From a recent post to Jack’s Winning Words come this little bit of advice – “I know I’m not perfect, but I can smile.” (Dido) A follow up to this quote might be…”I know that life’s not perfect, but I can smile.” Charlie Chaplin wrote the song, Smile, which begins: “Smile though your heart is aching” and ends with “You’ll find that life is still worthwhile if you’ll just smile.”
Most of us don’t realize it, but our normal, “at rest” continence is not a smile; in fact, it can look downright uninviting and even angry. If you don’t believe that just let your face
relax as it normally would be if you weren’t trying to put a look on it and then look in the mirror or have someone take you picture. You may be unpleasantly surprised that your “at rest” face looks so unfriendly. I always thought that Representative and House Speaker John Boehner looked angry all the time; although, if you Goggle him you’ll see many pictures of him smiling. His “at rest” face was not a smile. How about yours?
Sometimes we smile when we think of something good or pleasant that happened in our lives. It’s also possible that putting a smile on your face will cause you to recall a pleasant moment that caused you to smile originally. Try it. “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy” – Thich Nhat Hanh
A smirk is not a smile and may be on our faces for all of the wrong reasons; yet even a smirk can look better on your face than a frown.
Sometimes we smile at inappropriate times, because something that others are taking seriously at the time hit us as funny and brings a smile. That’s when we may hear the phrase, “Wipe that smile off your face.”
If you need more inspiration to put a smile on your face, here are some great quotes that I found about the impact of your smile on others –
“A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.” – Denis Waitley
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing” – Mother Thersa
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” – P.S.
And as for yourself, consider this quote –
“Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available.” – Jim Begg
And finally –
“A smile is happiness you’ll find right under your nose.” – Tom Wilson
So have a happy and smiley day; you’ll make your life and the lives of others better for making the effort to smile.
Posted by Norm Werner 
We all amass a book of wisdom over our lives, however, the books of wisdom for different people don’t have the same chapters nor do they read the same. I can’t think of a better first chapter for our book of wisdom than that suggested by Jefferson. The honesty that he was referring to must include being honest with yourself first and then you can be honest with all others in your life.
honest with either ourselves or others. I’m not sure of the wisdom of that course of action. Those who are not honest with themselves and others often weave webs of intrigue and lies that eventually they become caught up in themselves. Being honest and transparent in the things that your do and the decisions that you make means that you don’t have to try to remember all of the lies and deceptions that you may have engaged in with others.
“beautiful people”; however, everyone can be a beautiful person and that starts with them accepting themselves and not trying to be something that they aren’t. You will often hear someone referred to as being “genuine” and that is undoubtedly an honest person. Such a person may admire another person, but they don’t try to be that other person, because they are comfortable with who they are.
going in life? What’s holding you back from making those changes? Be honest with yourself and it will be easier for you to be honest with those around you. What a wise thing to do. You’ve added a new chapter to your book of wisdom.
and none of the warts that may go along with it. That is often the case when we dream about things, owning things or doing things. Somehow we have this belief that we would be happy, if only we owned that thing that we don’t now have. It could be a car, a house, a boat, whatever; we’re just sure that it and owning it is the key to our happiness. Then we finally get it and guess what; it’s just a thing. Owning it may make us feel happy for a few moments, but then something else out in the distance that we don’t own catches our attention and acquiring that new thing becomes our obsession.
How do we avoid the disappointment of reality not matching our dreams? One could just say stop dreaming; but that is not realistic either. Perhaps rather than stopping dreaming about some ideal person we’d like to or about things that we wish to possess, we could start appreciating what we already have in life and the people that we already know. Maybe the next step it to see a path to achieving our dream that is comprised of small steps in the general direction of that dream, maybe we could buy a newer car, with some of the features that we’ve been dreaming about; rather than buying that ultimate dream car. Maybe going out with Mr. OK is a step in the direction of finding Mr. Wonderful, and at least you have someone real to talk to and not just another lonely night with a dream. Life is full of compromises and you might even find that Mr. or Ms. OK turn out to be better than you had thought. You might even find love. Dr. Seuss even had an interesting observation about that – “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” 
and persistent enough to pursue as a goal in life, then start turning your dreams into plans and start working away at them. Your dream has now turned into your vision of where you want to go in life and what you want to achieve and you are now on a journey to turn those dreams into your reality. Mark Victor Hansen put it this way – “You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands – your own.”
you decide to finally accept that invitation for coffee or a date with the person who has been trying for so long to ask you out or maybe you finally decide to ask out that person whom you have been secretly wanted to go out with. Maybe you just decide to take some time out of your hectic and busy schedule for some “you” time – time in which you aren’t trying to “accomplish” anything other than to have some time for yourself. That may be what you need right now.
soccer or hockey practice or below going shopping; until it falls off the bottom of the list and is no longer a part of your life. You can rationalize it by saying, “I still believe in God, but I just don’t like churches and going to church.” You may even think that you’ll maintain your relationship with God through personal prayer time; but, that, too, falls by the wayside. Just like going to the gym is the only real way to have the discipline to do a good workout, going to church each Sunday is the best way to add time (and discipline) for your religion into your busy schedule. It is a habit that you need to keep in your life.
faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” – James 2:14-17
to devote some time and effort to help others.
Perhaps the best thing to think about in moments of crisis, when you are struggling into the wind, is that you are not alone. Most real crises in life leave us feeling alone, like it is us against the world or maybe that no one else in the world can know and understand what you are going through and how you feel about it. Yet we are not alone. God is there with us through everything, waiting patiently for us to acknowledge Him and turn to Him for help. Why would he wait for us to ask? He gave us free will and he is waiting for us to acknowledge that we cannot help ourselves in this situation and to finally say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”
believe that you can save me.” The two main thoughts there are letting go of your ego and the struggle to find the solution by yourself and putting your trust and belief in the power of God. You may still be buffeted by the winds that you are facing and there may still be pain; but, you will also feel the power of God to take whatever the winds may throw your way and use it to lift you up.
experienced His hand in your life in past crises; and the good news is that the result is always the same – He lifts you up whenever you are running against the wind.
can be like that if you are willing to head off into a new adventure, not sure where you’re going or where you’ll end up but just improvising as you go. Put a little jazz in your life.
in.” Making the most of that moment is trying something new, putting a little jazz in your life.
Life without some improvising and trying new things can begin to feel like the world that the mime is trying to portray when he mimes being in a glass box – there are walls everywhere that prevent you from going beyond some self-imposed limits. You can see through the walls and some things look appealing, but you hold back, afraid to try something out of the ordinary for you. There is comfort in the familiar, in staying within the box; but a feeling of confinement, too. Break out of your self-imposed box and put a little jazz in your life.
their day-to-day interactions with others and in their relationship with God. If God were to come to earth and stand next to these people, the first things that they would do is whip out their phone and try to take a selfie with God, so that they could post it on Facebook.
good is faith without trust?” It is our natural tendency to want to (maybe to have to) understand what is going to happen that causes us to have doubts that God is with us and will protect us and guide us to do the right things. We just can’t bring ourselves to let our guard and move forward with total trust in God. We cannot take the risk. “Risk taking is believing in yourself while trusting in God; knowing that He will open doors for you, even when you don’t see any.” ― Farshad Asl
never let you tackle something that you cannot accomplish, because with Him all things are possible. It may not happen right away and you may not recognize the hand of God in what transpires. Often you will feel like the door to the opportunity has been slammed shut and God has abandoned you; however, as William Branks put it – “When God closes a door He does not always open a window. Sometimes He wants you to sit in the quiet darkness while He transforms your fear into trust. How long that takes, is often up to you!” 
“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” So if you’ve made it through life with one happy coincidence after another, maybe you should take some time to reflect on that, too. Perhaps you just never have taken the time to characterize your great good fortune as the hand of God in your life.
scheduled to arrive at the park at 10 AM to greet the kids and take pictures with them. There will be face painting and other activities, too.
Victor Hugo was before my time, but I have fond memories of watching George Burns and Gracie Allen on TV when I was younger. I don’t spend much time complaining about how things aren’t what they used to be. For the most part things are better. Our modern conveniences would have been unimaginable in the “good ole days”; and life is generally better for them. Perhaps, of the two quotes, Hugo’s is most applicable to me. While good genes have prevented a complete white out on my head, my age does show a bit there. Fortunately, I am able to experience eternal spring in my heart because I still find day-to-day life to be so interesting and way too much fun to let age slow me down.
There is so much to learn from everyone that we meet that is it a shame when some people allow age to trap them into isolation. For some it is not their desire to be isolated but their physical disabilities that prevents them from getting out and interacting with others. There are many people trapped in their own homes or in care facilities who thirst for human interactions. That is why I have recommended in the past that people volunteer for jobs like Meals on Wheels or to visit care facilities and just talk to people. Drivers for Meals on Wheels will tell you that many of the people they serve are as happy to be able to talk to someone as they are about getting the food.
morning. Sure, real life is serious stuff; but, that doesn’t mean that you have to be serious about living it every single moment – you’ll serious yourself into old age and death that way.
stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
orientation/preference diversity. One thing that all of these courses had in common is the us vs. them mentality with which they approach the topic. It is always taught from the perspective that we (the us in the equation) don’t understand and appreciate the other group’s life experiences and thus don’t understand their lifestyle or their perspective on life. There is certainly truth in that statement, but I always wondered why it had to start from us vs. them and not to find a way to start with just “us” as a whole, as humans, and go from there.
“they” are in whatever minority that the course is focused upon. Current demographic trends will soon make that statement false. Most of these courses try to teach the attendees how to “value differences”, which is to say how to accept and embrace those differences as good things and not just odd things. Companies that have truly embraced diversity have prospered and people who individually embrace diversity will do better, too. Why? Because their lives will be richer because of understanding, experiencing and assimilating those differences into their own lives. Understanding and embracing differences also serves to remove the unwarranted fears that the unknown always brings with it.
majority”. Imagine the moral outrage that would be caused in that group by encountering a black, transgender person from the middle east living as a woman. One wouldn’t know where to start discriminating against that person. It might send the moral majority into apoplexy in North Carolina, if they asked to go to the bathroom.
Don’t panic. They aren’t likely to ask you to do something illegal or totally out of character for you; but, they may challenge you to stretch your comfort zone a bit, so that you can share an experience from their perspective or their culture. Go for it on the things that you can and be polite when declining the ones that you just can’t bring yourself to try. My wife and I never could quite convince ourselves to try the wonderful fish heads that a Jamaican friend of mine years ago wanted us to try. Sometimes I wish I had at least tried it.
of diversity starts with the perspective that we are all humans just trying to make it through life the best way that we can. While some travel paths that are more difficult than others, we all end up at the end of the line in the same place.
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