Chapter 6, Page 20, Book 18

Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Art Linkletter

Accentuate the Positive

People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude

John C. Maxwell.

Life is what we make it.  We have the freedom of choice of what actions we take and how we choose to be.  When we accentuate the positive we eliminate the negative.  Instead of dwelling on what might have been, think about all the possibilities.  

If you can stay positive no matter what life throws at you,  your life can be anything you want it to be.  Stay focused when you feel your attitude slipping,  Keep yourself on track.  It’s all up to us to chose .  

The good news is, that the bad news can be turned into good news when you change your attitude.

Robert H. Schuller

Chapter 6, Page 19, Book 18

The Second Ten Commandments

Author Unknown

Thou shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.

Thou shall not be fearful, for most things we fear never come to pass.

Thou shall not cross bridges before you come to them, for no one yet has succeeded in accomplishing this.

Thou shall face each problem as it comes.  You can only handle one at a time anyway.

Thou shall not take problems to bed with you, for they make very poor partners!

Thou shall not borrow others peoples problems, The can better care for them than you can.

Thou shall not try to relive yesterday as it is forever gone.  Concentrate on what is happening in your life and be happy as best you can today.

Thou shall  be a good a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own.  It is hard to learn something new when you are talking, and some people do know more than you do.

Thou shall not become bogged down by frustrations, for 90% of it is rooted in self pity and will only interfere with positive action.

Thy shall count thy blessings, never over looking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to the big ones.

The shall and shall nots

There are principles which govern our life — they are principles of Life.  If our life is lived according to these principles all is well, and harmony reins in place of vexation and struggle.

Henry T. Hamblin

Most of us were taught the 10 Commandments when we were young and they’ve become guiding principles in our lives.  I thought this second set of commandments were also pretty good things to remember .

Sometimes seeing things put in plain words like these makes us remember what is important in life.  They may not be carved in stone, but they’ll make your life better for sure.

Principles don’t die. They aren’t here one day and gone the next.  They can’t be destroyed by fire, earthquake or theft.  Principles are deep fundamental truths, classic truths.

Steven R. Covey

Note to anyone no longer receiving comments in their email.

Thanks to a friend that blogs I recently found out that I could once again receive comments in my email by checking the box in my comment section that says to email follow up comments.  I took a picture of what I see on my blog when leaving a comment on it.  

I’ve started leaving a comment on my blog each day just so I can enjoy receiving comments in my email again.  

Hope this helps anyone else having a problem.

I also can no longer comment on a few of my favorite blogs at all as it seems I’m not a member of Google Plus.  So if you are wondering why I no longer comment that is why.  I can read them but cannot comment.

Chapter 6, Page 18, Book 18

Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.

Langston Hughes

It is all in the smile...

Humor is contagious. Laughter is infectious. Both are good for your health. 

 William Fry

There is nothing like a SMILE.  I like writing about smiling and laughter often because I know the positive benefits they can bring to your life.  Having a good sense of humor doesn’t simply make you a more pleasant person to socialize with; it can help you get more done and even save your sanity.  

So go ahead: Smile.

Having a good sense of humor can make you more resilient.  It has been scientifically proven that laughter causes positive reactions in the human body; it relieves stress and muscle tension, increases the release of endorphins and dopamine which are chemicals that make you feel good and promote general feelings of well being.

Smile a while and give your face a rest…

When it comes to finding constructive ways of dealing with fear, there is hardly anything more effective than having a good old laugh. This is because it is impossible to laugh at something and be afraid of it at the same time. 

A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.

Denis Waitley

Chapter 6, Page 17, Book 18

Fathers Are Wonderful People

Fathers are wonderful people

Too little understood,

And we do not sing their praises

As often as we should…

For, somehow, Father seems to be

The man who pays the bills,

While Mother binds up the little hurts 

and nurses all our ills…

And Father struggles daily

to live up to ‘his image’

As protector and provider

And hero of the scrimmage…

And perhaps that is the reason

We sometimes get the notion

That Fathers are not subject

To the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad’s heart,

Where no one else an see

You’ll find he’s sentimental 

And as soft as he can be…

But he’s so busy every day

In the grueling race of life,

He leaves the sentimental stuff

To his partner and his wife…

But Fathers are just wonderful

In a million different ways,

And they merit loving compliments

And accolades of praise.

For the only reason Dad aspires

To fortune and success

is to make the family proud of him

And to bring them happiness…

And like Our Heavenly Father,

He’s a guardian and a guide,

Someone that we can count on

To be always on our side.

Helen Steiner Rice

I’m sending out the best of wishes to all Fathers today for the Happiest Fathers Day ever. You are all loved and appreciated for all that you do!

Happy Fathers Day!

Chapter 6, Page 16, Book 18

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.

John Denver

Life needs more sweet tea and sunshine!

Number 1:  both are good for you !

Number 2:  we need the sweet and sunny times of life to get us through the bitter and dark days.

We need to remember that when life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate.  When life is bitter, say thank you and grow.  The bad days make you realize what a good day is.

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down…

For me there is nothing like finding a spot in the sun and sipping sweet tea to help you realize how good life can be.  

Remember: 

Life can be so sweet. On the sunny side of the street.

Chapter 6, Page 15, Book 18

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.

Benjamine Disraeli

Just for today, I’ll not let my thoughts get me down…

Every thought is a seed.  If you plant crab apples, Don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.

Bill Meyer

We are what we think about and we don’t have to let negative thoughts bring us down,  it’s our choice.  And if I have my choice, I’d choose to think about only happy things.  Well, yes, there are always going to be some bad things that happen, but we don’t need to dwell on them any  longer than necessary.  The important thing to think about things that make you happy and be thankful for them.

I have known a few people that couldn’t do anything but complain.  No matter how much I’d try and change the subject, they’d go right back to complaining.  It didn’t really matter what subject I brought up, they’d only find something to complain about.  All I could think was that they led a pretty sad life.  Nothing was ever good enough for them.  They always found something to bring them down and never gave thanks for or appreciated anything.

Believe me when I say I’d feel pretty down after spending an hour or two with them.  I would have avoided being with them if I could have but it wasn’t an option in this case.  

I could only put a smile on my face and remind them of all the great things in life they had.

The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things.

Bertrand Russell

Chapter 6, Page 14, Book 18

The vanity of human life is like a river, constantly passing away, and yet constantly coming on.

Alexander Pope

Excerpt from one of my weekly devotionals…  slightly adapted

There is much to be said about rivers.  We are only too aware of the great power of a river in a flood, and in contrast the beauty of  the gentle flowing river in the heat of summertime.  Every river has and energy and flow.  Comparing life to a river is a good image.  The many twists and turns of a river reflect life and is unpredictability.  Every day brings forth some measure of how uncertain life can be.  Life can be uplifting and rewarding but just as quick, it can be cruel and unforgiving.  We have no option but to go with the flow.

Even when the river floods out over the banks on either side, there comes a time when the river will recede back to where things were. 

Life just is.  You have to flow with it.  Give yourself to the moment.  Let it happen.  

Jerry Brown.

Chapter 6, Page 13, Book 18

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life.  The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.  

Lord Byron.

shine your light…be a rainbow

Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.

Maya Angelou

To me this means to try to be a person that brightens someones’ day.  Try to be a person that puts their own worries aside to lift others spirits up when they are down.  Try to be a person that has a calming warm effect on others. 

Trying to spend our days making the lives of other brighter, also puts a little sunshine in to our own days.  What you give to others always come back.  

To bring peace and happiness in the lives of others is to be like a rainbow does after the darkest of clouds.

There is a rainbow of hope at the end of every storm.

Chapter 6, Page 12, Book 18

So stop waiting until you finish school,

until you go back to school,

until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds,

until you have kids, until your kids leave the house,

until you start work, until you retire,

until you get married, until you get divorced,

until Friday night, until Sunday morning,

until you get a new car or home,

until your car or home is paid off,

until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter,

until the first or the fifteenth, until your song comes on,

until you’ve had a drink, until you’ve sobered up,

until you die, until you are born again

to decide that there is no better time

than right now to be happy.

Author Unknown

Be happy now !

Happiness  doesn’t depend on what we have, but it does 

depend on how we feel toward what we have.  We can be

happy with little and miserable with much.

William Dempster Hoard

Many of us struggle with being happy because we don’t think are thin, right or successful enough.  But the truth is even if things are not perfect in our life, there are lots of reasons we can be happy now.

We don’t have to have tons of material things to be happy.  We just have to be happy in the place we live and with what we have.

We already have all we need to be happy right now with what we have.  It’s our choice.

The secret of happiness is the realization that life is a gift, not a right.

Author Unknown

Chapter 6, Page 11, Book 18

Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.

Mary Anne Radmacher

We don’t need to do something earthshaking to need courage.  We need it in our life every day.  We often think of courage as a quality required only in times of great danger or stress, but courage is needed to live a life without regrets.

We need courage to change when it’s easier to remain comfortable.  Courage allows ordinary people to achieve exceptional results.  Courage to do the right things at the right time and for the right reasons.

Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.

Dan Rather

Whenever we start something new, doubt comes easy but courage takes work.  Courage is required daily.  Courage is not the absence of fear but our triumph over it.

Courage is saying, Maybe what I’m doing isn’t working.  Maybe I should try something else.

Anne Lappe

Chapter 6, Page 10, Book 18

It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much, preforms much, and what is done in love is well done.

Vincent van Gogh

Inspiration:  the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

When you think positive, good things happen.

Matt Kemp

Sometimes a quote will inspire me, or sometimes it might be a person, a scripture reading or a picture that inspires me, but there is always something that will kick start my day and motivate me to do and be better.  

  I think we all need something to help us think,  be creative and to see the wonder in life.  

Someone once asked me … whether I waited for inspiration.  My answer was:  every day!

Aaron Copeland

Inspiration can come when we least expect it and from some unexpected sources.  Very often it tends to shake things up and make us think and comes when it’s time for a change.

Inspiration does stimulate our brains and while it take many forms, everyone has their own, it will find you, even when you least expect it.

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do.  Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. 

Ella Fitzgerald

Chapter 6, Page 9, Book 18

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

James Taylor

a reminder that life is to be enjoyed fully 

Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

Earl Nightingale

The best way for me to enjoy life is to take it one day at a time.  For one day at a time we can deal with things as they happen and not make plans or worry about the future.

We often get so caught up in the future and consumed by the past that we can’t even see what is right in front of us.  When we give up the need to dwell in the past or worry about the future we can appreciate things as they are right now.

To really enjoy all our days…we need to take them one at a time..

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

Richard Bach

Chapter 6, Page 8, Book 18

Either you deal what is the reality or you can be sure that reality is going to deal with you.

Alex Haley

Keeping things real…

Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality.  If you can dream it, you can make it so.

Belva Davis

We may not like the life we are living, but the truth is we should take the time to appreciate it as this life is all that we have.  

Life isn’t always the party we dreamed of.  It’s not full of rainbows and butterflies. But it seems to me that in many ways life is what we make it.

There are things that aren’t under our control, but everything we think about and do everyday is what our lives are all about.  Our life lies in our hands and we are the ones responsible for what it’s going to be.

The real things haven’t changed.  It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasure; and have courage when things go wrong.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Chapter 6, Page 7, Book 18

Always laugh when you can.  It’s cheap medicine.

Lord Byron

A little dose of humor to start off the day…

What does the letter ‘A'; have in common with a flower?

They both have bees coming after them.

What kind of a tree has hands?

A palm tree.

Kim Roblin

What gets bigger the more you take away?

A hole

What do you get if you cross a four leaf clover with poison ivy?

A rash of good luck.

What runs but never gets tired?  

Water

and last but not least…

A new business was opening and one of the owner’s friends wanted to send him flowers for the occasion

The flowers arrived at the new business site and the owner read the card:  Rest in Peace.  The owner was annoyed and called to complain. 

Sir, I’m really sorry for the mistake and sorry you were offended, said the florist.   But even worse somewhere there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying,  Congratulations on your new location.

Don’’t forget that laughing can lead to a happier life.

Humor is contagious. Laughter is infections.  Both are good for your health. 

William Fry