As much as I prefer to not watch the TV news (where tragedy is compounded by flashy special effects and dramatic music), I will admit that I do still read my local newspaper…selectively. Generally, I start from the back page, because that is where the ‘human interest’ stories appear. For those unfamiliar with that term: it means the entertaining, fun people of the world.
They are the ones who rob a gas station and get caught because their getaway car ran out of gas, who construct a 16-ton ball of rubber bands, who play the trumpet for 218 hours straight to set a world record, and so on.
Also sprinkled far from the front page disaster-zone are the golden members of society. These are the people I admire most. While they are too positive for the front page, and not flashy (read: weird) enough for the back page, they are my favorites.
They are the passing motorists who save someone from a burning vehicle, the local contractors who build a wheelchair ramp for a local woman who had been unable to leave her home, and the Boy and Girl Scouts who collect enough food to keep the local Soup Kitchen open.
These are my golden nuggets!
Where are you in the pages of your local paper?
Are you screaming doom and gloom on the front page?
Are you hanging in the freak-flag flotilla of the back page?
Or are you nestled with the golden nuggets on the pages in between, adding positive energy to your community?
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Happiness: Feel It & Share It!
“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.”
Maxim Gorky
Is there something in your life about which you are happy…right now? Have you kept it to yourself, or shared it with the world?
In my life, I have been blissfully happy gazing at a sunrise, observing a playful puppy, seeing a favorite television show…and that is wonderful.
However, if I share that happiness with another, it can become an even greater experience. as two of us can appreciate the happiness. A third person may be affected, and brought into the experience as well.
And here is something amazing: each person added does not increase the happiness quotient by just one…it can become exponential, very quickly.
Is there something in your life which, at this very moment, is making you happy? Please consider sharing it with at least one other person.
If you can do it via e-mail, great. If you can speak over the telephone, even better. And if you can share it, face to face to capture the full-on no-holds-barred joy of the moment…then you have encountered one of life’s most bountiful gifts: a shared moment of happiness.
Enjoy!
Maxim Gorky
Is there something in your life about which you are happy…right now? Have you kept it to yourself, or shared it with the world?
In my life, I have been blissfully happy gazing at a sunrise, observing a playful puppy, seeing a favorite television show…and that is wonderful.
However, if I share that happiness with another, it can become an even greater experience. as two of us can appreciate the happiness. A third person may be affected, and brought into the experience as well.
And here is something amazing: each person added does not increase the happiness quotient by just one…it can become exponential, very quickly.
Is there something in your life which, at this very moment, is making you happy? Please consider sharing it with at least one other person.
If you can do it via e-mail, great. If you can speak over the telephone, even better. And if you can share it, face to face to capture the full-on no-holds-barred joy of the moment…then you have encountered one of life’s most bountiful gifts: a shared moment of happiness.
Enjoy!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Swing, Batter Batter Batter...Swing!
As Major League Baseball’s regular season ended this past weekend, I felt that one final tribute to the Boys of Summer would be fitting. There are so many life lessons to be learned from America’s pastime. You know, ones that do not involve spitting, scratching or (the one which drives my mom crazy)…adjusting.
The biggest lesson I learned from baseball, which has stuck with me from my Little League days, is this: you can’t get a hit with the bat sleeping on your shoulder.
This season, I enjoyed watching many end-of-game heroics capping off mammoth comebacks. You know, the ones that many so-called ‘fans’ heard on their car radios after they left early to ‘beat the rush’ out of the parking lot.
Two outs, three balls, two strikes, down by several runs with the bases loaded, a pitcher staring down the batter…and crack! Whether the ball cleared the fences, or shot through a gap, the winning runs scored because the batter, and his teammates, hustled and did not give up.
How is your team doing in the game these days? From what I have seen and heard, many have hit the showers early, giving up and calling it a day due to darkness, stormy weather, or worse: a self-imposed ‘mercy’ rule (in which they have been scored against so often, they just ‘gave up’).
No matter what the score is, please remember this: you cannot get a hit (i.e. create success) unless you stay up there at the plate, swinging away. You may foul a few off. You may miss a few. But, your pitch is coming. Wait for it, keep your eye on the ball, and swing with all you’ve got.
And when it happens, take off full-speed with every step…until the winning run crosses the plate and you, your teammates and your fans celebrate the victory!
The biggest lesson I learned from baseball, which has stuck with me from my Little League days, is this: you can’t get a hit with the bat sleeping on your shoulder.
This season, I enjoyed watching many end-of-game heroics capping off mammoth comebacks. You know, the ones that many so-called ‘fans’ heard on their car radios after they left early to ‘beat the rush’ out of the parking lot.
Two outs, three balls, two strikes, down by several runs with the bases loaded, a pitcher staring down the batter…and crack! Whether the ball cleared the fences, or shot through a gap, the winning runs scored because the batter, and his teammates, hustled and did not give up.
How is your team doing in the game these days? From what I have seen and heard, many have hit the showers early, giving up and calling it a day due to darkness, stormy weather, or worse: a self-imposed ‘mercy’ rule (in which they have been scored against so often, they just ‘gave up’).
No matter what the score is, please remember this: you cannot get a hit (i.e. create success) unless you stay up there at the plate, swinging away. You may foul a few off. You may miss a few. But, your pitch is coming. Wait for it, keep your eye on the ball, and swing with all you’ve got.
And when it happens, take off full-speed with every step…until the winning run crosses the plate and you, your teammates and your fans celebrate the victory!
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