Proper Conversation It's best to talk to people not about people. (Rob Harrison, American pastor) With the almost universal use of smartphones and the Internet, face-to-face conversation has become nearly nonexistent—or, at least, less common. But the same rules of...
Choosing Your Response The overwhelming majority of your life is shaped by how you choose . . .to respond to circumstances beyond your control. (Paraphrase of Tim Knight, filmmaker) Knight points out that only a very small part of your life is affected by such...
True Friends Friends are the Bacon Bits in the Salad Bowl of Life. (Pizza Shop Sign) A lot of people agree that nearly everything tastes better with a little bacon in it. You might not want a bacon salad, but put a few bits in a spinach salad, and it is even tastier....
Sympathy Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success. (Oscar Wilde, 19th century Irish poet and playwright) Think about it! Most of us will genuinely sorrow with a friend who is...
A Simple Life Finding a way to live the simple life is one of life's supreme complications. (T. S. Eliot, one of the 20th century’s major poets) You may have neighbors whose religious convictions call for living a simple life. It may be difficult, but they do without...
Bitterness Bitterness is an acid that destroys its own container. (Adrian Rogers, radio preacher) It frightening to know that the gastric acids in our stomachs can eat through wood and small pieces of metal. It’s comforting to know, however, that those acids destroy...
Do Good Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good. (Minor Myers, professor) You might well expect to hear a commencement speaker encourage the graduates to “Go into the world and do well.” With all their new knowledge and...
Hard Work I don’t like to write, but I like having written. (Frank Norris, 19th century journalist) Maybe it’s not writing you dislike; maybe it’s the daily grind of your job. You don’t like the work (mental or physical) and you don’t enjoy the long hours; but you do...
Planning Envisioning our ideal next stage of life is an essential part of healthy aging. And the best way to actually achieve that ideal is to plan for it. (Maridel Reyes, writer and editor) It often seems like bad things just happen; we don’t have to plan for them....
Advancement If I have to choose, I will . . . take the less dynamic, indeed even the lazy person, who knows what’s right, than the zealot in the cause of error. (Antonin Scalia, late U.S. Supreme Court justice) Scalia continues: “He may move slower, but he’s headed...
What's Missing? We have too much to live with and too little to live for. (Os Guinness, English author and social critic.) On your next exercise walk, take a look in the open garages of your neighbors. What’s missing? In some of them, you’ll see lots of “stuff” but no...
Success I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--It is: to please everybody. (Herbert Bayard Swope, journalist) Everyone wants to be successful. Libraries are full of books intended to help readers achieve their goals....