detours along the way.
Wherever you go, there you are.
You’ll miss half the trip if you have your eyes glued to the rear-view mirror.
The more you focus on viewing others with love, kindness, compassion, and acceptance, the more your view and God’s view will merge.
We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are. ~ Anais Nin
Vices
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. ~ Winston Churchill
If someone says they’re not feeling “up to snuff” . . . does that mean that all vices are off limits?
The worst vice of a fanatic is his sincerity. ~ Oscar Wilde
Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice. ~ Samuel Johnson
Vivisection
Vivisection is a social evil because, if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Animal research is cruel to the animal, dangerous to the public, and misleading to the scientist. – Dr. G Dettman
How smart does a chimp have to be before killing him constitutes murder? ~ Carl Sagan
Atrocities are no less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are called research. ~ George Bernard Shaw
It’s a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best of people have always done. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe
If we do not do something to help these creatures, we make a mockery of the whole concept of justice. ~ Jane Goodall
Spirit Lights The Way 