"A gossip talks to you about other people. A bore talks about himself. A brilliant conversationalist talks to you about yourself."

 The things which the sense see not, but which faith reveals--God, heaven, the unseen spirit. Let the eye be turned upon the unseen, rather than the things of sense. 2 Corinthians 4:18

"in life, you just need enough to get along. What's important in life isn't what you have, but how you live."

Jim Press Chrysler executive

"There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win."

"Fantastic things happen - to the way we feel, to the way we make other people feel. All this simply by using positive words." ( Leo F Buscaglia )

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air.

They are where they should be.

Now put the foundations under them.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.Ralph Waldo Emerson

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

”Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” 

 Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt

Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. Roy Goodman

 "It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely." (Leo F Buscaglia)

“Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” Lao Tzu

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don't give up though the pace seems slow-- You may succeed with another blow, Success is failure turned inside out-- The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-- It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do. - James Barrie

"Ninety per-cent of what we worry about never happens, yet we worry and worry. What a horrible way to go through life! What a horrible thing to do to your colon!" (Leo F Buscaglia)

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

     There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."

There was once an elderly, despondent woman in a nursing home. She wouldn't speak to anyone or request anything. She merely existed - rocking in her creaky old rocking chair. The old woman didn't have many visitors. But every couple mornings, a concerned and wise young nurse would go into her room. She didn't try to speak or ask questions of the old lady. She simply pulled up another rocking chair beside the old woman and rocked with her.

Weeks or months later, the old woman finally spoke. 'Thank you,' she said. 'Thank you for rocking with me.'"

"It matters not how strait the gait, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."

(William Ernest Henley, 1849-1903, from 'Invictus')

We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same. Carlos Castaneda

"I'd rather be misunderstood for doing something, than be understood for doing nothing". Rey T. Uy Tagum City Mayor

Unhappiness is the hunger to get; happiness is the hunger to give. . . . If the individual should set out for a single day to give happiness, to make life happier, brighter and sweeter, not for himself but for others, he would find a wondrous revelation of what happiness really is. William George Jordan (photo courtesy of Tagum City food bank)

If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come. -Chinese proverb

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups, and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy. "Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies." "Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat of the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

 The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up.... "I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

 With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands." With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy. "How much?" asked the little boy. "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box Italian Proverb

Once there was a king who ruled over the Earth . He decided to organize a contest of wisdom The topic of the contest was, What causes happiness? Whoever answered that question best would be proclaimed the wisest person.

The first one  said , happiness results from a good digestion. I know, because when my stomach is full, that's when I'm happy. For me, eating is bliss.

 another said:

 Happiness, lies in power. The raw power one can wield over others, over their situation, their lives, their destinies. Ah, the joy of being able to force others to knuckle under your crushing authority!

 The next contestant said:

 Happiness is social visibility. A happy person enjoys a high degree of status, prestige, prominence, influence. That's the recipe for happiness.

Next contestant:

 Happiness, depends on what other's think of him or her. If, in the minds of everyone, you're a nobody, then you're a nobody. But, if you're a nobody, then you don't exist. And if you don't exist, you can't be anything, can you? Not even happy. Right?

 the next one said...

 ...it's not so much what other's think of you that can make you happy or unhappy, it's rather the way they treat you. You can't very well be happy without any respect or consideration, right?

 The king interrupted,

...allow me to raise an objection to the presentations, they suffer from the same weakness, that of depending on something external. The next contestant said:

  Happiness , cannot depend on anything external , for then a person would always be in danger of losing it, the fear of losing one's happiness can only poison happiness from the inside, like a worm hidden in an apple. No, happiness must result from one's own inner attitude. It's all a matter of mind set. When you feel bad for one reason or other, the thing to do is to send a memo to your brain bearing the following message: THINK POSITIVE.

  I like your ideas, the king said, it avoided the common weakness of all the preceding ones by putting the cause of happiness within the individual.  A person  no longer dependens on outside agents for its happiness, and that is a great progress. However, I have my doubts. It seems hardly credible that one could always psyche oneself into being happy. I have known depressed people in my time,yet, most of them will say when they found themselves in the pit of an acute depression, either they didn't have enough psychological energy to initiate positive thinking , or else they sent a positive message to their brain but without effect. And so, it doesn't seem that the power of positive thinking is guaranteed to work for everybody.

 Finaly, the last contestant was reluctant to speak but the king encouraged him.....

 I'm afraid my ideas won't find much appeal with a lot of you and, in fact, that's why I preferred not to say anything. However, if you want to hear me out, then here goes.

 I think happiness is a result of how we live. If we live with true values and correct principles, we'll be happy. If our behavior is in harmony with the true values and principles we believe in, then we'll be happy. It's as simple as that. ... ...by true values and principles, I mean such values and principles as these: respecting and esteeming all people; serving other people in a meaningful way; making a difference on the earth by one's creative contribution; serving anonymously; blessing the lives of other's by our concern and support; celebrating variety as a source of enrichment , things like that. However, I would like to sound a note of caution here. One will not find happiness if one seeks it. Happiness is not the result of logical planning. Happiness happens. It happens as the by-product, the side-effect of a life aimed at goodness. It is the unlooked-for reward of living with integrity. And, because of that, it cannot be lost or be affected by external circumstances such as wealth or poverty, health or sickness, success or failure. Why? Because this kind of happiness wells up from within the heart. Consequently, being rooted in the heart, it is like our shadow: it follows us everywhere.

Having said these words the audience fell silent. All knew in their hearts his answer was correct. Fortunately, the truth had prevailed. When this realization dawned on the hushed audience, there was a spontaneous outburst of applause such as had never been heard before. That was the signal the king had been waiting for. Accordingly, he then and there proclaimed him the wisest person of the earth.