January is always a good month for making New Years resolutions and promises that hopefully will help us through each day and we will be better off because of the commitments we have made to ourselves.  Here are some thoughts to start 2008 off on the right foot:

"PROMISE YOURSELF"

• To be strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet
• To make all of your friends feel that there is something good in them
• To look on the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true
• To think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best  
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others, as you would be about your own success  
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements of the future

 To give so much time to the improvement of yourself, that you have no time to criticize others

February 2008

"PATIENCE"

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.  Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them.  Every day begin the task anew.

“ENTHUSIASM AND WORK”

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.

“OUR ATTITUDES CREATE OUR LIVES”

When you look at the world in a narrow way, how narrow it seems!  When you look at it in a mean way, how mean it is!  When you look at it selfishly, how selfish it is!  But when you look at it in a broad, generous, friendly spirit, what wonderful people you find in it.

“HOPE”

It has never been, and never will be, easy work! But the road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.

“TALENT”

If a person has a talent and cannot use it, they have failed. If they have a talent and only use half of it, they have partly failed. If they have a talent and learn somehow to use the whole of it, they have gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few people ever know.

“MOTIVATION”

Praise and Recognition are common motivators. If each of us were to confess his most secret desire, the one that inspires all his plans, all his actions, he would say: “I want to be praised. “ Use it on others and see the results derived from it.

“HAPPINESS”

Nine requisites for contented living: Health enough to make work a pleasure.  Wealth enough to support your needs.  Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.  Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.  Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.  Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.  Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.  Faith enough to make real the things of God.  Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.

“Empowerment”

The word empowerment is used all the time, but how many of us truly “Empower” the people around us?  Or do we just expect them to do what we say?  Or when they ask us for help or clarification with something we respond with, “just give it to me, I’ll do it”, rather than turning their question into a learning moment?

Regardless of our position and experience, there are always people that can do things better than we can, so get out of their way and allow them to succeed.  And remember, there are hundreds of ways to do most things and our way isn’t necessarily the best way.

October 2008

“Our Thoughts Affect Our Bodies and Our Health”

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. Do not be afraid to walk through that opened door

November 2008

“Be Thankful”

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don't know everything, for it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow. Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for each new challenge because it will build your strength and character. Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons. Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference.

December 2008

“The Power of Gratitude”

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity… It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.