It’s not our strong suit…

August 28, 2024

Patience is a virtue that few possess in sufficient quantity.

Yet patience, along with perseverance, are the keys to success in many of life’s ventures. Impatience goes hand-in-hand with an inability to deal with setbacks and failures as the primary causes of the lack of success.  We give up too soon.

Imagine what great inventions we would have never had if Thomas Edison gave up as quickly as most people do today. Two of Edison’s many quotes on persistence seem to fit here …

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Don’t let the guy who wins be the guy who kept going when you decided to quit. Give yourself the chance to succeed by trying just one more time. The other secret to Edison’s successes was that he learned something from every failed attempt. Don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over and expect different results. Your mantra should be “Try, learn, repeat” until you succeed.

Be patient and persistent. Be a success!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Serve and be joyful…

August 27, 2024

The Best of Jack’s Winning Words 8/26/24 – Originally sent December 30, 2011.
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”  (Tagore – Sent by Dana.) Tagore was well known as an Indian thinker and poet. I remember being introduced to his work in my college Oriental Philosophy class. He’s worth reading. Our world is a better place when filled with joy. Do your part to help create more of it! 😉  Jack

It is all too easy to become focused upon one’s own needs and ignore the world around you. Yet, we are told in Philippians 2:5-7: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant”.

The term “servant” has taken on a meaning in our modern society that makes it seem less than attractive, even demeaning. Yet, Jesus would have us become servants. What are we to make of that?

I have posted here many times about helping others and about serving the needs of others. There are many examples of the opportunities that exist in any neighborhood to be of service to others. Most of those opportunities require little other than your time. And before you think it, just throwing some of your money at it is not being of service. It is the commitment of your time and effort that will make the real difference and bring you real joy.

While reveling in one’s own successes may bring some small and temporary joy, that pales in comparison to the joy that one feels when they have successfully been of service to others or even to other living things. Even being there to meet the needs of the members of your own family is a selfless act of service and makesd you feel better than just meeting your own needs.

So, act on those needs of others that you see around you, be of service to them, and behold the joy of service.

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Posted by Norm Werner

How to be successful in life…

August 21, 2024

Today’s graphic contains a powerful message about life and success…

Now, I’m sure that most readers would probably take the immediate leap into thinking about the word success in material terms – money or promotions or achievement of some goal. That is not the point of the saying in the picture, at least not as I see it.

I believe that we are successful when we are at peace with ourselves. That peace may come from having done (or having tried to do) the right things. Our peace may come from being happy with who and what we are. Our peace may come from being satisfied and thankful for what we have and not envious of what we don’t have.  Our peace most certainly comes from learning to love oneself and thus allowing us to love others.

Perhaps the cornerstone of being at peace with ourselves is being at peace with God. Every Sunday at church we “pass the peace”, which  is a way to share what Jesus shared with us. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

I also believe that one is successful when they have given birth, raised, and sent out into the world, the next generation. Our children are one big measure of our success. There is perhaps no greater responsibility given to us than to raise our children. There is a special happiness in seeing your children go off on their own and succeed, too.

I believe that we are successful when we help others. There is a very different and much more fulfilling feeling that one gets from having helped others. We do not get that same feeling when we have accomplished something just for ourselves.

Finally, I believe that we are successful when we are remembered by others not for what we owned or how much money we had, but what kind of a person we were. I suspect that among the words like kind and caring and gentle that people might use to describe a successful person will be the word happy.

So, be happy today and being successful will just follow along.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Take a chance and change…

August 15, 2024

I receive inspirational graphics like the one below from my real estate company – Real Estate One.

I couldn’t help myself about the title for this post. Change happens all the time and all around us and much of the time we respond rather passively, just going along to get along. It is possible that those changes that are happening around us may lead to a better life, but I’m not sure that we would realize it.

The real message in the graphic is that you must make changes in your life in order for it to get better. Most of the time those changes reflect some new goal that you have set for yourself. The success of the changes is measured in the level of achievement of those goals.

One can float along through life, like people floating down a river on innertubes, without much control over how fast they go or where they end up. The alternative might seem like being a kayaker on the river and maybe the river might seem rough, like a whitewater rafting river, however, like the kayaker, you have control and can change directions or even manage a spirited ride down the rapids. You are making the choices about t he direction that you are going.

Life is like that, too, and that is what today’s graphic is really saying. Imagine a better life and then take control to change the things that need to change in your life in order to achieve that better life. That involves taking the chances that will result in change.

So, jump off your innertube and grab a paddle. The kayak of change is waiting for you. What new direction will you go in next?

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Posted by Norm Werner

Be generous and change a life…

August 12, 2024
The Best of Jack’s Winning Words 8/12/24 –  Originally sent June 2, 2008.
“Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways, it can change someone else’s life forever.” (Margaret Cho) I thought that Margaret was just a joke teller. Now, I see that she has a serious side, too. I guess it’s the same for all of us. We are more than what shows on the outside. Having said that, don’t overlook the point that Margaret is making. Try to do something generous for someone today. It might change their life. 😉  Jack  
 

In Mark 12 Jesus says to “Love thy neighbor as you love yourself”. I think today’s quote in the Jack’s Winning Words blog repost refers to a way to love thy neighbor. Being kind to someone or being generous to someone are both ways to love thy neighbor. It is being kind or generous to stop and open a door for someone. That is a small gesture for sure but one that can change the mood of the person for whom you opened the door. That change of mood forever changes the life of that person, whether you or they know it or not.

Of course, there are bigger and more obvious ways to be kind or generous to others. There are always opportunities to give money to some cause; but, perhaps, the biggest way is to give your time. There are hundreds of volunteer opportunities in every community most of which involve activities that will change people’s lives. Whether it is working in a local food pantry, driving for Meals on Wheels or just volunteering at a local school, hospital or church; the generous gift of you time will make a difference in someone’s life. Perhaps as important, it will make a difference in your life.

If you approach life with the attitude that you are going to do what you can, when you can to help others, you will be fulfilling Jesus’s command to love thy neighbor as you love yourself and you will be changing their life and yours in the act. Be the difference today. Do something generous, no matter how small; and change a life forever.

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Posted by Norm Werner