The Power of the Written Word

I have eluded to this post a couple of posts ago.  And, now I have waited so long that I am afraid that I have lost the spirit of my intended original post.  But, I still like the message and so I will do my best to get it back.  If you are like me you are scrolling down the page right now and asking yourself what I could have to share that would have to take so many paragraphs and so many words.  I like short and sweet posts on the blogs I read and tend to pass up the long ones until I have time later.  Feel free to do that, or, read on.

 

The endings to two books that I really loved Bringing Out the Best in People and Positve Words, Powerful Results touched me.  I think it was mostly because they emphasize the fact that small things can make big changes in the lives of the people you associate with.  And, it seems that we try to focus on the big things we do and sometimes overlook the small things that would make all the difference.  For instance, writing someone a note!  That is what this post is about.  The power of giving someone a hand-written note of encouragement or love.  What kind of an impact can that have?

 

I am going to paraphrase a story given in Positve Words, Powerful ResultsI by Hal Urban to avoid printing a long story here.  It is about the author of the comic strip Dilbert, Scott Adams.  He was watching a show about cartooning and got some ideas.  So, he wrote the host of the show asking for some more information.  The host politely wrote back and answered all of his questions and encouraged him by telling him he shouldn't give up when he received a few early rejections.  Scott followed his advice except that he did get discouraged when he received those early rejections and he put his materials away and forgot cartooning as a career.  Then, about fifteen months later he received another letter from the host of the show.  Scott was surprised to hear from him when he hadn't even thanked him for the advice he had given him the first time.  The letter encouraged him again to hang in there and keep drawing.  Scott was touched by the letter especially considering that the host had nothing to gain by writing it and states that he wouldn't have tried cartooning again if he hadn't received that letter of encouragement.

 

Hal Urban goes on to talk about some other examples of how a personal note can become a treasure.  I wont go into all the details here.  But, he encourages us to just take time to write a note to express our appreciation or love.  He says, "Mark Twain said that he could live for a year on one good compliment."  And, if you've ever been in a drought of encouragement, you know how it feels to have someone say the slightest thing that sounds in the least bit encouraging!  To have someone say the know you can do it!  Or, have them tell you that you have what it takes to make your dreams come true and live your purpose!  It makes me cry just thinking of it.  And, to think, that we all have that power.  We all have the ability to make this kind of difference in someone else's life.  And, it's free!!  It doesn't cost anything. 

 

And, the road goes both ways!  Odds are there is someone who looks up to you and whose life you have made an impact on.  And, no doubt it would be encouraging to you if that person told you so.  So, this begs the question....  Have you thanked the people who made that kind of a difference for you?  Did you make sure they knew what small thing had impacted your life in a way that you can't even explain?  Do you ever notice something wonderful about someone else but keep it to yourself?  Why? Too often we keep our feelings to ourselves when sharing them would have made all the difference to someone else. 

 

These books and others like The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbringer Institute and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle can help you answer some of these questions.  I am seeking these answers for myself and doing my best to extend every compliment that crosses my mind!  I hope you do the same and think of someone today that you can encourage with a note of thanks, a compliment, some appreciation or love!!   God Bless!!

A Couple Pick-me Ups

I was having a frustrating day. Mostly inside frustrated with myself and the perspective I had chosen, but, frustrated none the less. A couple of things came to me.

All things shall work together for your good.

When the moment comes that the reason for all this is revealed you will be so grateful that it didn't happen any other way.

As I thought about sharing these notes I had written to myself for encouragement, I thought of a couple of other encouraging statements I found in the home of Ann Karr. I love them and hope she doesn't mind my sharing them here. She has two signs in her office that read:

Dear Lord, put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.

Ann, Trust me! I have everything under control!! Love, Jesus

Then, now, as I write this I am thinking of my dear friend, Clancy. Click here to see her blog post about today. On the days I am feeling as she describes, these are the things I need to read and hear! Let's be more like her and be willing to reveal our faults and weaknesses! I think in doing so we will build others up and what else is this life for....?

New Blog Title

I thought I would take a minute to explain the new, maybe permanent, blog title. I was listening to a cd by Claude and Lana Hamilton called 'Toughen Up' (Team 453). If you are familiar with their talks you won't be surprised by the title. They are straight talkers to the max. And, if you know me you won't be surprises by how much I like that. They are giants in our industry. Well Lana told a story about how her personal trainer inspired her to join a fitness competition. She started working on that goal and life happened and she let it go. But it haunted her that she had given up. This is a woman who is a winner. She has her life in order and has accomplished a lot in her life. And yet she couldn't let go of the fact that she had given up on something that she had committed to; even thought it was a non-consequential thing. That is the definition of a winner in my book. I want to be more like her.

Anyway, back on the main road, she decided, if I remember right, a year later to re-enter the competition. And she knew there would be times during her training for this competition that she would want to quit. So, she wrote herself a note that said WHEN YOUR ARE WEAK...READ THIS. This note told her that she was strong and reminded her of the vision she had that prompted her to enter the competition in the first place. And that note gave her enough courage to chase the dream and reach her goal. And she made it.

That is what the entries in this blog are for me. I was reading through my few posts and thinking what was the overall theme. And I realized that all the things I have included here are nuggets that help me stay the course and not give up. And I am grateful to have them all in one place so I can remember the things that touched me and helped me stay in the game.

So, whatever dream you are chasing I hope these thoughts help you too!!!! ;)

Bringing Out the Best in People

A couple of months ago I read Bringing Out the Best in People by Alan Loy McGinnis. The story in the very last chapter is what I want to share in this post. This is just part of what I was eluding to in the last post. So, there will be more to come.

In 1939, trainloads of Jewish children were piling into Sweden, and the boys and girls - some of them only three and four years old - would file off the trains with no belongings except for large tags around their necks, designating their home city, their name, and their age. They were thin and pale, with large, sunken, brown eyes. From their meloncholy gaze it was evident that they had already seen and experienced things far beyond their years - atrocities that most people would never have to see in a lifetime.

The Swedish families were taking children for "the duration of the war," but few were deluded into thinking that it would be a short time. One of the Swedes who opened his door was Johan Eriksson. He had known deprivation himself - at 28 hd had been left a widower with four children. By now he was middle-aged and most of the children were gone. But when he learned that a frightened nine year old named Rolf needed a home, he responded as if he were still a young man. And so a little Jewish boy began to adjust to life in a strict Swedish Baptist home. At first, when there was a knock on the door or loud voices outside, the boy with the deep-set eyes would dive into a closet and cover his head, but he was surrounded with warmth and love in the Eriksson house, and he began to gain weight, to lose the faraway gaze, and eventually he began to laugh again.

When an invasion by the Nazis seemed imminent, men at the machine shop said to Johan, "When Hitler comes you will be in trouble with that Jew boy in your house. They'll come and take him away." The normally gentle Swede would reply with clenched jaw, "They'll never take him as long as I'm alive." And curiously, Johan was almost equally defensive of Rolf before his fellow Baptists. When the members of the church assumed that he would try to covert the boy, Johan's jaw would clench again. The Swedish government had promised the refugee organization that the children's religion would be kept intact, and although Johan took little Rolf to church with his family, he went to considerable lengths to see that the boy learned the Jewish tradition and that when the proper age came he was prepared for and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. When the war ended, Johan wanted to return to Rolf's parents a son who had been raised as closely as possible to the way they would have wanted.

But when the war did end, the family was never reunited, of course. Rolf's parents perished somewhere in Europe along with the millions of others who were killed during those apocalyptic years. Letters from his parents had become more and more sporadic, and then one day and envelope arrived without a postmark. Inside was a hastily scribbled note saying that Rolf would not hear from then again, and that he should never forget what this Swedish family had done for him.

And Rolf did not forget. He grew up and went away to Stockholm, where he began to succeed in business. But the trauma and the wrenching of those early years perhaps took a belated toll, for one day Rolf's mind snapped. Relatives told Johan Eriksson that he had done enough, and the authorities wanted permission to keep the young man in the mental institution, for he was thought to be dangerous. But Johan would have none of it. "He belongs here," he said simply. "This is his home." And so Rolf returned to the little city of Amal and the quiet, solid Swede took him in again. For a year Johan nursed him until his mind returned to stability and peacefulness.

Rolf's life was relatively untroubled after that. He married, reared children, established his own company and became very wealthy. But he never forgot the man who had given him such unconditional love when he was a boy. Nothing was ever too good for Johan, and as the old man became more infirm, an even stronger bond seemed to glue them together. If Johan was sick or needed him, Rolf thought nothing of taking the train across Sweden to spend what was left of the weekend with the man who had become like a father. And when Johan was on his deathbed, all the children hurried home, but everyone knew who would arrive first - Rolf.

My mind often returns to the story of Johan and Rolf when I feel the doubt and despair of my fellow therapists. The reason is this: if Johan Eriksson had accomplished no other noteworthy thing in his long life, it surely would have been worth living to have been there to shelter on such child. When we get discouraged in our work with people it is important to draw back and remind ourselves that there is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being, to help someone else succeed.

Do you ever look at your life and wonder "what am I really accomplishing?" If you are a task person like me you get a lot of satisfaction from crossing things off of lists and taking things out of the inbox. And, when you ask yourself this question in terms of serving others things get a little merky. How do you measure that?

That is why I loved this story. It helped me see that by small and simple things shall great things come to pass. And, I think that most people do what Johan did naturally. Almost everyone I know, if given the opportunity, would help someone the way he did. And, that most of us fail to give ourselves enough credit for the good we do.

So, that leads me to my next post. How often have you made a huge impact on another person with even a small act of kindness and never knew it? What kind of impact can we have when we have the courage to tell someone when they have had that kind of an impact on us?

Upcoming Post

I have a post in mind. Well, I have had it in mind for a few months now. But, a lot of good that does you. You can't read it in there!!

This quote is going to get me thinking about how I want to put my thoughts together. (And commit me to posting soon...you probably thought this blog was dead.)

If you were doing to die soon and had only
one phone call you could make, who
would you call and what would you say?
And, why are you waiting?

-Stephen Levine (Postive Words, Powerful Results by Hal Urban pg. 196)

Your Passion, Purpose and Dreams

I haven't blogged in forever. Clancy, you are probably the only one that will notice. LOL

I have had a few different blog posts in mind lately. But, I wanted to just get my thoughts on paper about a topic that I have read and heard about for a long time but, that have just recently come together for me.

Miles and I have been goal driven for several years. We have put pictures on the wall of the things we want and have really made significant efforts to make those dreams a reality. A few months ago I read A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. There is a section in there that I want to reference.

Make sure your vision or goal is not an inflated image of yourself and therefore a concealed form of ego, such as wanting to become a movie star, famous writer, or a wealthy entrepreneur. Also make sure your gaol is not focused in having this or that, such as a mansion by the sea, your own company, or ten million dollars in the bank. An enlarged image of yourself or a vision of yourself having this or that are all static goals and therefore don't empower you. Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic, that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged through which you are connected to other human beings as well as to the whole. Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor and writer and so on, see yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives. Feel how that activity enriches or deepens not only your life but that of countless others. Feel yourself being an opening through which energy flows from the unmanifested Source of all life through you for the benefit of all.

After reading that I came home and took down everything on my dream wall. I took down the home that I had designed for us to build. The cars I wanted to replace my current one with and the vacation we had been working toward. I thought I needed to take my focus totally on how I could help others and how the the "unmanifested Source of all life" could flow through me for the benefit of those I associate with.

Then yesterday I listened to a cd by Chuck Goetschel called Investing in People (SOTB13). He talks a little bit more in detail about the Hoyt Team that I have blogged a little bit about before and then he gives five reasons that investing in people is important. I am going to focus on the #1 reason. (He gives them in reverse order, kinda like David Letterman's Top 10 building up to the last one.)

He explains that finding your purpose and your passion and then applying the gifts and talents that God has given you will show you HOW YOU should invest in people. He asks: What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about helping the orphaned children in Brazil? Does that tear at your heart strings? Well then something needs to be done. So, he says to find your gifts and talents and apply them to that. He says this is how we will change the world. As each of us reviews our gifts and talents and notices what we are passionate about and then applies those gifts and talents to our passion we have found our purpose. Then, we have found God's calling for our lives. Seems so simple right!! Everytime a speaker tells me to find my purpose I just seem to feel totally lost and don't really want to try to find it becuase it seems so overwhelming. But, Chuck really made is simple. Apply your gifts and talents to your passion and see God's will/calling for you revealed.

He then talks about a law that ties all this together for me. It ties our purpose, what Eckhard talks about and what I have been learning over the past few years together. He says that if you want happiness and and all these things, don't pursue them. He says that the Law of Reverse Effect says that the harder you try to acheive those things the more ellusive they become. But, if you do what you are called to do then all of those things will just be a by-product and you will be happy and fulfilled because you are doing what you are called to do and that will always include investing in people. Isn't that what Tolle is talking about too. That we shouldn't focus on that things that will build our ego and give us a bigger image of ourselves. We should keep our focus and attention on how we can invest in other people and "benefit" them.

I have reconciled all this in the last couple of days and had already put my goals back up on the wall recently; not all of them yet. But, my custom home is back up and my big house is back up there. And, I am glad because they are the tangible rewards that will come as a by-product of finding HOW I am suppose to apply my personal gifts and talents to my personal passion to invest in people. Now when I look on that wall I don't see a house and cars I see people between me and them. And, I know from my limited exerience that when those things arrive as a result of my efforts to "benefit" others they wont matter much. What will really matter is the people I invested in and the difference that investment made in benefiting their lives. Nothing is as important as that!!

Glenn Beck Interview

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

It's been a while since I wrote something to my three readers!! LOL

I receive a daily e-mail from a website called Meridian Magazine. They publish daily articles for Latter Day Saints. Although I don't have time to read them every day, I really enjoy the articles I have read! You might want to check it out; www.meridianmagazine.com.

Anyway, a little while ago they began using some videos from You Tube as a part of their daily e-mail. The most recent one of this type was an interview of Glenn Beck. He is a talk radio guy. The video is his sharing his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is really incredible and is included in a separate post above this post.

After I watched it, I thought, "how brave"! And, then I thought, "why not me"? So, I am going to share a little bit about my conversion to and testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I have worried about being to Mormony on my little blog here. (If I lose even one reader I'll be down by 33%!! LOL) I would never hope to offend anyone. I know how it feels to be an "outsider" in a Mormon culture. But, I know that God gives us experiences to share with others to strengthen us and them. And, my intention for this blog is to share anything I can find in the books I read and the cd's I listen to that will give us hope. I will share anything uplifting that has helped me on my way. I hope this will help you on your way.

I grew up in Ogden Utah; Mormon country, basically. Almost all of my best friends growing up were Mormon. I even went to church a couple of times. But, never felt any desire to become a member. Actually, during high school I was pretty sure it was all a crock. I would tell my Mormon friends, "believe whatever you want because when you’re dead and nothing is there then it really won’t matter anyway." Dating was difficult for a non-Mormon girl and I vowed to myself as a youth that I would never marry a Mormon because even if they seem to be rebelling or stating their doubts about their religion, I knew that eventually they would always go back to it. I have now broken that vow twice.

It was during my first marriage that my conversion began. Or, I guess I should say that I began to notice it. I lived with my first husband before we were married. He had a sister who wouldn't speak to me or acknowledge that I was in the room on a count of it. What a brat!! It didn't bother me much though. I was used to this kind of treatment, sadly. I had other boyfriends whose families didn't approve and they didn't hesitate to let me know I wasn't really welcome. Well, we decided one day to get married and alope because nobody really approved anyway. So, we did. When we got back my ex-husband just sent an e-mail to his whole family telling them the news. He received an e-mail from his oldest brother, Randy. This is where it all starts for me. Randy said that he loved my ex-husband anyway and that they were just worried about losing him eternally. For some reason I can't really even explain, something switched right then. I knew right then there was something more or something I hadn't previously understood. (Even now I can't explain it!! I think this is how the Holy Ghost works sometimes.) But, it wasn't like my interest was piqued and I wanted to learn more or understand more. It was like my testimony was instantly activated.

Then later I was hanging out with one of my best friends, Susie. We were driving up the street to go back to my apartment and the missionaries were walking on the street. I don't even know what I said. I might have said, "I want to learn more about that" or something to affect. She flagged them down right then and told them I wanted to learn. She didn't hesitate. Of course, this doesn't surprise me. We didn't go to the same high school but our other friends joke about her being so good that they was even the volunteer student who would call their parents when they had sluffed seminary. She is a blast and a great friend.

The missionaries came and my learning began. My first assignment was to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and pray to get my own answer. I read. I prayed; for the first time I can remember. And, I received my answer so quickly because it just confirmed what I already been activated reading that e-mail. I knew.

I completed the missionary discussions and was baptized three weeks later. One of my best high school friends, Lydia Alleman, was on a mission at the time. She was always a great example of living the principles of the gospel. I asked her mom, LaVonne Alleman, to speak about the Holy Ghost and my other best friend Kristi's dad, Harold Mills, to speak about baptism. (Sidenote: LaVonne is so sweet that during high school if I was ever struggling she would recommend I join the church as a form of rebellion. She is awesome!!) What a blessing it was to have grown up with such great friends that could fill these spots for me. My ex-husband's brother, Kent, baptized me.

My family wasn't there. Even though they would have supported me whether they agreed or not; that's just how they are. I didn't invite them. I remember inviting someone I considered being a good friend and she would not come because she could not support my decision. The only explanation I have for this is that sometimes when you are moving in a different direction you are afraid to include people who you think won’t support you because you're afraid they will discourage you from continuing to do something you feel so strongly about. I wish I hadn't been afraid.

My testimony of the gospel now continues to grow. I know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son in a grove of trees and the gospel was restored. I know that Christ lives and the he atoned for our sins and so much more. As I continue to learn I know that Christ is the great completer and finisher. He will fill any hole we have in our life and has already born the burden that sometimes we carry anyway not realizing that we could just give it to Him. I know God loves us. I know he gives us challenges for our good. And, I know that as we follow the gospel principles we are taught we will be happy; even in our afflictions.

If you are reading this and have never investigated the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I encourage you to do so. The following is a link to the church's website: http://www.lds.org/sharefriend/1,14111,3724-1,00.html. On this page there are phone numbers and you can just submit yourself right there to get more information.

I believe that we all have whatever was activated in me that day. I believe that we come with it. It's like a microchip that leads us home.

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. Moroni 10:3-5

Let Go and Let God

I am reading Dreams of a Woman by Sharon Jaynes. It is a really great book. I recommend it to everyone. I wish it wasn't a womany title, because the men need its message to. I was expecting something a bit different when I selected the book. I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first, but, wow this book, in addition to others I have recenlty read, has changed my understanding of the atonement and Jesus Christ. I love it!!

Anyway, here is the excerpt I wanted to share:


One day my son was turning flips on the monkey bars on the playground and got a peice of bark in his eye. "Get it out!! Get it out!!" he cried. While he was in pain and desperately wanted me to remove the bark, he wouldn't remove his hand from his eye to let me attend to it. He vacillated between "Get it out" and "Don't touch it". Finally the pain overcame his fear, and he decided to trust me. It took me 45 minutes to convince him to remove his hand and 30 seconds for me to remove the peice of bark from his eye.

What a lesson: Let go and let God.

Along the same lines, I heard a story about a little boy who had his hand caught in a valuable vase. His elders pushed and pulled, tugged and twisted, but nothing worked. After some time, they decided they would have to break the vase, valuable as it was, to free the boy's hand. But before the hammer came crashing down on the beautiful procelain, the boy's father coaxed him one last time. "Son, I want you to open your fingers and spread them apart, draw them together at the tips, and try one more time to slide your hand from the vase."

He replied, "I can't open my fingers like that, Daddy, because if I do, I'll drop my penny!"

The boy's hand was stuck becaue his tight fist clutched a penny. They were about to sacrifice something very valuable because he would not let go of something worthless.

How about you? Are you hanging on to disappointment, an unfulfilled dream, not allowing yourself to be free to move where God wants you to move? Like the boy with his hand caught in the vase, are you held captive because you, too, refuse to let go? Oh my friend, God has such great plans for us, His children. Let's let go of the past and be free to become all that He has created us to be.

Broken Dreams

Just as my child brings his broken toys
with tears for me to mend,
I took my broken dreams to God
because he was my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him
in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,
"How could You be so slow?"
"What could I do, My child," He said,
"You never did let go."
By Faith Mitchner

The Bamboo Tree

This is one of my favorite stories. I heard it on a system cd's a few years ago. And, I related with it so much. To me, it goes back to learning line upon line. Sometimes I think we all feel that we aren't getting where we want to be/becoming the person we want to become etc. fast enough. I know you can all relate. This story helps me keep things in persepective. It helps me know that I AM growing. Even when it appears on the surface that there has been no change!! Enjoy!! (You can find it on page 59 of Day by Day with James Allen; a great book)

_______________________________________________________

Bamboo Tree

Bamboo Tree grow up to about a 100 feet high in the air. But, the most incredible thing about them is how they grow. You have to water the bamboo tree every day for 5 years and you cannot miss one single day or it will not sprout

When the bamboo tree sprouts, after 1825 days of watering it grows 3 feet every 24 hours and within six weeks it will grow over 90 feet high. You can actually sit and watch it grow.

So, imagine you if you decided to grow a bamboo tree in your backyard. You took your little stock and you dug your three feet and you covered it and you are out there watering it every day. So, suppose one of your neighbors sees you doing this for several days and asks “What are you watering this same spot every day for?” And you tell him, “Well I am going to grow a bamboo tree. So, after five years of watering this every day it is going to sprout and grow ninety feet high. You oughta do it too!” (Do any of you relate??)

Well, they turn to you and say, “Well no, I’ll wait and see if it works for you.”

So, the next year the same neighbor sees that you are watering that same spot of ground and he asks, “Why do you keep watering the same spot and nothing happens?” And you tell the man, “It takes time to grow a bamboo tree but once it comes out of the ground it’s the most awesome sight to see. You oughta grow one too!!” The neighbor just laughed and replied, “No, I’ll just wait and see how yours turns out.”

Well, the third year the neighbor isn’t talking to you anymore and doesn’t want anything to do with you. And the whole neighborhood has heard about this crazy person on the block who keeps watering every day and hoping to grow a bamboo tree. And the fourth year they are sizing you up for a straight jacket and none of the children are allowed to play near your home.

But, in the fifth year the ground breaks open and that stock that you had planted catches its first rays of sunshine and away it goes. Six weeks later the neighbors are admiring the awesome sight that you now have and wishing that they had a bamboo tree. But, they would have to wait five years for theirs to grow. Boy, do they wish they had listened to you five years ago.

World's Strongest Dad - Hoyt Team

If you haven't seen this yet, read the following story, get some kleenexes and press play!! You are going to love it!!

~Strongest Dad in the World~
[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to payfor their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day. Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain damaged and unable to control his limbs. "He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution.'' But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room.

When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.'' "Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate.

First words? "Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.'' Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks.'' That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. "No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year. Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'' How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think? Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together. This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time - Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time. "No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of theCentury.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life. Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Steve Jobs - CEO Apple Computers/Pixar Animation

I saw this one on Orrin Woodward's blog. I loved it. It has so many practical thoughts to apply to our everyday lives and how we can really make the most of our lives. If you haven't seen it yet, get out a notebook. You will want to take notes. He has a lot of great nuggets of wisdom from the life experience he shares. Enjoy!!

Dr. Randy Pausch - Last Lecture

This is a great video. I am sure you will love it too!!

Deep Thoughts...

When I wrote my first post and organized my blog I was trying to think of a name for it. I didn't want it to just be my name. So, one of the first things that came to mind was Saturday Night Live used to have Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. I didn't watch Saturday Night Live very much back then, but when I did, I always liked the Jacky Handey quotes. My favorite one that I have remembered since I heard it on the show was...

"You drive off a cliff, but, you're still slamming on those breaks."

I thought that was so funny!! Then, today I was reading In a Pit with a Lion on a Snow Day by Mark Batterson. And, he is telling the story in Samuel about the guy who lost an ax head in a river. And he says, "It reminds me of one of Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts: If you drop your keys in a river of molten lava, let'em go man, 'cause they're gone!!"

Here are some others I found online you might enjoy:

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges.

To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.

We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.

Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. and since he is so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and give it to him.

If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid looking in a mirror, because I bet that will really throw you into a panic.

So, anyway, I hope you enjoyed these because I sure had a good time finding them!!

Great Quotes and Scriptures

Hello No One,

I say that because I haven't sent this blog address to anyone. So, I am writing to a future reader, I guess. I have never gotten into blogging. I never thought I had enough time for it. But, I did find a good quote and a scripture that I wanted to share with whomever might read this blog!!

First one, it seems that in church lately we have really been talking about learning line upon line and precept upon precept. So, I have been giving that a lot of thought over the last two months. What does that really mean?? It makes me think about Chris and Orrin telling us on the system that you are NEVER holding still. You are either going forward or backward. And, I have always thought to myself that maybe that wasn't really the case. Maybe you could just go into maintenance mode and keep what you have learned and keep your growth. When I read this scripture the truth of their words became truth for me too!! We must keep learning, but more importantly, we must apply the things that we have learned on this "line" or "precept" to receive the next.

For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts and lend an ear unto to my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have. 2 Ne. 28:30

This reinforced my desire to keep learning daily through the Team system's many books and cd's. I love them and recommend that anyone looking to improve add them to their the system of learning they already have through church, schooling or any other self-directed education.

Then, on a lighter note, a gal at my new job has a quote at her desk that I thought was awesome.

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.

I hope you enjoyed my first official blog!! Thanks to my friend Clancy, who is a blogging genius, for your inspiration!! I am sure my blog will never be as interesting as hers!! But, hopefully you'll find something useful in my occasional posts!!

Thank you Peggy!! We loved your yummy sugar cookies!!

Testing!! This is my first blog.