Featured Article
The daily grind is what men do best,
An early rise, no time to rest.
They battle traffic and pound out deals,
They often work during meals.
The work day is longer than before,
If they don't produce, their boss will roar.
Day after day, getting it done,
So many headaches, so little fun!
They know their "real" job is at home,
And this is the point of this poem.
They love their kids and their wives,
THIS is what fulfills their lives!
My dad's eyes and mine would often meet,
His deep love for mom could not be beat.
His calming presence at the table --
This was SO real, and not a fable.
He taught me how to wash a car,
To work the grill and make a par.
His person has rubbed off on me,
And all of this without a fee.
So thank you, dad, and thank you men,
For stepping up again and again.
Your wives and kids really need you,
So be authentic, genuine and true!
To do all this, you need God's grace,
Make time for him, slow down the pace.
Church, and daily prayer, He needs to see how much you care!
Father Michael Sliney
PS - being a husband, father, brother, uncle, bread-winner and spiritual leader of our family (shared with my wife), I like what Justin Timberlake says, "What Goes Around, Comes Back Around". It's a challenge that I dare more men to step up to being the spiritual leader in their family. Step up, gents!
_________________________
The Daffodil Principle to Stop Procrastinating about Life
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over."
I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
"Forget the daffodils Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, " Daffodil Garden "
We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.
She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"
Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...
It's a sad condition of the human state that we only seem to live life to its' fullest when we face our imminent mortality. It doesn't have to be that way...today.
PS - from my new friend, Bruno Gideon in Europe:
My brother asked me recently if I knew the ten most powerful two-letter words in the English language. I had no idea what he was talking about and asked him what they were. "If it is to be, it is up to me," he said. What a clever way to condense our most difficult tasks into their most basic truth: that the way to take charge of our lives is to live without "if's" and "buts." Of course we can't do everything we dream of - not everyone is a rocket scientist - but I am convinced that we can do much more than we actually do. The keyword is self-confidence.
Magic is believing in yourself.
If you can do that, you can make anything happen. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Believe that you are defeated, believe it long enough, and it is likely to become a fact.- Norman Vincent Peale
Bruno's commentary
What can you do to improve your self-confidence? All you need are these 16 letters: I believe in myself. The answer to the question "Can I do it?" should be "Yes I can!!" with two exclamation points. And the folllow-up sentence, which is equally important, should be: "I will never give up." Are you a smoker and believe that you can't stop? Are you overweight and have no faith that you can shed some pounds? Do you know that you have to exercise but "don't have the time"? There is an escape route out of this prison and its name is, "Yes I can!!" And don't forget the exclamation points.
Would you like to change something in your life but can't? You know the answer!
Any thoughts on this subject? Tell Bruno at
www.brunogideon.com . "Bruno's Minutes" are presently enjoyed by over 50,000 readers in 26 countries. What started as an experiment in 2001 quickly grew to this phenomenal number, mostly by word of mouth. Please forward this issue to those you care about and invite them to join. You can do so here and I would love to welcome your friends.
www.breedingsuccess.com For ideas on how to live life more to its' fullest, visit this page on 'making time.'
...or see the COUPON at the bottom. "Onwards & Upwards", and make it a good day! charlie
Most people look to the outside, the exterior, the world for signs of love . Mr. Gideon (left, bottom of newsletter), says look inward and look for confidence, courage and a faith that resonates surety, constancy, patience, humility, service and contribution. Love yourself first. Forgive yourself over and over again, because we are human creatures in a heavenly body, which is temporary and not eternal. 
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