A picture of peace

There once was a King who offered a prize to any artist who would paint the best picture of peace.

Many artists tried. 

The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. 

The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. 

Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. 

All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too. 

But these were rugged and bare. 

Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which lightening played. 

Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. 

This did not look peaceful at all. 

But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. 

In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. 

There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest... perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

The King chose the second picture. 

Do you know why? 

"Because," explained the King, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. 

Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. 

That is the real meaning of peace."

The man in a glass box

I always liked Bob Perks' words. And this particular article is no exception.

The man in a glass box
Bob Perks
The only limits you have are in your mind. That's because we all live in glass boxes. We can clearly see everything around us, but we go no further than our own perceived limitations. The walls are strengthened by ideals we hold to be true.  They begin with the words "I am" and get taller and stronger the more we repeat them.

I am...
Too tall
Too short
Too fat
Too thin
Too young
Too old
Too black
Too white
Too male
Too female
Too (fill in your own word here)

They are, in general, positive words with positive attributes.

Still the world twists and turns them around to be negative and limited.  Many of us accept them as such.

There we stand in the glass boxes looking out at the world longing to be more, do more and have more.  We walk to the perceived wall and stop because we see ourselves as the world sees us.

I watched two doves in my yard one Spring trying desperately to get to my small pond for a drink.  I had temporarily placed a plastic fence between the pond and the bird feeders.

In the Spring the area turns muddy and my three dogs use that area as a path before coming into the house.  The fence stops them and they come down across the deck.

The two doves had been getting their fill on the ground around the feeder and then began walking toward the pond. They stopped at the fence.

They walked back and forth many times trying to figure a way to get to the pond.

I watched for the longest time until I couldn't take it any more.

I finally yelled, "Fly!"  They did.  They flew away.

What was ovbvious to me was that they had the ability to reach the pond if they just flew over the fence.  All they could see was the obstacle. That was their glass box.

It's hard to imagine sometimes that any of us would see limitations to happiness, joy, peace, hope and even prosperity. We are surrounded by it. Still, we see others breaking the walls of the glass boxes but we cannot see ourselves doing it. You will hear plenty of excuses as we try to reason why they could do such things but we can't. We then remain in our self created glass box.

So, what glass box are you living in?  What limitations have you set that are holding you back?

Imagine for a moment that, like me watching the doves, God is standing somewhere watching you.

In your prayers tonight ask God to help you break down those walls. Then don't be surprised if in the morning you are startled when you
hear someone scream..."FLY!"

I know you know this song. Listen and read the words again...for the first time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUpPVOEkdA"I believe in you!"
Bob

I hope I never have to write this kind of letter

Letter from a mother to her son on his 12th birthday

It is your birthday tomorrow. Twelve years old. I am wondering what cake to buy for your birthday. I really want to get it right. Not long ago, a Tardis or football-shaped cake would have been the easy choice, but those days are behind us.

I am considering a photo cake – I have a photo of us from when you were small. It shows us smiling together, in a time when affection was easy between us and you weren't uncomfortable showing you loved me. I think the cake would be lovely, but I'm worried you will sigh and tut with the impatient disapproval I am becoming all too familiar with.

The past year has been one of much change for you, and for our relationship. You have moved from the safety and confines of life in primary school to the freedom and plethora of influences that is high school. You have made new friends, had your first detention, started asking to go out on your own.

You are now happy to stay in the house on your own while I go out, something that should give me more freedom … but only brings me new worries. Your life is expanding beyond the familiar circle of childhood friends, whose parents I am on first-name terms with.

Just six months ago, you were worried about getting the bus to school on your own. Now, you want to use the bus every weekend to go and visit new friends. Friends I don't know, with parents I have never met, who live in houses I will never visit.

A year ago, school holidays would have been filled with getting up early and wondering what to do together. Now, they are filled with the expectation of you sleeping late and spending the afternoon locked in a room staring at a video game. I can't seem to find an activity that we could do together that isn't "lame". This time last year, you would still hold my hand when we went out for walks. Now, the mere mention of a walk brings eye-rolling and complaining. You used to accept my advice and warnings, listen to me carefully, and consider me the font of knowledge. Now I am seemingly the one person that doesn't understand you.

You have even got a girlfriend. I have yet to meet her, but I have seen pictures of you and her smiling at each other on your Facebook page. The one I have just discovered you have "unfriended" me from.

I have found texts on your phone where you have told her you love her and that she is your life. The blow that came from reading this was my payback for snooping on your phone, but it was devastating to see in black and white that I am no longer the most important woman in your life.

I never thought I would be one of those mothers that did not want theirchildren to grow up. But I'm not ready.

I expected you to grow up. I expected you to grow away from me. I just didn't expect it to happen this soon. Or that it would hurt so much. I just want my little boy back.

Still, I will never burden you with this old-woman nonsense. I will probably play it safe and buy you the chocolate tray bake.

Happy birthday, my darling boy.

Don’t let go of hope

Nancye Sims

Hope gives you the strength to keep going
When you feel like giving up.
Don’t ever quit believing in yourself.
As long as you believe you can,
You will have a reason for trying.
Don’t let anyone hold your happiness
In their hands; hold it in yours,
So it will always be within your reach.
Don’t measure success or failure
By material wealth, but by how you feel;
Our feelings indicate the richness of our lives.
Don’t let bad moments make a quitter
Out of you;
Be patient and they will pass.
By seeing them through
You will become a winner.

Don’t hesitate to reach out for help;
We all need it from time to time.
Don’t run away from love but towards love,
Because it is our deepest joy.
Don’t wait for what you want to come to you;
Go after it with all that you are,
Knowing that life will meet you halfway.
Don’t feel like you’ve lost
When plans and dreams fall short of your hopes.
Any time you learn something new
About yourself or about life,
You have progressed.
Don’t do anything that takes away
From your self-respect;
Feeling good about yourself
Is essential to feeling good about life..
Don’t ever forget how to laugh
Or be too proud to cry.
It is by doing both
That we live life to its fullest….

Copyright © 1996 By Nancye Sims
http://nancyesims.com/it/DontLetGoOfHope.htm

Four Essentials for Happiness

FOUR ESSENTIALS FOR HAPPINESS

By Brian Tracy

You may have a thousand different goals over the course of your lifetime, but they all will

fall into one of four basic categories. Everything you do is an attempt to enhance the
quality of your life in one or more of these areas.

The first category is your desire for happy relationships. You want to love and be
loved by others. You want to have a happy, harmonious home life. You want to get along
well with the people around you, and you want to earn the respect of the people you
respect. Your involvement in social and community affairs results from your desire to
have happy interactions with others and to make a contribution to the society you live in.

The second category is your desire for interesting and challenging work. You want to
make a good living, of course, but more than that, you want to really enjoy your
occupation or profession. The very best times of your life are when you are completely
absorbed in your work.

The third category is your desire for financial independence. You want to be free
from worries about money. You want to have enough money in the bank so that you can
make decisions without counting your pennies. You want to achieve a certain financial
state so that you can retire in comfort and never have to be concerned about whether or
not you have enough money to support your lifestyle. Financial independence frees you
from poverty and a need to depend upon others for your livelihood. If you save and invest
regularly throughout your working life, you will eventually reach the point where you will
never have to work again.

The fourth and final category is your desire for good health, to be free of pain and
illness and to have a continuous flow of energy and feelings of well-being. In fact, your
health is so central to your life that you take it for granted until something happens to
disrupt it.

Peace of mind is essential for every one of these. The greater your peace of mind, the more
relaxed and positive you are, the less stress you suffer, the better is your overall health.

The more peace of mind you have, the better are your relationships, the more optimistic,
friendly and confident you are with everyone in your life. When you feel good about
yourself on the inside, you do your work better and take more pride in it. You are a better
boss and coworker. And the greater your overall peace of mind the more likely you are to
earn a good living, saves regularly for the future and ultimately achieve financial
independence.

Life is very much a study of attention. Whatever you dwell upon and think about grows
and expands in your life. The more you pay attention to your relationships, the quality and
quantity of your work, your finances and your health, the better they will become and the
happier you will be.

War of lies, based on lies

It must be what, 4, 5 years since I wrote anything political.
10 days to go and we will see if Malaysians have the will to change.
I'm making this exception to write on a political angle because I'm fed up with the mainstream drivel, just like 20 million other Malaysians.
BN, you have some really bad consultants, or you hired really bad PR/advertising firms.
Let me go through the list of how you managed to screw yourself up.

1. The 4 Ps of Marketing.
Do your consultants actually know these 4 pillars of Marketing? If they did, you wouldn't need to have so much PR work done. Even with the atrocious work done, your image can't get any better.
Hire me, BN. I'll do a much better job and I'll quit if your ratings doesn't improve.
How's that for accountability?

2. Know your sales/marketing channels.
Yes, you have the complete mainstream media at your disposal. So why waste the space with irrelevant ads? Why are you telling people about the work you are being PAID to do? Only now you want to issue a report card on yourself?
You're being paid with MY TAX dollars. Which means I AM YOUR BOSS.
The Rakyat.
And it doesnt' help that you're flooding the media with your nonsensical words.
TOO MUCH is TOO MUCH.
Less is More mean anything to you guys?

3. Know your target market.
What is the meaning of demographics?
It means that even if you want to lie, you better make sure you're lying to someone who can believe you.
You put all these silly ads on radio.
FACTS you say. But they are LIES.
How do I know?
There's this thing called the INTERNET. And a little thing called Google will help me find facts, undisputable facts that goes against the Veneer you call facts.
ok, ok, sorry if I'm harsh for calling you a liar.
Now listen listen listen.
Have you checked what the demographics for Red FM are?
What is the typical listener for Red? Age group etc.
They are people who can think. Even if they don't go online for the next 10 days, even if they don't talk to another human being for the next 10 days, the ads you're putting goes against any form of logical thinking.
Yes, BN, other human beings who are not BN-aligned can actually use their brains to decipher words.
Their neutrons can actually deduce that you are producing nonsense.
For God's sake, can you imagine how the listeners of all these radio stations feel?
Muak. Jelak. Sickened. Insulted.
PR wishes to record their sincerest thanks to you for driving votes to them.
Yes, your "friends" own all these media companies and you're free to use their airtime and real estate.
Eh, sorry, I mean it's free for you to use them.
If anything, I'm sorry that you're wasting these resources so readily available.
Wait a minute, actually I'm not.
But I really can't stand wastage of any kind.
Not my time, not my eyes and ears.

Maybe post May 05, you will improve. Maybe even become a better runner of things.
Perhaps.
But people will never, I repeat NEVER, forget how you made them feel before May 05.
Best of luck, BN, you're gonna need it.