Stronger

“A strong person and a waterfall always channel their own path…”  ~ Anonymous

Life happens.  We get hurt…  We are disappointed…  We have regrets…  We fail… We learn and grow stronger…  Eventually we are able to find our way amidst the trials and tribulations, beaten and battered, but stronger.

Don't hurt them

You cannot do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth…”  ~ Shira Tehrani

Do you live with a purpose or do you take every day as it comes?  Each and every day you have the opportunity to touch other people’s lives.  It is your choice whether it will be in a way that they will remember you or wish they have never met you. 

“If you don’t love them, could you at least not hurt them?” – Leo Buscaglia

Action!

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action…”  ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Take action today.  Tell your loved-ones that you love them.  Sometimes people have to hear it.  Tell them that you miss them.  Tell them that you care and demonstrate it through your actions.

Your past actions might have caused sadness, now is a time to bring happiness.  Even if it means you have to take action by apologising.  Act today.

Demonstrate that you care

“You can really change the world if you care enough…”  ~ Marion Wright Edelman

Do we care enough?  We read about Rhino pouching and shake our heads…  We see gruesome pictures of baby seals being culled and close our eyes to the brutality.  We receive and forward mails about people that have been in accidents or suffer from illnesses…   We hear or read about terrorist bombings and wonder how on earth could anyone perform such a barbaric deed. We see fellow human beings on television suffering... 

Sadly, it's just another story which will soon be forgotten.  If we really care why is the world not becoming a better place?

Smile

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight…”  ~ Anonymous

Even the most austere person will be intrigued with a smile.  They might not smile back at you immediately, but it will certainly brighten up their day and make them think of something pleasant for a while. 

A smile is contagious.  Bless a stranger today with your smile.  

Complicated questions

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”  ~ Dr. Seuss quotes

Our biggest asset, the mind, can also become our biggest enemy.  Questioning complicate matters.  While we are questioning, we are thinking of what if scenarios that may never happen.  Keep it simple.

Beyond impossible

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible..." ¬ Arthur C Ward

Aron Ralston had an engineering degree and a good job.  A regular mountaineer, he also had a dream of climbing Colorado’s ‘fourteeners’ i.e. peaks over 14000 feet.  At the age of 28 (2003), he resigned and pursued mountaineering.  One day while hiking in Utah, descending a slot canyon, a suspended boulder from which he was climbing down became dislodged, crushing his right hand and forearm, pinning him against the canyon wall.  As he did not tell anyone of his hiking plans, he knew no one would be searching for him. 

He rationed his water supply and for three days tried to free himself.  His self-control was beyond comprehension; only allowing himself one scream per day.  Then he realised that he would have to amputate his arm to rescue himself. 
It took him another two days and 7 hours, after several practise runs, to break the bone and cut through his arm with a multi-tool that also had a 2-inch knife.  Thereafter he still had to rappel down a 20m cliff and walk 7 miles to his vehicle! 

Aron was saved and his life story is captured in a book ‘Between a rock and a hard place’.  His heroic survival is also the subject of the film 127 hours.  In 2005 he became the first person to climb all 53 of Colorado’s ‘fourteeners’, with only one arm.  Aron Ralston is a living example of sheer determination, a man who went beyond impossible.

Two kinds of people

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. Indira Gandhi

The sadness in this quote stems from the truth that emanates from it.  Most people want to be successful, but few want to work for it. 

Maybe you are reminded daily of someone who took credit that was due to you.  Allow the above quote to motivate you.  Be part of the first group of hard workers as there is definitely less competition there.  The credit that is due to you will one day be bestowed upon you when you expect it the least.

Continuous hard work

Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way to accomplish results that last.  Hamilton Holt

Getting to the top without hard work, will always make you feel like a failure. 

There is no short-cut to the top.  Continuous hard work has never killed anyone. 

When you eventually reach the highest possible position, you can look back and feel proud of it that you were no passenger; you earned your way to the top.  How difficult it was, will be forgotten soon.

Be wise for others

It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves - Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Ever caught yourself giving advice to all and sundry?  Why is it so easy to solve others’ problems, but your own seem to be insurmountable?  No it is not because your problems are bigger.  It is because you can be more objective because of the distance between you and another person’s problem.

Next time you face a problem that knows no boundaries, step away from it. Look at it from a distance, as if it is someone else’s problem.  You will be surprised how the solution comes to mind.

Paint a picture

“The future is my canvas. Now I have to paint the right picture." -  Bryan C. Tschuor

Given the same colours and material, would we have the same picture? 

One brush stroke (day) after another, one colour (experiences) mixed with another, different media (opportunities), different ideas (outcomes)… 

Every day you add another dimension to your picture.  Do you have a colourful aesthetically pleasing picture or is the canvas pretty blank? 

Watch...

Watch your thoughts, for they become words,

Watch your words, for they become action,

Watch your actions, for they become habits,

Watch your habits, for they become character,

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Unknown

What motivates you?

“The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand beekeeper who loved to climb mountains. 

He became the first person to summit Mount Everest as part of John Hunt’s 9^th British expedition.  All but two of the climbers who had come this far were forced to turn back due to exhaustion at the high altitude.  For them it was impossible; however Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a native Nepalese, continued the final assault to the summit.  At 11h30, the morning of 29 May 1953, they finally reached the summit, at 29028 feet above sea level, the highest spot on earth.  They only spent 15 minutes on the summit.

Politics, severe weather conditions with heavy snow and freezing conditions, storming winds, people… they were only motivators to catapult him to success.

Bumblebees

”That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

(Received via email)

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out.  It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom.  It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself. 

In many ways, we are like the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! 

That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem...

Live each day as if your life had just begun – Johann Wolfgang von Goeth

People

“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi

And he should know…

Don't be so serious

To succeed in life, you need three things:  a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone – Reba McEntire

Don’t take life so serious, you’re not going to get out of it alive.

Are you happy?

The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms;  and to confide in one’s self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course - Michelangelo

Nobody should depend on others for their own happiness.  People might let you down… circumstances can change… in the end the only person whom you can depend on is yourself.

Life is like a camera

´Life is like a camera...  Just focus on the important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don’t turn out, just take another shot…’  ~ Unknown

Often we blame ourselves for what we said or did.  We play it over and over again in our minds and regret the moment. 

Reality is that we cannot change what has happened, but we can do it differently the next time.  A photo can look totally different if it is taken from a different angle.  Focus, capture, learn and try again.

P R I D E

P – Personal

R – Responsibility

I -  In

D – Delivering

E – Excellence

Kings and Pawns

After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box - Italian Proverb

Over centuries people, in different countries, fought for equality.  However, would there ever really be equality?

Everywhere we go, there are hierarchies i.e. kings and pawns.  At school we have a headmaster, teachers, children… Matriculants have more status than grade eights…  In the military we have different ranks…At work we have bosses and workers…

But when the game is over, the king and the pawn goes into the same box.

Monuments

I made my life my monument - Ben Johnson

Monuments are erected for people who made their mark in life… for people who lived or died for what they believe in… for people who made a lot of sacrifices… for people who took the first step into the unknown… for people who others look up to… for people who others admire…

Why wait for one day to be commemorated?  Make your life your monument.

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy – Leo Buscaglia

We’ve all been there, in the valley of despair.  Tunnel vision causes us to see nothing but the problem.  For most of us, it is difficult to continue smiling and acting as if nothing is wrong.   For some it may even lead to depression.  Maybe you are facing such a time today and don’t feel very joyful.

The difficulties that we are facing on a daily basis, often robs us of the joy that we should experience.  Challenges, trials, tribulations… they are difficult to avoid.  How we respond to them will result in us having a great or miserable day.  The problem will not go away, but you can still project happiness.