Avoid Judgment and Criticism

Try not to give way to criticism, blame, scorn, or judgment of others when you are trying to help them.

Effectiveness in helping others depends on controlling yourself.

You may be swept away by a temporary natural urge to criticize or blame, unless you keep a tight rein on your emotions.

You should have a firm foundation of spiritual living which makes you truly humble, if you are going to really help other people.

Go easy on them and be hard on yourself.

That is the way you can be used most to uplift a despairing spirit.

And seek no personal recognition for what you are used by God to accomplish.

I pray that I may try to avoid judgment and criticism.

I pray that I may always try to build up others instead of tearing them down.

The Art of Giving

One secret of abundant living is the art of giving.

The paradox of life is that the more you give, the more you have.

If you lose your life in the service of others, you will save it.

You can give abundantly and so live abundantly.

You are rich in one respect - you have a spirit that is inexhaustible.

Let no mean or selfish thought keep you from sharing this spirit.

Of love, of help, of understanding, and of sympathy, give and keep giving.

Give your personal ease and comfort, your time, your money, and most of all, yourself.

And you will be living abundantly.

I pray that I may live to give.

I pray that I may learn this secret of abundant living.

The giver is greater than the gift.

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Besides having one's (own) wish granted, the joy of giving another (person) happiness, that itself is greater than a wish granted, if one has risen to that plane of human evolution when one can enjoy pleasure with the pleasure of another, when one can feel satisfaction in the satisfaction of another, when one can be happy in bringing happiness to another.

No one will give another happiness and will not have the same come to him a thousandfold.

There comes a stage of evolution in the life of man when he feels more satisfied by seeing another person satisfied with food than by his having eaten it himself, when he feels comfortable in seeing another person comfortable, when he feels richly adorned by seeing another person clothed nicely; for this stage is a stepping-stone to the realization of God.

Human beings living in their shells are mostly unaware of the privilege of life and so are unthankful to the Giver of it.

In order to see the grace of God man must open his eyes and raise his head from his little world.

Then he will see -- above and below, to the right and the left, before and behind -- the grace of God reaching him from everywhere in abundance.

A person who is loved by everybody in the world, and yet if he has not loved anybody, he has done nothing.

A person who has possessed the wealth of the whole world, but if he has given nothing, he has not earned.

A person honored by everyone in the world, but if he has not respected, he has not lived.

What does it mean?

It only means that what we gain is nothing, it is what we give that counts.

It is nothing -- what has been done to us -- if only we did all we wished to do, that is what counts.

Either learning or wisdom, position or power or wealth, all these things gained are very small compared with what one can give to the others.

Happiness

Happiness cannot be sought directly; it is a by-product of love and service.
Service is a law of our being.
With love in your heart, there is always some service to other people.
A life of power and joy and satisfaction is built on love and service.
Persons who hate or are selfish are going against the law of their own being.
They are cutting themselves off from God and other people.
Little acts of love and encouragement, of service and help, erase the rough places of life and
help to make the path smooth.
If we do these things, we cannot help having our share of happiness.

I pray that I may give my share of love and service.

I pray that I may not grow weary in my attempts to do the right thing.

Death

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

l that is constructed is subject to destruction; all that is composed must be decomposed; all that is formed must be destroyed; that which has birth has death. But all this belongs to matter; the spirit which is absorbed by this formation of matter or by its mechanism lives, for spirit cannot die.

That which the soul has borrowed he must give back when it has done its work; it was borrowed for a certain time and for a certain purpose.

When the purpose is fulfilled, when the time is finished, then every plane asks for that which the soul has borrowed from it, and one cannot help but give it back to that plane.

It is this process which is called assimilation. Since man is born greedy and selfish he has taken all things willingly, enthusiastically -- he gives them back grudgingly and calls it death. ...

Death is nothing but the taking off of one garb and giving it back to the plane from which it was borrowed, for the condition is this: one cannot take the garb of the lower plane to the higher plane.

The soul is only released when it is willing -- or compelled -- to give its garb to the plane it has taken it from.

It is this which releases the soul to go on in its travel.

And as it proceeds to a higher plane, after its stay there it must again give its garb back and be purified from it in order to go further. ... This knowledge also throws a light upon the question of death.

Death is not really death; it is only a passing stage, it is only a change, as changing clothes.

Death is a tax the soul has to pay for having had a name and a form.

The Laws of Life

The laws of nature cannot be changed and must be obeyed if you are to stay healthy.

No exceptions will be made in your case.

Submit to the laws of nature or they will finally break you.

And in the realm of the spirit, in all human relationships, submit to the moral laws and to the will of God.

If you continue to break the laws of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, you will be broken to some extent yourself.

The moral and spiritual laws of God, like the laws of nature, are unbreakable without some disaster.

If you are dishonest, impure, selfish, and unloving, you will not be living according to the laws of the spirit and you will suffer the consequences.

I pray that I may submit to the laws of nature and to the laws of God.

I pray that I may live in harmony with all the laws of life.

Cure for Disharmony & Disorder

The grace of God cures disharmony and disorder in human relationships.

Directly you put your affairs, with their confusion and their difficulties, into God's hands.

He begins to effect a cure of all the disharmony and disorder.

You can believe that He will cause you no more pain in the doing of it than a physician, who plans and knows that he can effect a cure, would cause his patient.

You can have faith that God will do all that is necessary as painlessly as possible.

But you must be willing to submit to His treatment, even if you cannot now see the meaning or purpose of it.

Why does God allow pain and suffering in the world

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.

They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.'

'Why do you say that?' asked the customer.

‘Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.

Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?

Would there be abandoned children?

If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.

I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.'

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long , stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.

He looked dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:

'You know what? Barbers do not exist.'

'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!'

'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.'

'Ah, but barbers DO exist!

That's what happens when people do not come to me.'

'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'

Sympathy

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Life's light is love; and when the heart is empty of love, a man is living and yet not living; from a spiritual point of view he is dead. When the heart is asleep, he is as though dead in this life, for one can only love through the heart. But love does not mean give and take. That is only a trade; it's selfishness. To give sixpence and receive a shilling is not love. Love is when one loves for the sake of love, when one cannot help but love, cannot do anything but love.

Most people will say, 'The other does not understand me.' But why must there be this lack of understanding? What causes it? It is lack of sympathy. No words can ever make a person understand. It is the heart alone which can convey its full meaning to the other heart, for there are subtle waves of sympathy, there are delicate perceptions of feelings such as gratefulness, admiration, kindness, which cannot be put into words. Words are too inadequate to explain the finer feelings. It is the heart quality which can express itself fully, and again it is the heart quality which can understand fully. Would it therefore be an exaggeration to say that as long as the heart is not awakened a man is as though dead? It is after the awakening of the heart that a man begins to live.

Sympathy is an awakening of the love element, which comes on seeing another in the same situation in which one has been at some time in one's life. A person who has never experienced pain cannot sympathize with those suffering pain... Sympathy is something more than love and affection, for it is the knowledge of a certain suffering which moves the living heart to sympathy.

That person is living whose heart is living, and that heart is living which has wakened to sympathy. The heart void of sympathy is worse than a rock, for the rock is useful, but the heart void of sympathy produces antipathy. ... There are many attributes found in the human heart which are called divine, but among them there is no greater and better attribute than sympathy, by which man shows in human form God manifested.

~~~ He is living whose sympathy is awake, and he is dead whose heart is asleep. (Gayan)

Tweets from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Believe that your life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact - William James

Become a person who refuses to be offended by anyone, anything, or any set of circumstances.

There is just one life for each of us: our own. – Euripides

Wisdom is avoiding all thoughts that weaken you.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error – Cicero

Treasure your divinity.

God does not command that we do great things only little things with great love. - Mother Teresa

Treat yourself as if you already are what you'd like to be.

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time - Mark Twain

There are no justified resentments.

You can't solve a problem with the same thoughts that created it.

Give up your personal history.

You can't give away what you don't have.

Don't die with your music still in you.

If no one told me who I was, who would I be? my answer I would be anything that I, and I only I decide in this moment.

I Can't Pray

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:
'Let me see if I've got this right.'

'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?

The Music I Know Is There

All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments. -- --Walt Whitman

A small group of friends sat in a room around a record player. It was a heavy old thing, with parts that had to be operated by hand and only one speaker - nothing like a modern stereo at all, but more like an antique phonograph. The record - a recording of their favorite music - was old, too, and scratched, its grooves worn smooth as a stone in some places. The tone arm skipped and scratched, and the sound was tinny, hard on the ears.

Most of the friends squirmed in their seats as they listened, and several grumbled that it was impossible to hear the music with such inferior equipment.

But one of the group sat listening, her eyes closed, swaying to the music and humming softly to herself.

"How can you enjoy this?" the others asked.

"Ah," she said with a mysterious smile. "I am listening beyond the recording to the music I know is there!"

Today's Gift by Anonymous

The Assumption

Clear the way for the entrance

of the bold adventure

who undoes injustice,

who smashes insults.

The sun's rays are her

resplendent armor

the stars are her helment,

the moon her boots.

On her shining shield

with which she dazzles hell,

a mountain is emblazoned

and golden letters: Tota Pulchra

Celebrated for her beauty,

feared for her fercity

she is jaunty and valiant,

and angelic in her beauty...

She dispelled the charms

of the ancient serpent

whose conspiracy

set us under slavery's yoke.

She avenges wrongs

and annuls unjust laws,

give refuge to orphans

and shelter to widows.

She liberated prisoners

from that prison where,

were it not for her daring spirit,

still they's await their release.

All hell trembles at the mere

mention of her name.

And they say its very kings

fast on her vigil...

She is the one, whose tread

no demon can endure.

When he sees her feet,

he takes to his heels.

Crowned with glory and honor,

the deeds that brought her fame,

since they cannot be contained on earth,

send her riding out of this world.

As knight errant of teh spheres

on a new adventure,

she finds the hidden treasure

sought by so many.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1695) was a Mexican nun and a poet, dramatist, and spiritual writer.

The Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope Benedict XVI writes that "precisely because of Mary is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us. While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people. Being in God, who is actually "within" all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God." Our lady "knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness. She always listens to us and, being Mother of the Sone, participates in the power of the Son and his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother." The Blessed Mother's birth into heaven generates in us "an ever new capacity to await God's future." (John Paul II)

The Assumptionof the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sun of Justice, the Virgin went before you as the dawn goes before the day: -- make us walk by your light.

Source of our salvation, Mary heard your word in love and kept it in faith: -- make us servants of your saving work.

Only-begotten Son of God, the Mother received you with joy and followed you in fidelity: -- make us faithful in word and deed.

45 Lessons Life Taught Me

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch..
5.. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck..
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life.. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38.. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come..
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44.. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Pissing and Moaning

A Kansas farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady.
He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house.
The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring.
Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.
4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.
Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.
Thought you'd like to know.

Loving Wings

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park , forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage.
One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.
Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick.
When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings.
The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.
She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies.
Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast . . . because she had been willing to die, so those under the cover of her wings would live.

'He will cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you will find refuge.' (Psalm 91:4)

Being loved this much should make a difference in your life.Remember the One who loves you, and then be different because of it.

Solitude

Solitude as act: the reason no one understands solitude, or bothers to try to understand it, is that it appears to be nothing but a condition. Something one elects to undergo, like standing under a cold shower. Actually, solitude is a realization, an actualization, even a kind of creation, as well as a liberation of active forces within us, forces that are more than our own, and yet more ours that what appears to be "ours". As a mere condition, solitude can be passive, inert and basically unreal: a kind of permanent coma. One has to work at it to keep out of this condition. One has to work actively at solitude, not by putting fences around oneself but by destroying all the fences and throwing away all the disguises and getting down to the naked root of one's inmost desire, which is the desire of liberty-reality. To be free from the illusion that reality creates when one is out of right relation to it, and to be real in the freedom which reality gives when one is rightly related to it.

Thomas Merton. Learning to Love, Journals Volume 6

Self-Acceptance and Self-Knowledge

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And wisdom to know the difference.

This well-known prayer expresses some key guidelines to our philosophy of living.
One group member explained it this way:
“For me, the things I cannot change are other people, places, and circumstances. The only things I can change are my attitudes, reactions and action toward the people, places and circumstances in my life.
“The wisdom to know the difference, well, that’s a hard one. I don’t always know what I can and cannot change until I try changing it. Wisdom comes by trial and error. The more experience I have, the more understanding, knowledge, and wisdom I have.”
Today I will accept that much of my wisdom can only come through my daily experiences.
I need to expect to make some mistakes in my attitudes, actions, and judgment of what I can and cannot change.
I will learn to be patient with myself and others as I gain more understanding from my mistakes.

The Reflecting Pond by Liane Cordes

Envy

There is a story of a slave called Ayaz, who was brought before a king with nine others, and the king had to select one to be his personal attendant.

The wise king gave into the hands of each of the ten a wineglass and commanded him to throw it down.

Each one obeyed the command.

Then the king asked each one of them, 'Why did you do such a thing?'

The first nine answered 'Because your Majesty gave me the order'; the plain truth cut and dried.

And then came the tenth slave, Ayaz.

He said, 'Pardon, sire, I am sorry,' for he realized that the king already knew it was his command; by replying, 'Because you told me,' nothing new was said to the king.

This beauty of expression enchanted the king so much that he selected him to be his attendant.
It was not long before Ayaz won the trust and confidence of the king, who gave him the charge of his treasury, the treasury in which precious jewels were kept.

This made many jealous, this sudden rise from a slave to a treasurer of the king, a position which many envied.

No sooner did people know that Ayaz had become a favorite of the king than they began to tell numerous stories about him in order to bring him into disfavor with the king.

One of the stories was that Ayaz went every day into the room where the jewels were locked in the safe, and that he was stealing them every day, little by little.

The king answered, 'No, I cannot believe such a thing; you have to show me.'

So they brought the king as Ayaz entered this room, and made him stand in a place where there was a hole, looking into the room.

And the king saw what was going on there.

Ayaz entered the room and opened the door of the safe.

And what did he take out from it?

His old ragged clothes which he had worn as a slave.

He kissed them and pressed them to his eyes, and put them the table.

There, incense was burning, and this that he was doing was something sacred to him.

He then put on these clothes and looked at himself in the mirror, and said, as one might be saying a prayer, 'Listen, O Ayaz, see what you used to be before. It is the king who has made you, who has given you the charge of this treasure. So regard this duty as your most sacred trust, and this honor as your privilege and as a token of the love and kindness of the king. Know that it is not your worthiness that has brought you to this position. Know that it is his greatness, his goodness, his generosity which has overlooked your faults, and which has bestowed that rank and position upon you by which you are now being honored. Never forget, therefore, your first day, the day when you came to this town; for it is the remembering of that day which will keep you in your proper place.'

He then took off the clothes and put them in the same place of safety, and came out.

As he stepped out, what did he see?

He saw that the king before whom he bowed was waiting eagerly to embrace him; and the king said to him, 'What a lesson you have given me Ayaz!

It is this lesson which we must all learn, whatever be our position.

Because before that King in whose presence we all are but slaves, nothing should make us forget that helplessness through which we were reared and raised, and brought to life, to understand and to live a life of joy.

People told me that you had stolen jewels from our treasure-house, but on coming here I have found that you have stolen my heart.'

Wisdom

Everything one sees, hears, or perceives through any sense or experience has a distinct and definite effect upon one's soul, upon one's spirit. What one eats, what one drinks, what one sees, what one touches, the atmosphere in which one lives, the circumstances one faces, the conditions one goes through, all these have a certain effect upon one's spirit. Whether a person eats grosser food or finer and purer food is manifested outwardly. Even if one does not heed it, it is manifested outwardly. The body shows the nature it has inherited from the earth to which it belongs. For the nature of this earth is such that when it receives the seed of a flowering plant it produces flowers, and when the seed of a fruit-tree, it produces fruits.
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Stress Relieving Technique

Just in case you are having a rough day, here is a stress management technique recommended in all the latest psychological journals.
The funny thing is that it really does work and will make you smile.
1. Picture yourself lying on your belly on a warm rock that hangs out over a crystal clear stream.
2. Picture yourself with both your hands dangling in the cool running water.
3. Birds are sweetly singing in the cool mountain air.
4. No one knows your secret place.
5. You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called the world.
6. The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.
7. The water is so crystal clear that you can easily make out the face of the person you are holding underwater.
There!!
See?
It really does work.
You're smiling already.
Feel free to share this if you know others who might benefit from this technique.

True Natural Laws

1. Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to use the bathroom.
2. Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, or screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
3. Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
4. Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.
5. Law of the Alibi - If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.
6. Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).
7. Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
8. Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
9. Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.
10. Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
11. Law of the Theater and Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are farthest from the aisle arrive last, and they are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, drink, or the bathroom and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. Those in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies, and stay to the bitter end of the performance and beyond. The aisle people also are very surly folk.
12. The Starbucks Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something that will last until the coffee is cold.
13. Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
14. Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug.
15. Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
16. Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly.
17. Oliver's Law of Public Speaking - A closed mouth gathers no feet.
18. Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.
19. Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well and make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better. Don't make an appointment and you'll stay sick.

1950 Chevrolet Club Coupe 437

1950 Chevrolet Club Coupe 437
Originally uploaded by James R Giusti

This is the lowest mileage 1950 Chevy. Check the story out. [Click on photo to see more photo of this Chevy]

1950 Chevrolet Club Coupe 437 original, actual miles!
This is a car with a story…
It was purchased new by Mr. and Mrs. Jessie Trueblood of Modesto. Shortly after purchasing the vehicle, Mr. Trueblood went fishing. While waiting for the “big one” to bite he sees a woman fall out of her boat. When Mr. Trueblood jumps in to help, he suffers a fatal heart attack. Mrs. Trueblood brought the car home and placed it in the garage for the next 12 years. The odometer read 413 miles at that time (1962).
Mrs. Trueblood lived next door to a used car lot owned by Mr. William E. Wilson (now 81 years old).
Mr. Wilson frequently mentioned to her that he would like to buy the car. In 1962 the time came. Mrs. Trueblood's bookkeeper needed a car, but didn’t care for the ol’ Chevy. She preferred a Rambler. No problem. Mr. Wilson bought a brand new Rambler for $1,650 ($100 over cost) and made the swap.
He then took the car home and parked it with 433 actual miles. And there it sat for the next 45 years, occasionally being started and moved in and out of the garage. In 2007 Mr. Wilson decided to sell the car and started spreading the word around Modesto that the ol’ Chevy with 433 miles was for sale. Many had heard about the car, but hardly anyone had ever laid eyes on it. In fact, according to Mr. Wilson he believes he only showed the car to about 5 people in 45 years. Word spread quickly about the car and soon a buyer arrived ready and willing to pay the $60,000 asking price. When Mr. Wilson told me the story of this car he complained heavily of the “capital gains” tax he had to pay and wished he had never sold it. As of this writing, Mr. Wilson is still alive and well in Modesto and can verify the miles and originality of this car. Simply put, this is a true 100% factory original survivor (that includes the air in the tires).
This ol’ Chevy is most likely the world’s lowest mileage 1950 Chevy.

Giving Myself Credit

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for thee.
--George Herbert

Some of us have gone through life unconsciously expecting others to bring us happiness, to make our dreams come true, and to make us feel good about ourselves.
When nothing seems to be going well for us, we blame it on the lack of external support - we're not in a serious relationship, we don't like our job, we don't have the money to venture into our own business.
When we change our perspective - when we know and trust that we are responsible for our happiness, our dreams, and our feelings - we become empowered.
No longer is the burden on someone or something that is either unreliable or nonexistent.
We'd been giving this power to others; now it's time to take it back, to make and be responsible for our own choices, to value our opinions, and to respect our intellect.
Today I will give myself credit for all I am capable of, financially and otherwise.

Letting Go of Debt by Karen Casanova