Trust

"The glue that holds all relationships together - including the relationship between the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity." -- Brian Tracy

Fear and Love

"There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life." -- John Lennon

Inspiration

"Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant, there is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks." -- Johann Gottfried Von Herder

Smile

"Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it" - :0)

Generosity

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."

Generosity

"There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity." -- Nathaniel Branden

Touch of the Tongue

"Some men know that a light touch of the tongue, running from a woman's toes to her ears, lingering in the softest way possible in various places in between, given often enough and sincerely enough, would add immeasurably to world peace" -- Marianne Williamson

Frustration

"People who fail to achieve their goals usually get stopped by frustration. They allow frustration to keep them from taking the necessary actions that would support them in achieving their desire. You get through this roadblock by plowing through frustration, taking each setback as feedback you can learn from, and pushing ahead. I doubt you'll find many successful people who have not experienced this. All successful people learn that success is buried on the other side of frustration." -- Anthony Robbins

Tears

"No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won't make you cry"

Patience

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew" -- St. Francis de Sales

Advice

"The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right." -- Hannah Whitall Smith

Optimism

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself." -- Lucille Ball

Reputation

"A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was." -- Joseph Hall

Reason

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." -- Albert Einstein

Advice

"We should be careful and discriminating in all the advice we give. We should be especially careful in giving advice that we would not think of following ourselves. Most of all, we ought to avoid giving counsel which we don't follow when it damages those who take us at our word." -- Adlai Stevenson

Public Opinion

"One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny" -- Bertrand Russell

Opinion

"As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a con-sensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the axiom: a leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind." -- Nelson Mandela

Friendship

"The friendship between a man and a woman which does not lead to marriage or desire for marriage may be a life long experience of the greatest value to themselves and to all their circle of acquaintance and of activity; but for this type of friendship both a rare man and a rare woman are needed. Perhaps it should be added that either the man or the woman thus deeply bound in lifelong friendship who seeks marriage must find a still rarer man or woman to wed, to make such a three cornered comradeship a permanent success." -- Anna Garlin Spencer

Hardship

"It is not just a person's physical constitution, their intelligence, their education, or even their social conditioning that enables them to withstand hardship. Much more significant is their inner development. And while some may be able to survive through sheer willpower, the ones who suffer the least are ...those who have a high degree of patience and courage in the face of adversity." -- Dalai Lama

Happiness

"If indeed the qualities such as love, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness are what happiness consists in, and if it is also true that compassion, defined as concern for others, is both the source and the fruit of these qualities, then the more we are compassionate, the more we provide for our own happiness" -- Dalai Lama

Hero

"A man can be a hero if he is a scientist, or a soldier, or a drug addict, or a disc jockey, or a crummy mediocre politician. A man can be a hero because he suffers and despairs; or because he thinks logically and analytically; or because he is ''sensitive;'' or because he is cruel. Wealth establishes a man as a hero, and so does poverty. Virtually any circumstance in a man's life will make him a hero to some group of people and has a mythic rendering in the culture -- in literature, art, theater, or the daily newspapers." -- Andrea Dworkin

Soul Mate?

‎"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life."

Change

"Everyone can think of the one thing that would make life better for them.
But people are not so quick to answer the second question:
'What are you doing to make that change come true'." -- Catherine Pulsifer

Past

"Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings." -- Ralph Blum

Different Roads

"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost." -- Dalai Lama

Doubt!

"Doubt is uncertainty in the context of trust (where it takes the form of distrust), action, decision or faith. It is uncertainty about the truth or factuality of existence of something. It implies challenging some notion of truth in effect, or hesitating to take action on it due to concern that one might be mistaken. It can also be thought of as any mention of concern, worry, or preoccupation without mention of a possible model to alleviate concern or to enhance understanding; any mention of doubt, suspicion, or lack of confidence in future outcomes.
The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth." -- Pierre Abelard

Reading

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." -- Albert Einstein

Mistakes

"It is not the mistake that has the most power, instead, it is learning from the mistake to advance your own attributes." -- Byron Roberts

Self-Respect

"The individual woman is required... a thousand times a day to choose either to accept her appointed role and thereby rescue her good disposition out of the wreckage of her self-respect, or else follow an independent line of behavior and rescue her self-respect out of the wreckage of her good disposition." -- Jeannette Rankin

Listeners

"Effective listeners remember that "words have no meaning - people have meaning." The assignment of meaning to a term is an internal process; meaning comes from inside us. And although our experiences, knowledge and attitudes differ, we often misinterpret each other's messages while under the illusion that a common understanding has been achieved." -- Larry Barker

Bad Opinions

"You have to be willing sometimes to listen to some remarkable bad opinions. Because if you say to someone, 'That's the silliest thing I've ever heard; get on out of here!'-then you'll never get anything out of that person again, and you might as well have a puppet on a string or a robot." -- John Bryan

Mistakes

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." -- George Bernard Shaw

Progressing...

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged
to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." -- Nelson Mandela

Life Lesson

"Try to do unto others as you would have them do to you, and do not be discouraged if they fail sometimes. It is much better that they should fail than you should." -- Charles Dickens

Experience

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore." -- Mark Twain

"The best teacher is experience learned from failures." -- Byron Pulsifer

"Experience can only be gained by doing not by thinking or dreaming." -- Byron Pulsifer

Ignorance!

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr

Fool

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." -- Abraham Lincoln

Lies

"The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie"

"Lying is done with words and also with silence.”

Letting Go

"There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life." -- Author Unknown

History...

"History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today." -- Henry Ford

Adversity

"There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time."  --- Og Mandino

Healthy Relationships

This article comes from the "Manor Counseling Center" at Manor College...

Relationships take work. Romantic love, the blush, the crush, lasts about 6 months, then wears off. Relationships often fail unless there is the maturity and commitment to work at solving the conflicts that arise in every relationship. In every area of life, if we want something of value, something rewarding and satisfying, we have to work for it. Athletes work hard, practice, get coaching, train, and strive daily for excellence. Professionals in every field spend not only years of study, but invest in on-going education to stay current and offer their best. So why do we think that successful relationships should just "happen" without any effort? Solid, healthy, long-lasting relationships require good relationship skills which can be learned. Just being in love isn't going to do it.

Characteristics of a healthy relationship:


Positive and supportive. Likes attract likes…. The healthier you are, the healthier you get, the healthier the boy/girlfriend you will attract.


Communication. Each can express feelings, talk about concerns or problems. Use “I” statements, and assertive communication. Respectfulness is always used in communication.

Honest. So trust can be built. No game playing.

Mutual. Two-way. Each gets opportunities to choose where to go, what to do, etc. No one “gives in” all the time to please the other or to keep the peace. Each gives and each receives. No one tries to dominate or control the other.

Each has other friends and spends time with them, and other interests, and spends time pursuing those interests. Neither is forced by the jealousy of the other to give up healthy activities or friends they care about. However, the relationship is a priority for both.

No manipulation. Neither guilt, threats, intimidation, nor withholding are used to manipulate or instill fear. Energy is not focused on trying to change the other’s behavior.

No violence. No verbal violence…such as yelling, insulting, put-downs, threats. No emotional violence…such as using information told during times of emotional vulnerability as “weapons”, no shaming. NO PHYSICAL VIOLENCE…neither is ever touched in anger. Non-consensual sexual contact is physical violence.

No addiction… when addiction is on the scene, the primary relationship is with the addictive substance or behavior. There can be no true intimacy.
Respectful. No one is asked to violate their values. Each person is allow
ed the freedom to change, and the freedom to say “No”. Their feelings and their dignity are respected. Fighting is fair.

Problems are faced and dealt with rather than ignored or allowed to fester. Each looks at their own contribution to problems in the relationship instead of always blaming the other for everything.

Healthy people do not stay in destructive relationships. Needy people use others to fill their sense of emptiness. They are saying, in effect, “I love you because I need you.” It may sound romantic, most of the pop songs and movies give the message that “true love” means “not being able to live without” someone. Maybe that’s why musicians, singers, and movie stars tend to have such short, troubled relationships.

In healthy relationships, people are emotionally healthy, have strong self esteem, can function well on their own, and seek someone, not to complete them, but to love. They say, “I love you because you are unique. I have love to give, and I am worthy of receiving love.”

Always look on the bright side of life...

A friend of mine posted the following video on Facebook.  I'm not into soccer but the video is catching and the message behind the song is awesome. 



That's how we should look at life.  No matter how bad things go, always find the good side of it.  Laugh it up and learn from errors.  Sometimes we get too caught up in the moment and let little things get to us.  Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.

Relationships

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." Oprah Winfrey

Attitude on life...

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

I didn't get the author of this quote but i agree with this quote 100%.  How we react to circumstances and situations determines how our lives will be.

Integrity...

"To have integrity is also to have character which is also the easiest way to run into conflict with those without either." -- Byron Pulsifer

"Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do." -- Don Galer

"To have integrity means that you don't agree with everyone you meet, nor do you succumb to pressure to be something that is in direct conflict with your core ethics." -- Byron Pulsifer

Truth...

"If you look for Truth you may find comfort in the end, if you look for comfort you will not find either comfort nor truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end dispair." - C. S. Lewis