03312020 quotes

Success is getting what you want.

Happiness is wanting what you get.

- Dale Carnegie

You can make more friends in two

Months by becoming interested in

Other people than you can in two

Years by trying to get other people

Interested in you.

- Dale Carnegie

Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by

Horse sense and persistence,

Is the quality that most frequently

Makes for success.

- Dale Carnegie

032820 quotes

You don't love someone for their looks,
or their clothes, or for their fancy car,
but because they sing a song only you

Can hear.
- Anonymous

The journey between what you once

Were and who you are now becoming
is where the dance of Life really

Takes place.
- Barbara De Angelis

Pay attention to rainbows,

And snowflakes, butterflies

And the songs of birds,
the crash of storm-driven waves
and the mirror-surface of a quiet pond.
Let the depths of nature become a part

Of your innermost being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

032520 quotes

The smallest act of kindness is worth more

Than the grandest intention.

- Oscar Wilde

The thing always happens that you really believe in;

And the belief in a thing makes it happen. 

- Frank Lloyd Wright

If you get to the point where someone is telling you
that you are not great or not good enough, just follow

Your heart and don't let anybody crush your dream.
- Patti LaBelle

03242020 quotes

Shoot for the moon.

Even if you miss,

You’ll land among

The stars.

- Les Brown

In any moment of decision,

The best thing you can do

Is the right thing. 

The worst thing you can do

Is nothing.

- Theodore Roosevelt

People become really quite remarkable

When they start thinking that they can

Do things. 

When they believe in themselves they

Have the first secret of success.

- Norman Vincent Peale

https://haydenchilds.net/

Love, Laughter and Marriage: Why Laughter is Vital to a Healthy Relationship

Two happily married couples, together for over fifteen years:

"If I had to pick out one thing that has made the difference in our marriage, I guess it would be that he makes me laugh." ~Sarah

"We just enjoy each other's company. We're playful and tease each other in a light-hearted way. Life can be so hard, and finding ways to make each other smile seems to be the antidote for us." ~Hal

Two couples struggling to stay together:

"We used to have so much fun. It's been years since we laughed together. I don't know what happened." ~Michael

"Everything between us is so serious now. It used to be that I couldn't wait to get home after a hard day at work and unwind with Steve… To be honest, now I have more fun with my friends." ~Terri

Spouses and partners who learn to laugh together have important advantages over couples who do not share the carefree abandon of laughter.

Is laughter a panacea that will cure all your relationship problems? Of course not, but making the conscious choice to incorporate laughter and humor into your relationship (whether you and your partner are naturally funny or not) offers several benefits.


Marriage Help: 5 reasons you should make your spouse/partner laugh:


1. Laughter fosters a sense of playfulness and shared abandon

Children, unencumbered by the adult restrictions maturity demands, are naturally playful and laugh often. This energy is contagious. Unfortunately, this spontaneous source of energy is often forced underground as we age and many adults seem to lose their connection to this vitality. When you and your partner laugh together, you tap into this energy pool and recapture the special liveliness of childhood. Laughter is an energy source that can be used to invigorate your relationship.


2. Laughter forges a positive bond

The following pattern seems painfully familiar to many couples: When you're first dating, your relationship seems to transcend everyday life: it feels like an antidote to stress, a buffer against life's inevitable struggles. Over time and as the relationship becomes an ingrained part of the daily grind we call life, the union that once offered a thrilling, escapist comfort now becomes more and more associated with the reality of stress.

This is especially the case when most of your time spent together involves navigating the pressures and stresses of life, without the respite of playfulness. Shared pleasures are often lost as couples forget to balance the stressful and the pleasurable. Learning to laugh together—setting the goal to make each other smile and laugh—breaks these negative associations that can wear down your relationship.


3. Laughter brings greater perspective

Have you ever said something so absurd during an argument that you made yourself (and your partner) laugh? And to your surprise, the argument quickly became irrelevant. Laughter quickly elevates your mood and gives you the emotional distance needed to view events in a new light. Life's daily stresses are more tolerable when laughter becomes part of your routine.

People who take themselves too seriously (and lack any sense of playfulness) live with an emotional heaviness that is felt by others—everything seems to become weighted down with an overbearing immensity. Seriousness has an important place in life and love—but so does lightheartedness.


4. Laughter reduces defensiveness and opens you up to new experiences.

We all protect ourselves emotionally. Psychological defenses are like the seatbelt and airbags in your car—your defenses are designed to prevent injury and cushion the blow when faced with something that is potentially painful. But the same defenses that protect you in one context also come at an emotional cost--especially when your defensive barriers prevent you from making genuine contact with someone who has your best interests in mind, like a loving and supportive spouse/partner.

When you and your partner laugh together, you put your defenses on hold and open yourself up to a new kind of connection with your partner. In this context, laughter deepens emotional intimacy and allows greater trust to take hold.


5. Laughter acts as a buffer to stress

Have you ever laughed so hard and then thought or said, "I really needed that!"?

Laughter acts as a much needed, temporary respite from the pressures of life. It can recharge your emotional battery (and your relationship's battery), it's a safe and effective way to release pent-up physical and emotional tension, and laughter reduces stress hormones while increasing the feel-good endorphins in your brain. It seems as though laughter is just plain good for you.

Laughter acts as a protective buffer to the inevitable stresses that couples face.


Simple ways to incorporate laughter into your marriage or relationship:

Now that you see laughter has numerous benefits for your relationship, the next step is the most important: begin creating moments of mutual enjoyment and pleasure. And while you're at it, make each other laugh.

Lacking a "natural" sense of humor is no excuse. Here are just a few suggestions to get you started:

Rent a funny movie or television series; go to a comedy show; play fun/silly board games with each other and invite friends into the laughter; read a book of jokes together or look for jokes-of-the-day on the Internet; develop your own David Letterman-like top 10 list; ask friends if they've heard any good jokes and share them with your partner; tickle each other; share a humorous story from your childhood; do something novel and fun together; look for the absurdity and humor in life…

But most importantly: work on creating a light-hearted mindset that will invite laughter into your marriage or relationship.

The good news is that laughter is contagious. So you'll naturally feel good when your partner laughs; and s/he will feel good when you laugh.

This is a serious challenge for many couples, especially if there has been a history of conflict and hurt feelings. The effective use of humor and laughter involves good timing—you and your partner should agree on a mutual laughter-commitment. (Telling jokes while your partner is angry with you for being insensitive isn't useful or funny).

So what are you waiting for? Laughter—and a healthy relationship—await!

Dr. Richard Nicastro

03222020 The Strangest Man ...

I met the strangest man...

He said he believes the Bible is the word of God,

But he never reads it.

He said the church would be more effective in 

its ministries if more of its members were really

Dedicated, but he isn’t.

He said he feels that church assemblies are 

times for edification and praise, 

but he never attends.

GET

RIGHT

WITH

GOD!

http://www.how2bsaved.com/pages/749341/index.htm

032120 quotes

Those who don't know how

To weep with their whole heart,

Don’t know how to laugh either

- Golda Meir

There can be no happiness

When one lives in fear.
Whatever the future holds,

Fear will not improve tomorrow,
And it will destroy your happiness today.
Action is empowering,

Fear is dis-empowering.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I’ve got a theory that if you

Give 100 percent all of the time,
somehow things will work out

In the end.
- Larry Joe Bird

032020 quotes

May thy ball lie in green pastures …

And not in still waters. 

- Anonymous

What other people may find in poetry or art museums,

I find in the flight of a good drive. 

- Arnold Palmer

Achievement is largely the product of steadily

Raising one’s levels of aspiration and expectation.

- Jack Nicklaus

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.squarevalley.i8birdies&hl=en_US

03192020 quotes

It isn’t life that weights us down …

It’s the way we carry it.

- Elizabeth Potier

Life is not always a matter of holding good cards,

But sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

- Jack London

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose,

For this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down,

But the staying down.

- Mary Pickford

03182020 quotes

A smile is the light in your window that tells

Others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.
- Denis Waitley

                    

The tissue of life to be we weave with colors all our own,

And in the field of destiny we reap as we have sown.

- John Greenleaf Whittier

The greatest difference between a winner

And loser is that next step.

- Janice Harris

 

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0300-ftc-funeral-rule