- "For most people the voice of their neighbors is louder than the voice of God." H.G. Wells We worry too much about "what will people say?" when it comes to courageous challenges
- “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Philosopher, Poet, Author, Essayist
- Communication"The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said" Peter Drucker
- Make the other person feel important"Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.” Benjamin Disraeli
- The Art of GratitudeGracious acceptance is an art - an art which most never bother to cultivate.We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving...Accepting another person's gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you (Alexander McCall Smith)
- Pascal's wagerA 1660 mathematician, Blaise Pascal was also famous for his philosophical observations including "Pascal's Wager" which was his argument that you might as well believe in God, because believing carries no risk and potentially plenty of reward.
- The power of being irrationalThe American Journalist Murray Kempton once wrote that the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini "demonstrated the iron rule that in international relations the drunk driver has the right of way."
- Offending othersDiogenes: "He who never offended anyone never did anyone any good"
- ListeningI never met a good listener I didn't like
- HappinessHappiness doesn't depend upon what we have, but rather on how we feel towards what we have
- Mark Twain"People who don't read a newspaper are uninformed and people who do read the newspaper are misinformed."
- Zane Grey wisdom"Recipe for greatness - To bear up under loss; to fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief; to be a victor over anger; to smile when tears are close; to resist evil men and base instincts; to hate hate and to love love; to go on when it would seem good to die; to seek ever after the glory and the dream; to look up with unquenchable faith in something ever more about to be; that i what any man can do and so be great."
- Wisdom from Diogenes"He who never offended anyone never did anyone any good"
- Pablo Picasso"Everything you can imagine is real"
- The power of being irrationalAmerican Journalist Murray Kempton once wrote that the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini demonstrated the iron rule that "in international relations, the drunk driver has the right of way"
- Blessed Padre Pio"Pray, hope and don't worry"
- Michael J. Fox (actor)"My happiness grows in proportion to my acceptance and in inverse proportion to my expectations"
- Charles MacKay "No Enemies?"You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is poor; He who has mingled in the fray Of duty, that the brave endure, Must have made foes! If you have none, Small is the work that you have done. You’ve hit no traitor on the hip, You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip, You’ve never turned the wrong to right, You’ve been a coward in the fight.”
- John MaxwellA big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him
- Coach Bear BryantYou never know how a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy load
- Hearing what you want to hear"So,they're in an echo chamber listening to people who agree with them"
- St Catherine of Siena:"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire"
- William Barclay, Scottish professor, has observed it is a curious paradox of learning that the more one learns about any subject the more one realizes there is still much to learn. In the Academy at Athens there was a three year course. In the first year students were called "The wise men." In the second year they were called "Those who loved wisdom" But in the third year they were called simply "The learners."
- Henry David Thoreau"Most men live lives of quiet desperation and die with their song inside."
- Helping othersHow far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world. - Shakespeare
- Ralph Waldo Emerson"The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons."
- Famous Jesuit adage:"When arguing, never deny, seldom affirm, always distinguish."
- From Robert Service The Cremation of Sam McGee"A promise made is a debt unpaid"
- Never be intimidated:"Always remember .....Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David." Shug Jordan / football coach Auburn
- View from age 76 years:William Holden's character says in the movie Network "It's all suddenly closer to the end than to the begining and death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me with definable features "
- Will Rogers"Everything is funny as long as it happens to somebody else"
- Coach Paull "Bear" Bryant carried this prayer in his walletThis is the beginnig of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste or use it for good. What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, Leaving something in its place I have traded for it. I want it to be a gain not a loss - good, not evil. I shall not forget the price I paid for it.
- Your Purpose in LifeIt has been said that every person is a "dream of God" who has been sent into the world to do some special task
- Advice from Dr. Seuss"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"
- Beaten but not defeated"Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise..." Micah 7:8 John Dryden’s poem: Johnnie Armstrong Last Goodnight: Fight on, my merry men all, I’m a little wounded, but I am not slain; I will lay me down for to bleed a while, Then I’ll rise and fight with you again. Invictus William Ernest Henley Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
- The search for meaning"The human heart has a hole only God can fill" Unknown Augustine: " "God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you"
- President EisenhowerHe once said that after an angry outburst his mother quoted Proverbs 16:32 to him: "He who is slow to anger is better then the mighty and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." Seneca once said: "he is most powerful who has power over himself." Good advice for all of us
- AgingJohn Mortimer, the creator of "Rumpole" died in January at age 85. He wrote about the indignities of dying: "Dying is a matter of slap-stick and pratfalls. The aging process is not gradual or gentle. It rushes up, pushes you over and runs off laughing. No one should grow old who isn't ready to appear ridiculous."
- Royal LawJames 2:8 talks about the "royal law." He says: "If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, "love your neigbor as yourself," you are doing right."
- Life Travels in CirclesThis weekend the Seattle paper had an article about a local Indian tribe and it's new casino. A 76 year old member of the tribal council who was complaining about an issue was quoted as saying "Life travels in circles. It will come back to them." I think she is both wise and right.
- St Teresa of AvilaOutspoken and courageous Catholic religious of the 1500's who believed intelligent women were more easily directed spiritually: "God preserve us from stupid nuns!"
- Love Spouse:Churchill once wrote his wife Clementine: "Thank you for being rash enough to marry me. Foolish enough to stay with me and for loving me in a way I thought I would never be loved." On another occassion he was asked about would he would like to be in a second life. He said: "If I could not be who I am, I would most like to be Mrs. Churchill's second husband." The late Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana said about his wife Maureen "What we did, we did together. In short, I am what I am because of her." When the legislature erected a statue of him he agreed only if she was cast along side him and her name go first.
- Feeling GuiltyIn his book "Let's Face It" Kirk Douglas talks about the pain of having a son commit suicide. He says the doctors told them to apply the "three C's" test: They didn't cause it, they couldn't cure it and they couldn't control it. Excellent advice
- ChildrenHenny Youngman used to say: "I've got two wonderful children" and then he would pause and add: "two out of five ain't bad."
- Shakespeare:"Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt."
- Proverb"Man works from Sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done
- National Catholic Reporter:"When someone tells you to ask yourself, 'What would Jesus do?' remember that one valid answer is 'Freak out and knock over tables'
- David Rockefeller:"A family advisor once said the two most expensive things a Rockefeller can do are run for public office and get divorced. Nelson, did both."
- Random Thoughts:someone once said "Jesus wears the disguise of common, ordinary humanity." Flannery O'Connor once said of riding the subways of New York: "You see few people you wish you knew and thousands you are glad you don't know." The title of David Craig's song "You don't miss your water til the well runs dry" is a profound observation.
- Homer Hickam in "The Coalwood Way" says:"Words are as much an art as definition"and, in referring to his mother's use of "inspired vexations so I could rise above my petty ones..."
- Friends & enemies:When Warren Harding discovered the friends he had appointed had been guilty of government theft and fraud he said to a friend “My God, this is a hell of a job.. I have no trouble with my enemies. But, my damn friends...They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor at nights”
- War vs PeaceFrance's Clemenceau once observed: "Ii is much easier to make war than peace."
- Never stop learning new things:It was said of Thomas Jefferson that "he grew old learning new things."
- Biblical Wisdom about acceptance:“But by the grace of God, I am what I am...” 1 Corinthians 15:10
- Courage"Keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart" Isaiah 7:4
- War:"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead" Ernest Hemingway
- Short Course in Public Relations:The six most important words are: "I admit that I was wrong." The five most important words are: "You did a great job!" The four most important words are: "What do you think?" The three most important words are: "Could you please..." The two most important words are "Thank you." The least important word is: "I"
- Know thyself"We have met the enemy and it is us" Walt Kelly comic strip Pogo Earth Day 1971
- Woody Allen says that the brain is his second favorite organ.
- Our Daily Bread:RBC Ministries publishes a paper back daily mediation book with some inspiring thoughts. In one mediation, it makes reference to the movie Gladiator and quotes from the movie General Maximus Mewriduius talk to inspire his men before a battle in which he tells them "What we do in life echoes in eternity" There is great truth in that statement
- Retirement: When the fire goes out -John Davidson, the poet, once said "The fires are out and I must hammer the cold iron." His days of greatness were gone. And Fielden Hughes in his book Down the Corridors, talks about the time for school teachers to retire. He says when they lose their own sense of wonder and cease to be excited all they have left is a dreary stock in trade to offer. The time to retire he says is "When the fire goes out."
- The role of thePlaintiff Trial Lawyer:Republicans have sought to cast presidential candidate, John Edwards, as a money-chasing trial lawyer. Edwards response is an excellent summary of the role of a plaintiff trial lawyer: "I spent most of my adult life representing kids and families against very powerful opponents, usually big insurance companies,And my job was to give them a fair shake, to give them a fair chance."
- Wisdom of a Capuchin monk:Padre Pio (1887 - 1968) was a Capuchin Franciscan monk, stigmatist and mystic. The Church beatified him in 1999 in recognizing his holiness and spiritual wisdom. In 1914 he wrote a letter in which he said "the instinctive movement of our hearts is a movement towards God, which is nothing more then loving one's own true good...The idea is not a product of my own mind, but is found in holy scripture where we read: 'He who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him."
- Quote"If I arrive at the pearly gates and St. Peter said what have I done to deserve entry, I'd ask, 'Did you see my Lena Horne story?'" The late Ed Bradley, Emmy awarfd winning "60 minutes" reporter who died November 9th
- The Civil Jury System:"Whenever our civilization wants a library to be catalogued, or a solar system to be discovered, or any other trifle of this kind, it uses its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects tweleve ordinary men standing around. Jesus did exactly this." G.K. Chesterton
- First Fig"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light" (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
- Life Challenges:When bad things do happen to us, it’s our attitude about what happened that determines how we react. Dr. Bernie’s Segal’s mother used to say to him every time he complained that something bad had happened : “God has redirected your life. Good things will come from this”
WISDOM
- St Catherine of Siena:"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire"
- Helping Others"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world." Shakespeare
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December 03, 2009
JOSH CAGLE - YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, WORK HARD, WANT IT MORE THEN THE OTHER PERSON & SEE IT IN YOUR MIND
America Public media through the North Carolina National Public Radio produces a wonderful program, The Story(http://thestory.org/) in which Dick Gordon interviews people who tell extraordinary stories about their lives. One recent program was a story about a wrestler Josh Cagle and his coach Ed Kane. When Cagle wrestled as a youngster he was a scrawny kid who couldn’t win a match. In spite of consistent 
Once while driving home Cagle asked Kane "Why am I going to win when there are so many other 7thgraders doing the same thing I’m doing?" Kane replied "It comes down to a lot of hard work, but more importantly you have to want it a lot more then they do." Cagle was very impressed with the idea that you just needed to work hard and want to win more then your opponent did as the secret of winning matches. He took the advice to heart.
He says it was a turning point for him and he began to believe, for the first time, he could win. He says:
"For the first time, I really believed in myself. I began to believe I could do it. If you put in the effort and are willing to sacrifice and you want it bad enough, you will achieve your goal."
From that point Cagle began to win matches and became a successful wrestler in the 7th and 8th grade. He had come from a divorced home and he and his mother moved frequently. Their car was so old and ugle Cagle had his mother drop him two blocks from school so no one would see it. No one in his family had gone to college, but he decided he wanted to get a wrestling scholarship which would allow him to attend college. He said that became a driving force getting a scholarship to go to college as well as winning
He says he asked his coach who he had to beat in a national tournament to get a big win and a chance at a college scholarship. Kane told him that he would have to beat a wrestler from another state who was undefeated and was nationally recognized. This wrestler hadn’t lost a match in four years. Cagle got a poster with this wrestler’s picture on it and hung it in his room. Every day he would look at the poster and rehearse the match with him in his mind, over and over.
He and the other wrestler made it to the national tournament where both of them won their brackets and ended in a match for the national champtionship. To prepare for the match his coach asked Cagle if he wanted to watch the video’s of his opponent wrestling, but Cagle said he didn’t need it. He said: "I know I am going to win." He felt that way because he said:
"I had already gone through his routine. I knew his primary move and I knew how to stop it. I had gone through it in my mind over and over."
On the night of the match Cagle’s teammates went to dinner, but he went to his hotel room and rehearsed the match again in his mind. He said: "I thought I had already won the match."
Coach Kane was very nervous about the match, but Cagle told him: "Don’t worry. I wrestled him a million times and I beat him every time." Cagle said: "I had a sense of calm before the match. I should have been really nervous, but I wasn’t."
The match was tied one to one and went into overtime, but Cagle was in control the whole match. When it was over Cagle had won the match and became national champion, beating an undefeated national champ at age 17 years.
He did get his scholarship and went to Augsburg College where he was a three time All American. The college team, with Cagle, won the Division III national championship three times. Cagle finished fourth in the nation at 142 pounds in 1998, second in the nation at 149 pounds in 1999 and was national champ the following year. He had a season where he was undefeated with a 49-0 record. He also won three Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic conference Titles.
For me this is an inspiring story and one with life lessons worth remembering. One lesson is the extreme importance people can make in one's life. Someone taking you under your wing when you are young. A kind word or words of encouragement. I can name the people who had a profound influence in my life. For me, athletics was turning point which gave me a goal and a sense of purpose. Note also, the impact of an encouraging statement. We can have an influence on other people's lives by a word of encouragement or simple positive advice. Coach Kane turned this young man's life around in the right direction.
Another lesson from this story is that attitude is everything. Belief and confidence in yourself is life altering. People's lives have been transformed simply by a change of outlook and attitude. We've seen repeated examples of great achievement where the person had a goal and a belief in themselves. Many books have been written about this, but Norman Vincent Peale's famous The Power of Positive Thinking is one of the best known.
But, an equally important lesson is the benefit of mental image. I have had a life long habit of rehearsing in my mind and creating images in my mind before the event or activity ever took place. I have been gifted with the ability to see clearly the picture of the event and play the scene in my mind. Before trials or before significant events I rehearse in my mind the activity as if it were happening. In addition to books about attitude, an equal number of books about the benefit of visualization. Maxwell Maltz's famous book Psycho-Cybernetics is a classic example of those books.
Thank you Dick Gordon for inspiring stories with lessons for us all.
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