36525 days to live

Each one of us will experience disappointments and failures at some point in our lives. Most of the time, it will be unexpected.

When we face a challenge, we should try to focus on the future instead of the past. Instead of worrying about who did what and who is to blame, we should focus on where we want to be and what we want in life. It’s a much better use of our time.
It is important to know exactly what we want and we must act on what we want. Action is what will transform our circumstances toward a more desirable future.
Let’s use our past experiences to guide us; while being appreciative of our present conditions, let’s dream of an outstanding future for ourselves, our family and friends and the rest of humanity.

Every day is a new beginning when we focus on what we control.

Every time we face a challenge, it is an opportunity to turn the curse into a blessing.

I always liked the quote : “If life throws you a lemon, make lemonade. “

Personally, I have faced many failures in many areas of my life so many times that it doesn’t even bother me anymore.

The question is not: “Will I fail again”

The real question is more like: ” What lesson will I learn from this failure?”

It seems to me that we are stubborn students of life.

Life seems to tell us; here is a situation you need to face for your own developpement, and yet, most of the time, we will try to avoid the lesson. Why? Because it’s too damned hard! The curious thing about this is: the lesson we try to avoid seems to come back to us in many unexpected ways. Somehow, we can’t escape it. We have to meet the challenge.

An example?

I know some people (actually quite a lot of them) who move from relationship to relationship or from job to new job, only to discover after a while, the same problems they were experiencing in the previous relationship or old job. It seems to me that what they are trying to avoid comes back to them in another place and with different actors.

Personally, I start too many new projects and I don’t finish all of them. I know it, I’m aware of this but somehow, it doesn’t seem  to change. I have to admit I can’t do  it alone. When I face this kind of situation, I try to find a coach, a mentor or a personal trainer to make sure I am accountable to someone.

When we focus on the moment and accept to face what we have to, it can be difficult, but it is one of the best ways to grow, to outgrow the challenge.

What does this post have to do with time?

If we do what WE MUST do when WE HAVE TO do it, the day will come when we will do what WE WANT to do WHEN WE WANT TO do it.

The sooner we understand this concept and we put it in practice, the more time we will save to do other activities that we really enjoy.

Will you try it?

“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, … you’re wasting your life.”

Jackie Robinson

______________________________________________________________________

Do you prefer to watch “So You Think You Can Dance” or take dancing lessons with your partner?

Do you prefer to watch ” Property Virgins” or to invest your time taking care of  your own property?

Do you prefer to watch a “NHL game” or to go play hockey with your friends?

Do you prefer to live your life or watch other people live their own?

Personally I prefer the acting part…because life is in the living.

What do you prefer?

“With money you can buy a clock but not time”

Chinese proverb

_____________________________________________________________________________________

With good health, we have the energy to be productive,
When we are productive, we can earn a good living,
When we earn a lot of money, we can afford more things,
With more things or resources, it can improve our quality of life, ( up to a certain point)

When our quality of life improves, we can become more generous,
When we become more generous, we feel good about ourselves,
When we feel good about ourselves, it contributes to our general well being and health.
If I keep reasoning this way, it seems that all this should have a positive effect on our longevity.
But sometimes it doesn’t.
Why?
It is difficult to admit or to accept, but we don’ t have control over a lot of things.

One of the thing we don’t have much control over is: Time.

So money can buy us a lot of things, but not Time.

But do you take good care of your time?

“Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others”

Morrie Schwartz  (  Tuesdays with Morrie p.164)

______________________________________________________________________________________

Why is it so important to forgive ourselves? Why is it so important to forgive others as soon as we can?

Forgiving ourselves and others is an act of letting go, it is also an act of selfishness because when we let go, we let go of the emotions that are poisoning our day. Who needs these emotions? Shouldn’t we use our limited time and energy for more exciting activities?

Morrie said “Forgive yourself and others before you die”.

But since we don’t know when we are going to die, why not forgive NOW?

If we know that we will eventually forgive, why wait?

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Anonymous

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Goals are great because they cause us to stretch and grow in ways that we never have before.

In order to reach our goals we must become better.

We must change and grow.

Also, goals provide long term vision in our lives.

We all need lots of powerful, long term goals to help us get past short term obstacles.

Life is designed in such a way that we look long term and live short term.

We dream for the future and live in the present.

Unfortunately, the present can produce many difficult obstacles.

But fortunately, the more powerful our goals, the more we will be able to act on them in the short term.

What are your goals or dreams for 2012?

“ Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. ”

Theophrastus (372 BC – 287 BC)
Greek philosopher

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Theophrastus (Greek: Θεόφραστος; c. 371 – c. 287 BC^[1]), a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor toAristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato’s school. After Plato’s death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and designated him as his successor at the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly. After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.

The interests of Theophrastus were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants^[2] and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on medievalscience. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sensation, On Stones, and fragments on Physics andMetaphysics all written in Greek. In philosophy, he studied grammar and language, and continued Aristotle’s work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as onvirtue, and famously said that “life is ruled by fortune, not wisdom.”

Source: Wikipedia January 11, 2012

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

We are where our attention is!

While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office.

And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home.

We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us.

We may be hearing the words, but we aren’t listening to the message.

We go through the day and we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future projects.

We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we don’t even notice that today is slipping by.

We go through the day rather than getting something from the day.

We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.

To pay attention is learning to be wherever you are.

To pay attention is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of who we are.

To pay attention is something we do; better, it is something we experience. Fully.

And until we learn to be where our attention is, we will never really enjoy the moment. Fully.

Where is your attention now?

What will you do today to remind yourself to pay attention?

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.

Sydney Harris

___________________________________________________________________

There is so much wisdom in this short and simple quote.

The hands of the clock of time are moving fast.

We cry out…Wait ! Stop!  but time does not hear our cries.

It is later than you think!

Wake up ! Take possession of your own mind while you still have enough time to become that which you would have liked to have been in the past.

Make the most of your present inventory of time.

You have been warned!

Now the responsibility is yours.

There is a simple test by which you can evaluate  whether or not you have been using your time to best advantage.

If you experience peace of mind and  have enough control over your personal time, chances are that it has been properly used.

If you are always racing and out of breath, your time has not been properly used, and you should begin now to look how you could improve your circumstances.

Tic toc, tic toc, the pendulum of the clock of time is swinging rapidly!

The time has come for everyone to stand up and be counted.

Technologies has speeded up the clock of time so rapidly that the next 50 years will reveal to humanity more opportunities for self-improvement that have been revealed during the entire past of man’s existence.

Your share of these vast opportunities may be taken advantage of, and used only by the way you relate yourself to TIME!

What will you do about it?

You will never find time for anything.

If you want time you must make it.

 Charles Buxton

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Charles Buxton (18 November 1823 – 10 August 1871) was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and Member of Parliament.

Buxton was born in Cobham, Surrey, the third son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet, a notable brewer, MP and social reformer, and followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a partner in the brewery of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, & Co in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London, and then an MP. He served as Liberal MP for Newport, Isle of Wight(1857–1859), Maidstone (1859–1865) and East Surrey (1865–1871). His son Sydney Buxton was also an MP and governor of South Africa.

Source : Wikipedia, January 05, 2012

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.

Groucho Marx

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people.