Happiness Is a Moral Obligation

One of the people that I admire, in regards to his clarity and stance on happiness, is Dennis Prager. He is a conservative talk show host. I do not agree with much of his political or social ideology, but my site is not for either political or social debate. There are many sites that take care of that very well. My site is dedicated to the pursuit, capture, care and feeding of a positive mental attitude. Happiness fits dead center!

This particular essay was written on Townhall.com. As both a writer and an aggregater of essays on Attitude, this one is a natural to reprint.

Happiness Is a Moral Obligation
By Dennis Prager

For much of my life, I, like most people, regarded the pursuit of happiness as largely a selfish pursuit. One of the great revelations of middle age has been that happiness, far from being only a selfish pursuit, is a moral demand.

When we think of character traits we rightly think of honesty, integrity, moral courage, and acts of altruism. Few people include happiness in any list of character traits or moral achievements. But happiness is both.

Happiness -- or at least acting happy, or at the very least not inflicting one's unhappiness on others -- is no less important in making the world better than any other human trait.

With some exceptions, happy people make the world better and unhappy people make it worse. This is true on the personal (micro) and global (macro) planes.

On the micro plane:

Consider the effects of an unhappy parent on a child. Ask people raised by an unhappy parent if that unhappiness hurt them.

Consider the effects of an unhappy spouse on a marriage.

Consider the effects of unhappy children on their parents. I know a couple that has four middle-aged children of whom three are truly extraordinary people, inordinately well adjusted and decent. The fourth child has been unhappy most of his life and has been a never-ending source of pain to the parents. That one child's unhappiness has always overshadowed the joy that the parents experience from the other three children. Hence the saying that one is no happier than one's least happy child.

Consider the effects of a brooding co-worker on your and your fellow workers' morale -- not to mention the huge difference between working for a happy or a moody employer.

We should regard bad moods as we do offensive body odor. Just as we shower each day so as not to inflict our body odors on others, so we should monitor our bad moods so as not to inflict them on others. We shower partly for ourselves and partly out of obligation to others. The same should hold true vis a vis moods; and just as we avoid those who do not do something about their body odor we should avoid whenever possible those who do nothing about their bad moods.

The flip side of the damage unhappy people do when they subject others to their unhappiness is the good that people do when they are, or at least act, happy. Just think of how much more you want to help people when you are in particularly happy mood and you realize how much more good the happy are likely to do.

On the macro plane, the case for the relationship between happiness and goodness is as apparent.

It is safe to say that the happiest Germans were not those who joined the Nazi Party. Nor did the happiest Europeans become Communists. And happy Muslims are not generally among those who extol death. The motto of Hamas and other Islamic groups engaged in terror, "We love death as much as [Americans, Jews] love life," does not appeal to happy Muslims.

Cults, hysteria and mass movements all appeal to the unhappy far more than to the happy. It is one more example of the genius of America's Founders to include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence. No other major civilization so enshrined happiness as a core value. This American belief in the moral and societal merit in pursuing happiness is a major reason America has developed differently than Europe. The American emphasis on happiness is one reason no fanatical political or religious movement, Left or Right, has been able to succeed in America as such movements have repeatedly succeeded in Europe.

The pursuit of happiness is not the pursuit of pleasure. The pursuit of pleasure is hedonism, and hedonists are not happy because the intensity and amount of pleasure must constantly be increased in order for hedonism to work. Pleasure for the hedonist is a drug.

But the pursuit of happiness is noble. It benefits everyone around the individual pursuing it, and it benefits humanity. And that is why happiness is a moral obligation.

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Happiness+is+a+Moral+Obligation moral+obligation Dennis+Prager acting+happy happiness bad+mood unhappy goodness Germans Communits Jews hedonism pleasure humnaity nobel

A Movie Review?

Okay, movie reviews are not my thing, however, I was compelled in this case. It was an overwhelming compulsion.....I just had to.

It all started when my wife was trying to convince me to go and see this movie. I had absolutely no desire. Well, she won. I went kicking and screaming, but I went. I really didn't want to go see a fat girl sing, and John Travolta in drag in a movie that takes place in 1962. After all there were no special effects. No one died. there was no sex. What a bore!

Tonight I just got back from seeing this movie for a second time. Yes, you heard me right, a second time and this time it was my idea. Gals, I think you know what I mean. Guys, you will just have to trust me.

"Hairspray" is probably the best feel good movie I have seen in years! I was smiling the entire time. I came out wanting to sing and dance. I can't sing and I sure can't dance....but I wanted to anyway. I had to see it for a second time to see if the feeling I had the first time was real, or if someone slipped me some kind if happy pill.

Believe me, it is for real. WOW, what a feeling. If you haven't seen this movie yet, see it. If you have seen it, then you know what I mean. I can't get the music out of my, and I don't want to.





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Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #19 "Don’t Quit” – Male & Female versions)

(If this is your first time on this site, you may want to begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

Don't Quit

When things go wrong like they sometimes will;
When the road your trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high;
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer, with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When you might have won if you’d stuck it out;
Stick to your task, though the pace seems slow;
You may succeed with one more blow.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are;
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.

(Based on a poem by an unknown author)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• Can you identify something worthwhile in your life (ie. school, job, relationship)...be specific...that you would like to run away from, quit; because it's too hard, or takes up too much time?
• What would happen if you quit?
• What is the reward of you don't quit?
• Now, compare.

Go to Section II (Installment 20f - Female version)
Go to Section II (Installment 20m - Male version)

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don't+quit wrong succeed do+not+quit doubt failure

Why MondayMorningPower?

Why MondayMorningPower? Even though the answer, at least to me, seems obvious, I still believe that I need to express it. Let’s start by my asking you a few questions:

1. Are you sad when the weekend is over?
2. Do you not look forward to the week?
3. Do you have a really hard time waking up on Monday Morning?
4. Do you wish Monday Mornings were never invented?
5. Does the week seem to drag on like it will never end?

If you answered “yes” to 2 or more of these questions you are “Monday Morning Averse.” In other words, Monday morning is anything but a friend. What you need, what most of us need, is a way to make Monday Mornings a friend; to actually look forward to the week; to be excited about Monday Morning; to accept the challenge of the week with enthusiasm; to have “Monday Morning Power,” the power to take you all the way through the week; to have the right attitude and to change the negative internal messages into positive ones when it comes to Monday morning, and all aspects of your life.

There you have it. I believe that reading my blog on a regular basis will help cultivate within you a positive mental attitude (PMA) . If you already have PMA, then this blog will help in it's care and feeding. I believe that we need to look at every minute of every day with wonder, excitement and enthusiasm. We need to live life to the fullest. We need to choose to be happy; after all we only have a short time on this earth. We need to keep negative energy at bay. We need to be grateful for what we have. Changing your attitude can change your life. You need to be able to laugh. You should treat others with respect and give them the benefit of the doubt, whenever possible.

The actual name of this site is "Attitude, the Ultimate Power." This name is explained quite nicely in my series of articles called "The Process." However, most of my readers refer to this site, on their links, as MondayMorningPower. I am considering changing the name to MondayMorningPower. Any and all input on this would be very much appreciated.

As usual, I have a tendency to go off on tangents when it comes to positive energy. Getting back to the original theme of this post "Why MondayMorningPower?"; what better way to start off the week than feeling empowered, in control with loads of enthusiasm for the challenges that lay ahead.



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mondaymorningpower weekend power positive+energy positive+mental+attitude excited Choose+to+be+Happy laugh grateful

Music Videos - Animusic

I'm not sure how much these music videos have to do with a positive mental attitude. All I know is that I love the way they make me feel and I amazed by the technology behind them. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

Pipe Dream


Starship Grove


Pogo Sticks


Resonant Chamber


Drum Machine


Gyro Drums


Heavy Light


Future Retro


Beyond The Walls


Fibre Bundles




animusic pipe+dreams startship+grove pogo+sticks resonant+chamber drum+machine gyro+drums heavy+light future+retro beyond+the+walls fibre+bundles

Music Videos - Positive Attitude / Feel Good

Don't Worry, Be Happy


New Attitude


You Got To Be You


Hold On Tight To Your Dream


What a Wonderful World


You Can't Stop The Beat


Bright Side of the Road


The Time of Your Life


Have A Nice Day by Bon Jovi

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #18m "The Race” – Male version)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

If you are a female reader please go the Female version of this post.

The Race

I
"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"
They shout out and plead.
"There's just too much against you now.
This time you can't succeed!"

And as he started to hang his head
In front of failure's face,
His downward fall was broken by
The memory of the race.

And hope refilled his weakened will
As he recalled the scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenated his being.

II
A children's race--young boys, young men;
How he remember well.
Excitement, sure, but also fear;
It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope:
Each thought to win the race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went!
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win, to be the hero there
Was each young boy's desire.

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought,
"My dad will be so proud."

But as he speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win,
Lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself
His hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope
He couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said:
"Get up and win the race!"

He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all his mind and might
To make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs:
He slipped and fell again!

He wished that he had quit before
With only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father's face.
That steady look which said again:
"Get up and win the race!"

So he jumped up to try again.
Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought,
"I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had,
He gained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye--
"There's no sense running anymore:
Three strikes I'm out, why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared
All hopes had fled away;
So far behind, so error-prone:
A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought.
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad
Who soon he'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low.
Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race."

With borrowed will, "Get up," it said,
"You haven't lost at all,
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall."

So up he rose to win once more,
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose,
At least he wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now.
The most he'd ever been--
Still he gave it all he had
And ran as though to win.

Three times he'd fallen stumbling:
Three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed, first place,
Head high and proud and happy;
No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race.

And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he won the
Race to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said,
"I didn't do so well."
"To me you won," his father said.
"You rose each time you fell."

III
And when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy
Will help you in your race.

For all of life is like that race.
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall.

"Quit!" "Give up, you're beaten!"
They still shout to your face.
But another voice within you says:
"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"

(Based on a poem of unknown authorship)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• When have you wanted to quit, but something made you keep going and you were glad you did? (Be Specific!)

Go to Section II (Installment #19)

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #18f "The Race” – Female version)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

If you are a male reader please go to the Male version of this post.

The Race

I
"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"
They shout out and plead.
"There's just too much against you now.
This time you can't succeed!"

And as she started to hang her head
In front of failure's face,
Her downward fall was broken by
The memory of the race.

And hope refills her weakened will
As she recalled the scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenated her being.

II
A children's race--young girls, young women;
How she remember well.
Excitement, sure, but also fear;
It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope:
Each thought to win the race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And mothers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for the one she nursed.
And each girl hoped to show her mom
That she would come in first.

The whistle blew and off they went!
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win, to be the hero there
Was each young girl's desire.

And one girl in particular
Whose mom was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought,
"My mom will be so proud."

But as she speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little girl who thought to win,
Lost her step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch herself
Her hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
She fell flat on her face.

So down she fell and with her hope
She couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, she only wished
To disappear somehow.

But as she fell her mom stood up
And showed her anxious face,
Which to the girl so clearly said:
"Get up and win the race!"

She quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all her mind and might
To make up for her fall.

So anxious to restore herself
To catch up and to win
Her mind went faster than her legs:
She slipped and fell again!

She wished that she had quit before
With only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd she searched
And found her mother's face.
That steady look which said again:
"Get up and win the race!"

So she jumped up to try again.
Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," she thought,
"I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything she had,
She gained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead
She slipped and fell again!

Defeat! She lay there silently
A tear dropped from her eye--
"There's no sense running anymore:
Three strikes I'm out, why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared
All hopes had fled away;
So far behind, so error-prone:
A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," she thought.
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then she thought about her mom
Who soon she'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low.
Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race."

With borrowed will, "Get up," it said,
"You haven't lost at all,
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall."

So up she rose to win once more,
And with a new commit
She resolved that win or lose,
At least she wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now.
The most she'd ever been--
Still she gave it all she had
And ran as though to win.

Three times she'd fallen stumbling:
Three times she rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win
She still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner
As she crossed, first place,
Head high and proud and happy;
No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place,
The crowd gave her the greater cheer
For finishing the race.

And even though she came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought she won the
Race to listen to the crowd.

And to her mom she sadly said,
"I didn't do so well."
"To me you won," her mother said.
"You rose each time you fell."

III
And when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face,
The memory of that little girl
Will help you in your race.

For all of life is like that race.
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall.

"Quit!" "Give up, you're beaten!"
They still shout to your face.
But another voice within you says:
"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"

(Based on a poem of unknown authorship)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• When have you wanted to quit, but something made you keep going and you were glad you did? (Be Specific!)

Go to Section II (Installment #19)

The+Race, give+up beaten succeed slipped face fell embarrassed anxious Laughing disgrace win+the+race

Cookies

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10 Secrets Of Advanced SEO Copywriters

In my blogesphere search I found a site "Pajama Professional" with a great link to 10 Secrets Of Advanced SEO Copywriters. This knowledge is seriously important if you want your blog to count with the search engines. It’s a short, succinct article so I highly recommend taking the time to read it and reread it and then read it again. TAKE NOTES.


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blogesphere SEO+Copywriters knowledge your+blog search+engines

State Mottos; What they should have been.

Following is another funny find for some State Mottos. Enjoy!


state+mottos

When Insults Had Class

I found this list of "classy" insults that I wanted to share with everyone.....enjoy! Follow this link: When Insults Had Class


insults

How To Create Your 'Magical' Vision Board - And Make Your Dreams Come True!

Here is another very simple but useful concept in attaining your dreams. I use a form of this concept myself.
MMP

How To Create Your 'Magical' Vision Board - And Make Your Dreams Come True!

By: Tiat Leong Ang

We all have dreams. Rosy dreams, big dreams, happy dreams. Far too often, that's all they remain, as we stumble through life struggling with our every day realities, as time flies by. And suddenly, it's too late - and you're looking back at your past, wondering what might have been.

Don't let that happen to you. Create your own magical vision board - and help create the reality you've always dreamed of... starting today.

But... What Is a 'Vision Board'?

Even though the name seems forbidding to the uninitiated, it is really a simple thing.

Your vision board is a collection of your dreams - in the form of pictures, photographs, magazine clippings, bank statements and more - all of which are pictorial representations of your ambitious dreams and long-term goals. Arrange this rich collection on a board to create a collage, a 'Vision' of what you want to attract into your life.

But what is your vision board really for? What is its purpose?

It's deep, simple and powerfully effective. Do you remember how, as children, you collected posters of your favorite stars and heroes, pictures of beautiful homes, animals and baseball cards, many other things that you found fascinating, loved or wished to have. You probably put them up on walls, wardrobes and lockers where you could see them every day.

As children we intuitively knew more about a vision board than we do as adults. These symbols helped us visualize what we wanted to attract into our lives. But we were blissfully unaware of their power. If somebody had told us that we were using the "Vision board" to entrain the "Law of Attraction", we would have laughed.

Yet, you surrounded yourself with these images. And it's startling just how often you see people ending up having many of these things in their reality years later. The imagery conditioned your sub-consciously to work towards attracting them into your life.

Your vision board acts a visual representation of what you want in your life or what you want to become in the future. The concept is so simple yet so powerful.

But many of us forget. Until we are reminded of it. Sometimes it happens by accident. Or maybe its a story someone tells us about the 'Law of Attraction. Or maybe it's a book like "The Secret" that helps us realize what we have forgotten about the vision board.

Everyone needs to see a video of "The Secret". It is an awesome representation of the power of the Vision Board in action. It will help you move from just dreaming to taking action. It's that powerful.

So, are you ready to get started on creating your own Vision Board today?

It can be lot of fun.

Find a board. Anything will do - white board, cardboard, or cork. If you big dreams, get big boards!

Pick up a bunch of magazines, newspapers, old books, old photographs. Hunt out the clippings that you have collected from your childhood, those pictures that you have put away in your shoe box.

Before starting out on your vision board, write in great detail about your dreams or goals, the ones you want to achieve in your life. Every detail is important, so don't miss out anything. For example if you want to buy your dream home - write down all about it, like the location you'd prefer most, the number of rooms, bedrooms, bath, jacuzzi, bathtubs, marble floors, driveways, swimming pool - every little detail about the home of your dreams. Imagine the colors on the walls, the type of doors and windows, the curtains, the kitchen, everything.

Visualize every detail about living in your home. Experience it all, the smell, the textures, the feel. Yes, you need to dream in the greatest detail to get the greatest impact from your vision board.

Find the pictures that closely match your dreams or goals from your magazine stack. Cut them out. Snip away the unwanted details. Just retain the portion you are interested in.

Find pictures that emotionally charge you up. Your pictures should stimulate you visually, mentally, maybe even spiritually.

Organize your pictures so they form meaningful images and represent your goals or dreams. Don't put too many, or you'll clutter it up. You can have as many vision boards as you like. You could begin with a main vision board with the major details in it. Have a note book where you can paste all the minor details.

Next, get some glue or board pins. Fix your pictures on the board

Place your vision board where you can frequently look at it and recharge yourself mentally, emotionally and psychologically.

It's important for you look at your vision board many times daily, so that you fix the images in your brain and attract them in your life.


vision+board vision dreams reality photographs Law+of+Attraction surround recharge organize

Keep Laughing

keep+laughing laugh laughing

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #17 "Attitude” – Male & Female versions)

What happens to the person is less important
than what happens within the person

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

Attitude

As you go through life, remember this fact;
Your attitude will have the greatest impact.
Whatever you do, whoever you are,
It's what you bring to the party that will make you a star.

It's more important than education, skill or money,
Circumstance or looks, whether your sad or your funny;
Whether you fail or succeed, it will see you through.
The way you look at life is the way life looks at you.

What's remarkable is that each and every day
Regarding your attitude, only you have the say.
Say it loud, say it clear, with a meaningful voice,
Concerning your attitude, only you have the choice.

You can't change the inevitable, you can't change the past.
No matter how hard you try, most feelings don't last.
You start young and grow old, that you can't re-arrange;
It's your attitude, you have the power to change.

You can't control what others will do.
You can't control them and they can't control you.
The control that you have, the control that you wield
Is the control of your attitude, that's your only true shield.

Life, you will see, and hold it as true
Is only 10%, what happens to you.
You must believe and take it as fact,
A full 90% is how you choose to react.

(An Original Poem by Mel Kaye)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• What has happened to you recently, where if you had looked at it differently you would have had a more favorable outcome? (Be specific!)

Copyright © MondayMorningPower, All rights Reserved

Go to Section II (Installment #18m - Male version)
Go to Section II (Installment #18f - Female version)

attitude life impact circumstance succeed voice choice control react

Shout-Outs

• Loving Farewells
• Share your friends with the world
• Trail of Joy

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Motivational Quotes (9)

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.
Rita Mae Brown

Hope is the dream of the waking man.
Aristotle

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
Charles Austin Beard

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource.
Daniel J. Boorstin

You ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty. They come unsummoned, directly, indirectly - I could seize them with my hands - out in open air, in the woods, while walking, in the silence of the nights, at dawn, excited by moods which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tunes that sound and roar and storm about me till I have set them down in notes.
Ludwig van Beethoven

First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.
Aristotle

Reflect upon your present blessings - of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens


Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Thomas Alva Edison

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

IMBECILITY, n. A kind of divine inspiration, or sacred fire affecting censorious critics of this dictionary.
Ambrose Gwinett Bierce

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.
Daniel J. Boorstin

We give our lives to that which we give our time. I have learned that it is very difficult, if not impossible to unclutter one’s life by starting at the top of the pile with the idea that the solution is to just get things sorted and better organized. It is nice to get better organized, but that is not enough. Much has to be discarded. We must actually get rid of it. To do this we need to develop a list of basics, a list of those things that are indispensable to our mortal welfare and happiness and our eternal salvation. This list must follow the gospel pattern and contain the elements needed for our sanctification and perfection. It must be the product of inspiration and prayerful judgment between the things we really need and thins we just want. It should separate need from greed. It must be our best understanding of those thins that are important as opposed to those things that are just interesting.
William R Bradford

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.
Jonannes Brahms

The artist must raise the cup of his vision aloft to the gods in the high hope that they will pour into it the sweet mellow wine of inspiration.
Paul Brunton

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Dr. Webb's Corner

This corner has been designed specifically for Dr. Webb's students.

Articles & Essays

• 10 Rules of Focus
  
• 10 things in Life that you Control
• Achieve Your Ambition and Believe in Yourself
• Achieving Success By Expecting Success
• American Idol: Jordin Sparks - Attitude
  
• Are You a Monday Morning Winner
• Attitude is Everything
  
• Awaken The Sleeping Attitude Within You
• Being Positive
• Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life
• Climb Out Of That Bucket and Live the Life of Your Dreams
• Cookies
  
• Failing to Succeed
• Gratitude is the Key to Abundance
• Handling Failure
• Happiness is a Decision, Choose To Be Happy
• Happiness Made Simple
• Happiness is a Moral Obligation
• Happiness Vs. Human Nature
  
• How to Create Your 'Magical' Vision Board - And Make Your Dreams Come True!
• How To Distinguish Between Your Constructive And Destructive Inner Voices
• How to Have Confidence and Enjoy Every Moment of it
• Keeping Negative Energy at Bay
  
• Laws of Success
• Let Happiness Find You
• Living in the Moment
  
• Negative Thinking Robbing Souls of Inner Peace
• Power of a Positive Attitude
• Power of Positive Thinking - The Undeniable Truth
• Success Requirements, Apply Within
• The Place Where Success Lives
• The Optimism Revolution
• The Secret to Real Confidence
• Therapeutic Effects of Laughter
• Turning Negative Self Talk into Positive Self Talk
• Your Mission Makes Itself Known Through Your Passions
  

Motivational Quotes

• Motivational Quotes (1)
• Motivational Quotes (2)
• Motivational Quotes (3)
• Motivational Quotes (4)
• Motivational Quotes (5)
• Motivational Quotes (6)
• Motivational Quotes (7)
• Motivational Quotes (8)
• Motivational Quotes (9)

• Happiness Quotes

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Gratitude Is The Key To Abundance

Following is another article in regards to "gratitude" which is one of the key aspects to attaining happiness. MMP

Gratitude Is The Key To Abundance
By: Mohamad Latiff Bin Rahim

Truly I tell you, gratitude is the key to abundance. For if you are grateful, surely you will experience an increase in all the good things you feel you are deserving in life.

Gratitude does not come from a 'this is too good to be true' feeling. Nor does it come from feelings of lack and desperation, such that you are dependent upon external factors as if the world owes you anything. Gratitude comes from a realisation, a proper understanding of things, that goes as deep and as true as that of a mother's love for her child.

Thankfulness cannot be faked or forced. You can train a child to say 'thank you' when he is given something good, but you cannot cause him to truly experience deep feelings of gratitude and appreciation in his heart.

Perhaps this is why grateful people have always been in short supply. I am referring to the truly grateful, not the masses that only profess gratefulness by the tongue but do not possess it in the depths of their hearts. However, like any other tendencies, true gratefulness can be slowly and steadily instilled in one's being by consistent and diligent observation and practice.

How does abundance come into the picture of gratitude?

To give a weird but vivid analogy, imagine a person living in a dark, claustrophobic and almost airtight pod. Let's say, for the sake of this analogy, she is able to live solely on air. Her only supply of air streams in from tiny almost imperceptible holes puncturing the surface of the pod. These holes also happen to bring in a little light into her pod.

Abundance is the virtually infinite supply of air that exists as a plenum outside her pod.

Gratitude is the hole that punctures the pod, allowing some air and some light to enter it.

As she lives and breathes in the pod, she is able to notice the tiny holes that have been sustaining her throughout her life. As she has been paying attention to only a fixed area of tiny holes, she thinks those are the only holes that exist to nourish her with much needed air, when in truth, tiny holes dot the entire surface area of the pod.

Every day, she lives a life of struggle, constantly panting and heaving and gasping for air, punctuated only occasionally when she musters the courage and effort to place herself close to an area of holes and really suck in the air from outside the pod.

Let's say she is not likely to suffer from asphyxiation because she is able to survive on very minimal amounts of air.

One day, she experiences a breakthrough. During one of those rare moments in which she gets the strength to really suck in air from one of the holes on the pod, she notices that her suction had caused the hole to expand in size, thus, the amount of air that streams in increases.

At first, she ignores this phenomenon. But when the effect happens for a second, and a third time, she sets out to turn her hypothesis into a fact. Soon she discovers that there are actually more holes dotting the surface of the pod than she had realised, because of the increased amount of light that enters due to the increasing size of the hole. So she experiments with the other holes dotting the pod, sucking in the outside air with all her might, until eventually, she has a couple of big holes on her pod that bring in really huge amounts of air and light.

Day by day, she continues this new hole-expanding effort of hers. One day, because of the increasing sizes of the holes and the number of holes that have expanded, the structural integrity of the once solid pod diminishes, and she finds that she can easily, almost effortlessly, rip apart the pod as if it were made of paper - hence, finally liberating herself and transcending into a whole new world of abundance.

Bizarre as this analogy might seem, most of us live like the girl in the pod. There are tiny streams of abundance entering our self-imposed imprisoned life. All it takes is our awareness of these sources of sustenance and abundance and to expand our awareness of them, thus increasing our prosperity in all areas of life.

Everything is an asset. Are you sitting on them or are you finding ways and means of fashioning those assets into materials that you would use to design the life of your dreams?


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The Meaning of Freedom

Once in a while I find a post that may be just a little outside my focus, but it so important that I must refer to it. Well I found such a post on An Unquiet Mind. Please go to this link and read it: The Meaning of Freedom.

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