Keep Sweet

 

Don't be foolish and get sour when things don't just come your way--
Don't you be a pampered baby and declare, "Now I won't play!"
Just go grinning on and bear it;
Have you heartache? Millions share it,
If you earn a crown, you'll wear it--
Keep sweet.

Don't go handing out your troubles to your busy fellow-men--
If you whine around they'll try to keep from meeting you again;
Don't declare the world's "agin" you,
Don't let pessimism win you,
Prove there's lots of good stuff in you--
Keep sweet.

If your dearest hopes seem blighted and despair looms into view,
Set your jaw and whisper grimly, "Though they're false, yet I'll be true."
Never let your heart grow bitter;
With your lips to Hope's transmitter,
Hear Love's songbirds bravely twitter,
"Keep sweet."

Bless your heart, this world's a good one, and will always help a man;
Hate, misanthropy, and malice have no place in Nature's plan.
Help your brother there who's sighing.
Keep his flag of courage flying;
Help him try--'twill keep you trying--
Keep sweet.

by Strickland W. Gillilan

Life

LIFE, believe, is not a dream 

So dark as sages say; 

Oft a little morning rain 

Foretells a pleasant day. 

Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, 

But these are transient all; 

If the shower will make the roses bloom, 

O why lament its fall ? 

Rapidly, merrily, 

Life's sunny hours flit by, 

Gratefully, cheerily, 

Enjoy them as they fly ! 

What though Death at times steps in 

And calls our Best away ? 

What though sorrow seems to win, 

O'er hope, a heavy sway ? 

Yet hope again elastic springs, 

Unconquered, though she fell; 

Still buoyant are her golden wings, 

Still strong to bear us well. 

Manfully, fearlessly, 

The day of trial bear, 

For gloriously, victoriously, 

Can courage quell despair !

By

Charlotte Brontë

If

If you can keep your head when all about you 

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; 

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 

But make allowance for their doubting too: 

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, 

Or being hated don't give way to hating, 

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; 

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master; 

If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim, 

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

And treat those two impostors just the same:. 

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken 

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 

And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools; 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings, 

And never breathe a word about your loss: 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 

To serve your turn long after they are gone, 

And so hold on when there is nothing in you 

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!" 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch, 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

If all men count with you, but none too much: 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, 

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

by

Rudyard KiplingIf

Positive Thinking

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply… I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

When the wind blows!

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands, however, most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. 'Are you a good farm hand?' the farmer asked him.

'Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,' answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help decided to hired him.

The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt well satisfied with the his work. Then one night the wind howled in loudly from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, 'Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!'

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, 'No sir, told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.'

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coop and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

Moral: When you're prepared spiritually, mentally and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life?

The Optimist Creed

Promise yourself . . .

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. 

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. 

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. 

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. 

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. 

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Not your ordinary sand castle

Morning stretched itself awake as I made my way down to the shore and joined the handful of early risers. Lazy edges of waves lapped gently over my feet and I scrunched my toes in warm sand. Good time to build a sand castle. It was modestly done mostly for relaxation and meditation. Not a thing anyone would pause to admire. After I finished the basic shape, I began to decorate the form with shells. A boy about eight years of age walked up and began to kick at the castle. I wondered what was in his mind for him to do such a thing?

What happened next, happened quickly. I held out my hand filled with shells and said, 'Here, help me put these on.' He stopped kicking, looked at me for several seconds, then took the shells and began to place them on the castle. We decorated in comfortable silence. I'm out of shells,' he said after several minutes. 'Get more,' I replied. He did, giving some to me. After a while, another little boy came along and started to kick the castle. My little boy started to fight him. I said, 'Give him some shells.' The new boy worked with us for a couple of minutes, then left.

When the entire exterior was covered in shells and shell fragments, we stepped back to look at our work. 'We did a good job,' I said, 'Thank you.' He looked at me, looked at the castle, said it was time for him to go and he left. I watched for a while as he walked away and wondered how long our sand castle would remain in tact, then I left for the day. Early the next morning, I went down to the site. The shell-adorned castle, remarkably, had been allowed to just be. It was evident that only nature had touched it with its tide.

Thoughts about this moment in time with the little boy wove in and out of my consciousness that day. He must have been surprised when I didn't yell at him to stop his kicking, or take even more aggressive action towards him. It certainly surprised me when I felt inspired to suggest he help. Yes, I extended my hand to him, but he chose to invest his time and energy into his ornamental efforts and then felt a need to protect the creation when someone sought to destroy it. He had put some part of himself into the project. I realized that perhaps for human consciousness, Investment equals Connection. I realized how different life might be if we assumed our connection first. Investment in each other and our world would be automatic.

As I gave this moment on the beach even more consideration, I thought that if we don't feel or perceive our connection to something or someone, it's easy to either not care about it or them, or to destroy without thought or awareness. I do accept what physics reveals to us: All in existence is comprised of the same energy that is everywhere in the universe. The only separation is, ultimately, in our minds. Quantum physics reveals that after we peel away all layers of manifestation, absolutely nothing is there. Nothing but the consciousness in all things - our shared consciousness, I would add - and the potential for manifestation. Whether we call that consciousness the Creator or we call it Pudding doesn't matter. It's real. It's who we are. We just haven't fully understood that yet.

From time to time, I wonder if that moment is one the boy remembers - if it had any influence in his life. He should be a young adult now. That moment is still a golden thread in my life's tapestry. It was a lovely, peaceful solution. I realize still, that when someone gives me a challenge, if appropriate, I give them some 'shells.' If I and others, practice peaceful solutions with smaller problems, we may one day seek to find peaceful ways to deal with the really big ones.

                                                                Written by Joyce Shafer

Dare to Dream

Some people only look at life through eyes that seldom gleam 

while others look beyond today as they're guided by a dream 

And the dreamers can't be sidetracked by dissenters who may laugh 

for only they alone can know how special is their path 

But dreams aren't captured easily; 

there's much work before you're through 

but the time and efforts are all worthwhile 

when the impossible comes true 

And dreams have strength in numbers 

for when a common goal is shared 

the once impossible comes true because of all who cared 

And once it's seen as reality a dream has just begun 

for magically from dreams come dreams 

And a walk becomes a run 

But with growth of course comes obstacles 

and with obstacles come fear 

but the dream that is worth dreaming 

finds its way to the dear 

And the dream continues growing 

Reaching heights before unseen 

And it's all because of the courage of the dreamers 

and their dream.

by

John Turnipseed

Director of People Services at Southwest Airlines

"Hope Is The Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul - 

And sings the tune without the words - 

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - 

And sore must be the storm - 

That could abash the little Bird 

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - 

And on the strangest Sea - 

Yet - never - in Extremity, 

It asked a crumb - of me.

"It Couldn't Be Done" by Edgar A. Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done, 

But, he with a chuckle replied 

That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one 

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin 

On his face. If he worried he hid it. 

He started to sing as he tackled the thing 

That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that; 

At least no one has done it"; 

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, 

And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, 

Without any doubting or quiddit, 

He started to sing as he tackled the thing 

That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands to prophesy failure;

There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,

Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That "couldn't be done" and you'll do it.

Go out there and show what you are...

If I am gonna die while trying to go for my dream, then its worth it....

Don't Count The Cost : Just go for it...

You don't need to worry about the demands of your dream, you only need to worry about what is your dream and how you are going to get it... 

If you want it just go for it.. Take it from your full heart.. You will definately get it.

Who Am I ??? I am the Champion..

I am the Champion. I am the Champion. I am the Champion.

Trust your struggle...

In such times of great transition,

Don't get stuck in one position.

Be supple, be bold,

Be strong, don't fold.

Hold your nerve

Through the swerve,

Retain your verve,

And all will be well,

As far as I can tell.

If in doubt,

Or afraid you'll go without,

Say, 'all change is good', over and over

And before you know it, you'll recover

Your composure

And will stop fearing exposure

To the new, so much.

Use a light touch

In your push-and-pull,

And always remember empty and full

Alternate in a cycle like day and night,

Then everything will be alright.

That's my wish for you,

As you do what you do,

Today and tonight.

If you want it, do it now....

Don't let your dreams die due to fear of failures or uncertainity. If you really want them, face your fears and achieve them now as if there is no tomorrow...

Don't be a victim, be a veteran.