Forgiving True forgiveness is complete and total. (Louis Zamperini, military veteran) How often have you heard someone say, “I’ve forgiven . . . but I can’t forget”? It may be really difficult to forgive someone who has offended you deeply and, perhaps, even publicly....
Living Life The purpose of life is to live it… without fear for newer and richer experience. (Eleanor Roosevelt, late US president’s wife and activist) Some people seem to be stuck, uncertain as to what to do or hesitating for fear of failure. There are so many...
Stories It has been said that next to hunger and thirst our most basic human need is for storytelling. (Khalil Gibran, 20th century Lebanese-American writer) Do you remember your parents reading or telling stories to you at bedtime? Maybe they made up those stories....
Determination The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. (Ayn Rand, late Russian-American novelist) There are some work places where enterprise and initiative among employees are frowned on. In those places you have to have permission...
Wealth The problem with affluence . . . is not that there is anything wrong with prosperity itself but that material abundance often leads to spiritual amnesia. (Mark Powell, author and professor) Most of us live in a pretty affluent community, and many of us are...
Reading II Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are. (Mason Cooley, late college professor) The Coronavirus pandemic gave most of us a lot of time at home to do nothing—or to find productive activity. As Cooley says, reading can get us out...
Reading I The journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page. (Rachel Anders, author) Literacy is one of life’s most importance achievements. Even with modern technology, we often have to “read” what’s being transmitted in cyber space. Opening a book may...
Pleasure Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. (Søren Kierkegard, 19th century Danish philosopher) “Breathless” and “haste,” indeed, are two words that clearly express the pace of life in 21st century America. And it is also...
Impossibilities Every noble work is at first impossible. (Thomas Carlyle, 19th century British essayist) “It can’t be done!” Haven’t you heard that before? Who would have thought 20 years ago that you could sit in a meeting, separated from your colleagues by miles,...
Self-Control Not being able to govern events, I govern myself. (Michel de Montaigne, 16th century French philosopher) How often do we wish we could change things around us? We might say, “If only…,” and we are frustrated that we aren’t in control. Perhaps we should...
Contentment We are not born with the instinct for contentment; rather, it is learned. (Howard Dayton, author) Is it ambition, greed, or simple boredom? Whatever the cause, a lot of people seem to be dissatisfied with their place in or the pace of their lives. As...
Choices The choices that we make in our life, indeed determine the kind of results that we experience and the quality of the life that we live. (Sumeet Jain, engineer and educator) As children mature, they begin to learn what adults have known for a long time. There...