the rhyme of the cookie thief

A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see,
That the man beside her, as bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between,
Which she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene.

She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock,
As the gutsy "cookie thief" diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!"

With each cookie she took, he took one too.
When only one was left, she wondered what he'd do.
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other.
She snatched it from him and thought, "Oh brother,
This guy has some nerve, and he's also rude,
Why, he didn't even show any gratitude!"

She had never known when she has been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,
Refusing to look back at the "thieving ingrate."

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat,
Then sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise:
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!

"If mine are here," she moaned with despair,
"Then the others were his and he tried to share!"
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!

[by Valerie Cox]

the logical song

When I went to school I did not learn anything much which I now remember, except for this hidden message: "Every major problem in life has already been solved, and you don't yet know the answers. The answers are in the teacher’s head, or in her textbook, and the aim of education is to transfer the answers from the teacher to you, by one means or another."

That hidden message from my school, I began to realise, was not only crippling, it was wrong.

The world, or most of it, is an empty space waiting to be filled. That realisation changed my life. I did not have to wait and watch for the answers to be fed to me. I could jump into the space myself.

It is way more exciting to know that you are creating a world, than to feel you are merely replicating it.

how to turn on YOUR light and shine :)

EIGHT WAYS TO SELF ACTUALIZE

1. Experience things fully, vividly, selflessly. Throw yourself into the experiencing of something: concentrate on it fully, let it totally absorb you.

2. Choose growth a dozen times a day. Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety [out of fear and need for defense] and risk [in order to progress and grow].

3. Let the self emerge. Try to shut out the external clues as to what you should think, feel, say, and so on, and let your experience enable you to say what you truly feel.

4. When in doubt, be honest. If you look into yourself and are honest, you will also take responsibility. Taking responsibility is self-actualizing.

5. Listen to your own tastes. Be prepared to be unpopular.

6. Use your intelligence, and work to do well the things you want to do; no matter how insignificant they seem to be.

7. Make peak experiencing more likely: get rid of illusions and false notions. Learn what you are good at and what you are not good at. Then focus on the good.

8. Find out who you are, what you are, what you like and don't like, what is good and what is bad for you, where you are going, what your mission is. Opening yourself up to yourself in this way means identifying your defenses; and finding the courage to give them up.

the story of the busking violinist

A violinist was busking at a metro station in Washington DC on a cold January morning during rush hour.

He played six Bach pieces, lasting around 45 minutes. During his performance, 1097 people passed him by. Of that total 7 stopped to listen, and 19 gave him money. He collected $32 in total. When he finished playing nobody applauded; no one even noticed he had stopped playing.

The violinist was Joshua Bell, former child prodigy and now one of the world’s great violinists. He had just played six of the most intricate pieces of music ever written, on his $3.5 million violin. Two days before Joshua Bell had given a sell out performance in Boston at $100.00 a ticket.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by The Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

For me it raises one interesting and fundamental question: Like the paper bag blowing in the wind in American Beauty, how many beautiful things do you pass on the street every day of your life without ever noticing one of them?

are YOU ready for action?

It's easier to leap if you're already dancing.

wake up tiger

Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.

-- Paulo Coelho

how to make a small, big difference

Be nice and smile to everyone you meet.
You don't know what they're going through, and they may need that smile more than you realise.
And it costs you nothing.

NOW SHOWING: the movie of MY life :)

In the director's cut
of the movie of my life
I am the James Bond
of never before seen footage.

brand YOU

You have three names:
1. the one you inherited.
2. the one your parents gave you.
3. the one you make for your self.

aim high ... or go home :)

Our greatest mistake is not that we aim is too high, and miss; but that we aim too low, and reach it with ease.
.
Remember: If you don't aim high, you'll never reach them stars.

here's to YOU

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The trouble-makers.
The round heads in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.
But the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

-- from Apple Mac ad

it’s a mad world

The best way to predict your future is to create it.

wake up tiger!

my comfort zone

I use to have a Comfort Zone
Where I knew I couldn't fail
The same four walls of busy work
Were really more like jail.

I longed so much to do the things
I'd never done before,
But I stayed inside my Comfort Zone
And paced the same old floor

I claimed to be so busy
With the things inside my zone,
But deep inside I longed for
Something special of my own.

I couldn't let my life go by,
Just watching others win.
I held my breath and stepped outside
And let the change begin.

I took a step and with new strength
I'd never felt before,
I kissed my Comfort Zone 'goodbye'
And closed and locked the door.

If you are in a Comfort Zone,
Afraid to venture out,
Remember that all winners were
At one time filled with doubt.

A step or two and words of praise,
Can make your dreams come true.
Greet your future with a smile,
Success is there for you!

-- Author Unknown