WHAT DO YOU SEE?

"Open your eyes, look within; are you satisfied with the life you're living?"

Bob Marley, 20th century Jamaican singer/songwriter/musician.

If not, make plans to change to a life you will be satisfied living.

And should you find yourself saying "that's not possible", know it is not, only if you listen to yourself.

Don't do that.

LOOK AT YOU???

"I am amazed by Tina Fey. And I am Tina Fey."

Tina Fey, American comedian/actor.

This works because you know Tina Fey.

You know she's poking fun at herself.

It doesn't work for those who seriously tell you how great they are.

Don't be that person.

YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

John Wooden, 20th century American basketball coach.

Maybe this is a bit too pollyanna for you?

Consider the alternative.

How much better will things that didn't turn out best be if you don't try to make the best of how things turned out?

DIFFICULT, NOT IMPOSSIBLE

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome."

William James, 19th century American philosopher/psychologist.

It can be so difficult to adopt a positive attitude when we don't feel good about what lays ahead. At times, nearly impossible.

Try anyway.

You have so much to gain or lose depending on how you face the things you'd rather not.

BE MANY THINGS, JUST NOT APATHETIC

"Science may have found a cure for most evils but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings."

Helen Keller, first deaf/blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree.

The world you must live in demands your engagement.

Don't and you abdicate your right to complain.

IT'S PRETTY MUCH THAT SIMPLE

"Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude."

Dale Carnegie, 20th century American author/lecturer

Those who immediately see this as overly optimistic confirm their attitude problem.

THE VALUE OF WORRY

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work."

John Lubbock, 19th century English banker/philanthropist

This says much about the value of worry.

There isn't any.

You may not eliminate it but do all you can to minimize it.

NO LAUGHING MATTER?

"Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost."

James Thurber, 20th century American author

There is something funny in just about everything and finding what that is is good for you.

WHICH ARE YOU? FOR HOW LONG?

"Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor."

Sholom Aleichem, 19th century Yiddish author/playwright

True enough but no one need be any of these all their life.

Whichever you are, if you're not happy being that, make plans to change.

WHAT IS, MORE THAN WHAT MIGHT BE

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

Epicurus, 300 BC Greek philosopher

I can't imagine better advice.

Work hard for what you hope will be, accepting what comes, all the while enjoying what is.

SELLING ATTITUDE

"Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman - not the attitude of the prospect."

W. Clement Stone, 20th century author/motivational speaker

The attitude of each can affect the attitude of the other, however, whose attitude do you think will most determine whether or not there will be a sale?

Mr. Stone got it right.

A MAJOR VIRTUE

"Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 18th century French philosopher

I rest Mr. Rousseau's case if you think you don't have time to understand what this means.

(YOU WILL) RECEIVE WHAT YOU GIVE

"Kindness gives birth to kindness."

Sophocles (497/6 BC-406/5 BC) Greek tragic poet.

And insult to insult, injury to injury.

Consider how you'd like others to treat you.

Sooner or later, generally much sooner, what you send around will come around to you.

EXCUSE ME, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS IS YOU HAVE A MOMENT

"Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business."

P.T. Barnum 19th century American showman/businessman

The least invested and not just in business.

We all could and should be so much more civil in all aspects of our lives.

Check your anger, you will get back what you give.

WHO WILL CONTROL YOU?

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self."

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher.

Very important.

You won't control much of anything until you are able to control yourself.

THE JOY OF UNHAPPINESS

"A lifetime of happiness? No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

So, if you're not always happy, which no one I know is, you're normal.

Life in balance, no extremes.

IT'S UP TO YOU

"Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise."

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

I don't believe affliction comes to us to do any of that but I do think that is or often can be the result.

It's all about how we choose to deal with adversity. 

THE VICTORY YOU'VE JUST NOT YET ACHIEVED

"I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right."

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-Swiss-U.S. scientist.

Just because you haven't doesn't mean you'll never will, unless, of course, you stop trying.

Do that and you have assured perpetual failure.

BEFORE THEY THROW DIRT ON YOU . . .

"Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

You can be pulled along through life, rarely if ever initiating something yourself.

Don't be that person.

I THINK SO

"No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness."

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher.

And only the truly mad, those who think themselves to be only genius, would think otherwise.

What do you think?