"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quite, however, it lasts forever."

Lance Armstrong
Cancer Survivor and Athlete

I discovered a great tool on the internet that every one needs to know about: Blue Letter Bible

"If things are not going well with you, begin your effort at correcting the situation by carefully examining the service you are rendering, and especially the spirit in which you are rendering it."

Roger Babson
1875-1967, Statistician and Columnist

A good friend of mine (Angela Oltmanns) recently wrote these words on Wisdom,
My definition of wisdom is the application of knowledge, it starts with asking!

"..if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it. He is generous and enjoys giving to all people, so He will give you wisdom."
James 1:5 (New Century)

This verse has helped me today. It helped me to stop and hear, rather than rush and act. I notice it quite useful. So I decided to share it with you.

I hope it will help you in the matters you have been tasked to handle and oversee this week. My plan is to meditate on it this week. (A renewal from a long relapse) - join me if you like.

"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory."

Betty Smith
1896-1972, Novelist

Shopping: A laptop!

What started as a sale turned into a mob scene as thousands of people pushed their way through the Richmond International Raceway gates to buy a $50 iBook laptop computer from Henrico County Schools Tuesday morning.


An estimated 5500 people were on hand when the gates were opened. What followed can only be described as chaos as dozens rushed to get to the head of the line. People were trampled, shoved and pushed.

Starletta Wilson pointed to her child’s broken stroller, “Yeah, they pushed me, look at my child's stroller... they actually pushed me and stampeded over me. Those people who are down there now were behind us."

Dustin Coppinger, who attended the sale, said he saw an older man run over by anxious buyers, "An old man in a walker was trampled to the ground. Trampled to the ground... walked all over," he said.

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

Helen Keller
1880-1968, Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer

"Most beginnings are small, and appear trivial and insignificant, but in reality they are the most important things in life." (Byways of Blessedness)

In this one of James Allen’s lesser known books, Byways of Blessedness, he devotes the entire first chapter to beginnings. Mostly the right beginnings.

In my experience, it’s not only the right beginning that is important, it’s beginning in the first place. In other words that powerful six-letter-word: Action.

Without action, you could have the greatest idea and the greatest plan in the world and you would still fail. Whereas a modest idea and an incomplete plan often produces success when accompanied by enough action.

Hugely successful people, the kind who go from mediocre to millions almost overnight, know that the major key to their success was taking MASSIVE ACTION. When Jeff Bezos decided to start Amazon.com, he left his job on the East Coast and headed to Washington State. He had his wife drive him and their belongings across the country so that he could stay on the phone constantly, convincing potential investors and vendors why Amazon would be a success.

Even the smallest of actions, the ones James Allen called trivial and insignificant, can lead to great success. Sir Isaac Newton’s principle that a “body at rest tends to remain at rest and a body in motion tends to remain in motion,” definitely applies to the action principle. Once you’ve taken the first step (even a baby step), the next steps seem easier to take.

My brother shared an incredible insight on this subject with me yesterday: “Actions, like pictures, are worth a thousand words.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

"Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more."

A. Lou Vickery
Writer

"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."

Grenville Kleiser
1868-1953, Author