Inspiration Content

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful" (Proverbs 15:13).

Abraham Lincoln once observed, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." In 1831 Lincoln failed in business; in 1832 he was defeated for the legislature; in 1833 he again failed in business; in 1835 his sweetheart died; in 1836 he had a nervous breakdown; in 1843 he was defeated for Congress; in 1855 he was defeated for the Senate; in 1856 he lost the race for the vice presidency; in 1858 he was defeated for the Senate; in 1860 he was elected President of the United States and, while president, two of his sons died. Although history has lionized Lincoln greatly, there is little doubt that he climbed to the summit of his Calvary hills. Yet one of his most memorable traits was his lively sense of humor!

"A cheerful heart is good medicine" (Proverbs 17:22 RSV). "Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks" (Charles Dickens). The opposite of cheer is worry. Henry Ward Beecher waed us, "It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is the rust upon the blade." It also gives us worry wrinkles.

A cheerful heart is a contented heart. Discontent is a poison that spreads through our system when we decide that someone else is brighter, or has more than we do, or is happier than we are. Change only two letters and we go from content to contempt. The word contentious begins with content. Perhaps we need to lop off the I-O-U-S from our life and get back to being content! It's too easy to get bogged down in what we think others owe us.

"What then is this child going to be?" (Luke 1:66).

Zechariah's and Elizabeth's friends and neighbors knew this child John was a special child. But then, isn't every child remarkable? Parental love asks, "What is this child going to be and to do?"

"...Some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work" (2 Timothy 2:20,21). Surely we want to prepare our child for noble purposes so he or she will be useful to God and to others.

�It was the question of the neighbors and of all who had heard the amazing story, �What will this child tu out to be?� Every child is a bundle of possibilities. There was an old Latin schoolmaster who always bowed gravely to his class before he taught them. When he was asked why, he answered, �Because you never know what one of these lads will tu out to be.� The entry of a child into a family is two things. First, it is the greatest privilege which life can offer a man and wife. It is something for which to thank God. Second, it is one of life's supreme responsibilities, for that child is a bundle of possibilities and on parents and teachers depends how these possibilities will or will not be realized.� Anonymous.

So what will our children and our children�s children achieve? Will they understand that life is about honoring God is all that they do? Will they be able to separate the noble from the ignoble? Indeed, can we, their parents and grandparents, do this? It is surely something to send us to our knees in supplication!

In my years teaching people to be successful, I have seen that basically people break their lives down in to two major parts: Wealth-building and the rest of their lives. Having done a lot of reflection on these two topics - wealth and life - I am coming to some new conclusions about how to perceive the two.

Until recently I thought that there was a significant difference in how we should tackle the two areas. In fact, I thought that the two topics should be addressed in almost opposite fashion.

You see, wealth-building is just math. While life -- Life is art.

Think back with me to high school. Most of us were required to take math and most of us probably took art as well.

Now, think about your final exams in the two areas. Your math paper was graded on hard facts:

Ten times ten is always one-hundred
Thirty divided by three is always ten
Seven plus seven is always fourteen
Fifty minus twenty-five is always twenty-five

There is always just one answer in math. The answers are hard fact, set in stone. Math is a science. It is formulaic. You can know the outcome before it happens, every time.

But what about your final art project? Art is much more subjective. "Beauty," they say, "is in the eye of the beholder." There is no one right answer.

Think of the different styles of the famous artists:

Renoir
Monet
Picasso
Rockwell
Warhol

Different people find different styles beautiful, and that is what makes art, art.

So how does this fit with Wealth-building and life? Wealth-building is like math:

If you add $1000 to your retirement account each month and gain seven percent interest over twenty years, you can know now how much you will have then. It is math. If you buy a rental property for $200,000 now and it increases in value by three percent a year, you know exactly how much you will be able to sell it for in ten years. The beauty of math is in the knowing. You can work the system, set it on auto-pilot and the math does the work for you, and you know the outcome.

But life? Life is art. And that is the beauty of life. You do not know how it is going to tu out. Life, like art, is always changing. Different people provide different colors. When you make a mistake you can go back, erase it or even paint right over it. You can change the scenery. Life, like art, is ever evolving, and what looks good to one person is of no interest to another. And that is what makes life beautiful.

Another lesson I think we can draw is that in life we should do our math, of course, but life isn't made up of just wealth-building. Wealth-building should serve our ability to live our lives. Jesus, the master teacher, said that our lives are not made up of the abundance of our possessions. He didn't mean that possessions aren't good, just that wealth isn't what life is all about.

So let me ask you: Are you spending more time on your math or your art? Do your math. Everybody should do their very best at their wealth-building plan so they can take care of themselves and their families.

But life is about the art. What does your canvas look like? What kind of picture are you painting? What kind of pot are you creating? What kind of statue are you sculpting? Take your time, make bold strokes, use brilliant colors, and make of your life the most beautiful masterpiece that you can.

In other words, do your math so you can focus on your art.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine. Copyright 2005 Jim Rohn Inteational. All rights reserved worldwide. To subscribe to Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine, go to http://Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com

We ALL think or have thought about it at one time or another. Revenge! Yes, we plan, we let our minds conjure up ways to get back at someone who we believe has wronged us (at this point you should hear the Austin Power-Dr. Evil maniacal laugh in your head).

I�ve yet to hear a speaker on success really discuss revenge so I thought I take a stab at it (no pun intended) by sharing a recent incident that happened to me.

Let me step back for a moment and tell you that during high school I sprouted over night to my current height of 6�2� and was skinny as a rail. In school I was never one of the cool guys. I was always one who hung out on the periphery hoping to absorb the coolness from my fellow classmates.

I was invited to play on a local YMCA team. I was sucked in by my friends telling me, �Victor, you�d be good at it.� (See the video on my website to see how this tued out). I don�t know what possessed me to say yes since I had the grace of dizzy duck and the coordination of an inebriated flamingo. I was all fowled up! (Sorry, bad joke) I had grown so quickly that I wasn�t use to my height.

On our team there was a guy, we�ll call him John, who was constantly belittling me and took pleasure in finding any opportunity to make fun of my: height, weight or lack of basketball ability. He was shorter, stealthier and could play the game. Given his scoring ability, he was always going at me and wouldn�t let up when it came to ridiculing. I wouldn�t classify him a bully because there was never a physical threat, but he rode me every moment he could.

Every time I saw John my mind would race with all the bad things I�d like to see happen to him. I wanted some type of revenge or satisfaction. But in the end, both never came. I graduated from high school, mentally intact, and went about creating my success. From what I heard, John couldn�t wait to get out of High School and didn�t go on to college.

Let me now fast forward almost 23 years later.

I was invited back to do a keynote speech at my High School in Chicago. I gotta tell ya��going back after so many years was chilling (in a good way). I had so many good memories and enjoyed walking the halls and peeking into the classrooms where I use to sit.

By 10 a.m. the auditorium was filled to the brim with students. As I approached the stage door which led to the stage, coming from the other direction was a familiar face wearing a dark green jumpsuit. Yep, you guessed it, it was John.

John looked at me, paused, looked at me again and said a sense of amazement, �You�re the speaker?�

I nodded my head as he continued to look at me in disbelief; as if a ghost from the past had come to pay him a visit.

It�s funny how we wait for a moment where we�ve replayed in our mind everything we want to say to a person. But guess what happened? Nothing came out. My thoughts, anger and resentment dissipated the moment I started talking to John. I treated him as I would any stranger I�d meet on my speaking tour.

I went to ask him how he was doing, about family and on and on. Before I excused myself to go speak, he mentioned that he was married, had kids and that he was the school janitor. My mind yelled, �Huh! The school Janitor?!� as I stepped inside.

The host introduced me and I took the stage to speak to an auditorium packed with students with A.D.D. (attention deficit disorder). Corporate crowds are tough, but nothing is tougher than speaking to High School students. As I looked into the audience while speaking, I saw John off to the side smiling as he seemed to be enjoying my talk on success.

After my speech, John came by to shake my hand and congratulate me. He said, �Victor, that was great. I was telling some of the students that I went to school with you.� We talked a little longer before saying our pleasant goodbyes.

For the rest of the day, my mind was whipping from the past to the present and how much John and I had changed. I no longer had ill feelings towards John. I no longer wished him harm. I began to reflect on how time changes us all, but yet in our minds we hold onto relics of the past.

Many of us carry some sort of angst towards someone who has wronged us in the past. And yes, some of us may very well fantasize about revenge. Seeing John again reminded once more that revenge is often bitter sweet. It�s never as sweet as you planned or imagined it would be. And bitter when you think on how foolish it was to have wasted all that mental energy on thoughts of getting even one day.

People change over time but our memories of others don�t take that into account. On that day the �old John� died and a new updated memory of him took its place; a more pleasant one at that. I don�t think I forgave John for the past; that would be too trite. I just decided to bury the memory and put a R.I.P. tombstone on it. It was no longer relevant to me.

As we grow older, so does our appreciation for life and humanity. None of us with a true sense of decency can possibly wish any harm or misfortune to befall a fellow human being. We shouldn�t torture ourselves by exhuming the past. Stop it! Cut it out!

Maybe, just maybe, the best way to get even is to simply ignore the past, and focus your time on building a new YOU. Maybe, you should focus your energy on building or rebuilding your success. And if destiny is kind enough to smile in your direction, you may just run across one those old memories on the road to your greatness and create a more pleasant one.

Please forward this on to someone who needs a bit of inspiration today.

Victor Gonzalez, top Hispanic motivational speaker and author of �The LOGIC of Success�. For more info go to: www.thelogicofsuccess.com or by email victor@thelogicofsuccess.com

In the popular movie, "Remember the Titans" most of us most likely can recall our favorite scene. Do you remember this one?

The first challenge of the coach was to get the community to break up the racial divide and pull together. So the head coach (played by Densel Washington) decides to take his players away to camp. Even with the change of environment racial barriers still stood tall and tension were high. After the first few days the coach noticed the communication between the black and white players had not improved in the least, matter of fact it was getting worse. The players were not executing their plays, mistakes were made purposely in order to make others look bad and as a result fights continually broke out. So here is what the coach decided to do.

At lunch one day the coach pulled a particular big fat happy go lucky lineman up to the front of the lunchroom. This kid didn't care black, white, purple, green, he just was happy to be there. The coach asked him to tell the whole team ONE thing about his roommate that he leaed in the few days they were there. This kid rattled on for what seems an hour about his roommate. However, with no surprise to the coach, when he asked all the other players to do the same, none of them could mention one thing about the other. How could they expect to win souls (I mean games) if they didn't believe in their cause and pull together as a team? So as a result the coach made each player lea things about one other between each practice session until each player new something about all other players. In short, if you recall the rest of the movie, that exercise brought the team together and not only inspired everyone, but also they went undefeated that season. However, what if those racial barriers had not been broken down how many souls (I mean games) do you think the Titans would have won that year? Would they have won even one game?

Is there any difference in winning games and winning souls for Christ? Is there any difference in the lack of communication that once paralyzed the Titans and Christians today? Sometimes we just going through the motions of going to church, going to parties and not breaking down barriers? And at the end of the day even years later do we know any more about our friends? Can you count on both of your hands the number of people you hang with that you know things about them deeper than just their name or social status?

The tuing point in the last game of the season came when the coach got angry and serious enough, pulled is defensive players aside and said. "From this moment forward I want you to let no one, I mean no one get past you and make another yard. Let them never forget the day they played the Titans!!!!"

From this moment forward, I challenge you to let no one; I mean no one, get past you. Let them never forget the day you loved someone enough to find out more about them.

Greg Ryan is a best selling author of the Changing from the INSIDE OUT series. A powerful five step plan to better your life, get healthier, and have more energy! For FREE mini Course click here! http://www.resolutions.bz

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him� (Luke 15:20).

The father gave the son a kiss before his son said a word. It was given while the prodigal was still dirty and in rags; therefore, it was entirely unmerited. This first blessing was followed by many others. NOT A WORD OF REPROACH IS SPOKEN. How important this is for those of us who speak words of reproach to God's children because they may not do and speak as we do.

This is the story of our Father who runs to us while we are yet far away and when we are desperate after having tasted of the husks of life; when we are tired of searching for what is real and true. The son tells his father that he is not worthy but that does not stop the father from loving him and forgiving him and bringing out the best of what he has, to give to his precious son who has come home. Our Father runs to us and gives us His best--anyway! Can we engrave this bright verse on our sad hearts as a beacon light for those days when we feel that not even the Father loves us? When we feel we don't deserve anyone's love?

Herein we have:
1) A love that is quick-sighted: "He saw him a long way off.";
2) A love that is sympathetic: "He had compassion.";
3) A love that is eager to help: "He ran.";
4) A love that yields its all: "He fell on his neck.";
5) A love that delights to forgive: "He kissed him."

Herein we have:
1) Eyes of mercy: "His father saw him. . .";
2) A heart of mercy: "He had compassion.";
3) Feet of mercy: "He ran.";
4) Arms of mercy: "He threw his arms around him.";
5) Lips of mercy: "He kissed him."

Thank You, Father!

Do you feel like a pack mule carrying around a heavy load? It is no wonder we are always exhausted with the load most of us carry. It�s not only the physical stuff we carry but also the emotional and mental load of the stuff we carry in our heads. Everyday when I go to work I see people burdened down by backpacks, briefcases, laptop cases, purses, bags, rolling carts and more! Why is everyone always carrying so much stuff? Maybe you job is such that you have to take all that paperwork home with you every night. But do you work on it or are you too exhausted? So then what happens? You carry it back to work the next day! We bring laptops home to work on them but do we? You carry your workout clothes, water bottle, cd�s, books, extra shoes and a ton of other stuff �just in case�. Ask yourself how you would feel if you didn�t have all this stuff with you everyday?

How is your home? Lots of stuff there too? Are you a pack rat saving things for a rainy day? Magazines stacking up for the day you have time to read them? Clothes hanging in the closet that you haven�t wo in years? Boxes of stuff packed away that you don�t even know what is them anymore? Junk mail piling up on the counter?

Having lots of stuff around you clutters your mind. It starts to overwhelm you and you don�t know where to start. You start to worry about it, what to do with it, where to put it. Pretty soon you can even think about it anymore and then it just continues to get worse.

Then there is the emotional baggage you might be carrying. Anger, depression, financial conces, relationships, employment can all add to an already heavy load. If you start to deal with these issues you may find it is easier to deal with the other clutter in your life. At the same time you may find getting rid of the physical clutter will help your emotional and mental load.

Start to lighten your load by making a list. What is the number one thing you could do to lighten your load? Next outline the steps you need to take to start reducing the clutter in your life. Break it down into small steps such as cleaning out one closet, not the whole house. Sell off, giveaway or throw out the stuff you no longer need. Have a garage sale or sell off stuff on ebay. Use the money you ea for treating yourself to a day at a spa. Make a vow not to keep carrying the same stuff back and forth to the office.

Once you start to lighten your load you will feel like you have more energy, clearer thoughts and a happier outlook on life. You will no longer have to worry about all that stuff that has been cluttering your life. You will find you can travel farther in life with a lighter load.

To start to lighten your load and help others have a garage sale for charity. Visit Garage Sales for Charity for full information. Helping save the world one garage sale at at time. http://www.garagesalesforcharity.org