2017-13 - Butterfly Insights...

A marvelous lesson appeared for me just now as I was exiting thru the garage, to come to this little playplace they call an office.

As I opened the garage door, I startled a large moth, which, upon spreading it's wings, displayed a bright red "tail" hidden by the motley brown wings, more a "butterfly" than a moth.

It flew immediately to its perceived escape, the circle-topped window where it frantically tried to exit thru the invisible wall of closed glass.

I raised the third-car garage door in hopes of aiding it's escape. That caused it to fly higher and higher and become entangled in a spider web. Fearful that it would remain entangled in the web, I selected a long-handled broom to assist him escaping the tangled threads.

At this, he returned to furiously pumping his wings and banging into the glass, which was, in his perspective, the pathway of escape, but remained his cage.

By simply turning his focus to one side, he would have easily exited his prison. Rather, due to his intent on one direction, he remained confined, captive.

~ Joie Lake

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Overcoming what frightens you the most strengthens you the most.

~ Matshona Dhliwayo

2017-11 - Keep pushing forward...

When you feel like quitting, you're actually closer than ever to getting the work done. Keep going, keep moving, keep working and finish the task.

Sure, you can think of plenty of reasons to stop short of the goal. Yet there are even better reasons to push yourself forward so the goal is reached.

If the work has been difficult and challenging, that's certainly no reason to stop. In fact, that means you've got a whole lot invested in what you're doing, so keep going and reap the rewards of that investment.

You already made the choice to get started, so choose right now to reaffirm your commitment. Keep up the good and valuable work, and get the results you desire.

Keep going, keep pushing forward, and keep creating real, meaningful value in your world.

~ Ralph Marston

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If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

~ Henry Ford

2017-10 - We'll Get Bigger

George Mallory was the famed mountain climber who may have been the first person ever to reach the top of Mount Everest. In the early 1920's he led a number of attempts to scale the mountain, eventually being killed in the third attempt in 1924.

Mallory was an extraordinary climber, and nothing would force him to give up. His body was found in 1999, well preserved by the snow and ice, 27,000 feet up the mountain, just 2000 feet from the peak. Give up he did not. His body was found face down on a rocky slope, head toward the summit. His arms were extended high over his head pointing upwards.

At a banquet was held in his honour, it is said that the leader of the group stood to be applauded, and with tears streaming down his face, turned and looked at a picture of the mountain, "I speak to you, Mt Everest, in the name of all brave men living and those yet unborn" he said. "Mt Everest, you defeated us once; you defeated us twice; you defeated us three times. But Mt Everest, we shall someday defeat you, because you can't get any bigger but we can."

In 1953 two climbers, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzig Norgay, reached the top.

~ A snippet from Illustrations Unlimited

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All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

~ Walt Disney

2017-09 - Learning to Soar

When I was a boy a neighbor gave me a baby crow. After the crow was about half grown I decided that he needed to learn to fly. I climbed a ladder to the top of our house with my crow named "Rocket". Then I dropped him over the side. He fell, then flapped his wings, and landed safely. I repeated the process six or seven times until, finally instead of landing, Rocket flew over to a tree. He now knew how to fly!

An eagle that lives in the mountains does much the same with its young. When the time is right the mother eagle literally tears the nest apart and forces the eaglets to go plummeting toward the earth. Before the eaglet hits the ground the mother eagle will catch the eaglet and bear it up on its wings. The process is repeated until the eaglets can fly. Because the nest has been destroyed the eaglets are forced to begin their own lives.

Have you ever been safe and secure then suddenly your nest has been destroyed? Sometimes somebody, just like the mother eagle, must nudge us out of our comfort zone. It isn't always pleasant but then we do want to learn how to fly don't we? Actually eagles don't fly they soar on the currents of wind. We want to be able to soar as well on the wind.

~ Ed Wrather

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The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

~ David Russell

2017-08 - Four Magic Words

Long ago an Eastern monarch called his wise men together and asked them to invent a motto, a few magic words that would help him in time of trial or distress.

It must be brief enough to be engraved on a ring to be ever present. It must be appropriate to every situation, as useful in prosperity as in adversity. It must be a motto wise and true and endlessly enduring, words by which a man could be guided all his life, in every circumstance, no matter what happened.

The wise men finally came to the monarch with their magic words. They were words for every change or chance of fortune... words to fit every situation, good or bad... words to ease the heart and mind in every circumstance.

The words they gave for the ring were: This, too, shall pass.

~ Author Unknown

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Your struggle is a part of your story.

~ Laura Hilton