R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Take care, TCB ohhhh. Sock it to me…

- Aretha Franklin, Respect

“To understand more clearly what is meant by judgement, imagine a singles match being played by Mr. A and Mr. B, with Mr. C acting as the umpire. Mr. A is serving his second serve to Mr. B on the first point of a tie-breaker. The ball lands wide, and Mr. C calls, “Out. double fault.” Seeing his serve land out and hearing, “double fault,”

Mr. A frowns, says something demeaning about himself, and calls the serve “terrible.”

Seeing the same stroke, Mr. B. judges it as “good” and smiles.

The umpire neither frowns nor smiles; he simply calls the ball as he sees it.”

- W. Timothy Gallwey, ”The Inner Game of Tennis”

“I know that, all my life, I’ve been going around in a fog. You’re just a bunch of molecules until you know who you are. You spend your time getting to be a big Hollywood actor. But then what? You’ve reached a comfortable plateau, and you want to stay on it; you resist change. One day, after many weeks of LSD, my last defense crumbled. To my delight, I found I had a tough inner core of strength. In my youth, I was very dependent upon older men and women. Now people come to me for help!”

- Carey Grant

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
- Calvin Coolidge

From the article:

The first dreams we ever had were to be held. And loved. And to explore this amazing world with love in our lives.

We dreamed of seeing, touching, and experiencing the world around us, with the happiness and comfort that comes from family.

As adults, many of us dream of building a family, and do so.

It’s the day-to-day realities that don’t always feel so dreamy. We get busy, exhausted, and overwhelmed. We’re changing diapers, cleaning up spills, searching for a jolt of caffeine to keep our eyes propped open until we can fall face first into a pillow.

Along the way, we sometimes see some work dreams take a back seat. We worry they may slip away, that we may never get back to them.

There are tough tradeoffs that moms and dads have to make every day. But since my son’s birth, I’ve stopped seeing those tradeoffs as sacrifice.

Because when we give up something for a time to make sure we’re putting enough focus into our families, we’re not giving up dreams. We’re committing to our biggest, deepest ones.

We’re prioritizing the dreams that make up who we are.

And “be the cups and ice” which is truly amazing.

Monica, in her usual fashion, takes over completely, leaving Phoebe in charge of only cups and ice. Phoebe decides to make the most of it; she makes everything imaginable out of cups, and serves every kind of ice.

“Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.” – Goethe

“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at something worth doing.”

- Teddy Roosevelt

“Our nation’s work force is the most productive in the world because, as a societal norm, hard-work is deemed honorable and

 excellence considered admirable. This holiday is about those who sweat for a living, literally and figuratively, and whose characters are molded by their industry. Whether done to improve another tough shift, there is pride in a job well done. In shops, factories, plants, offices and homes throughout the country, a strong work ethic pervades as part of our heritage.”

- David Patton, Houston Chronicle, Sept 5, 2011

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.

“Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have. [Wired, February 1996]

- WSJ quotes from Steve Jobs

Adbusters always gives you something to think about. Agree or not; provocative as always.

“I am sure some of us have known moments of joy when our egos took a back seat and the child in us was free to laugh and love. Unfortunately, we lose our innocence too soon and most unfortunately, we prize this loss. We don’t want to be innocents, for that leaves us open to being ridiculed and hurt. We want to be sophisticated – that allows us to feel superior. Sophisticated people seem to have the most fun: partying, drinking, being a little wild, denying limits. What have the innocents got? An open heart, simple pleasures, faith. How much more alluring to have a sharp mind: to know all of life, the lows, as well as the highs; to have have power, be admired, feel special.”

- Alexander Lowen, Narcissism: Denial of the True Self, Adbusters #97, Sept/Oct 2011, Vol 19, No. 5

 

“You blame China. You blame India. You blame America. You blame the CEOs, the oil companies, the vague and incoherent ‘system,’ the international regulatory regimes, the hypocrisy of the left, the righteous of the right, the educators, the economy, your parents, your childhood, your job, your bank account, your mental health, your government, everyone and everything but yourself.”

- Adbusters #97, Sept/Oct 2011, Vol 19, No. 5

“After Gods, after revolutions, after financial markets, the body is becoming our truth system.”

- Nerve Juvin,  Adbusters #97, Sept/Oct 2011, Vol 19, No. 5

“The inherent rights of Mother Earth are inalienable in that they arise from the same source as existence.” It further states that conflicts between the rights of anyb rings, human or otherwise,” … must be resolved in a way that maintains the integrity, balance and health of Mother Earth.” Laws based on the declaration would demand, for example, that if a corporation pollutes a river, the corporation is obligated to the river to restore it to full ecological health.”

- Allen D. Kanner,  Adbusters #97, Sept/Oct 2011, Vol 19, No. 5

“I’m interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.”

- Clint Eastwood