Archive through October 08, 2001
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The ClubHouse: Archives: Thought For The Day: Archive through October 08, 2001

Nancy

Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 04:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Chocolate is good for you.

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, and beans are vegetables. It contains
sugar, which comes from either sugar cane or sugar beets, which are both
plants. Therefore, chocolate is a vegetable. If you eat chocolate-covered
cherries, raisins, strawberries and orange slices, you're getting fruit
in your diet. Chocolate-covered nuts are in the protein food group. And
since chocolate contains milk, it is a dairy food.

To have a balanced diet, eat equal amounts of dark and white chocolate.

If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge.
Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate
to protect themselves.

Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off
your appetite, and you'll eat less of the foods that don't taste as good.

If the chocolate melts on your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

The problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in a
hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

Beauty tip: Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look
younger.

Time management tip: Write "Eat chocolate" at the top of your daily "To
Do List." That way, you'll get at least one thing done.

A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories
in one place. Think of the energy you could save.

Help protect the American economy. If not for chocolate, there would be
no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be
devastated. You can't let that happen, can you?

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if
you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

Money talks. Chocolate sings. Beautifully.

Buttercup

Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 07:51 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
The greatest glory is not in never falling, but in
rising every time you fall.

Lancecrossfire

Saturday, August 18, 2001 - 01:45 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
""In the end, each of us will be judged by our standard of life, not by our standard of living; by our measure of giving, not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness, not by our seeming greatness."

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny."

"Never underestimate the power of giving. It shines like a beacon throughout humanity. It cuts through the oceans that divide us and brightens the lives of all it touches. One of life's greatest laws is that you cannot hold a torch to light another's path...without brightening your own."

Wink

Monday, August 20, 2001 - 08:21 am EditMoveDeleteIP
"Happiness is good health and a bad memory"

Ingrid Bergman

Flint

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 01:50 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Desire is petty, a yapping dog, but hope - there is the demon which flails the soul, the inferno which fires the passions and consumes all. Hope - the ultimate deceit, the illusion, the sword upon which all men throw themselves, and the final cruelty; for without the illusion and deceit, without hope, man cannot live.

Wink

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 01:56 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
"We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world".

Helen Keller

Flint

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 02:00 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
LIfe's a •••••.

Wink

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 02:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
And then ya die.

Flint

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 02:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yep.

Tess

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 02:49 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
You got that right, Flint. Life's a ***** and then you die.

Karuuna

Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 03:21 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of it's furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond
- Rumi from The Essential Rumi

Nancy

Saturday, September 01, 2001 - 04:24 am EditMoveDeleteIP
One of the best clues to whether someone understands the
art of being successful is their reaction to the important
challenges that come at them.

Those who will succeed have a characteristic way of
reacting to great challenges, which may present themselves
as opportunities, problems, or dangers. The succeeders set
everything else aside when they believe that the right time
to cope with a major challenge has arrived. Then they put
all their energy into dealing with that challenge. They
face it squarely, although this doesn't always mean they
will make a frontal assault on it. Succeeders look at
problems and opportunities realistically, but their
solutions often involve slipping through the side door.
They go with what works, knowing that frontal attacks are
beaten off more often than they succeed.

Those who have chosen failure, disaster, and mediocrity do
the opposite. They ignore the problem or opportunity as
long and thoroughly as they can. Instead of facing the
difficulty squarely when they finally can't ignore it any
more, they moan and groan, run to and fro, and waste time
trying to get help where no help will be forthcoming.
Rather than taking action, they worry. When they finally
make their move, they hit the danger with too little too
late, or chase after an already lost opportunity in a
futile effort to come from behind.

The key element in dealing with all challenges, whether
they are problems or opportunities, is timing. When you're
faced with a challenge, take fast and effective action that
has a good chance of winning, or sit that one out. Make
your decision early and then live with it. No move at all
is better than a late move.

====================================================
Absolutely no one enjoys being criticized! Yet, if you want
to succeed, you've got to overcome all your natural
instincts and actively seek out feedback, good and bad.

.

If you want to advance, you need to develop a positive,
flexible, and creative attitude toward feedback. Here are
some practical ways to toughen your hide and change your
perception.

1. Diffuse attacks. To give yourself breathing room, turn
"attacks" of criticism into information exchanges. The
natural human reaction is to become defensive and offer a
list of reasons why the comment is untrue. This quickly
locks both sides into fixed adversarial positions from
which it is hard to retreat. Break the cycle. As hard as it
may be, respond to any negative criticism by immediately
agreeing it may be correct. Then ask for more specific
details, enlisting the accuser as your ally in improving
the situation. You'll get lots of useful feedback, both
negative and positive.

2. Use the Olympic-scoring rule. Throughout your life,
you'll get a wide range of commentary on how you're doing.
Discard your highest and lowest ratings. Bill Gove, past
president of the National Speakers Association, said, "In
any audience, ignore the ten percent who think you walk on
water and the ten percent who think you are no good at all.
Then listen to the middle eighty percent."

3. Consider the source. Do your critics have the right
background and experience to judge your work accurately?
Are they in a position to give you valuable input? You
can't change to satisfy everyone. ("A camel is a horse
designed by a committee.") In my career, I've been given
some really good advice and some really bad advice. The key
is deciding which is which.

4. Separate intent from content. Any negative comments
about our actions, appearance, or attitudes automatically
seem very personal. Yet, amazingly, the commenter may have
had the best intentions. Recognize that different people
have different personality styles and communication skills.
They may sincerely mean to help, but deliver negative
comments in a way that is hard to process and accept. On
the other hand, an ill-wisher often provides valuable
insights. Decide that it is never productive to take any
comments personally.

5. Seek out criticism. Some jobs offer regular job
performance evaluations where employees get feedback. If
you don't have such a program, ask for personal feedback
anyway, from both your manager and those you manage. One
successful AT&T executive sits down on a regular basis with
his staff and asks them, "What things am I doing well? What
would like me to do more? What should I do less of or stop
doing?"

Recruit your customers as allies by asking them to be your
critics. Don't be defensive. Keep your clients happy by
being as eager to please them as your competitors are. In
any selling situation, you're still selling after the sale.
It won't be long before a rival asks them, "What do you
want that your current supplier isn't providing?" Get the
jump by asking the same question. Seek out the criticism
before your competitor does!

"When a customer offers a criticism," advises Bob Treadway,
a Denver based speaker, "invite them to be more specific."
For example, if they say, 'This delivery should have come
sooner!,' ask them in a genuinely friendly tone, 'How much
sooner, specifically, would you like it?' If they say, 'You
could have done a better follow up,' say, 'Tell me how
exactly you'd like us to follow up in the future.'"

Treadway advises asking open-ended questions that can't be
answered with a "yes" or "no." For example, "How could we
help you with that?" or "What improvements would you like
to see?" Then summarize what they have said: "It sounds
like we could do a better job if..."

6. Feedback your feedback. Paraphrasing what you've just
been told helps to eliminate misunderstandings, honoring
and acknowledging the criticism, and compelling you to
really listen. "Nothing," Bob Treadway says, "demonstrates
better to a client, boss or spouse that you have heard them
than paraphrasing their statements." It also helps you to
filter out and focus on the useful information.

7. Protect yourself. We're not always in shape to cope with
negative comments. It's appropriate to give people feedback
on the best time and way to offer you feedback.

People learn to treat you the way you teach them to treat
you. Dear Abby once ran a letter from a slender, attractive
woman whose Mother never failed to remind her of how fat
and unattractive she had been as a teenager. Dear Abby
suggested that she say, "Mother, let's not discuss that
anymore." So simple, yet so hard to withdraw permission
after years of negativity.

It's your job to communicate that you will respond better
if you can receive the criticism in a different way, time,
or place.

8. Don't expect everyone to love you. Praise and approval
are wonderful. We all thrive on them. But we all need a
dose of reality now and then. Just because people notice
imperfections and point them out doesn't make them your
enemies. If you've armed yourself with a positive attitude
toward criticism, they are going to be your best friends

Lancecrossfire

Saturday, September 01, 2001 - 11:50 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks Karuuna and Nancy.

Nancy

Tuesday, September 04, 2001 - 10:39 am EditMoveDeleteIP
ACHIEVING YOUR DREAMS By Jim Rohn
====================================================
While most people spend most of their lives struggling to
earn a living, a much smaller number seem to have
everything going their way. Instead of just earning a
living, the smaller group is busily working at building and
enjoying a fortune. Everything just seems to work out for
them. And here sits the much larger group, wondering how
life can be so unfair, so complicated and unjust. What's
the major difference between the little group with so much
and the larger group with so little?

Despite all of the factors that affect our lives - like the
kind of parents we have, the schools we attended, the part
of the country we grew up in - none has as much potential
power for affecting our futures as our ability to dream.

Dreams are a projection of the kind of life you want to
lead. Dreams can drive you. Dreams can make you skip over
obstacles. When you allow your dreams to pull you, they
unleash a creative force that can overpower any obstacle in
your path. To unleash this power, though, your dreams must
be well defined. A fuzzy future has little pulling power.
Well-defined dreams are not fuzzy. Wishes are fuzzy. To
really achieve your dreams, to really have your future
plans pull you forward, your dreams must be vivid.

If you've ever hiked a fourteen thousand-foot peak in the
Rocky Mountains, one thought has surely come to mind, "How
did the settlers of this country do it?" How did they get
from the East Coast to the West Coast? Carrying one day's
supply of food and water is hard enough. Can you imagine
hauling all of your worldly goods with you...mile after
mile, day after day, month after month? These people had
big dreams. They had ambition. They didn't focus on the
hardship of getting up the mountain.

In their minds, they were already on the other side - their
bodies just hadn't gotten them there yet! Despite all of
their pains and struggles, all of the births and deaths
along the way, those who made it to the other side had a
single vision: to reach the land of continuous sunshine and
extraordinary wealth. To start over where anything and
everything was possible. Their dreams were stronger than
the obstacles in their way.

You've got to be a dreamer. You've got to envision the
future. You've got to see California while you're climbing
fourteen thousand-foot peaks. You've got to see the finish
line while you're running the race. You've got to hear the
cheers when you're in the middle of a monster project. And
you've got to be willing to put yourself through the paces
of doing the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable.
Because that's how you realize your dreams.

Nancy

Tuesday, September 04, 2001 - 10:40 am EditMoveDeleteIP
your welcome Lance ;)

Max

Friday, September 07, 2001 - 10:25 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Something a friend sent me today. :)
-----------------------

The Paradox of our Time by George Carlin

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life, we've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; big men and small character; steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. Remember, to say "I Love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for some day that person will not be there again. Give time to Love, give time to speak, give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

To all my friends in my life, thanks for being there.

Written by George Carlin

Nancy

Tuesday, September 18, 2001 - 03:47 am EditMoveDeleteIP
"One man with courage makes a majority."
--Andrew Jackson

"To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so." --Sir Walter Scott

"Elbow grease is the best polish."
--English proverb

Map your own route to the top:

"What is known as success assumes nearly as many aliases as there are those who seek it." --Stephen Birmingham

"No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or 'get rich' in business by being a conformist."
--John Paul Getty

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." --Bill Cosby

Kittykeeper2k

Tuesday, September 18, 2001 - 11:01 am EditMoveDeleteIP
IT'S BETTER TO BE SILENT AND BE THOUGHT A FOOL
THAN TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN.

Nancy

Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 03:07 am EditMoveDeleteIP
SHADOWS

I saw a young mother
With eyes full of laughter
And two little shadows
Came following after.

Wherever she moved,
They were always right there
Holding onto her skirts,
Hanging onto her chair.

Before her, behind her-
An adhesive pair.
"Don't you ever get weary
As, day after day,
Your two little tagalongs
Get in your way?

She smiled as she shook
Her pretty young head,
And I'll always remember
The words that she said :
"It's good to have shadows
That run when you run,
That laugh when you're happy
And hum when you hum -
For you only have shadows
When your life's filled with sun."

~ Unknown

Nancy

Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 03:08 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Words of Wisdom

Standing for
what you
believe in,
Regardless of the odds
against you,
and the pressure that tears at your
resistance, means courage

Keeping a smile on your face,
When inside you feel like dying,
For the sake of supporting others,
means strength

Stopping at nothing,
And doing what's in your heart,
You know is right, means determination


Doing more than is expected,
To make another's life a little more bearable,
Without uttering a single complaint,
means compassion

Helping a friend in need,
No matter the time or effort,
To the best of your ability, means loyalty

Giving more than you have, and
expecting nothing
But nothing in return, means selflessness


Holding your head high,
And being the best you know you can be
When life seems to fall apart at your feet,
Facing each difficulty with the confidence
That time will bring you better tomorrows,
And never giving up,
means confidence.

~ Author Unknown

Flint

Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 08:54 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Religon is a way
of walking, not a way
of talking.

William R. Inge

Flint

Friday, October 05, 2001 - 05:15 am EditMoveDeleteIP
To do a certain kind of thing, you have to be a cetain kind of person.

Zen saying.

Nancy

Saturday, October 06, 2001 - 04:44 am EditMoveDeleteIP
~ The Strength of a Man ~


The strength of a man isn't seen in the width of his shoulders.
It's seen in the width of his arms that circle you.

The strength of a man isn't in the deep tone of his voice.
It is in the gentle words he whispers.

The strength of a man isn't how many buddies he has.
It's how good a buddy he is with his kids.

The strength of a man isn't in how respected he is at work.
It's in how respected he is at home.

The strength of a man isn't in how hard he hits.
It's in how tender he touches.

The strength of a man isn't in the hair on his chest.
It's in his Heart... that lies within his chest.

The strength of a man isn't how many women he's loved.
It's in can he be true to one woman.

The strength of a man isn't in the weight he can lift.
It is in the burdens he can carry.

<author unknown>

Flint

Saturday, October 06, 2001 - 05:55 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Those who know don't talk.
Those who talk don't know.

Lao-Tzu

Flint

Monday, October 08, 2001 - 07:34 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Beginning is easy, continuing is hard.

Japanese Proverb