It is good to enjoy the beautiful things we encounter as we pass through life. There is nothing wrong with stopping to smell the roses – as long as we don’t let the distractions keep us from something more important. The poem puts meeting commitments first, followed by rest.

(If we aren’t finding time to enjoy the beauty around us, then maybe we have been making too many promises.)

 Many of us learned about sharing through treats like candy. The problem with sharing candy is that the more people I share with, the less candy is left for me. Maybe that’s why many people prefer not to share.

There are some things that we can share without losing anything: Wisdom, understanding, and love are examples. There is a magical arithmetic that happens with these substances. Explaining something to another person increases my understanding of it. So, the more I share my und...

 The surest sign that we are having a good time is that we want to do it again. If our “recreations” are damaging the environment or hurt others, those good times will end.  Our use of public lands need to be guided by the principle of sustainability, so that future generations will be able to have the same pleasures that we enjoy.

 I had to think twice to realize what Voltaire meant. I usually associate appreciation with saying “Thank you” or “Good job.” But, in this context, appreciation is more a matter of understanding and recognizing quality. When I read something just to get the facts or simply follow the plot, I am not appreciating the author’s skill in crafting the book. When I pay more attention to what I am reading, I appreciate the choice of words, the flow of ideas, and the pacing of the story....

 Most of the time when I lose or break something, it costs me some time and/or money to get it back or to get a replacement. But once I have recovered from the loss there are no lingering bad effects. However, if I lose someone's trust because of a lie or a broken promise, no matter what I do to try and fix things, some doubt will remain the next time I make a promise.

Almost any problem can be resolved if we honestly work on it together. If either of us is not honest about our part of a ...

 Words are the main tools we have for formulating and expressing our ideas. That means that our understanding cannot be more precise than the meaning of words. If we use vague words, then our ideas will be vague.

Every field of study has a specialized vocabulary. The first step in learning a new subject is to learn the exact definitions of the words used in that field.

 Saying “It’s not a problem” may seem to make life easier because if something is not a problem we can ignore it. That would be fine if it were true that “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

For a long time smoke from fires and engine exhaust was not considered a problem, so nothing was done to reduce the chemical emissions. Once people came to realize that the smog was hurting our health through asthma and other diseases, they started finding ways to improve the situation...

 There is no substitute for practice and preparation. Every athlete knows this. It also applies to nearly every other field of human endeavor. Musicians spend far more time practicing than performing. Airplane pilots spend enough time training in simulators that when an in-flight crisis occurs they will respond quickly and accurately.

The successes that result from th...

I suspect that this quote is an exaggeration, but it contains a good point. The traditional dinner table is a bridge across the generation gap. Ideally, it provides an informal atmosphere for all of the family members to share their ideas, concerns and triumphs. In addition to strengthening the family, this type of free exchange of ideas engenders innovation and positive changes. 
Let's try to maintain that "dinner table" atmosphere in more of our issue oriented conversations.

 Photo: Wounded Knee Cemetery, SD

 During the 1800's there was a great deal of fear and anger between groups of settlers and Native Americans that erupted into violence. Attempts at avenging wrongs often resulted in attacks on innocent members of both groups, which created more anger. The anger was natural and justified, but the response led to shameful actions like the slaughter by U.S. troops of over 200 Lakota civilians who were camped at Wounded Knee under a white flag.

During the 1950'...

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. – John F. Kennedy

 The world we live in bears little resemblance to the natural world that existed a million years ago. If it did, our life expectancy would be under 40 years. While the changes mankind has made have significant benefits, they also have caused significant problems. When we look at the problems that modern society has created, we shouldn’t despair and attemp...

 At the first level: This says that I do not have the right to do harm to anyone else. We know that physical force is not the only thing that harms us, so the same limit applies to our right to free speech.

At a second level: Each person has complete ownership over his or her own body, mind and feels; and each person is unique. I don't want to assume that just because something doesn't bother me, it won't bother someone else. If something I do or say to another individual hurts them in an...

You need Power only when you want to do something harmful, otherwise Love is enough to get everything done. - Charlie Chaplin

 Having power can let you accomplish things quicker and more efficiently, but it can also tempt you into acting rashly. When I am tempted to do something just to show that I can, I take that feeling as a warning that I am about to abuse my power and think about an alternative action.

 When somebody is doing something for me, I am not getting the exercise that would strengthen my abilities. There are plenty of times that I want help, but I am always better off when I remain an active participant in my life rather than becoming a passive spectator.

If I try to help someone by doing something for them, they miss out on the thinking and/or skill that would let them take ownership of the solution.

 There are some people that I just don’t like; something about them irritates me.  Some even promote ideas that I consider to be despicable and immortal.  That doesn’t mean they are unlovable and it doesn’t mean that we should become best friends. What does matter is that we recognize that we are all human beings and that is reason enough to treat each other with respect.

 Everybody seems to have a built in radar system. There are lots of ways that we send out signals that other people detect and bounce back towards us. It is not just our words, but our tone of voice, posture and facial expressions that determine the quality of the echo that we get in return.

I just finished sharing a week in camp with a group of children who had an incarcerated parent.  During the first couple of days, I frequently heard a child's angry words to another child produce a loud...

As long as we allow anyone to be abused and deprived of their rights, then the same mistreatment can be applied to ourselves. Abusive behavior tends to be contagious. Unless we completely eliminate it, there is a chance that it will spread to attack us.

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. – Gertrude Stein

 Especially now that we have the internet and instant TV news, getting information is easy. Often we get so many different facts and opinions that the real task is to pick out the few pieces of information that are both true and important for making our decisions. We need to use our common sense to screen the ideas that come flooding in.
Particularly with Social Media posting of hyped up hea...

Excitement gives us extra energy, which is good. It also focuses and narrows our thinking and can lead us to overlook something important.

The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure. – Albert Einstein

 Defending our Constitution doesn’t necessarily mean fighting. The more citizens live according to its principles and speak up whenever they see the rights of others being threatened, the less actual fighting there will be.

 I have never known a mountain climber who has never slipped. I have never known a successful business or investor who has not lost money on at least one deal. The survivors are the people who recognize the risks and take precautions to limit their losses. The safety rope won’t prevent the climber from falling, but it ensure that a fall won’t be fatal.

 The balance of nature needed to sustain live over the long term involves an incredibly complex interaction among millions of components. Scientists spent years and millions of dollars trying to create a sealed Biosphere that could be built on another planet and support human life with a carefully selected collection of plants and animals. It failed badly.

Man's attempts to improve the world by eliminating nuisance animals like wolves or to convert forests to agriculture have led to seriou...

      Progress takes time.  Trying to rush things often makes them take more time, just like picking at a scab makes it take longer for a wound to heal.

Fears are warning signs.  They alert you to possible dangers and should make you be cautious.  But fears should not be treated as stop signs.  Actions based on fears are strictly defensive; at best they help you minimize your losses, but they won’t help you accomplish your goals.

      The wise man doesn’t ignore his fears, but uses his hopes to guide him forward as he proceeds with caution.

Traditional machines, like this water powered mill, supply brute force for tasks like grinding corn and pulling heavy loads.  Each of these machines is much more powerful than any man.  They eliminated lots of jobs that involved life-shortening brutal labor for unskilled workers. 

Modern automated machines (like computers and telephones switches) can perform repetitive tasks much faster and with fewer mistakes than any human.  They are eliminating lots of boring jobs.

There are no machin...

As the family in this photograph was leaving their home in Ireland, the seven-year-old son said, “Good-bye God, we are going to Texas.”  Forced out of their home by the potato famine, they moved to a farm they bought in Texas.  The new land was suitable for grazing cattle, but not much good for farming.  The family lived in a tent for years, with sheets dividing the “living room” from the “bedroom.”  When he was eleven, the boy got a job as a water boy for a railroad constructio...

It doesn’t matter how talented and intelligent you are if you aren’t around when the opportunities occur.  The opportunities and promotions will go to the people who can be counted on to be there to complete the task.  There are some days that I show up and wonder if my presence has done any good and there are other days when I get a chance to really shine.  I never call be sure which kind of day tomorrow will be.  I come to school every day so I don’t miss out on the great days.

The image of attempting to climb two trees with one foot braces against each trunk is painfully awkward.  It obviously would be much more efficient to climb one tree at a time.  Yet I often find myself doing something similar to my mind by reading, watching TV and listening to a family member all at the same time.  My brain is able to take in all of the different inputs into short term memory, but only a few of them get thoroughly processed and retained long term.  Much of my brain...

When someone mistreats me, I get mad, naturally.  The important decision comes later.  I can choose to relive that wrong in my mind, and until I forgive the other person, that’s what I tend to do whenever I have to deal with him again.  My anger comes back and I am likely to say or do something that makes the situation worse.  Anger and hate get us stuck in the past.  When I forgive the other person, I free my mind of the anger and that frees my mind to find ways to make things better for...

The standard sports movie includes a scene where the coach makes a big pep talk to spark a come from behind win.  These scenes are good drama, but bad models.  They remind me of a cartoon where the recipient of a Safety Award thanks his boss by saying, “Without trophies like this, I would have no motivation to avoid injuries.”

If I actually asked you to “Make me feel important”, it would sound like I was weird.  Also, if I had to ask, nothing you said in return would sound sincere.   Still, the desire to be important is a basic part of human nature.  If you want to be a leader, read that invisible sign.  When you make someone feel important, that person will become more willing to follow you.

            
(Yes, Mr. Perry, there is a political message here.)

What makes a comment clever?  The really clever ideas are the ones that relate other things to the current topic in an original way.  I get most of my clever ideas by really trying to understand something better by comparing it to other things I know.  When I am trying to come up with a clever comment so I can get attention, my mind seeks out strangeness, so my comment ends up being disconnected instead of being clever.

Some changes are cyclical, like the seasons.  When fall arrives, we don’t throw our summer clothes away – we’ll use them again next year.  Other changes, like the technology for making salt, are permanent – we need to abandon some old ways and adapt to the new.

The big question for school is:  How do we prepare for the future when we know that it will be different?  Learning about the past will help us understand the cycles of change, so we can plan for th...

      Imagination is a powerful tool.  It lets us envision the future that we want.  When we let our positive visions to guide us, we help make that future come true.

      We can also imagine an incredible number of different things that can go wrong.  If we let these doubts be our guide, they will freeze us into inaction and nothing will improve.

Particularly around the holidays, I get tempted by cool things that I see.  Most often, it’s a gadget that one of my friends has that catches my attention.  Sometimes when I am looking for a gift for someone else, I spot something that I would like to have.  And, as much as I hate to admit it, I am affected by advertising, especially for bargains.  The nearly constant bombardment of commercial messages distracts our minds into thinking about things we want but don’t have.  That is a rec...

Worrying is a distraction, focusing my mind on what might happen in the future instead of what is happening right now.  The difficulty is that if you start worrying about worrying, that only makes the problem worse.  The real key is to think about what is the best thing for me to be doing right now, and then do it.

This is not only about seeing the beauty of an empty desert.  More importantly. Are we able to see the beauty in every person?

At Thanksgiving, the blessing that I am most thankful for is the community of friends and family.

Trophies, certificates suitable for framing, and cash are all nice awards, but they have a couple of shortcomings.  1) They usually don’t arrive until long after the fact.  2) There are always questions about who really deserved the reward and what (political) motives were involved.  On the other hand, an unforced Thank You makes me feel appreciated right now and lets me know that what I just ...

Each of us has our own unique set of talents, knowledge, experiences and dreams.  So nobody else is in a position to do my thinking for me.  I am responsible for my own life; when I make mistakes, I want them to be my mistakes, not yours.

Even though I know I’m special, I like to have other people agree with me.  Besides, it is kind of fun to figure out what other people should do, but if I try to make their decisions for them, I am not respecting their abilities and uniqueness.

If a branch from a dead tree falls on my roof, I’m tempted to just think about when it fell and blame the wind.  If I do, the next storm is likely to blow the rest of the tree down and do more damage.  If I really thought about the cause, I would realize that where I slipped was in not cutting the dead tree down and I could correct the problem without any more damage.

I have heard of students who didn’t have their project ready to turn in on a Friday makes excuses that something happen...

I wonder how many times the Wright brothers were told, “It will never fly.”  Proving the doubters wrong added to the pleasure of their success.  The first flights didn’t go far enough to have any practical purpose, but they opened the door to a whole new era.  As Alan Sheppard said on the moon, it was “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

I never liked the “No Fear” T-shirts.  They seemed to encourage recklessness.  I am much more impressed by someone who does the right thing while being fully aware of the dangers in his path.  That kind of courage is much more likely to lead to a successful result than blindly charging ahead into a dangerous situation.

The issue of whether the basic nature of homo sapiens is cooperative or combative remains the subject of philosophical debate.  Even if there is no answer to this theoretical question, there can be great practical advantage to assuming that the individuals we deal with are naturally loving and caring.  If they are not acting that way, I assume that something is bothering them and if I can help them find a way out of their painful situation then they will become less combative in their treat...

I knew a prison warden who took great pride in his record in catching escapees.  Part of the reason he was good at catching them was because he had lots of practice.  His facility had the highest rate of attempted escapes in the state.  After a while, he was replaced by a new warden who had his priorities straight.

“America the Beautiful” celebrates the ideal of our nation that inspired Heroes “who more than self their country loved.”  A key to bringing our reality close to our ideal is that we good citizen be crowned with brotherhood.

Crowns are usually associated with monarchies, not democracies, so think about checkers, where crowns are earned by good plays.  The crown bestows each king with increased power and flexibi...

What is the difference between pain and suffering?  There have been times when I feel really good even though my body aches.  If I think that I have gained something from the experience, then the pain doesn't turn into suffering.  I suffer most when I think of myself as the victim of an unfair world.  When I change my focus to improving my future, my suffering ends.

Often the first question that is asked when something goes wrong is, “Whose fault was it?”  That might be appropriate when searching for a murderer or other criminal, but most of the problems in business and our daily lives are not caused by intentional acts.  If our response is focused on blaming the person who made the mistake we will not gain an understanding of WHY the mistake occurred and what can be done to keep it from happening again.
    
    The temptation to blame is especially s...

Think of anger as a smoke detector going off.  It is an irritating signal that something as gone wrong.  I want to have a smoke detector to prevent me from sleeping through real dangers.  My smoke detector is pretty sensitive; sometimes it goes off when there is no real danger – just a side effect of something I’m cooking or starting a fire in the fireplace.  Even when I know th...

Friendship is both important and complex.  It can bring pleasure to almost any activity.  One crucial factor is trust.  Getting buried in the sand is fun only if you trust your friend and your friend proves trustworthy.

When I have something to say, that thought becomes the center of my attention, making it extremely hard for me to really listen to what someone else is saying.  Really listening requires that I make the other person’s ideas the center of my attention – that is the only way I have a chance of making the best part of his knowledge become part of my own mental map of the universe.  My own idea is already in my head, so I can come back to it later – though writing a quick note to myself m...

      Frank Sinatra sang “My Way”.  It is a sad song that starts mentioning regrets and ends with a defiant boast that at least “I did it my way.”  I wonder how many of the regrets were the direct result of insisting on doing things “my way.” 

      It should be obvious that each of us is living with a finite brain in a world of infinite possibilities.  It is foolish to think that I have all the answers, or even the best answer, for all the situations I will en...

      I don’t like it when somebody tells me I have to do something.  If that person is more powerful than I am (like a teacher, parent or police officer), I will probably do it while he is standing there supervising me, but I am not likely to continue doing it once he is gone.  But when somebody takes the time to convince me that it is a good idea to do something, I’ll continue doing it without anyone having to supervise me.

      General Eisenhower could definitely getting the soldie...

Your kind words and actions may not always be returned in kind.  The other person may be in an exceptionally bad mood or may have experiences that make him distrust your real intent.  However, if you can manage to be consistently kind, that consistency will reduce the resistance to your approaches.  It is when our own feelings of anger and fear make it hardest to be kind that our kindness will have its most important impact.

            Andrew Jackson sought to eliminate all Indians east of the Mississippi.  Many of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence (declaring that “all men are created equal”) owned slaves.  History is full of examples of our imperfections.  The United States did not become a great nation because its citizens are superior to other humans.  The key to our national success is that the fallible people involved in our government have continually been ...

      Nothing that we do, create or acquire will last unless we raise another generation that is prepared to maintain what we have created and to build on our accomplishments.  If we don’t prepare the children in our community to carry on after we have gone, nothing else will matter.

Laughter is a powerful shrinking agent.  When a problem appears to be too big, joking about the situation makes the problem seem smaller.  When people are uptight, finding something silly to laugh about reduces the tension.  Unfortunately, laughing at a person (or group of people) also makes him look smaller. That not only hurts the person who is belittled, it poisons the atmosphere for everyone within hearing range.

Oliver Wendell Holmes spent thirty years on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court, retiring only after he turned 90.  He credits his endurance in such a serious job to having maintained his youthful playfulness.  We don’t need to give up the good things about childhood when we grow into old age.

What does it mean to be an American?  Is it nothing more than an accident of birth?  What principles define American patriotism?
            
In political rhetoric ideas like low taxes, immigration laws, specific religious beliefs and economic growth start to sound like American principles, but the real principles are the ones embodied in the Declaration of Independence and our pledge:  Self-government, the self-evident equality of all people, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, with li...

There are a couple of distinct interpretations:  1) Distance is no barrier to friendship; a friend will always find a way to be there for you.  2)  The anticipation of being with a friend makes the trip to his house seem short.

 (tandem cable railway - Zagreb)

As soon as I figured out the wording for this thought, I had an afterthought: “What happens when the other person gets off?” – Crash landing.

We all seem to recognize that “put downs” and “zingers” are hurtful, but they remain all too common in our conversations and jokes.  There is no doubt that television and movies play a role in making cheap-shot humor seem acceptable.  But, then again, slavery used to seem acceptable in our country.  That ...

Chasing fame and success is like trying to reach the end of the rainbow.  It is a vague target that may appear in many different places.  The people who end up being successful are usually working toward a more specific goal, like being the best is their chosen field.

When we waste something, we turn it into trash – creating additional clean-up costs in addition to losing the value of the item we have wasted.  Yet few people seem to worry as much about wasting what they have as they worry about losing things.

Successful performances start in our minds.  We have to image ourselves doing something before our brain can issue the commands that get our bodies moving correctly.  Mental rehearsals are a major part of the preparation that top athletes and stage performers do to get ready for their events.

Sometimes I get so hung up on defending my rights that I insist on doing something just to prove that I can. Often that is not the best thing I could choose to do.

War ships are designed to protect our nation.  However, it is often better to solve problems by diplomacy instead of my using our battleships.

I would like to get rid of all of my enemies without making new ones.  Is there a better way than to try Lincoln’s advice?

No single strength will get a driver to victory lane.  It takes a winning combination.  Disney came up with his list while making movies, but it seems to apply to racing as well.

·         Curiosity:  Drivers are always experimenting with their cars, trying to figure out what works best in different conditions.

·         Confidence: Drivers need to be confident not only about their own ability, but also have confidence in their fellow drivers. (A major difference between racing and driv...

The campers who left the remains of their campfire smoldering certainly did not intend to destroy the forest they enjoyed.  Saying, “We meant to extinguish our fire completely” didn’t lessen the damage.

If we intend for good things to happen, we still must carefully observe the actual results of our actions.  If the results aren’t what we intend, it is up to us to change our behavior.

A really powerful person has no need to act like a bully.  A person who is confident in his/her strength will be in control of the situation enough to act gently.  That gentleness invites cooperation.

Bullying behavior is a sign of insecurity; it makes it look like the person is trying to make it look like he is stronger than he feels.  Also, the use of brute force invites resistance and thoughts of revenge.

In software development, the rule is that the sooner a programmer starts writing code, the longer it takes to finish a working application.  In our hurry to show visible progress, we often don’t take the time to think through the problem and map out our route before setting out.

When we encounter something negative in life, we are tempted to respond in kind.  If we act on this natural impulse, we only add to the negativity in the world.  If we want to live in a better world, we have to find a way to make a positive response to even the worst people we meet.

    The recent "I have a Dream, A dream for America" poetry contest sponsored by the Sandwich No Place For Hate Committee was a beautiful example of students looking to a positive future.

Most people seem to think that being confused is a sign that something is wrong with them.  That is the wrong conclusion.  Confusion actually indicates that we are entering uncharted waters.  I get confused when the situation I am in doesn’t fit into my mental map of the universe.  That makes it an opportunity to increase my understanding and to make the map in my brain more accurate.

Confusion is uncomfortable, but retreating from confusing situations will not keep me from becoming conf...

Not all of the people I enjoyed hanging out with are real friends.  Some of them were only interested in having fun together, they discouraged me from doing things that didn’t involve them – it is as if they only thought of me as a plaything, one of their toys.  My real friends wanted to see me succeed and encouraged me to try new things, even if it meant moving on without them.  Those are the people that I have actually stayed close to decades later.  They are the people who care enoug...

It is easy to get so involved with the details of daily life that we neglect to think about our ideal life.  A good dream is like a compass; it keeps us pointed in the desired direction.

Most of the time, I want to take the quickest, most efficient route to my destination.  But, sometimes I’d rather take a scenic route or simply explore.  Even when I know what is the best way for me to go, I am not in a position to judge what is best for someone else.

“I’ll bet you a nickel that if you give me a dime, I’ll give you a quarter.”  Most people are willing to take me up on this bet, figuring that I’ll end up with fifteen cents in exchange for the quarter.  But, as soon as I get the dime, I say, “Congratulations.  You won the bet,” and hand over a nickel. 

We often get so focused on wanting to be declared the “winner” that we don’t really consider what is being won, and what i...

Before starting out on a voyage, the Captain is clear about his destination and has a navigation map to guide him.  Before we undertake any task, we should make sure we understand our goal and create a plan to get us there.

We have been hearing and seeing a lot of short statements presented as important truths.  As we have thought about them from different angles, none of them have stayed simple.  Together, we have come up with exceptions to many of these “rules”, while they are useful guides, they are not pure truths.  Pure truth requires an understanding that is deeper than mere words can express.  Let us continuously strive to be aware of the complexity of reality.

Once upon a time, there was a small river flowing across Northern Arizona.  Over millions of years, the rainfall near its headwaters eroded a channel that connected it to a lake on the eastern side of the Kaibab, forming the Colorado River.  The additional flow from the lake gave the river enough power to enlarge the river’s valley, creating the Grand Canyon.  The Colorado River has now been tamed by a series of dams, but it continues to slowly erode the solid rock of its bed – a proces...

How are the people you are happy to see arrive different than the ones you are happy to see leave?  Choose which type of reaction your presence creates.  Enjoy and appreciate whoever you are with.

When work is a daily grind, it wears a person down and tires him out.  Having fun is refreshing – rejuvenating the body as well as the mind – that’s why we look forward to vacations.  When you find ways to enjoy your work, you stay young at heart and look forward to every new day.

Very few trips work out exactly as planned.  Weather is only one of the things that are beyond are control.  Blaming external conditions for messing up our plans doesn’t help us get to our destination.  If we don’t think of ourselves as victims of circumstances, we can always find something that we can control to get headed back in the right direction.

Getting even doesn’t work.  The person who receives a blow always thinks it is harder than the one he gave out.  There are only two ways that a cycle of revenge ends.  One is death; the other is for someone to show enough strength to absorb the last blow without responding in kind.  Fighting tends to escalate: the longer a fight lasts, the more pain is inflicted on both sides.  The best time to stop a fight is to refuse to strike back after the first blow.

As I get ready to go out shopping:

There many cool things in the world; whenever I see one of them I want it.  Every year, there is a better computer and a neater car that I would like to buy.  If I had yielded to these temptations I could not have paid off my mortgage, paid for my children’s college and taken an early retirement to enjoy the beaches and four seasons of Cape Cod.  When I think about what is really important to me, I am happy to drive my old car until it is too worn out to ...

After a couple of hours hiking up hill, I was discouraged to see that the summit was still far ahead.  When I paused briefly and looked behind me, the view of how far I had already come was refreshing enough to give me more than enough energy to keep going until I reached the top.  When your current work seems too hard, you might want to think back on how much you know now than you did two years ago.

It is not easy to be comfortable with our doubts.  They remind us that we don’t know everything and that our decisions might go wrong.  But eliminating doubt from our thinking doesn’t not change the fact that we are imperfect, it just blinds us to the possibilities that we could learn from the different views that others may hold.

Doubts shouldn’t stop me from acting.  Thinking through my doubts should let me move forward with confidence that I am prepared to take corrective action if-...

Out of all the billions of stars, it only takes one sun to chase away the darkness and make a day and cheerful.  When that sun is hidden behind clouds, one person with a sunny disposition can have the same effect.  Each of us has a role in making the atmosphere warmer or colder.

This bit of wisdom comes to us from ancient India.  It provides an answer to our worries about both the past and the future.  If we focus our energy each day on making that day a good experience, then tomorrow's yesterday will be a good memory and my experience will lead me to expect the next day will turn out as good as the past.

Walking in beauty results from being attuned to our surroundings and maintaining our balance mentally.  When our actions are in harmony with all of nature, we enjoy natural beauty.

Whenever we are pretending to be somebody we’re not, we are acting out a lie.  That invariably creates stress.  The internal fear of being found out will drive us toward protecting our image, instead of enjoying our company.  Putting on a false front will either turn us into bullies, or make us easy targets for other bullies.

This quote is from a cartoon character who has a wooden leg.  That doesn’t really make him different from other people; we all have imperfections.  His physical problem may be more visible than some of our other weaknesses, but none of us are good at everything, so there is no reason to be ashamed of who we are or who we are related to.  Shame or pride should only be side effects of what we actually do.

When I talk to a class and all the students listen without saying anything, I figure that they are agreeing with me.  When someone makes racist or other bigoted comments in my presence and I say nothing, he is going to assume that I agree with those opinions, or at least that I don’t mind them.  The Nazis were never the majority, but the silence of so many of their neighbors allowed them to think and act as though they were.

The most effective way to reduce bullying behavior is for bysta...

It seems like my mind wanders when I get bored.  That is backwards.  What really happens is that I become bored when I let my mind wander.  Even a simple repetitive task, like pounding nails, is not boring when I focus on doing the best job possible.

Knowledge accumulates in layers.  Each addition allows us to rise to a point that allows us to see farther into the horizon.  Curiosity and science are never fully satisfied.  
                

My opinions are often different than those of other people but our emotional reactions are similar.  So when I want others to go along with my ideas, I ought to think about what approaches work with me, and about what words make me resist changing or agreeing with them.

How did Sir Edmund Hillary get to the top of Mount Everest?  
                                                                                                             One step at a time.

If you have a big job in front of you, you will never get it done unless you take the first step.  Waiting around won’t make the journey get any shorter, it will just leave you less time to complete it.

When a crocodile is swimming around, his prey will see him coming and escape.  So he sits tight and waits until his next meal comes close enough for him to grasp it.  What’s the difference between being lazy and patiently conserving your energy until it will pay off?

A second thought:  His patience will pay off only if he has positioned himself in a place where he will get opportunities.

In our society, we too often rank the value of a job by how much we paid for doing it, rather than by how important it really is.

a) Which person does more to benefit our town:  A doctor who sets the bones of people who slipped on the ice, or a boy who shovels the sidewalk well enough that the people don’t fall?

b)  I actually enjoy my trips to haul my garbage and recyclables to the town dump.  It’s not because I like handling garbage; it is because the workers are always friendly and...

I wish I could maintain this attitude.  I really do want to improve, and if I am the one who figures out what I am doing wrong, I am pretty good at changing to correct the problem.  Yet if someone came up to me and said, “Let me tell you what is wrong with you,” I wouldn’t want to hear it.

Since other people are a lot like me: How can I give advice in a way that they will want to follow it?  Telling someone what he should do sounds an awful lot like “Let me tell you what is wrong w...

The message that I get from a person who is cussing is that he is too angry to be thinking straight.  Why would anyone heed the words of someone who isn’t thinking straight?

No matter how much someone irritates me, if I want my ideas to be understood, I need to choose words that will build a bridge connecting that person to me.  If I sound like a thoughtful friend, he will listen and consider what I have to say (unless he is too angry to be thinking straight).

    Movies and TV often spend most of their time building up to a disaster that is averted by a grand heroic action at the end.  That is not the way the real world gets improved.  Most lasting improvements grow from small individual acts that encourage others to take similar actions. 

For example, the federal Fair Housing Act would never have passed Congress unless a large numbers of individuals across the country had formed friendships with members of other racial groups.  It doesn’t tak...

Nobody can be the best at everything, but each of us has some strong points.  One key to personal success is making the most of our strengths so we have an area of true excellence.  One key to successful leadership is recognizing the strengths of others so our group can reap the benefits of their excellence.

Don’t pay too much attention to averages.  Many people drown in rivers that have an average depth of less than two feet when they step out of the part that is few inches deep and fal...

Fear raises its ugly head when we are confronted by situations that we aren’t sure that we can handle.  Fear makes us want to avoid the things that we are afraid of.  But, the fear is not inherent in the thing we are facing; it rises out of our doubts.  Madame Curie’s advice is to seek to understand the scary things so that we learn how to handle them.  Understanding will eliminate the fear and expand our comfort zone.  For example, since I understand how lightning works, I can shield m...

Napoleon is often portrayed as an egotistical military genius, but here he is quoted as saying that everybody (together) is wiser than the greatest genius.  Maybe we shouldn’t be looking for a wise man to follow when we could be taking advantage of the collective wisdom of all the people around us.

Like the Honduran farmer in the picture, Jimi Hendrix was not a highly educated man.  So it may seem strange to quote a rebellious rock musician as a source of wisdom.  Yet, he seems to have captured a truth that escapes many “experts.”

Knowledge is information that can be given out by simply talking and explaining.  Wisdom is more complicated; it requires knowing the best choice that can be made in a given situation.  Since every situation is unique in some way, telling what I have le...

Laughing is actually good for your health.  A good laugh refreshes the body as well as the spirit.

How much money do you need to be rich? One million dollars?  Three million dollars?  We tend to think about being rich as having a large amount of money.  This quote reminds me that I am rich if I have much more than I need.  So, the fewer things that I think of as necessities, the richer I become.

A necessity is something I think I can’t live without.  When I think something is a necessity, I don’t feel particularly happy about having it, but worry about losing it.  If I think of the ...

There have been times when someone confided in me, expressing grief over a loss or describing an incident that had hurt some much that talking about it brought tears to both of our eyes.  As painful as these experiences were, I always felt good about them afterward.  There have been other times that I have embarrassed someone by laughing at them.  I don’t feel good about those times.

The key isn’t the laughing or crying, it is the...