Monat: Dezember 2013

I looked at the moon through the tall buildings of the city. And the moon looked back at me, not a full moon – just a crescent – and the beauty of that moon in the center of the city lifted my spirits for a few moments before the reality of the ugly buildings returned to my mind.
Yes, moon, I can see you. You’re a beautiful thing in the middle of all this barren concrete, but you are so away from it all, and I am stuck right in the middle of it.
And the moon looked back at me and spoke gently.
The difference between you and me is indeed one of perception, but perhaps not one of distance because I am just as far from you as you are from me. And perhaps I see the ugliness of the city as much as you because I can see it as it spreads its cold concrete upon the earth.
Rather than distance, we differ in another way; you see only the bright side of me – the face that I show to the world illuminated by the sun and full of beauty. Yet I know and accept that a full half of me is hidden in darkness from you. I accept that dark half of me because it is part of who I am.
You, too, have a dark half and you try to learn more, to see further, so that you can push the darkness away from yourself. But just like me, the darkness is a part of who you are. You can adventure in the darkness and try to extend your light, but as you extend your light you will find that you also expand your darkness. As knowledge and understanding grows, so its shadow grows alongside.
I still did not understand and asked the moon “And should I then simply live in the darkness for it shall always be part of me?” The moon replied:
As you grow and learn, the things that you do not know and understand will grow alongside. But the world cannot see your darkness anymore than it can see mine. Although your dark side is an invitation to learn more and to expand your wisdom, it is your growing light that shines. You shall always be half in darkness, but you shall truly be a greater light for the world.
A passerby saw me gazing and talking to the moon and muttered “another beautiful moon and beautiful lunatic.”

At the beginning of my 8:00 a.m. class one Monday at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been very good. He’d had his wisdom teeth extracted. The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful. His question reminded me of something I’d read somewhere before: “Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day,” I said to the young man. “I choose to be cheerful“. “Let me give you an example,” I continued.
The other sixty students in the class ceased their chatter and began to listen to our conversation. “In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, about seventeen miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I drove those seventeen miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter-mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn’t turn over. So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college.
“As soon as I got there I called AAA and asked them to send a tow truck. The secretary in the Provost’s office asked me what had happened. ‘This is my lucky day,’ I replied, smiling. “‘Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?’ She was puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
“‘I live seventeen miles from here.’ I replied. ‘My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn’t. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I’m still able to teach my class, and I’ve been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn’t have been arranged in a more convenient fashion.’ “The secretary’s eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class.” So ended my story to the students in my economics class at UNLV.
I scanned the sixty faces in the lecture hall. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn’t the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student’s observation that I was cheerful. A wise man once said, “Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say.” I suppose it must be so.

The therapist drove to his office on a Monday morning feeling the burden of his work weighing heavily on him. The week before had been particularly tiring and he knew his diary was full for today and for the early part of the week ahead. With a heavy heart he stopped to buy petrol and as he went to pay the attendant gave him a cheery smile and wished him a good day. He drove on reflecting that in that one simple gesture the man at the garage might have made as much difference as he did to his clients in an hour of therapy. Suddenly a simple job involving routine but friendly contact with people seemed very attractive.
He arrived at his office thinking about the lack of purpose in his life to find his first appointment was a new client for a first session.
To his standard first question of „How can I help?“ came the reply, „Well, I think I’m wasting my life, I serve people in a garage and I can’t stand the monotony and lack of human contact“

„How do you get to Carnegie Hall?“ asks the tourist of the New York cab driver.
„Practice, baby, practice“ he replies. (Very old joke)

The Tarahumara Indians of southwestern Chihuahua are the ones who can run 100 miles at a clip without it seeming to be a big deal. Then do it again the next day.
Some enterprising person brought them to the Olympics (Amsterdam, 1928) to compete in the Marathon and they didn’t even place.
The problem was no one had explained to them that the race was only 26 miles long. They thought they were just warming up.

Once upon a time there was a race of frogs. The goal was to reach the top of a high tower. Many people gathered to see and support them. The race began.
In reality, the people didn’t believe that it was possible that the frogs would reach the top of the tower, and all the phrases that one could hear were of this kind:
“What pain!!!. They’ll never make it!”
The frogs began to doubt themselves. The people continued:
“What pain!!!. They’ll never make it!”
And the frogs, one by one, admitted defeat, except for one frog that continued to climb. At the end he, alone, and with an enormous effort, reached the top of the tower.
One of the quitters approached him to ask him how he had done it, to actually finish the race. And he discovered that the frog was deaf!
Never listen to people who have the bad habit of being negative…because they steal the best aspirations of your heart. Always remind yourself of the power of the words that we hear or read – THINK POSITIVE!
Conclusion: Always be deaf to someone who tells you that you can’t and won’t achieve your goals or make your dreams come true.

In Ireland, there was a survey among people a few years ago asking them about their greatest wish. More than anything else – much much more, people wanted to … win the lottery.
And it is interesting to consider whether winning the lottery makes people happy. Research shows that the answer is a very restricted … yes. It makes them happy for a short time.
However, studies have shown that people get much more satisfaction by earning their money than winning it. In addition, the boost in happiness from a lottery win has been shown to dissipate over time. Studies of past lottery winners shows that happiness levels typically return to where they were prior to the big winning.
Even more surprising, one man who won $315 million in a lottery reported significant unhappiness and feeling of being „cursed.“

„Throw a pebble into the pond“ instructed the teacher. „Now try and stop the ripples“. And of course every move the student made to stop the water moving caused new ripples and so on and so on. „The only way to control the ripples“ said the teacher, „Is not to throw the stone in the first place“.

1. Most Important Question
During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: „What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?“ Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. „Absolutely,“ said the professor. „In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say ‚hello‘. I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.