Motivation

Words enable us to transfer our thoughts from inside our own mind into the mind of another. They have the power to alter history, to describe the past, and to bring meaning and substance to the present.

Words in the mind are like colours on the palette of the artist. The more colours we have access to, the easier it is to create a captivating picture on the canvass, and the more practice we give to using those many colours appropriately and uniquely, the more likely we will be to create a masterpeice of self-expression.

It has been said that Winston Churchill “organized the English language and sent it into battle”. It was his unique choice of words and the intensity behind them that fueled the mind, rekindled the shaken spirit, and brought a new determination to the people of Great Britain in their time of great crisis. Without the powerful eloquence of this extraordinary man, the course of history may have made the present very different for us all.

There are many reasons why self-expression is such an important skill to master. Ultimately, the very quality of our own lives is largely determined by our ability to persuade and to convince others, as well as by our ability to transfer accurately our own thoughts and feelings into the mind of someone else.

Effective communication is a significant challenge. It cannot be mastered by a causal approach. Instead, we must take advantage of every opportunity life affords us to practice our ability to affect other people.

Peace of Mind
With peace of mind a poor man is rich; without it, a rich man is poor.

Keep Yourself In Peace
First keep yourself in peace, and then you will be able to pacify others. 
A peaceable man does more than a learned one. ~ Thomas a Kempis

By Way of Introduction…
Nothing can take the place of persistence. 
Talent will not: Thousands with talents are drifters.
Genius will not: Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not: The world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence alone solves all the world’s big problems.

Perseverance Is…
Perseverance is 
the sister of patience,
the daughter of constancy,
the friend of peace, 
the cementer of friendship,
the bond of harmony
and the bulwark of holiness.

~ Bernard of Clairvaux, The Song of Songs

The Men I have Seen Succeed
The men I have seen succeed
have always been cheerful and hopeful,
who went about their business with a smile on their faces,
and took the changes and chances to this mortal life like men.

If you wish to be miserable, 
you must think about yourself;
about what you want, 
what you like,
what respect people ought to pay you,
what people think of you, 
and then to you nothing will be pure.

You will spoil everything you touch; 
you will make sin and misery out of everything God sends you;
you can be as wretched as you choose.

~ Charles Kingsley

Patience and Perseverance

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. ~ John Quincy Adams

Motivational Stories: Compassion

Learning from an 11-year old

In 1983, when he was 11 years old, Trevor Farrel saw a television programme about the plight of homeless people in Philadelphia, about 18 miles from his home. He persuaded his parents to drive there with a blanket and pillow to give to a homeless person. Each night after that they drove into the city, until they had nothing left to give away.

Then Trevor advertised the needs of the homeless in Philadelphia and asked for gifts of old blankets, pillows and warm clothes.

His story was taken up by a television station and a newspaper. So many gifts came in that a warehouse had to be found to hold everything. A church gave a shelter with 33 rooms, which they called “Trevor’s Place” and within two years 250 people had joined Trevor and his parents each night to serve hot meals to the homeless.

Compassion is the basis for all morality.

~ Arthur Schopenhauer