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1. Strike a balance between work and
play, between seriousness and
laughter.
2. Stick with the truth even if it
makes you look or feel badly.
Falsehoods are like wandering ghosts.
3. Forgive your enemies as part of
the price you pay for the privilege
of being forgiven.
4. Spend time outside. Walk. Get
lots of air and sunshine and
occasionally some rain or snow in
your face. Get some dirt on your
hands.
5. Talk over your troubles, mistakes
and dreams with someone you
trust.
6. Don't underestimate the ability
of God to straighten out a
situation -- even when you can't.
Be patient.
7. Discriminate among your fears.
Learn to tell which ones are useful,
which ones destructive.
8. Remember that the ultimate death
rate is 100%. You would be getting
gypped if everyone got to die and
you didn't.
9. When you can't sleep, say, "Aha!
Here's a chance for a little
privacy and creative thinking. Or
prayer."
10. Fall in love with life, with
children, older people, the theater,
music, books, cities, hills, the
sea; everything except money.
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A Healthy Dose of Laughter
I read that a child laughs 400 times a day on the average,
while an adult laughs only 15 times
each day. Which is puzzling since
laughter feels so good and is so
good for us!
You may know the benefits of laughter on the mind and spirit,
but are you aware of how much a good
laugh can help you physically?
Norman Cousins used to say that laughter
is so beneficial physically
that it is like "inner jogging."
Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic Health Letter, March 1993) reports
that laughter aids breathing by disrupting
your normal respiration
pattern and increasing your breathing
rate. It can even help clear
mucus from your lungs.
Laughter is good for your heart. It increases circulation and
improves the delivery of oxygen and
nutrients to tissues throughout
your body.
A good laugh helps your immune system fight off colds, flu and
sinus problems by increasing the
concentration of immunoglobulin A in
your saliva. And it may help control
pain by raising the levels of
certain brain chemicals (endorphins).
It is also a natural stress reliever. Have you ever laughed so
hard that you doubled over, fell
off your chair, spit out your food or
wet your pants? You cannot maintain
muscle tension when you are
laughing!
The good news is that you are allowed more than 15 laughs a
day! Go ahead and double the dose
and make it 30 times today. (You may
begin to notice your relationships
improving!) Then double it again!
You are bound to feel better, you
will cope with problems more
effectively and people will enjoy
being around you.
Laughter: it's good medicine, it's completely organic, it can
be shared, it is recyclable and absolutely
free!
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?
Do you know what you would die for?
An ancient story tells of two great warriors, Cyrus and
Cagular. Cyrus, of course, was the
noted emperor of Persia and Cagular
was a little-known chieftain who
consistently repelled Cyrus' attacks.
Cagular's troops tore the Persian army apart time and time
again as they resisted Cyrus' attempts
to expand his southern border.
Finally, Cyrus amassed his whole
army, surrounded Cagular, captured
him, and brought him to the capitol
for trial and execution.
On the day of the trial, Cagular and his family were brought
to the judgment chamber. The chieftain,
six feet tall with the
appearance of a nobleman, faced the
throne. Cyrus was duly impressed
with Cagular.
"What would you do should I spare your life?" the emperor
asked.
"Your majesty," replied the warrior, "If you spared my life, I
would return home and remain your
obedient servant as long as I live."
"What would you do if I spared the life of your wife?" Cyrus
questioned.
"Your majesty, if you spared the life of my wife, I would die
for you."
So moved was Cyrus by his answer that he freed Cagular and his
wife and appointed the chieftain
to govern the southern province.
On the trip home, Cagular enthused to his wife, "Did you
notice the marble entrance to the
palace? Did you see the corridor to
the throne room? Did you see the
chair on which he sat? It was made of
one lump of solid gold!"
His wife appreciated her husband's excitement, but admitted,
"I really didn't notice any of that."
"Well," Cagular asked in amazement, "What did you see?"
She looked seriously into his eyes. "I beheld only the face of
the man who said he would die for
me."
Do you know what you would die for? Loved ones? Your home?
Your country? Your faith? A cause
(like liberty)? A belief? An ideal
(like love)? Determine what you would
die for, and you have
identified what you should LIVE for.
Now... what would happen if you actually LIVED for these
things? If you gave them more time,
more energy and more devotion? It
may mean making some changes, such
as taking time away from activities
which are not on your list. It may
mean saying NO to other commitments
so you can say YES to that which
is truly important.
LIVE for the few things you'd DIE for and you will actually
live! And... you will know where
happiness is found.
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Others
Many living things need each other to survive. If you have
ever seen a Colorado aspen
tree, you may have noticed that it does
not grow alone. Aspens are found
in clusters, or groves. The reason is
that the aspen sends up new shoots
from the roots. In a small grove,
all of the trees may actually be
connected by their roots!
Giant California redwood trees may tower 300 feet into the
sky. It would seem that they would
require extremely deep roots to
anchor them against strong winds.
But we're told that their roots are
actually quite shallow -- in order
to capture as much surface water as
possible. And they spread in all
directions, intertwining with other
redwoods. Locked together in this
way, all the trees support each
other in wind and storms. Like the
aspen, they never stand alone. They
need one another to survive.
People, too, are connected by a system of roots. We are born
to family and learn early to make
friends. We are not meant to survive
long without others.
And like the redwood, we need to hold one another up. When
pounded by the sometimes vicious
storms of life, we need others
to support and sustain us.
Have you been going it alone? Maybe it's time to let someone
else help hold you up for a while.
Or perhaps someone needs to hang
on to you.
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Thanks to life support.
