Garbage

READY… “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” ~ Oscar Wilde

AIM…  All of us have encountered a few folks who have been less than lovely to us at one time or another.  Perhaps you even experienced a short burst of road rage on the way to work this morning.  The following short story is a great illustration of what might be causing those not-so-nice attitudes.

 

~ The Law of the Garbage Truck ~

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car just by inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy ~ I mean he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call:"The Law of The Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run all around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointments. As the garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, resentments, anger, and frustration; so...........

Love the people who treat you right; pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make it, and ninety percent how you take it.

 

FIRE!   If you run into a “garbage truck” person today, smile or wave and keep walking or quickly and quietly exit on the nearest detour.  Here’s wishing you a blessed and garbage-free day!

 

Be Excellent!

Lori

Which Half?

READY… “A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties”  ~ Harry Truman

 

AIM…  Your approach to life can vary from day to day, and it can change based on your circumstances and attitude.  So, are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of person?  I know several glass half empty folks.  I can say loads of positive things about most of them.  However, no matter what happens, they expect the worst in all situations.  You know the ones; they just know nothing good is going to happen. Even when things are going well for them, they are waiting for the tide to turn. 

 

I hate to admit it, but I get into those slumps occasionally; although, my glass is usually half full.  Yes, I am an eternal optimist.  I believe that something good is going to happen in every situation.  I, like other glass half-fullers, expect that life is going to work out positively and that God makes sure everything happens for a good reason. You might be saying to yourself, “Self, that is just an unrealistic approach to life.”  Yes, that may be true.  However, I guess if I’m choosing my attitude, I’d rather step up and face life head on with my outlook on the sunshine, up side of things rather than to stand with one foot ready to plunge into the depths of a blue funk.  You know, it’s never too late to change directions--even in the midst of the plunge. If you haven’t hit rock bottom, there’s time. If you have hit the bottom, there’s only one way to go--up.  It’s never too late to take a different attitude to your circumstances.  What do you have to lose?  You can either feel excited with anticipation about life or you can worry with despair about what is to come.  So I ask you again, are you a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person?

 

FIRE!   Ok, so there’s something interesting and joyful about this having a glass half full attitude.  My advice to you comes from a great friend. If there’s a time when you get to feeling not so positive, be sure your glass is at least half full of an incredible beverage!

 

Be Excellent!

Lori

Break A Leg

READY… “Life is not a dress rehearsal.”  ~ Rose Tremain

AIM… Day after day, we are living on a stage where people are watching our performances.  Those performances are controlled by our emotions, past experiences and level of maturity, and, yes, our level of maturity can change from day to day. But most of us take life for granted. We assume we’ll get up tomorrow and do the same thing all over again, just on a different day.  However, what if we only had a few days left to live?  Would we act differently?  Would we do things we wish we could do?  Why does the realization of death change our outlook and approach to life?  If each one of us embraced every day as if it might be our final performance, I guarantee that most of us would choose to act differently. We would give our very best for every person we encountered, and we would make sure to give credit to those who have made a difference in our lives.  Perhaps we simply need to wake up each morning with a different attitude about life. We need to approach each day as if it were an encore performance requested by God. Maybe then we’d love bigger, take more chances, make time to be together, smile more often, appreciate what we’ve been given and perform to the best of our abilities because we really enjoy being alive.  The world is your stage; so what are you waiting for?

FIRE!   Since life is not a dress rehearsal, break a leg!  I challenge you to give it all you’ve got and do your very best every single day.  Enjoy every opportunity and life so enthusiastically that everyone would agree that you deserve God’s encore requests.

Be Excellent!
Lori

Garbage

READY8 “Being healthy is just letting life GROW through your garbage.” ~ Carl A. Hammerschlaq

AIM8 “Wow! This is garbage!” That is my family’s favorite quote these days. It’s from the movie Despicable Me and we use it when things aren’t they way we like them or simply to be silly about something we don’t agree with. It’s been a fun phrase to adapt and helps us keep a light-hearted attitude about life when it’s less than perfect.

When we take a step back and look at our lives, we are being fed garbage all day long. There are trashy shows on TV, internet sites and smart phone apps that waste our time, not to mention the stress and pressures we’re surrounded by that just pile up like mountains of landfill in our souls. Ahhhh, sometimes even though we see the trash piling up, we can’t seem to find a bag big enough to hold it all.

Needless to say, I came across an inspiring message forwarded from a friend awhile back and thought it was quite appropriate for today’s thoughts.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and
missed the other car just by inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy ~ I mean he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run all around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointments. As the garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, resentments, anger, and frustration; so...........

Love the people who treat you right, Pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make it, and ninety percent how you take it.

Truer words couldn’t have been spoken. Have a garbage-free day!

FIRE!8 Happily wave at someone while you’re driving today, especially if he cuts you off or if she takes your parking space! It will make you smile and the other person will either wave back or it will make him wonder what you’re up to!

Be Excellent!
Lori