Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
It's how you deal with failure
that determines how you achieve success.
- David Feherty
Most people are rushing their way through life. They fail to take the time necessary to nurture their relationships, feed their mind, relax their body or get in touch with their soul's desire for freedom and peace.
Life moves relentlessly forward one day at a time, and there is nothing any of us can do to stop it or slow it down.
We are all getting older every day, but we don't have to grow older every day. Taking time to day-dream, visit a friend, watch your children grow, or just play in your garden is time well-spent. There is a rush to tomorrow by all of us. We are being prodded into the future by faster computers, shorter delivery times, and a general need to have it, do it, and see it all: NOW!
Take time today for yourself. Take time to breathe in life, all of it: its color, splendor, smells, tastes, and sounds. From the smallest most insignificant event to the things you have taken for granted.
Tomorrow will be here before you know it. Today will be a distant memory before you realize it. We create our futures and memories in the present. Go through life today, conscious of your surroundings.
Why not take a long weekend walking through nature? There are a lot of lessons that nature can teach us, if we will only carefully observe and listen.
Today is a gift of life. Live it with gratitude and don't let the sun set today without seeing it, embracing it, and enjoying it. Why are you in such a rush anyway? Is it because you:
You can't have it all, do it all, learn it all, see it all, become it all, teach it all, in one lifetime so why frustrate yourself and those who are in your immediate life circle with this relentless drive for whatever.
I am not suggesting "vegetable status" here. I am only asking you to evaluate your life philosophy and this need for something - that is missing in your life - and trying to make up for it by an over zealous push for something, anything.
One way to determine where you fit on this do nothing to trying to do everything continuum is to honestly get in touch with your ability to do NOTHING. Just sit or walk and reflect. No agenda, no deadline, just a laid back approach to life once and a while.
The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today. Today is yesterday's tomorrow. The question is what did we do with its opportunity? All too often we will waste tomorrow as we wasted yesterday, and as we are wasting today. All that could have been accomplished can easily elude us, despite our intentions, until we inevitably discover that the things that might have been have slipped from our embrace a single, unused day at a time.
Each of us must pause frequently to remind ourselves that the clock is ticking. The same clock that began to tick from the moment we drew our first breath will also someday cease.
Time is the great equalizer of all mankind. It has taken away the best and the worst of us without regard for either. Time offers opportunity but demands a sense of urgency.
When the game of life is finally over, there is no second chance to correct our errors. The clock that is ticking away the moments of our lives does not care about winners and losers. It does not care about who succeeds or who fails. It does not care about excuses, fairness or equality. The only essential issue is how we played the game.
Regardless of a person's current age, there is a sense of urgency that should drive them into action now - this very moment. We should be constantly aware of the value of each and every moment of our lives - moments that seem so insignificant that their loss often goes unnoticed.
We still have all the time we need. We still have lots of chances - lots of opportunities - lots of years to show what we can do. For most of us, there will be a tomorrow, a next week, a next month, and a next year. But unless we develop a sense of urgency, those brief windows of time will be sadly wasted, as were the weeks and months and years before them.
There isn't an endless supply!
So as you think of your dreams and goals of your future tomorrow, begin today to take those very important first steps to making them all come to life.
Don't be afraid to attempt something new.
Remember, it was amateurs who built the ark.
It was professionals who built the Titanic.
- Unknown
"A champion is afraid of losing.
Everyone else is afraid of winning."
--Billie Jean King
"Decisions determine destiny."
--Frederick Speakman
"The keen spirit seizes the prompt occasion."
--Hannah Moore
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his steps faltered.
The family ate together at the table - but the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son.
"I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor."
So, the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. Their grandfather ate alone, while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.
Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowel. When the family glanced in grandfather's direction, sometimes they saw a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions, when he dropped a fork or spilled milk.
The four-year-old watched it all in silence. Then; one evening after supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked his child sweetly, "What are you making?"
Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mamma to eat your food on when I grow up."
The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.
The words so struck the parents that they were speechless.
No words were spoken, but tears streamed down their cheeks and both knew what must be done.
That evening the husband took grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.
For the remainder of his days, he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
Children are unusually perceptive. Their eyes observe, their ears ever listen, and their minds ever process the messages they absorb. Remember the saying, "Children are like sponges, they absorb everything and anything that is put is front of them."
There's always free cheese in a mousetrap.
- Unknown
We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest.
We must learn to sail in high winds.
- Hanmer Parsons Grant
"Lost time is never found again."
-Benjamin Franklin
