Living Out Loud

Invent your future

(a Thought for the Week)

"When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened." ~ John M Richardson Jr

"As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The secret to living the life of your dreams is to start living it, at once, to any degree that you possibly can."  ~  Mike Dooley 

"Decision changes everything." ~ Douglas Verneeren

"The best way to predict your future is to invent it. It's up to you." ~ Frank Maguire

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Be the Change

(a Thought for the Week)

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning. But anyone can start today and make a new ending." ~ Maria Robinson

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." ~ Flora Whittemore

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." ~ Pericles

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Ghandi

Be the change.  Make a difference.  Visit Alliance for a New Humanity

Expect the best

(a Thought for the Week)

"Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way." ~ Eileen Caddy

"High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation." ~ Charles F. Kettering

"Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations." ~ Ralph Charell

"Expect the best and a funny thing happens. You often get it." ~ Unknown

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Seize the day, dammit!

(part of the Happy Friday series)

5 tips by Karen Salmansohn

If there is an honest conversation you need to share, DO IT. Today! Live without regret. Speak from your heart. Know: the better your communication with others, the better your life. Know: The more love you have in your life, the happier and more meaningful your life.

Believe in FORGIVENESS AND FORGETNESS. Stop carrying grudges. They simply weigh you down. Indeed, Carrie Fisher said it amusingly well when she said: Resentment is the poison you swallow hoping the other person will die. Today think about who you need to forgive, and let go of these bitter attachments.

Appreciate the people you love, by letting them know what you adore about them. Live with Emile Zolas philosophy in mind: I CAME INTO THIS WORLD TO LIVE OUT LOUD. Today share with friends and family the specifics of what you appreciate about them. Count your blessings out loud to them.

In "The Tibetan Book Of Living and Dying," author Rinpoche warns about the Western tendency for ACTIVE LAZINESS, our need to cram our lives compulsively with a myriad of unimportant activities, leaving little time to confront what really matters. He jokingly renames the petty projects we call our RESPONSIBILITIES as our IRRESPONSIBILITIES. Today ask yourself how might you edit down your TO DO LIST to a WHAT MATTERS MOST TO DO LIST? Are you finding time to be with the people you love -- and the time for doing the passions you love?

Give back to the world. I mean this both in the obvious ways of altruism and volunteerism -- which are essential to creating a happy, meaningful life. Plus, I also mean this in those the less obvious -- but still important ways -- of giving of yourself -- your true self -- your heart, thoughts, talents -- share it all. After all: Everything that is not given, is lost. Every thought and feeling we ever have, every beautiful sight we ever see, every material possession we own, every talent we possess, will ultimately be lost. UNLESS WE SHARE IT.

Today ask yourself how deeply and intimately you are connecting with those most important to you? Which brings to mind a favorite metaphor - the one about the pebble in a pond. It's as if each of us are tossing the pebble of ourselves into the pond of life, and ripples are created. If we hoard ourselves - our love, our thoughts, our feelings, our insights, our words, our gifts, our talents - we will make a very little splash, and the ripples will soon end. But if we give fully, with abandon and abundance, the ripples will go out infinitely, overlapping and intermingling with others.

With this in mind, ask yourself: What kind of ripple do you want to be? Seize the day, dammit!

You can subscribe to Karen's not your ordinary newsletter here

Dream it, Believe it, Achieve it

(a Thought for the Week)

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." ~ Anatole France

"Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision." ~ V. S. Naipaul

"Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future" ~ Charles F. Kettering

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations." ~ Ralph Charell

"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Unleash your imagination

(a Thought for the Week)

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." ~ Albert Einstein

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." ~ George Bernard Shaw

"Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless." ~ Jamie Paolinetti

"What is now proved was once only imagined." ~ William Blake

"We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view." ~ Mao Tse- Tung

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Do something different

(a Thought for the Week)

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." ~ Unknown

"Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities" ~ Terry Josephson

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." ~ Unknown

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become." ~ Unknown

"Never follow somebody else's path; it doesn't work the same way twice for anyone...the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing the next person to find their own way." ~ J. Michael Straczynski

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Seize the moment

(a Thought for the Week)

"Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great." ~ Orison Swett Marsden

"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!" ~ Jonathan Winters

"If you risk nothing, then you risk everything." ~ Geena Davis

"Opportunities don't knock at all. They don't have to, they're already all around us. It's up to us to see where they are and take advantage of them." ~ Dave Thomas

"May you live all the days of your life." ~ Jonathan Swift

You can view my Thoughts archive here

Laugh...

(part of the Happy Friday series)

"Our five senses are not enough for ideal living. We need to use our sixth sense: our sense of humor." ~ Chuck Gallozi

Do I have to sell this one?

Surely not...

But just in case:

• Laughter releases endorphins, the feel-good hormones which aid a sense of relaxation and promote a sense of well-being - ie. laughter makes you feel happier.

• "Laughter is the best medicine." It lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones and boosts your immune system.

• Laughter dissolves tension, anxiety, irritation, anger, grief, and depression - ie. laughter makes you feel happier.

• Laughter lowers inhibitions, allowing the release of pent-up emotions.

• Laughter helps people to bond with one another.

And that's just the tip of the ice-berg. I'm sure you could rattle off your own very long list of benefits.

But before you start thinking about horses and carts, and chickens and eggs, let me say that you do not have to be on top of the world to indulge in a bout of laughter. You just have to distract yourself from whatever else is occupying your attention and engage in an activity that generally makes you laugh.

So, hire an entire series of your favourite sit-com on DVD, buy a good joke book, or indulge in some really silly antics with your very best friends. Whatever floats your boat, just be sure you laugh as much as possible.

No excuses now. "Just do it!" ~ Nike.

And to get you started:

When Grandma Goes to Court

Lawyers should never ask a Mississippi grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, "Mrs Jones, do you know me?" She responded, "Why, yes I do know you Mr Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frnakly, you've been a big disappontment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realise you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I do know you."

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"

She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr Bradley since he was a youngster too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."

The defense attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counsellors to approach the bench, and in a very quiet voice said, "If either of you idiots asks her is she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair."

Happy laughing : )

Choose adventure over perfection

(a Thought for the Week)

"Choose feelings over logic, adventure over perfection, here over there, and now over then." ~ Mike Dooley

"Adventure is not outside man; it is within." ~ David Grayson

"We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake." ~ Marie B. Ray

"It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had." ~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." ~ Helen Keller

You can view my Thoughts archive http://www.thehappinessbusiness.com/php/news.php?id=30&item=">here