Today
Today I smiled, and all at once
Things didn’t look so bad.
Today I shared with someone else,
A little bit of hope I had.
Today I sang a little song,
And felt my heart grow light.
I walked a happy little mile,
With not a cloud in sight.
Today I worked with what I had,
And longed for nothing more,
And what had seemed like only weeds,
Were flowers at my door.
Today I loved a little more,
And complained a little less.
And in the giving of myself,
I forgot my weariness.
By Grace E. Easley
Grace E. Easley was born on 24 January 1928 in McComb, Mississippi, United States of America, as a daughter of Earl Bickham Easley and Lottie Allred Easley. She worked at, and eventually retired from, the Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb, where she had been the front desk greeter for many years. She was a member of the Saint Alphonsus and Saint Teresa Catholic churches. Mrs. Easley was a widely published poet, having had many of her uplifting inspirational poems published in the Silesians series of books, as well as in church bulletins and other publications. Grace E. Easley passed on at 83 years of age on 18 April 2011 in McComb, Mississippi, United States of America.
Today I smiled, and all at once
Things didn’t look so bad.
Today I shared with someone else,
A little bit of hope I had.
Today I sang a little song,
And felt my heart grow light.
I walked a happy little mile,
With not a cloud in sight.
Today I worked with what I had,
And longed for nothing more,
And what had seemed like only weeds,
Were flowers at my door.
Today I loved a little more,
And complained a little less.
And in the giving of myself,
I forgot my weariness.
By Grace E. Easley
Grace E. Easley was born on 24 January 1928 in McComb, Mississippi, United States of America, as a daughter of Earl Bickham Easley and Lottie Allred Easley. She worked at, and eventually retired from, the Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb, where she had been the front desk greeter for many years. She was a member of the Saint Alphonsus and Saint Teresa Catholic churches. Mrs. Easley was a widely published poet, having had many of her uplifting inspirational poems published in the Silesians series of books, as well as in church bulletins and other publications. Grace E. Easley passed on at 83 years of age on 18 April 2011 in McComb, Mississippi, United States of America.
Six Ways To Make People Like You
Rule1: Become genuinely interested in other people.
Rule 2: Smile.
Rule 3: Remember that a person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound.
Rule 4: Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Rule 5: Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
Rule 6: Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.
By Dale Carnegie
Dale Harbison Carnegie was born into poverty as Dale Breckenridge Carnagey on 24 November 1888 on a farm in Maryville, Missouri, United States of America. He became a writer, a lecturer, and a public speaking trainer. Mr. Carnegie was a developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. He is known as the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (October 1936), “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” (1948), and “Lincoln the Unknown” (1932), among other works. Dale Breckenridge Carnegie passed on at 66 years of age on 1 November 1955 in Forest Hills, New York, United States of America. Dale Carnegie speaking courses continue to be taught around the world to people who are interested in becoming confident and capable speechmakers or in becoming successful business people.
Rule1: Become genuinely interested in other people.
Rule 2: Smile.
Rule 3: Remember that a person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound.
Rule 4: Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Rule 5: Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
Rule 6: Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.
By Dale Carnegie
Dale Harbison Carnegie was born into poverty as Dale Breckenridge Carnagey on 24 November 1888 on a farm in Maryville, Missouri, United States of America. He became a writer, a lecturer, and a public speaking trainer. Mr. Carnegie was a developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. He is known as the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (October 1936), “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” (1948), and “Lincoln the Unknown” (1932), among other works. Dale Breckenridge Carnegie passed on at 66 years of age on 1 November 1955 in Forest Hills, New York, United States of America. Dale Carnegie speaking courses continue to be taught around the world to people who are interested in becoming confident and capable speechmakers or in becoming successful business people.
Nine Requisites For Contented Living
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength enough 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 neighbors.
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.
By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on 28 August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurter Stadtkreis, Hessen, Germany. He became a scientist, a poet, a novelist, a dramatist, a natural philosopher, and a diplomat. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of meters and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and color; and four novels. In addition, his numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings exist. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe passed on at 82 years of age on 22 March 1832 in Weimar, Weimarer Stadtkreis, Thüringen, Germany.
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength enough 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 neighbors.
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.
By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on 28 August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurter Stadtkreis, Hessen, Germany. He became a scientist, a poet, a novelist, a dramatist, a natural philosopher, and a diplomat. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of meters and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and color; and four novels. In addition, his numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings exist. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe passed on at 82 years of age on 22 March 1832 in Weimar, Weimarer Stadtkreis, Thüringen, Germany.
The Beautiful World
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world,
For the banner of blue that’s above it unfurled,
For the streams that sparkle and sing to the sea,
For the bloom in the glade and the leaf on the tree;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the mountain peak,
Where the wind and the lightning meet and speak,
For the golden star on the soft night’s breast,
And the silvery moonlight’s path to rest;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the rippling notes
That come from a thousand sweet bird throats,
For the ocean wave and the sunset glow,
And the waving fields where the reapers go;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the ones so true,
And the kindly deeds they have done for you;
For the great earth’s heart, when it’s understood,
Is struggling still toward the pure and good;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the One who guides,
For He holds the ships and He holds the tides,
And underneath and around and above.
The world is lapped in the light of His love;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
By W. Lomax Childress
Walter Lomax Childress was born on 26 September 1867 in Roanoke County, Virginia, United States of America. He became a Christian Protestant minister, a writer, a hymnist, and a poet. Walter Lomax Childress passed on at 69 years of age on 4 October 1936 in Singers Glen, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States of America.
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world,
For the banner of blue that’s above it unfurled,
For the streams that sparkle and sing to the sea,
For the bloom in the glade and the leaf on the tree;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the mountain peak,
Where the wind and the lightning meet and speak,
For the golden star on the soft night’s breast,
And the silvery moonlight’s path to rest;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the rippling notes
That come from a thousand sweet bird throats,
For the ocean wave and the sunset glow,
And the waving fields where the reapers go;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the ones so true,
And the kindly deeds they have done for you;
For the great earth’s heart, when it’s understood,
Is struggling still toward the pure and good;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
Here’s a song of praise for the One who guides,
For He holds the ships and He holds the tides,
And underneath and around and above.
The world is lapped in the light of His love;
Here’s a song of praise for a beautiful world.
By W. Lomax Childress
Walter Lomax Childress was born on 26 September 1867 in Roanoke County, Virginia, United States of America. He became a Christian Protestant minister, a writer, a hymnist, and a poet. Walter Lomax Childress passed on at 69 years of age on 4 October 1936 in Singers Glen, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States of America.
That’s Success
It’s doing your job the best you can,
And being just to your fellow man;
It’s making money - but holding friends,
And being true to your aims and ends.
It’s figuring how and learning why,
And looking forward and thinking high;
And dreaming a little and doing much,
It’s keeping always in closest touch.
With what is finest in word and deed,
It’s being thorough, yet making speed;
It’s daring blithely the field of chance,
While making labor a brave romance.
It’s going onward despite defeat,
And fighting staunchly, but keeping sweet;
It’s being clean and it’s playing fair,
It’s laughing lightly at Dame Despair.
It’s looking up at the stars above,
And drinking deeply of life and love;
It’s struggling on with the will to win,
But taking loss with a cheerful grin.
It’s sharing sorrow and work and mirth,
And making better this good old earth;
It’s serving, striving through strain and stress,
It’s doing your noblest - that’s success!
By Berton Braley
Berton Braley was born on 29 January 1882 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America. He became a local newspaper reporter in Butte, Montana and in New York City, New York. He later worked as an international correspondent in Europe and Asia for several newspapers and magazines. During his lifetime, he was a well-known writer and poet. Berton Braley passed on at 83 years of age on 23 January 1966 in Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States of America.
It’s doing your job the best you can,
And being just to your fellow man;
It’s making money - but holding friends,
And being true to your aims and ends.
It’s figuring how and learning why,
And looking forward and thinking high;
And dreaming a little and doing much,
It’s keeping always in closest touch.
With what is finest in word and deed,
It’s being thorough, yet making speed;
It’s daring blithely the field of chance,
While making labor a brave romance.
It’s going onward despite defeat,
And fighting staunchly, but keeping sweet;
It’s being clean and it’s playing fair,
It’s laughing lightly at Dame Despair.
It’s looking up at the stars above,
And drinking deeply of life and love;
It’s struggling on with the will to win,
But taking loss with a cheerful grin.
It’s sharing sorrow and work and mirth,
And making better this good old earth;
It’s serving, striving through strain and stress,
It’s doing your noblest - that’s success!
By Berton Braley
Berton Braley was born on 29 January 1882 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America. He became a local newspaper reporter in Butte, Montana and in New York City, New York. He later worked as an international correspondent in Europe and Asia for several newspapers and magazines. During his lifetime, he was a well-known writer and poet. Berton Braley passed on at 83 years of age on 23 January 1966 in Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States of America.
Steps To Success
Step 1. Try: Without taking the initiative to do something, all is lost. No knowledge is gained, no learning is experienced, and no experience is touched, smelled, or tasted by the senses.
Step 2. Try Again: Don’t be afraid to take another step. Don’t let a setback halt progress. Understand that setbacks are learning experiences and opportunities.
Step 3. Try once more: If you continue to experience setbacks, roadblocks and obstacles, don’t ever give up. If you do, the answer you are striving for could just be around the corner.
Step 4. Try it a little differently: Be flexible! Knowledge is gained and learning is experienced through flexibility and a can do attitude.
Step 5. Try it again tomorrow: Frustration, stress and fatigue go hand in hand. They can lead to the destruction of everything accomplished. Control yourself; learn when to stop for the day and rest. Prepare yourself for success tomorrow.
Step 6. Try and ask for help: Don’t be too proud to as someone to help you succeed. Depend upon others to share the burden. You never know, success may come sooner. Remember the old adage, “Two heads are better than one.”
Step 7. Try to find someone who has done it: Research your problem. Look to people that have succeeded, study their techniques. Adapt their formula for success to you.
Step 8. Try to determine what is not working: Analyze each component of your problem. Don’t overlook the root cause. Recognize that symptoms sometimes appear to be the problem and a symptom will lead you down the road to a dead end.
Step 9. Try to determine what is working: Looking for what is working leads to discovery, relief and accomplishment. Finding what is working provides information, information that leads to success.
Step 10. Just Keep Trying: To restate Winston Churchill’s words, “Never ever, ever give up.”
By Author Unknown
Step 1. Try: Without taking the initiative to do something, all is lost. No knowledge is gained, no learning is experienced, and no experience is touched, smelled, or tasted by the senses.
Step 2. Try Again: Don’t be afraid to take another step. Don’t let a setback halt progress. Understand that setbacks are learning experiences and opportunities.
Step 3. Try once more: If you continue to experience setbacks, roadblocks and obstacles, don’t ever give up. If you do, the answer you are striving for could just be around the corner.
Step 4. Try it a little differently: Be flexible! Knowledge is gained and learning is experienced through flexibility and a can do attitude.
Step 5. Try it again tomorrow: Frustration, stress and fatigue go hand in hand. They can lead to the destruction of everything accomplished. Control yourself; learn when to stop for the day and rest. Prepare yourself for success tomorrow.
Step 6. Try and ask for help: Don’t be too proud to as someone to help you succeed. Depend upon others to share the burden. You never know, success may come sooner. Remember the old adage, “Two heads are better than one.”
Step 7. Try to find someone who has done it: Research your problem. Look to people that have succeeded, study their techniques. Adapt their formula for success to you.
Step 8. Try to determine what is not working: Analyze each component of your problem. Don’t overlook the root cause. Recognize that symptoms sometimes appear to be the problem and a symptom will lead you down the road to a dead end.
Step 9. Try to determine what is working: Looking for what is working leads to discovery, relief and accomplishment. Finding what is working provides information, information that leads to success.
Step 10. Just Keep Trying: To restate Winston Churchill’s words, “Never ever, ever give up.”
By Author Unknown
You
You are the fellow that has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside.
You are the fellow who makes up your mind
Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind
Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Take it or leave it. Here’s something to do!
Just think it over - It’s all up to you!
What do you wish? To be known as a shirk,
Known as a good man who’s willing to work,
Scorned for a loafer or praised by your chief,
Rich man or poor man or beggar or thief?
Eager or earnest or dull through the day,
Honest or crooked? It’s you who must say!
You must decide in the face of the test
Whether you’ll shirk it or give it your best.
Nobody here will compel you to rise;
No one will force you to open your eyes;
No one will answer for you yes or no,
Whether to stay there or whether to go.
Life is a game, but it’s you who must say,
Whether as cheat or as sportsman you’ll play.
Fate may betray you, but you settle first
Whether to live to your best or your worst.
So, whatever it is you are wanting to be,
Remember, to fashion the choice you are free.
Kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong,
Keeping the right way or taking the wrong,
Careless of honor or guarding your pride,
All these are questions which you must decide.
Yours the selection, whichever you do;
The thing men call character’s all up to you!
By Edgar A. Guest
Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest was born on 20 August 1881 in Birmingham, England. He immigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1891. From his first published work in the “Detroit Free Press” until his passing in 1959, he penned some 11,000 poems that were syndicated in 300 newspapers and collected into more than twenty books. Mr. Guest is reputed to have had a new poem published in a newspaper every day for more than thirty years. He became known as ‘The People’s Poet,’ writing poems that were of a sentimental and optimistic nature. Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest passed on at 77 years of age on 5 August 1959 in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
You are the fellow that has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside.
You are the fellow who makes up your mind
Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind
Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Take it or leave it. Here’s something to do!
Just think it over - It’s all up to you!
What do you wish? To be known as a shirk,
Known as a good man who’s willing to work,
Scorned for a loafer or praised by your chief,
Rich man or poor man or beggar or thief?
Eager or earnest or dull through the day,
Honest or crooked? It’s you who must say!
You must decide in the face of the test
Whether you’ll shirk it or give it your best.
Nobody here will compel you to rise;
No one will force you to open your eyes;
No one will answer for you yes or no,
Whether to stay there or whether to go.
Life is a game, but it’s you who must say,
Whether as cheat or as sportsman you’ll play.
Fate may betray you, but you settle first
Whether to live to your best or your worst.
So, whatever it is you are wanting to be,
Remember, to fashion the choice you are free.
Kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong,
Keeping the right way or taking the wrong,
Careless of honor or guarding your pride,
All these are questions which you must decide.
Yours the selection, whichever you do;
The thing men call character’s all up to you!
By Edgar A. Guest
Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest was born on 20 August 1881 in Birmingham, England. He immigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1891. From his first published work in the “Detroit Free Press” until his passing in 1959, he penned some 11,000 poems that were syndicated in 300 newspapers and collected into more than twenty books. Mr. Guest is reputed to have had a new poem published in a newspaper every day for more than thirty years. He became known as ‘The People’s Poet,’ writing poems that were of a sentimental and optimistic nature. Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest passed on at 77 years of age on 5 August 1959 in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
Top Ten Creative Rules Of Thumb
1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.
2. Create ideas that are fifteen minutes ahead of their time, not light years ahead.
3. Always look for a second right answer.
4. If at first you don’t succeed, take a break.
5. Write down your ideas before you forget them.
6. If everyone says you are wrong, you’re one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you’re two steps ahead.
7. The answer to your problem pre-exists. You need to ask the right question to reveal the answer.
8. When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.
9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective.
10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.
By Charles Thompson
1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.
2. Create ideas that are fifteen minutes ahead of their time, not light years ahead.
3. Always look for a second right answer.
4. If at first you don’t succeed, take a break.
5. Write down your ideas before you forget them.
6. If everyone says you are wrong, you’re one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you’re two steps ahead.
7. The answer to your problem pre-exists. You need to ask the right question to reveal the answer.
8. When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.
9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective.
10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.
By Charles Thompson
It Isn’t Costly
Does the grouch get richer quicker than the friendly sort of man?
Can the grumbler labor better than the cheerful fellow can?
Is the mean and churlish neighbor any cleverer than the one
Who shouts a glad “good morning,” and then smiling passes on?
Just stop and think about it. Have you ever known or seen
A mean man who succeeded, just because he was so mean?
When you find a grouch with honors and with money in his pouch,
You can bet he didn’t win them just because he was a grouch.
Oh, you’ll not be any poorer if you smile along your way,
And your lot will not be harder for the kindly things you say.
Don’t imagine you are wasting time for others that you spend:
You can rise to wealth and glory and still pause to be a friend.
By Edgar A. Guest
Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest was born on 20 August 1881 in Birmingham, England. He immigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1891. From his first published work in the “Detroit Free Press” until his passing in 1959, he penned some 11,000 poems that were syndicated in 300 newspapers and collected into more than twenty books. Mr. Guest is reputed to have had a new poem published in a newspaper every day for more than thirty years. He became known as ‘The People’s Poet,’ writing poems that were of a sentimental and optimistic nature. Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest passed on at 77 years of age on 5 August 1959 in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
Does the grouch get richer quicker than the friendly sort of man?
Can the grumbler labor better than the cheerful fellow can?
Is the mean and churlish neighbor any cleverer than the one
Who shouts a glad “good morning,” and then smiling passes on?
Just stop and think about it. Have you ever known or seen
A mean man who succeeded, just because he was so mean?
When you find a grouch with honors and with money in his pouch,
You can bet he didn’t win them just because he was a grouch.
Oh, you’ll not be any poorer if you smile along your way,
And your lot will not be harder for the kindly things you say.
Don’t imagine you are wasting time for others that you spend:
You can rise to wealth and glory and still pause to be a friend.
By Edgar A. Guest
Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest was born on 20 August 1881 in Birmingham, England. He immigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1891. From his first published work in the “Detroit Free Press” until his passing in 1959, he penned some 11,000 poems that were syndicated in 300 newspapers and collected into more than twenty books. Mr. Guest is reputed to have had a new poem published in a newspaper every day for more than thirty years. He became known as ‘The People’s Poet,’ writing poems that were of a sentimental and optimistic nature. Edgar Albert ‘Eddie’ Guest passed on at 77 years of age on 5 August 1959 in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
Song Of Life
A traveler on a dusty road
Strewed acorns on the lea;
And one took root and sprouted up,
And grew into a tree.
Love sought its shade at evening-time,
To breathe its early vows;
And Age was pleased, in heights of noon,
To bask beneath its boughs.
The dormouse loved its dangling twigs,
The birds sweet music bore -
It stood a glory in its place,
A blessing evermore.
A little spring had lost its way
Amid the grass and fern;
A passing stranger scooped a well
Where weary men might turn.
He walled it in, and hung with care
A ladle on the brink;
He thought not of the deed he did,
But judged that Toil might drink.
He passed again; and lo! the well,
By summer never dried,
Had cooled ten thousand parched tongues,
And saved a life beside.
A nameless man, amid the crowd
That thronged the daily mart,
Let fall a word of hope and love,
Unstudied from the heart,
A whisper on the tumult thrown,
A transitory breath,
It raised a brother from the dust,
It saved a soul from death.
O germ! O fount! O word of love!
O thought at random cast!
Ye were but little at the first,
But mighty at the last.
By Charles Mackay
Charles Mackay was born on 27 March 1814 in Perth, Scotland. He became a newspaper editor, a novelist, a poet, a songwriter, and an anthologist. He is known as the author of the book, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (1841). Charles Mackay passed on at 75 years of age on 24 December 1889 in London, England.
A traveler on a dusty road
Strewed acorns on the lea;
And one took root and sprouted up,
And grew into a tree.
Love sought its shade at evening-time,
To breathe its early vows;
And Age was pleased, in heights of noon,
To bask beneath its boughs.
The dormouse loved its dangling twigs,
The birds sweet music bore -
It stood a glory in its place,
A blessing evermore.
A little spring had lost its way
Amid the grass and fern;
A passing stranger scooped a well
Where weary men might turn.
He walled it in, and hung with care
A ladle on the brink;
He thought not of the deed he did,
But judged that Toil might drink.
He passed again; and lo! the well,
By summer never dried,
Had cooled ten thousand parched tongues,
And saved a life beside.
A nameless man, amid the crowd
That thronged the daily mart,
Let fall a word of hope and love,
Unstudied from the heart,
A whisper on the tumult thrown,
A transitory breath,
It raised a brother from the dust,
It saved a soul from death.
O germ! O fount! O word of love!
O thought at random cast!
Ye were but little at the first,
But mighty at the last.
By Charles Mackay
Charles Mackay was born on 27 March 1814 in Perth, Scotland. He became a newspaper editor, a novelist, a poet, a songwriter, and an anthologist. He is known as the author of the book, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (1841). Charles Mackay passed on at 75 years of age on 24 December 1889 in London, England.
