Daily Quote

"Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend."

-Bill Watterson

Halloween is the best with a group of friends. A group of friends who don't care how old we are and what age we were 'supposed' to stop trick or treating. At this age, it is mostly about friendship. It is really nice to have a great friend!

Daily Story

Here is a beautiful story. Again, it is about an eye, just like the last one. Stories about eyes tend to get really powerful messages across. This one will really make you think. It will really make you appreciate your parents. It could even change the way you look at things. I hope you enjoy this story.

-LifeOO

My mom only had one eye. I hated her… She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers to support the family. 

There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed. 

How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school one of my classmates said, “EEEE, your mom only has one eye!” 

I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day and said, “If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?” 

My mom did not respond… I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings. 

I wanted out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real hard, got a chance to go abroad to study.

 Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts. Then one day, my Mother came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren. 

When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!” 

And to this, my mother quietly answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address.” – and she disappeared out of sight. 

One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So I lied to my wife that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old shack just out of curiosity. 

My neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have. 

“My dearest son, 

I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children. 

I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. 

You see……..when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine. 

I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. 

With all my love to you, 

Your mother.” 

Author Unknown

Quote of the day

"After all is said and done, more is said than done."

-Aesop

People tend to talk. A lot. So when all is said and done, more is actually said than done. But think of it- when something goes wrong, isn't it usually because you said something to a friend? Or to someone in general? There are more cases where the things being said and done are more of said. There are less done cases. We just all need to be careful with what we say, words can really hurt someone in the end.

Quote of the day

It is the little things in life that are the sweetest. The sweetest things that are the most simple. The most simple are the real ones. When things get too complicated, they aren't nearly as real feeling as the more simple things. Of course, when it is too simple, it doesn't feel real either. But just enough simplicity to make life easier and better are the real things. 

Daily Quote

"If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share."

-W. Clement Stone

When you are truly thankful, you share what you have to spread the joy. Many people across the globe show their thankfulness through service. People volunteer because they realize what they have, and that some people don't have that. So they volunteer. They give back to the community. Be thankful for the roof over your head, then volunteer at Habitat for Humanity or a homeless shelter. Be thankful for the food on your table, then volunteer at a local food bank. Be thankful for your life... bring things in for a hospital or a hospice building. Share the gratefulness.

Daily Quote

Hello Everyone! 

I'm back! I hope you enjoy this quote and there is more to come soon!

-LifeOO

"If you want the best the world has to offer, offer the world your best."

-Neale Donald Walsch

If you want the best, you have to do your best. You can't expect to be paid full pay if you just sit around doing nothing. You have to work for your keep. If you want the most bountiful harvest at your farm, you can't just sit back and watch your plants grow without tending to them. If you want the best the world has to offer, you have to get up and offer the best you have. You just can't expect the best without making a mark first.

Quote of the day

I have done a few different quotes on friendship before. But basically as a recap, friends are great. They will always be there for you, they have your back. And only heaven itself is better than a true friend. So make some great friends and keep them. They are more precious than gold.

I am leaving tomorrow for a little trip with absolutely no internet access. And no technology what so ever. So I will not be able to post again until Saturday evening. I will see you all then!

Thank you! 

-LifeOO

Story of the day

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

“Just take care of my eyes dear.”

Daily Quote

"If fear is cultivated it will become stronger, if faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery."

-John Paul Jones

When you feed your fear, it will only get bigger. Fear can take you over and keep you from doing some things that might be really important. Fear can even push you away from the people you love the most. It is a big barrier in the middle of your day, keeping you from seeing the light. But if you feed your faith, it will achieve mastery. It will help prevent fear. It really can help you.
When I was younger, I was afraid of the dark. I would imagine these ugly monsters waiting for me in the darkest spots of the house. Especially the basement. I would imagine while I walked up the dark stairs a monster silently following me, waiting for the right moment to attack. I was always told they didn't exist, and I knew they didn't. But part of me wanted to, just to have a reason to be afraid of the darkness. Later on in life, I made up a mental rule. If there is a light in a room, the pool of light coming from that lamp or what ever it is is a safe spot from the monsters. And I could be like a sponge. I can soak up the light, run through the darkness, and when my sponge full of light ran out, I was vulnerable again. So this worked for a while. Then I still wanted to get rid of this phobia, so I turned to my faith. I knew that God created light out of darkness so that darkness is merely the lack of light. Just as coldness is the lack of heat. Also, God didn't make monsters. God made everything beautiful to be the way it is. So even if there were monsters, they couldn't be all that bad. Then I just tried to suck it up and see what happened. With all of these things in mind, I could then safely go through the darkness, my mind completely 'unharmed.' Back then, I would turn off the light, run, and make a dive into bed as if there were skeletons on the ground. After, I would just turn off the light and walk to bed. Turning to faith can really help. Cultivate your faith, make it a mastery. Face your fears, don't feed them. It may help you with your most irrational or extreme fears, you never know.

Daily Quote

Count your blessings. Don't look at the glass as half empty, look at it as half full! You have more than some people have. And let's face it, there are some people who take their fortunes for granted. Sometimes, the poorest people may be the ones who use their blessings to the best. Blessings are like circles of light around you to protect you. To heal you, to strengthen you. Taking them for granted will weaken the circle. It will still work, but since you are not aware of its power, it won't be as strong. So count your blessings. Be thankful. Strengthen your circle of blessings.

Story of the day

Today, instead of a quote, I am going to post an inspirational story. I hope you enjoy!

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty.

He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside it?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy, it is not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness. 

It is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, friends, family and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

Quote of the day

"This bright, new day... complete with 24 hours of opportunities, choices, and attitudes. A perfectly matched set of 1440 minutes. This unique gift, this one day, cannot be exchanged, replaced, or refunded. Handle with care. Make the most of it. There is only one to a customer."

-Unknown

I think this quote is pretty well explained. So just use your day to the best. Once time is gone, it is gone forever. So seize the day, make the most of it, live each day as if it was your last. I know that sentence is a bit of a cliche, but it is so true. Be nice, get things done, make it so that if there wasn't tomorrow, you wouldn't have any, if not than very little regret.

Daily Quote

True friends will always be there for you. They will support you when no one else does. They will always have your back, they will be with you until the end. When the rest of the world walks out, they will walk in. Friendship is an amazing thing. It is so wonderful to have a person who cares like that. So don't forget to tell your true friends thank you, because they are always there for you. For emotional support, for physical support, for you.

Don't forget to give back what you receive. Make them feel loved too!

Daily Quote

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." 

-Abraham Lincoln

A lot of what we are is in our minds. Happiness is something that is only temporary. But if you truly believe in your mind you are happy, and keep a happy and positive mindset towards others and life in general, it is likely you will fell happy. Same thing goes for when you are doing something tough. Like running- if you are running a 5k and your goal is to keep running and don't walk for the whole thing, you have to keep it positive in your mind. When I was younger, my dad and I would run 5k races together. We would run the whole time, until this one time when I just didn't think I could do it. I started hyperventilating, and my dad told me I could just walk. But I wasn't going to give up. He taught me that it was all in my mind, and that if I believed I can, I could. So I did. We finished strong and actually ran at a reasonably good pace for the age I was. I used this terminology when running cross country races as well. On the trail, I cheered on other teams and my teammates and told them that it was all in their minds. You would be surprised what a little bit of encouragement with information that is that true can do! For you and others! Because encouraging one person and seeing them do better because of that encourages you too!

Quote of the day

"Riches don't make a man rich, they only make him busier."

-Christopher Columbus

When you have riches, it is not as much sitting back and letting your paid maids and servants and butlers and such do everything for you while you are sitting back in a jacuzzi inside of a private jet on your way to a vacation in Paris. That's just not the way it works in life. You still have to do things. But riches make you busier. More bills and taxes to pay, more security needed to protect your money, more this, more that. It is probably tiring. The real riches in life are your friends and family, and happiness and such. Don't worry about your physical riches- look around and see your true riches around you. All of those you love, and all of those who love you.

Quote of the day

No secrets will remain secret forever. Eventually, they will all come out. Whether it is a matter of minutes, or in Coca Cola's case, a matter of over a hundred years. But secrets do get out- so be careful what you say. Keeping negative and mean secrets from others will just result in something worse later, so be sure to never even start them. If you have something mean to say, keep it to yourself. Otherwise, the chain reaction of gossip and rumors and secrets will just become too much to handle. And time will handle it in ways you don't want. So before time gets to your dirty little secrets, try to sort them out yourself. It will take huge weights off your shoulders and I guarantee you will sleep better at night.

Daily Quote

If you are fighting with others, you are not at peace with yourself. During the fight, you are angry. You lash out and become really hostile. To be peaceful with yourself, you must be at peace. And to be at peace, you must be peaceful- with others and the world. So there is a whole 'peace chain reaction' going on here, so try to live a peaceful life. With others, with the world. With yourself.

Daily Quote

"Talent is the seed, but hard work is the sunshine and rain that makes it grow."

-Anonymous

You can't rely only on talent. Because without hard work, the talent won't go anywhere. It will never sprout, never blossom or bloom, it will just be a little seed stuck in the ground. You aren't born with the ability to do anything, you have to work for it. For example, if your talent was dancing, you might be able to do a little bit, but your talent range will never expand without practicing. You won't learn new moves and you won't become more skilled. You can't expect to be a famous ballerina on your first try. Or if your talent was piano, you can't expect to be able to play Rhapsody in Blue the first time you sit down at the piano. It just doesn't work like that. You need hard work to let your talents bloom and grow! Talents are the foundation of the house, but hard work is all of the framework and strong structural design and everything that makes the house what it is.

Quote of the day

"Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad."

-Salvador Dali

Since this is a very artistic quote, I will explain it in the art world. 

When you are drawing or painting or anything, you can't mess up. Just because the brush or pencil stroke isn't the way you want it to look, that doesn't mean it is ruined. It is art! It can be anything! There are no mistakes, no possibilities of cheating (if your paper is thick enough and you can't trace things onto it)! I don't know much more of what to say, so now I will apply it to real world.

Be honest- when you are honest you can't cheat. Even if your honesty is on being good or on being bad, it is still honesty. Which is good. Always tell the truth. The more you do, the more people will believe you when you actually do tell it. But be careful- too many dishonest lies will get people turned against you for longer, so tell the truth while you can so that people will always believe you.

But remember- honesty is always good, no matter if it is about good or bad.

Quote of the day

"Lost time is never found again."
-Benjamin Franklin

Be careful with your time. Time is always ticking, you can't go back and redo things. So don't waste your time. For example, and this is all just an example, if you are a student, you only have one night to do homework. And say you do sports. After school, some of your time is taken up by this activity or these activities, leaving you less time to do your homework. So it is probably not wise to sit there watching TV or playing games. Because when it is late and you are just starting your homework, a ton of time that you will never get back was wasted. So be careful.

Daily Quote

"Whoever is happy will make others happy too."

-Anne Frank

Happiness is contagious in a way. It is just like a candle- out of that one candle you can light thousands without ever lessening the amount of flame in the original candle. Same goes for happiness. Just like a wildfire to those willing to take it, it will spread. You probably know the feeling. If you are down in the dumps and someone comes in and is happy, but instead of rubbing something in your face, they share their happiness with you? It is a great feeling. So be happy and let your flame loose on the world!

Daily Quote

"It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance."

-Thomas Huxley

In an argument, everyone wants to be right. So everyone fights it out to try to get the point out that they are right. The other person is also trying to be right, so they don't want to believe you are right. Even if nobody is right, the most important thing is to do what is right. Be the bigger person and end the argument. Say sorry, do the right thing. Now in terms of the argument- you need to learn to solve your arguments without a third party helping sort things out. But doing this is a big skill that most people- even adults- even me, and probably you- still struggle with. It is natural to want to be right. But learn to step up and do what is right.

LifeRules

I found this great picture illustrating a couple more LifeRules.
-LifeOO

Quote of the day

"Sadly, it's much easier to create a desert than a forest."

-James Lovelock

You've probably noticed that it is easier to do bad than it is to do good. Well, unfortunately, this is just life. But this doesn't mean you should give up on being good, it just means that you will need to try a bit harder to keep good. Now there are some things you should remember:

-Keep your temper. There are always going to be those people who just get on your nerves. And keeping your cool is difficult. But once you learn to do it, you might notice the person will stop or get a little less annoying. This is because some people tend to be mean because it makes them feel better. And once they realize they aren't getting to you, they might just stop.

-Always take responsibility for your actions. If there is one thing I have learned in life, it is to take responsibility for your actions and say sorry. When you take responsibility for your actions, the person questioning you will not only be happy for your truth, but will admire you for saying it and they will lessen your punishment. For example, a while back I spilled paint on the floor. My parents were furious; but I took responsibility for my actions and they thanked me, because I just saved them a lot of time. I was still punished, but they told me that the punishment would have been 4 times worse if I chose to lie and deny.

-There are tons of other things to remember. As humans, we have many flaws. There are more things to remember then I can type, so perhaps I might post more of them later. But for now, start with keeping your temper and taking responsibility. 

Check back later for more LifeRules.

Quote of the day

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer."

-William S. Burroughs

You would be surprised about how much you actually know. Your subconscious may have picked up something along the way that you didn't realize, and later when you need that knowledge, you will find that it is already there! We have all had that experience where we are taking a test, and that one question comes up and you feel stumped. You think for a moment, and suddenly you know the answer. And you didn't even know you had ever learned it. So just trust your brain. Asking questions is great, but your own mind will answer most questions when you relax and just wait for the answer.   

Daily Quote

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say 'thank you?'"

-William Arthur Ward

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. Did you say thank you to anyone today? Did you say thank you to the janitor at your school/office? Did you say thank you to your teachers after leaving your class? Did you say thank you to your boss today? Did you say thank you to that stranger who held the door for you? Did you say thank you at all? ...Did you say thank you to God for the gift of today? For the gift of life? I hope that you have said thank you to at least someone today. Being thankful is incredibly important. So don't forget to thank someone, thank everyone. 

But don't forget to say thank you to God.
Connecting with God is a truly amazing experience. It is different for everyone, but the way I know that I am connecting with God is when I am praying and I begin to get teary eyed. Sometimes before bed I just sit there and pray. For thanks for being alive, for what God has made me into, for safety for my friends and family. And it is an amazing experience. Sitting there on my bed, I just feel lost in time. With my eyes closed, I get so lost in it. It is like being in a dream where everything feels so powerful. And the connection feels very strong. I can almost feel God holding on to me, hugging me. Such an amazing experience. 

I have a blister on my hand. It is on a very mobile spot on my hand, and it hurts a lot. But during that prayer time, all of my pain goes away. The itch of a mosquito bite, the pain of my blister, and any other problems just seem to disappear. God is amazing like that. 

So I encourage you to say thank you to someone today. And tomorrow. And the next day and next. Stop to appreciate life that has been given to you, and give talking to God a try. Even if it is just a simple 'thank you.' And remember- God is with you always.

Daily Quote

"It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it."

-Benjamin Franklin

To get a reputation, you need a lot of things in it. But the second you do a bad thing, everything doesn't matter as much. People are constantly looking for the flaws in people, that is just the way things are. Just think- what did that person you really don't like do to make you feel that way? Most likely it is an action or deed they did. That one bad deed ruined your entire thought of what they are like. So try to keep your reputation positive. Even though we are human and we will make mistakes, just remember to think before you act.

Quote of the day

Never give up. Usually when people give up, they don't realize how close to success they really were. So be like a postage stamp and stick to something until you get there. You can't ever finish something if you give up, and the more you give up the more likely it will be that you will never learn to stick to it. So stick with something until the very end- never quit. The longer you work on something, the closer you get to completion!

Quote of the day

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass… its learning to dance in the rain."
-Vivian Greene

Don't spend your whole life waiting for the bad things to pass by, but learn to deal with them. Don't wait for the sun to come during the storm, just learn to dance in the rain! Sometimes you just need to deal with your problems. There are some problems that will go away, and there are others you just need to dance through. But in the end, it will all be ok. Just be flexible and take what the world gives you. There are some people who can't do this, they get angry when life doesn't give them lemonade. So learn now to take the lemons of life, add a little sugar, and make the lemonade yourself. Dance in the rain, live your life. Have fun!