"Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate you,
This is the year that your dreams come true!
This is the year that your ships come in;
This is the year you find joy within.
This is the year you are glad to live;
This is the year you have much to give.
This is the year when you know the Truth;
This is the year when you find new youth.
This is the year that brings happiness;
This is the year you will live to bless.
Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate you,
This is the year that your dreams come true!
--Russell Kemp
As nice and as positive as this is, we know that it is not going to be true for everyone, just as most of the Israelites, after being delivered from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, didn't make it into the promised land--even though it really was there! (I hope you've seen the movie Prince of Egypt. Why? Because they lacked belief (faith). That is still the missing key for many people. Without faith, you're headed for another major disappointment. But with faith, miracles can happen; and if you have belief/faith, and with passion and discipline, ACT upon it (faith without work is dead), this really can be your year of blessing, just as the poem says! It's your choice! Keep telling yourself.
I just rediscovered this today. I apologize if it came from you and I've used it without attribution. I like it very much:
If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next
time. I would relax; I would limber up; I would be crazier than I've
been this trip. I know very few things I would take seriously anymore.
I'd certainly be less hygienic. I would take more chances; I would
take more trips. I would scale more mountains; I would swim more rivers
and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer
beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I was one of those people who lived prophylactically and
sensibly and sanely, hour after hour and day after day. Oh. I've had
my moments and if I had it to do over again, I'd have many more of
them. In fact, I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one
after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. I've
been one of those people who never went anywhere without a thermometer,
a hot-water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had
it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have.
I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and I would stay that
way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds and catch
more gold rings and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance
more often. If I had it to do all over again...But, you see, I don't
--Anonymous
PERSISTENCE That which you persist in doing becomes easy to
do -- not that the nature of the thing has changed, but your power
and ability to do has increased.
-- H. J. Grant
PROBLEMS It takes a real storm in the average person's life
to make him realize how much worryinghe has done over the squalls.
-- Heartland Advisor
EXPERIENCE Where you are in consciousness has everything to
do with what you see in experience.
--Eric Butterworth
PERCEPTION What happens is not as important as how you react
to what happens.
-- Thaddeus Golas
Always we hope someone else has the answer. Some other place will
be better, some other time it will turn out. This is it. No one else
has the answer, no other place will be better and it has already turned
out. At the center of your being you have the answer, you know who
you are and you know what you want. There is no need to run outside
for better seeing or to peer from a window. Rather abide at the center
of your being; for the more you leave it the less you learn.
--Lao-Tzu, Author of Tao Te Ching
A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."
He proceeded to crumple the bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
"What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God's eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him.
THOUGHT: The worth of our lives come not in what we do or who we are but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE we are! You are Special!!!!
Ray's note: Neither success nor failure can add or subtract value from you we are as a person. We are who we are, and our value is not effected or diminished by anything. But we can add value to other people's lives by who we are when we connect with them and by what we do with our words and actions. When we are making a contribution to the lives of others, the inherent value that is within ourselves is AFFIRMED (not increased), and as such we FEEL more valuable because the contribution (adding value to others) has affirmed our inherent and unchangeable value.Doing nothing for others on the other hand, feeds our self-doubt and fears that we are worthless and not important. This is why it feels so good to serve and help others, because in doing so, feel are affirming the truth about ourselves--that we too are worthwhile and valuable.Thank you for the contribution you are making in the Mannatech Mission! Who you are and what you do DOES make an important difference. Believing otherwise is to believe a lie. Stand in the truth! Who you are and what you do is important, and your contribution is important! And I appreciate it, and I appreciate YOU! Believing in you, Ray Gebauer
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced;
Live your life in such a manner that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.
--Native American saying
