The Dash

A man stood up at his wife's funeral and spoke. They had been married for more than fifty years. This is the core of the husbands' speech:
"On the tombstone you will notice there are two dates. The first is the date of my wife's birth the second is the date of her passing. What we often forget to notice is that there is a dash between those two numbers. This dash represents her life."
That dash is what makes us who we are. It is what took place in between those two dates. There are many lessons learned, many tears of joy and sorrow, much love shared and many lives touched; all portrayed within that simple little dash.

Just like the story above, everytime I walk pass a graveyard and look at the tombstones, I'll always be reminded about how we should live our life. What will be your epitaph?
Epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.So what is your epitaph? What will other people remember you for? Will you be remembered for?

(epitaph of Mel Blanc)

When we are born you are crying and everyone is smiling. Live your life so that when you die you are smiling and all those around you are crying. Put more dash in your life, and may it be a very long dash indeed.

"To me, my greatest achievement in life will be seeing more lives being changed for the better because I was once on this earth"
~ unknown ~

Two Wolves

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life...
He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.
One wolf is evil -- he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego.
The other is good---he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."
They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied: "The one you feed".

"Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples don't count on harvesting golden Delicious"
- unknown -

Young at Heart

Recently, I received an email and it's a very interesting email because it talked about how to stay young and I believe the 'young' here is talking about young at heart. Everybody will grow old in terms of age and look, but not everybody can stay young on the inside.
You can be young on the outside yet old on the inside, you are pessimistic, lost of hope, no future to look forward to, etc. On the other side, you can be 60+ or 70+ years old, but you are still energetic, optimistic, full of confidence and hope. The difference is on the choice that you made.
So, here are 10 things you can do to stay young at heart:
1. Throw out nonessential numbers
This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That’s why you pay them
2. Keep only cheerful friends
The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if YOU are one of those grouches.)
3. Keep learning
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, and whatever. Never let the brain get idle. An idle mind is the devil's workshop. And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!
4. Enjoy the simple things
5. Laugh often, long and loud until you gasp for breath
And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM / HER.
6. Surround yourself with what you love
Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, or whatever.
7. The tears happen
Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us in our entire life, is yourself. LIVE while you are alive.
8. Cherish your health
If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, GET HELP.
9. Don't take guilt trips
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next country, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10.Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity

"I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul"
- unknown -

Change For The Better

Don't spend major time with minor people. If there are people in your life who continually disappoint you, break promises, stomp on your dreams, are too judgmental, have different values and don't have your back during difficult times...that is not friendship.
To have a friend, be a friend. Sometimes in life as you grow, your friends will either grow or go. Surround yourself with people who reflect values, goals interests and lifestyles.
Over the years my phone book might has changed because I changed, for the better. At first, you think you're going to be alone, but after awhile, new people show up in your life that make it so much sweeter and easier to endure.
Remember: "Birds of a feather flock together. If you're an eagle, don't hang around chickens: Chickens can't fly!"

"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."
-Mary Engelbreit-

Get along with people

Getting along with people is one of the most important principle that we need to have, yet it is the harddest thing to be done. Not many people can get along with other people, some people just find it hard to get along with others. The fact is that we as human are social being and we need to relate to others even to those we find hard to get along with.
Once we know how to get along well with other people, we will find ourselves surrounded by many friends. No wonder those who can't get along with other people will tend to be alone and with no friends.
So here are the Ten Commandments of HOW TO GET ALONG WITH PEOPLE by Ann Landers, and I think if we can learn to do all these we have already upgraded ourselves to be a better person that people can get along with.

1. Keep skid chains on your tongue. Always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice. How you say it often counts more than what you say.
2. Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully, no matter what the cost.
3. Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody. Praise good work, regardless of who did it. If criticism is needed, offer it gently, never harshly.
4. Be interested in others---their pursuits, their work, their homes and families. Make merry with those who rejoice, and weep with those who mourn. Let everyone you meet, however humble, feel that you regard him or her as a person of importance.
5. Don’t burden or depress those around you by dwelling on your minor aches and pains and small disappointments. Remember, everyone is carrying some kind of burden, often heavier than your own.
6. Keep an open mind. Discuss, but don’t argue. It is the mark of a superior mind to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.
7. Let your virtues, if you have any, speak for themselves. Refuse to talk of other’s vices. Discourage gossip. It is a waste of valuable time, and can be extremely destructive.
8. Be careful of another’s feelings. Wit and humor at another person’s expense may do more damage than you will ever know.
9. Pay no attention to disparaging remarks. Remember, the person who carried the message may not be the most accurate reporter in the world, and things become twisted in the retelling. Live so that nobody will believe them.
10. Don’t be too eager to get the credit due you. Do your best, and be patient. Forget about yourself, and let others “remember”. Success is much sweeter that way.

“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”
- Theodore Roosevelt -

Quiz

Let's start with a quiz:
1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the countries that won World Cup for the past 20 years.
3. Name the top five female tennis player.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

How did you do?
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies.
Awards tarnish.
Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?
The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials... the most money... or the most awards. They are simply the ones that care the most.

"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
- John C. Maxwell -

Railways

A group of kids were playing nearby two railways. First railway is active where a train normally passes by, while sedond railway is no longer active.There is a kid playing at the inactive railway, while the rest are at the active railway.
Suddenly there is a train approaching in a high speed, and you are at the train control station and in charge of controlling the direction of the train.Will you shift the train to the inactive railway and save a group of kids playing at the active railway, but this means you are sacrificing the life of a kid that was plauing at the inactive railway.Or you will keep the train at the right railway where the train suppose to be at?
Let's take a time and think what kind of decision shall we take.
Most people will choose to shift the train direction and only sacrifice a life of one person.May be you have the same choice because by saving the life of many kids and lost a life of one kid is a rational decision and it's allowed morally and emotionally.
But do you realize that the kid that choose to play at the inactive railway, is making right decision because he choose to play at the safe place.Beside that, he must be sacrificed because of the carelessness of the other kids that were playing at the dangerous place.
This dilemma happened around us almost everyday. In the Office, society, politics and especially in democratics environment, minority has to be sacrificed for the need of majority.A kid's life that choose not to play with his friends at the dangerous railway has been ignored.and may be we might not regret that this incident happened.
Someone said he will not change the direction of the train because he believes that the group of kids that were playing at the active railway know very well that the railway is still active.So they will run once they heard the sound of approaching train.If the direction was shifted to inactive railway, the kid that were playing at inactive railway will surely die because he never thought of a train will pass by that railway.Beside that, the reason a lane was being deactivated was probably the lane was already unsafe.If the direction of the train was changed to the inactive railway, we have put the lives of all the passengers in danger.And may be the step to save a group of kids and sacrifice a kid, will end up sacrificing hundreds of lives in the train.
We have to know that life is full of difficult choices and decisions to made.And may be we might not realize that a quick decision may not always be the right decision.


"Something that is right may not always be popular and something that is popular may not always be right"
-Anon-

Anxious for nothing

You can't change the past
But you can destroy your now by worrying your future
If you fill your heart with past regrets and future worries
You'll never be grateful for your now
If you think about yesterday without regrets and tomorrow without fear
You are on your way to success

Don't wait for the perfect timing to start doing something
You may never start doing something at all
Start today
Start from where you are and with what you already have
Never think why we choose someone to love
But know that it's love that choose us to love someone

Friendship one soul in two different body
True friendship is like health
We will only appreciate it the moment we lost it
A friend is one who can listen to a song in your heart
And sing it out when you forget the lyrics
Friends are God's hands protecting us
Respect must not always end up into friendship
But never regret to meet a stranger
Regret only if the person regret to meet you
Make friends with those who value justice
They are the light in your joy and your shield in your pain
But you'll never have a friend
If you are hoping for someone without mistake

Because everyone is a good person in nature if you can see their kindness
And everyone is interesting if you can see their uniqueness
But everyone will look boring and ugly if you can't see both
It is the same with wisdom
It is like a fluid
It will be useful if you use it properly

Smart people can fail because they think too much
But you'll be succesful if you do the right thing at the right time
And true wisdom does not only come from our mind
But from our heart

Nobody is perfect
Those who want to learn from mistake are wise
It is sad to see people who insist that they are right
When they know themselves that they are wrong

What has happened in the past and what is going to happen in the future
Is nothing compare to what we are going to do now


"Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere."
-Glenn Turner-

Blessed to be a Blessing

This has been my personal motto in life that to life a live as a blessing to others. I've seen especially in this modern era many people are living a life without considering others' feeling. Have you ever imagine what will happen to this world if everybody just care about their ownself? Everything that you do is for your own purpose and for your own good? In other word, living a selfish life.There are times we'll meet such people or may be we have such friend or worse without realizing it, we ourselves are a selfish person. You may said that you are not, you may said that you are providing for you family, your wife/husband, your kids, and your little dog. But, what about providing those orphans, elderly, disabled, etc?

To me a selfish life is when you feel it's convenient to help or provide to those that you've already known but it's inconvenient to help those that you do not know. I've always believe that God bless us for a purpose and that is to bless others. Yes, we might start from our own family and relatives but eventually we need to be able to bless those outside our circle of influence, and that to me is an even more blessed life. Our blessing might not always be in the form of money, we can bless others with our words of encouragement, our actions, our time, our skills and abilities, and so on as long as all that we do bring smiles on their face. And the moment you see the smile on their face, you can't help but to smile back and that will lift up your spirit and brighten up your life. So, if you think that life is boring, why not start by blessing other people today and you'll find that there are more to explore in life!

"We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count"
-Neil A. Maxwell-