This holiday season I wish the best for you all.
“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” –
~Mary Anne Radmacher
Photo by Preslie Hirsch on Unsplash
I saw this on social media the other day. I believe it is one hundred percent accurate. Many of us what for things to happen to be happy. We wait for the right time, the right place, or the right people. But what we need to learn is happiness depends on us. We are in control of our lives and our happiness. Let’s make it happen.
If you want to be happy, have zero expectations of others, take 100% responsibility for your life, and be grateful for what you have.
-unknown
Photo by Antonino Visalli on Unsplash
Today would have been my grandpa’s 99th birthday. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone eight years now. He lived a wonderful life of 90 years. He was a teacher, a coach, and a mentor. He coached golf, baseball, and basketball. He was the coach and athletic director for Alliance College, which was a small Polish college in Cambridge Springs, PA. He also coached many of my friends and me in middle school basketball and helped with our high school softball team.
Not only was my grandpa the patriarch of our family, he was a father figure to many of the players he coached. He had a coaching style similar to that of Bobby Knight of Indiana. He was all business. He had high expectations of all of his players. He expected us to perform well on and off the court. He pushed us to be the best players and students we could be. He. also expected us to follow the rules.
My Heart and I still keep in touch with some of his old players and since we live in the house where he and Sweet Gram lived for about 50 years, we get visitors from time to time. We love hearing stories of Grandpa. A lot of his players talk about how he was a huge influence on their lives. They talk about how Grandpa and Gram would invite them to dinner if they couldn’t go home for the holidays. They talk about how my grandparents encouraged them to stay in school and work hard on the court and in their academics. Some talk about how they saved their lives in one form or another.
I looked up to my grandparents as a child which turned into a deep respect as I grew into an adult. Maybe some of his techniques would be frowned upon today but he made a difference. I am lucky that I lived two blocks from my grandparents as a child and lived with Gram for five years as an adult. I believe everyone who knew them feels blessed to have been a part of their lives.
Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We love and miss you!
I believe we can all relate to this quote. We don’t need to be perfect. We shouldn’t even strive for perfection. But let’s realize that we are human. We make mistakes. Let’s learn from them and strive to be an excellent human being.
“Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
—Tony Robbins
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“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
— William Arthur Ward
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We need to always do our best. Whatever our task is give it your best effort. Why go through tasks halfway? Put your best effort into everything you do. When you know what to expect than you can always do 1% better every day.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”
— Maya Angelou
Sometimes we forget our veterans’ bravery and sacrifice so that we may live free. Today, I hope you thank someone who put their life on the line for your freedom. I hope everyone feels a sense of honor and pride today for those who sacrificed so much for us.
“On this Veteran’s Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free.”
—Dan Lipinski
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Let’s stop worrying about what other people think of us and be ourselves. Let’s be 1% better every day only compared to ourselves of yesterday. Only compare yourself to who you used to be.
“The minute you start caring about what other people think, is the minute you stop being yourself”
— Meryl Streep
We live in a world filled with negative energy. We must make a conscious effort to stay positive in any way. Whatever bad luck is following you around stop it with a positive thought and a glimpse of that silver lining.
“Positive anything is better than negative nothing”
~ unknown
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I believe this quote says it all. We can’t regret the things we did in the past because it doesn’t change it. We can’t worry about what will happen in the future because we don’t know yet. So instead of doing either let’s be present in the moment and be grateful for what we have and what we are doing.
No amount of regret changes the past.
No amount of anxiety changes the future.
But any amount of gratitude changes the present.
~Unknown
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash