Some of the most significant messages people deliver to one another often come in just three words. When spoken or conveyed, those statements have the power to forge new friendships, deepen old ones and restore relationships that have cooled. The following three-word phrases can enrich every relationship.
I RESPECT YOU - Respect is another way of showing love. Respect conveys the feeling that
another person is a true equal. It is a powerful way to affirm the importance of a relationship.
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.
A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces missing.
The people stared. How can he say his heart is more beautiful?? they thought. The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."
"Yes," said the old man, "Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges - giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.
They embraced and walked away side by side
The best of friends see a need and try to fill it.When they spot a hurt they do what they can to heal it.Without being asked, they pitch in and helpLean on me, when you're not strong,and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on,for it won't be long,'til I'm going to need somebody to lean onLet Me Help..
..The flight was well under way when I wake up and saw my seatmate watching me. I introduced myself and asks him all the normal questions that people asks kids: age, school, name and lastly if his parents are on board the plane.
Suddenly, his big blue eyes were locked on mine and his expression grew strangely stiff. Then I realized that he was trying to control his face muscles. The harder he tried to hold his chin up, the harder it quivered.
"What's wrong?", I asked. By then tears were no longer secret between us. His watery gaze unbroken, he answered my question with the rawest and most naked statement that I have ever heard 'I want my Mommy!"
The boy had said goodbye to his mother at the airport and was en route to his father who had custody of him. "I miss her so much" he quaked as he sobs. "She cried too" he said as though to justify the outpouring emotion. This explained the boy's late entry on the plane.
"This is ridiculous. I can't cry the whole trip", he said interrupting his sobs. He then told me how his mom and him had took a taxi, stayed up late, seen a movie, went to the best toy store in town and used all the money that his father had given her.
Putting on a brave face, he tried to talk of other things..but he kept coming back to the realization that the plane was carrying him farther and farther from his mom. "I just wish she was here" he kept saying. "But I can't go on crying like this", he said wiping his tears on the already wet sleeves of his sweater.
Clumsily I tried to offer him the few truths that I have learned in turbulent times: life can be really hard but you'll always feel better after you felt bad. But I didn't know how to tell him that there are no ready remedies for the sorrows of goodbyes. This child was one of the many who travel solo from one home to another, the lost luggage of parents who couldn't stand each other and now have to divide their children between them. Perhaps it's not fair of me to question the domestic arrangements of others. Yet, as I listened to the story coming from this little child, I couldn't help but wonder if the parents would have tried harder if they had seen this pain.....
*********************************
Cat feels just like the child..oo.I do miss him so much..i do..
I had imagined that our 25th wedding anniversary gala to have a large white tent decorated with flowers and with a six piece orchestra playing a romantic song. Several hundreds of guests would be mixing around. My husband and I would be exchanging diamond studded matching bracelets. He would romantically feed me a piece of the anniversary cake and then we would sway on the dance floor to the music of 'Our Love is Here to Stay'.
The reality was here we are two 47 years old adults sitting together in the backyard with party hats strapped under our chins.
25 years. There had been a time where we would have gotten a standing ovation for being married that long. Now, kids look at you as if you are a prehistoric animal.
When I read the newspaper, I found myself searching to the anniversary section, looking for people who had survived 50 to 60 years of marriage. I knew that it would be a matter of time before anyone would be able to tell us apart. Already, our ideas, our stories and our attitudes have blended to such a degree where we barely knew where one began and the other left off. Whenever he told a joke, I knew the exact moment he was going to say 'Help me with the punch line, honey'.
He was still late all the time and still left handed. He was with his cronies less, but had replaced them with other distractions such as jogging and fishing. I had cut his hair and turned 33488 pieces of his underwear right side out. He had washed my feet when I was pregnant and couldn't see them. He had also put his car seat back to it's original position 18675 times after I used the car.
We had shared toothpaste, debts, closets and relatives. We had given each other honesty and trust.
He came over to where I was seated and said, 'I got a present for you. Close your eyes.' When I opened my eyes, he was holding a cauliflower that comes packed in a pickle jar.
'I hid it from the kids'. he said, 'because I know how much you like the cauliflower.' Maybe love is as simple as this.
Lawrence Woodruff: You know why I like to teach children, Jack? So I don't get so wrapped up in being an adult. So I can remember there are other things that are important in life - like riding a bike, playing in a tree house, splashing in water with your good shoes on. And you, my friend, were my most special student. And until recently, you were everything I ever wanted in a student. You were a shooting star amongst ordinary stars. Have you ever seen a shooting star, Jack?
Jack: No...
Lawrence Woodruff: It's wonderful. It passes quickly, but while it's here it just lights up the whole sky - it's the most beautiful thing you'd ever want to see. So beautiful that the other stars stop and watch. You almost never see one.
Jack: Why not?
Lawrence Woodruff: Because they're very rare. Quite rare. But I saw one. I did.
Jack: I just... want to be a regular star.
Lawrence Woodruff: Jack, you'll never be regular. You're spectacular.
*****************************
C: I just want to be a regular star too...
Today was one of those days that a working mum would dread.
First thing in the morning, my son hurt his leg while jumping up and down on the bed. I had to cancel all my appointments and went to the doctor with a limping child. The x-rays showed that no bones broken. We stopped at a drive thru McD and I was still thinking about all those work at the office, while ordering the burgers and coke.
I passed the fries and drinks to my son, who's sitting at the back seat, and pulled into the highway. My son was yelling that he spill his drink on the seat. I tightened my left hand on the steering while trying to hand him the tissues with the right hand and looking at road all at the same time. I was so busy that I did not notice the abandoned car at the side of the road.
Suddenly the world exploded with a loud sound of tearing metal. Then everything went still. My car had turned 180 degrees and I was looking through a broken windshield towards the oncoming traffic. Crying, hurting all over my body, and mouth full of blood, I crawled out of the car and search for my son. He was thrown far out from the car. I grabbed and hug him tightly. He was conscious and shocked.
We were lucky that we came away with our lives. Another mother who had driven at 90 km per hour last winter were not so lucky. She and her 2 out of 3 children would never see tomorrow.
There is no easy answer about what a driver should do when he/she has children fighting, screaming or yelling for food when he/she is driving. There is also no answer to how a working mother can meet all the demands and pressures on her. But I do know driving and tending children at the same time can be fatal ..unless you are very very lucky.
Drive safely, you are in charge with the safe keep of those who are in your car.
Home ground is the place where you have known the smells, the seasons, the birds and the beasts, the human voices, the buildings, the houses and the weather. It is the first landscape that you know before you became what you are today.
You may love the place if you flourished there. Or you may hate the place if you had suffered there. But love it or hate it, you cannot shake free from it.
Even if you have moved to the other side of the world, even if you have become familiar with new landscapes, you will still have the picture of the old home ground etched in memory.
In a tight market job like today's, a bold imaginative stroke can work wonders.
A young job applicant walked down a corridor at Vogue Magazine in New York after failing to get an interview. As she passed the open door of a large editorial office, she noticed two empty desks and inquired about them. Learning that they have been vacated by 2 caption writers who had recently left the staff, she casually sat down, saying: 'This must be where I am supposed to work.'
The employees in the room stared as the young woman settled in, but her self possession discouraged questions. Very shortly, she was handed some photographs to caption, then more. And she kept right on working until she had an official job.
Such presumptions in seeking a job is usually not recommended. Job hunters are counseled to play it straight, follow traditional routines, avoid the garish, flamboyant and unconditional. And this is sound advice for most people most of the time.
Sometimes though, when you have fought the good fight through ego flattering months, it's good for the soul to smash out of the groove. An occasional bold stroke will not hurt too much. Surprisingly often, it works.
When someone is convinced that things can't be done, he will cling to the conviction in the face of the most obvious contradiction.
At the time that Robert Fulton gave the first public demonstration of his steamboat, one of those 'can't be done' fellows stood in the crowd along the shore repeating :
'He can't start her!'
Suddenly there was a belch of steam and the boat began to move.
Startled, the man stared a moment and then began to chant ' He can't stop her!'
Is failure difficult to achieve?
To be a failure, you must live with no desire for achievement.
No goals, no objective, no drive. Life becomes stagnant. Nothing interesting ever happen to you, because nothing interests you anyway. You complaint without trying to find a solution. You feel that everything and everyone is against you. You just don't do anything about it.
You go to work and come back home. The next day, you go to work and come back home again. You let the decisions of your life be made by default. You became the rider instead of the driver of your own life. Your day, today and tomorrow is no different than your day yesterday.
To become a failure needs a certain character traits. Only people who has those specific, special talents can fail. And they have to stick to those traits to ensure that they are always in the failure mode. Any desire to deviate from those specific traits will take them out from the failure mode. It's not that easy to be a failure.
In 1990, after 14 years being a single parent, I remarried.
This did not create major stress for my 3 sons. But it was a big adjustment. I waited for a sign that they are completely comfortable with this major adjustment in their life.
One night, my boys were going out together after dinner. Turn by turn, they kissed me good night. When it's time to approach my new husband, Marty, I expected the normal round of handshakes. Instead, Michael, then Tom and Tim went to Marty and hugged him for the first time. They have finally accepted their new step father.
Suddenly, I remembered the evenings long ago when I had huddled with 3 frightened youngsters. Wrestling with the impact of divorce, they had learned some basic rules for coping with life many changes and challenges. They had done well. They could handle whatever came their way. That's the most that any parent could ask for..
The Tiger
By Remez Sasson
Tiger
A teacher and his student were walking from one village to another, when they suddenly heard a roar behind them. Turning their gaze in the direction of the roar they saw a big tiger following them. The first thing the student wanted to do was to run away, but as he has been studying and practicing self-discipline, he was able to halt himself, waiting to see what his teacher was going to do.
"What shall we do Master?" Asked the student.
The teacher looked at the student and answered in a calm voice:
"There are several options. We can fill our minds with paralyzing fear so that we cannot move, and let the tiger do with us whatever pleases it. We can faint. We can run away, but then it will run after us. We can fight with it, but physically it is stronger than us."
"We can pray to god to save us. We can choose to influence the tiger with the power of our mind, if our concentration is strong enough. We can send it love. We can also concentrate and meditate on our inner power, and on the fact that we are one with the entire universe, including the tiger, and in this way influence its soul."
"Which option do you choose?"
"You are the Master. You tell me what to do. We haven't much time", responded the student.
The master turned his gaze fearlessly towards the tiger, emptied his mind from all thoughts, and entered samadhi (a kind of trance). In his consciousness he embraced everything in the universe including the tiger. In this deep meditation the consciousness of the teacher became one with consciousness of the tiger.
Meanwhile the student started to shiver with fear, as the tiger was already quite close, ready to make a leap at them. He was amazed at how his teacher could stay so calm and detached in the face of danger.
Meanwhile the teacher continued to meditate without fear. After a little while, the tiger gradually lowered its head and tail and went away.
The student asked his teacher in astonishment, "What did you do?"
"Nothing. I just cleared all thoughts from my mind and united myself in spirit with the tiger. We became united in peace on the spiritual level. The tiger sensed the inner calmness, peace, and unity and felt no threat or need to express violence, and so walked away."
"When the mind is silent and calm, its peace is automatically transmitted to everything and everyone around, influencing them deeply", concluded the teacher.
A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene
She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking "If I wasn't so nice I'd blacken his eye"
With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he'd do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half
He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought "Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude
Why he didn't even show any gratitude"
She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes
"If mine are here" she moaned with despair
"Then the others were his and he tried to share"
"Too late to apologize she realized with grief"
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief
This is indeed a beautiful story enjoy reading it...Its one of those very
touching ones......
It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.
On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease.
As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him. "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?" He smiled as he patted my hand and said. "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."
I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."
True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. With all the jokes and fun that are in e-mails, sometimes there are some that come along that have an important message, and this is one of those kinds. Just had to share it with you all.
"The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes along their way."
Peace is seeing a sunset and knowing who to thank.
One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list.
Before long, the entire class was smiling.
"Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much." were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again.
She never knew if they discussed them after class with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose.
The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin.
The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her.
"Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes."
Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.
"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.
The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.
"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."
Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."
"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her purse and showed her frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times, " Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists."
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are
special and important.
Tell them, before it is too late...
Remember, you reap what you sow, what you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. What food might this contain? The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house! The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me." " I cannot be bothered by it
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. "Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital , and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT AND LET THEM KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE. REMEMBER,,,, EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY; OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON. One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend
Beware of Garbage Trucks
By David J. Pollay
How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive colleague ruin your day? Unless you're a robot, you are bound to blow your top off. However, the mark of a sucessful person is how quickly he or she can get back his or her focus on what's important.
Sixteen years ago, I learned this lesson. I learn it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happen.
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So, I said, "Why did you do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now called, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. If they happen to dump it on you, don't take it personally.
You just smile, wave, wish them well, and moved on. You'll be happier if you did that rather than fight them.
So this was it: 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.
I started thinking, how often do I let garbage trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the street? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore." I see garbage trucks everywhere and everyday. I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my taxi driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know they have to welcome their kids home from school with hugs and kisses. Teachers and parents know that they have to be fully present and at their best for the people they care about.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
Here's my bet. You'll be happier.
So ... love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don't.
Believe that every thing happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, TAKE IT!
If it changes your life, LET IT!
Nobody said it would be easy ....
They just promised it would be WORTH IT
Cheers!
"Life is short. Enjoy the journey."
