George Orwell’s Opening Paragraph in his Novel, 1984
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Month: January 2021
👊 Today’s Power Thought ~ When Words Make Music
When one’s words pour out from the depths of one’s heart, one’s message is clear.
Today’s Smile 😃
Joe: “I sued the airline for losing my luggage.”
Pete: “How’d you make out?”
Joe: “I lost my case.”
🤗 A Better Life ~ Is It Worth It?
Think of the small, everyday irritants: Someone cuts you off and grabs your parking space. Someone cuts in line in front of you after you’ve been waiting a half hour. Your waiter brings you clam chowder instead of tomato bisque. The list is endless. Is it worth getting angry? Is it worth ruining the next sixty minutes of your life fuming about the irritant? The only certain thing is you’ll never get the sixty minutes you wasted ruminating on the irritant. Roll with it. Let the irritant pass like a floating cloud. You’ll feel a lot better and so will those with you.
🌾 Today’s Poem ~ If
If
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And which is more: you’ll be a Man, my son!
💡 Something to Think About
The most difficult journey is the journey within. If we dare take it, we discover someone very special.
Today’s Smile 😃
Joe: “My girlfriend’s father asked me to tell him my strengths and weaknesses.”
Pete: “What weakness did you tell him, Joe?”
Joe: “I told him I had a hard time accepting reality. Then he asked me what was my chief strength.”
Pete: “How did you answer?”
Joe: “I told him I was Batman.”
🌞 Today’s Inspiration ~ Dare to Take the Hard Path
“Where the way is hardest, there go thou; Follow your own path and let people talk.”
~ Dante Alighieri
🍎 Today’s Health Question ~ Want to Live a Healthier, Longer Life?
No Prescription Needed – Fill Your Being with Positive Emotions
Positive emotions are linked with better health, longer life, and greater well-being. On the other hand, chronic anger, worry, and hostility increase the risk of developing heart disease.
For some people, being happy comes naturally and easily. Others need to work at it. How does one go about becoming happier? That’s where positive psychology comes in. This relatively new field of research has been exploring how people and institutions can support the quest for increased satisfaction and meaning. It has uncovered several routes to happiness:
- Feeling good: seeking pleasurable emotions and sensations
- Engaging fully: pursuing goals and activities that engage you fully
- Doing good: searching for meaning outside yourself
- Gratitude: expressing appreciation for what you have in your life
- Savoring pleasure: placing your attention on pleasure as it occurs and consciously enjoying the experience as it unfolds
- Being mindful: focusing your attention on what is happening at the moment and accepting it without judgment
- Self-compassion: consoling yourself as needed, taking the time to nurture yourself, and building the motivation to try again.Source
🤗 A Better Life ~ Fire Ants and Lessons Learned
Have you ever been bitten by fire ants? I have. A few years back, I stepped on a fire ant hill. Within seconds, I had 42 bites on my right foot. The bites hurt and itched for two weeks. The fire ants taught me important lessons: stay in the present moment, don’t bother things that will bother me, and if we keep our distance, we can both go along our business happily.
