I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have.

Abraham Lincoln

Flag Counter started April 3, 2008

Today on the Neil Boortz show, he mentioned his three main points to live by:

1. Proclaim your rarity; you are unique.
2. Use your power of choice wisely.
3. Go the extra mile regardless of what you are doing.

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky!

I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.

So you see! There’s no end to the thing you might know, depending how far beyond Zebra you go.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am!

You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you will be the guy who’ll decide where you’ll go. Oh the places you’ll go.

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential.

—Ellen Goodman

The New Year begins in a snow storm of white vows.

—George William Curtis

Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t find the time. Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. Vow not to make a promise you don’t think you can keep. Walk tall, and smile more. You’ll look ten years younger. Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I love you’. Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world.

—Ann Landers

I will seek elegance rather than luxury, refinement rather than fashion. I will seek to be worthy more than respectable, wealthy and not rich. I will study hard, think quietly, talk gently, and act frankly. I will listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all things bravely await occasions and hurry never. In a word I will let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common.

—William Ellery Channing

How often do you let other people change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day?

Unless you’re the Terminator, for an instant you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly she/he can get back her/his focus on what’s important.

Five years ago I learned this lesson in the back of a taxi cab in Denver. Here’s what happened:

I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver. slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’ He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so….. ‘Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.’

I was visiting with a friend who lost her son in 1999. She told me this:

Everyone’s values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others.

—William Greider, journalist and author

Today I was feeling sorry for myself as I get older, forget more things, can’t do the physical things I used to, can’t see without glasses, etc. etc. when I came across this saying which I saved from reading long ago.