Sunday, October 31, 2010

A Lion That Hugs

Your Problems Are Small Compared To Others




A Story Of DETERMINATION - The Brooklyn Bridge


In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.


Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.


Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.


The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.


"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."


Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.


He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.


It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.


He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.


For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.


Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.


Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.


Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.


SOURCE: Inspiring Stories

Friday, September 24, 2010

49 Ways to Improve Your Life Today


1. Radiate Joy

Smile at everyone—yourself in the mirror, your boss, your family, strangers, co-workers, the clerk at the store.  Smile, just because. Smiling creates friendship, acceptance, understanding, and it’s more fun! (Kalama Hochreiter )

2. Take a Risk

Do something outside your comfort zone. Whether it’s talking to someone outside your social circle at a party when you’re shy, offering to help someone with a project that will require learning new skills at work, or trying a new ethnic restaurant instead of the usual Pie ‘n Burger, you’ll expand your horizons and, with them, your ideas about who you are and what you can do.  (Liz Pruyn)... READ MORE

Friday, September 17, 2010

Soichiro Honda: A Story Of Persistence

“Success is 99 percent failure.” - Soichiro Honda




The life of Soichiro Honda is often quoted as an inspiring story of a man who overcame unbelievable obstacles and went on to achieve great success. The story of Soichiro Honda is an inspirational tale of motivation and persistence in the face of adversity. His story serves as an important lesson for all of us and it teaches us not to give up when we suffer a setback. Despite suffering failure, ridicule and endless financial difficulties, Honda believed strongly enough in himself to make his success a reality.


Soichiro Honda was born in 1906 and he grew up helping his father repair bicycles in the small town of Komyo in Japan. While Soichiro Honda was in school he started a workshop with the intention of developing a piston ring which he planned to sell on to Toyota. He spent day and night working away in his workshop believing that he could produce the perfect design. He struggled financially during this period, even selling his wife’s jewelry for capital and occasionally slept in his workshop.


When he finally completed his finished piston ring, Soichiro took his design to Toyota who told him that his work was not up to their standards. After suffering this terrible setback, Soichiro was forced to go back to school and was taunted by those around him for failing. Other engineers laughed at his design but Soichiro refused to give up despite being ridiculed by those around him. Soichiro Honda paid little attention to school work that did not relate to his business and, when verbally attacked by his teacher, Honda responded that ‘A ticket will get you a seat in a movie theater, but a diploma won’t get you a job!’.


Soichiro believe strongly in his idea and refused to give up on his dream. He struggled on for two more years before finally gaining a contract with Toyota. By this time Japan was gearing up for war and Honda found it hard to find the building materials he needed to create a factory to produce his work. Despite this potentially disastrous set back, Honda persisted and found a new way of making concrete which allowed him to finish building the factory he needed.


Sadly this was not the end of Soichiro’s troubles as the factory he had struggled so hard to build was bombed twice during the war and steel became unavailable. Whilst most people would have given up at this point, Honda persisted and found a way to get past these obstacles. He started collecting gasoline cans which had been discarded by US fighters to help regenerate his factory, objects he described as “gifts from President Truman. When Honda started rebuilding his factory an earthquake finally destroyed it. This setback would have spelled the end for most people but Honda carried on chasing his dream.


After the war, Honda found a way of attaching a small engine onto his bicycle and quickly found that other people were interested in his strange new idea. Sadly the materials Honda needed were not available to supply the demand for his new creation. Rather than give up, Honda dug deep and sought out a way to get the finance he needed to continue with his project.


He wrote an inspiring letter to 18,000 bicycle shop owners which asked them to help him revitalize Japan through innovation. A huge number of the shop owners he wrote to responded by giving Honda what little money they could to help him. Soichiro battled away with several redesigns before finally producing the ‘Super Cub’ which became an overnight success. By 1963, Honda was the top-selling brand of motorcycles in the United States.



Honda Corporation now employs more than 100,000 people in the USA and Japan and it is now second only to Toyota in Japan. Honda succeeded because of the passion and determination of one man who was committed to his ideas and making them a success. Despite suffering more failures and set backs than most of us will see in a lifetime, Honda persisted and never once allowed himself to give up on his dreams.


The Legacy You Leave

All your actions, words, and knowledge that you share while you are living become the gift that you leave when you are gone.

~ Jim Allen





The Legacy You Leave

All You will leave behind for the world to remember is
Your Legacy, so ask yourself:
Will you have earned the respect of your peers and the admiration of your critics?
Will you have acted humbly at the peak of success
and graceful in the face of defeat?
Will you have kept your childlike wonder and reveled in the beauty of the world and the small miracles
that each day brought?
Will you be remembered for how often you laughed and brought smiles to the hearts of others?
Will small children and the elderly have been overjoyed
to be around you?
Will others have trusted you with their inner most secrets?
Will you have forgiven and offered heartfelt apology?
Will you have looked for the very best, and done your utmost to build worth, in others?
Will you have fed a hungry child or clothed a naked man
or given hope to a stranger in dire need?
Will you have left this world a better place
by the life you have lived?

What kind of Legacy will You Leave?

By Rick Beneteau


SOURCE: ACHIEVE EZINE

I Will Persist Until I Succeed (by Og Mandino)

I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.


I will persist until I succeed.


The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner.


Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult.


I will persist until I succeed.


Henceforth, I will consider each day's effort as but one blow of my blade against a mighty oak. The first blow may cause not a tremor in the wood, nor the second, nor the third. Each blow, of itself, may be trifling, and seem of no consequence. Yet from childish swipes the oak will eventually tumble. So it will be with my efforts of today.


I will be liken to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid. I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.


I will persist until I succeed.


I will never consider defeat and I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless, and retreat; for they are the words of fools. I will avoid despair but if this disease of the mind should infect me then I will work on in despair. I will toil and I will endure. I will ignore the obstacles at my feet and keep mine eyes on the goals above my head, for I know that where dry desert ends, green grass grows.


I will persist until I succeed.


Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Art Of A ComeBack - Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters

The Belgian tennis star isn’t the first female athlete to take a timeout from her career to start a family, but she might have made one of the most triumphant returns to sports ever.

Just 18 months after the birth of her daughter, Kim Clijsters won the 2009 U.S. Open, becoming the first unseeded player to capture the title and the first mother to win a major tennis championship in almost 30 years.

Who can forget watching Clijsters raise her trophy while little Jada toddled around the court?

“I think motherhood makes you mentally stronger,” Clijsters says. “I love my sport and I train hard. I hope I am showing that you can have your own life and still be a good mother and a good wife.”

What an inspiration to women everywhere.






Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Keep Your Dream

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.

“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after class.’

“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, `Why did I receive an F?’

“The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’

“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’ “Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all.

He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”

Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.”

“Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.”

- Authur: Unknown

Thursday, July 1, 2010

In Life, You Don't Get What You Deserve, You Get What You.........

"In life, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate." - CHESTER L. KARRASS

In days gone by, there was a very wealthy man who owned a wonderful steamship, but as is so often the way with expensive things, it was prone to breaking down.

One day, after a particularly difficult journey to a foreign land, the engine failed and no one could get it going again.

One by one, every mechanic and engineer in the land was summoned to try to fix the engine, and one by one they failed.

Finally, word came to the wealthy man of a wise old shipmaker who might be able to help, but at a hefty price.

However, the wealthy man agreed at once.

Soon, an old man who looked as if he must have been fixing ships for a hundred years arrived.

He carried a large bag of tools and immediately went to work.

He inspected the large network of pipes leading to and from the engine very carefully, occasionally placing his hand upon the pipes to test for warmth.

Finally the old shipmaker reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped against one of the pipes.

Instantly the sound of steam rushing through the pipes could be heard and the engine lurched into life as the shipmaker carefully put his hammer away.

When the wealthy man asked the shipmaker what he owed him, the bill came to over 10 thousand Pounds, indeed a princely sum in those days.

“What?” the wealthy man exclaimed, outraged. ”You hardly did anything at all!” Justify your fee or I will have you thrown in jail.”

The old shipmaker began to scrawl something onto a ragged piece of paper he pulled from his pocket. The wealthy man smiled as he read what the old man had written on

the piece of paper and apologized to the shipmaker for his rude behaviour.

This is what the piece of paper said:

“For tapping with a hammer………………………………. £1.00

For knowing where to tap…………………………………..£9,999.00


Source: ICANMAKEYOURICH



The House of 1000 Mirrors


Japanese Folktale

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could.

To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him.

As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?


Thank you for the time you have spent to read this message.


Enjoy your week!

Invented By Mistake

Sometimes mistakes pay you off well and can make you rich. Never hesitate to make mistakes. From mistakes we learn new things and sometimes they turn out to be the source of next great billion dollar idea. Two of the most successful products of the last 100 years, Coca Cola and Levis Jeans were both mistakes. Coca Cola and Levis jeans were not made purposefully. These were results of mistakes from their creators.


Coca Cola was originally a not very effective headache syrup developed by an enterprising pharmacist named ‘John Pemberton‘. When he caught a couple of stock boys mixing his new syrup with water and drinking it in the back of his shop, he tested it and realized that if he mixed it with soda water, it turned out to be something that people would be willing to pay for.


As for blue jeans, they were developed when a would-be gold prospector named ‘Levis Strauss‘ traveled to San Fransisco with merchandise he planned on selling to raise money to buy a stake in a mine. He failed to sell two large rolls of blue tent canvas. So he hired a local tailor to make overalls out of the tent fabric and brass rivets. The demand for his new, sturdy trousers was so great he never did go looking for gold again.


Read more: http://www.derbygripe.co.uk/oddsocks/invent.htm

A Seed Of Kindness - Opportunity Is Everywhere

One winter night an old couple dashed into the lobby of a small Philadelphia hotel, looking for a room. The clerk said, “I’m sorry, but our rooms are full.” As they started to leave, he said, “Would you be willing to sleep in my room? It’s not a suite, but I think you’ll be comfortable there.” At first they were reluctant, but the hotel clerk insisted, saying, “Don’t worry, I can sleep in the office.” So they accepted.

Next morning when it was time to check out, the old gentleman said to the clerk. “Thank you. You deserve to be the manager of the best hotel in the country! Maybe someday I’ll build one for you!” The amused clerk smiled and thanked him.

Two years later the clerk received a round-trip ticket to New York City, and a letter from the old couple thanking him again for his kindness. They were inviting him to come and visit them. Although, he’d almost forgotten the incident, he decided to take them up on their offer.

When he arrived in the City, they took him to the Corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue, where an elderly man pointed a multi-story hotel and said, “I just built it, and I want you to manage it.” The clerk said, “You must be kidding!” I can assure you I’m not,” he replied.

He continued by saying, “The old gentleman’s name was William Waldorf Astor (http://www.waldorfastoria.com), the hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf-Astoria_Hotel), and the young clerk who had shown him such kindness, was George C. Boldt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boldt ) – its first manager! He then added, “Don’t forget to sow another seed of kindness today, for you can never tell what your harvest will be!”

A little gesture of yesterday could result in unprecedented greatness today.

STORY FROM: Discovering Your Destiny by Bob Gass

Enjoy your day!

If A Dog Were Your Teacher



Puppy

If a dog were your teacher
These are some of the lessons you might learn...

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face
to be pure ecstasy


When it's in your best interest
practice obedience
Let others know when they've invaded your territory
Take naps and stretch before rising
Run romp and play daily


Thrive on attention and let people touch you
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do
On warm days stop to lie on your back on the grass
On hot days drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree
When you're happy dance around and wag your entire body


No matter how often you're scolded
don't buy into the guilt thing and pout
run right back and make friends


Delight in the simple joy of a long walk
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm
Stop when you have had enough
Be loyal
Never pretend to be something you're not


If what you want lies buried
dig until you find it
When someone is having a bad day
be silent .....
...sit close by.

...and nuzzle them gently.


Author: Unknown

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