Plan and Act When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. (Confucius, early Chinese philosopher) We’re into month two of the New Year and, perhaps, we’re disappointed in our progress in achieving the goals we...
Directions If you know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else. (Yogi Berra, late baseball star) This is one of many Yogi malapropisms that clearly reflects the famous Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." In spite of our best intentions,...
Kindness II Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts another person. (C. Neil Strait, church leader and author) We sometimes think that to help people we have to give them something tangible like...
Kindness I Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful with kindness. (Helen Keller, deaf-blind author) Keller continues, “Your success and happiness lie in you . . . The great enduring realities are love and service.” It’s too true...
Purpose II I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live. (Francoise Sagan, 20th century French playwright) When you have an insatiable passion to pursue one course in life, it often becomes a search for perfection. It’s the old...
Purpose I The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate, but also disqualified for life. (Albert Einstein, late scientist) There is a widespread philosophy today that views life just as Einstein suggests:...
Maturity For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned it is the season of the harvest. (The Talmud, book of Jewish law and theology) Growing old to some is a bleak and dreaded prospect. We all fear diminished physical ability, lessened visual and hearing...
Performing It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . . (Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the...
Inspiration I learned that inspiration does not come like a bolt . . . it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time. . . (Brenda Ueland, late writer) She continues, “. . . nor is [inspiration] kinetic, energetic striving . . . we must regularly and every day...
Cooperation If you can't beat ’em, cooperate ’em to death. (Charlie Brown in Peanuts cartoon) Sometimes cartoon characters can give us something worth thinking about. What would life be like if, instead of continuing to fight against someone, we decided to join them...
Encourage Every person you meet today is hurting deep inside from something. Go gentle into this good day. (Leonard Sweet, American theologian) You just can’t tell what is going on in someone’s life just by seeing them briefly. They may give the appearance of health...
Quiet II If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot. (John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress) The analogy is clear, isn’t it? Can you imagine anything much more painful than trying to put a...