New decisions and changes are frightening but
they can also be exhilarating!

No matter what pressures you are under, what
tough decisions you face, keep in mind that it
is possible to turn chaos and turmoil into an
exciting beginning.

Look at the options life has to offer.  Ask
yourself how those options fit in with your
deepest desires.  Whether your desires
are intellectual, artistic, spiritual, or physical, you
can make a decision, now, to make them into
realities.

Do this and you will soar over boundaries, and
recognize that your endless possibilities have no
limits.

 THE WAY FAMILIES WIN

Winston Churchill said, "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall
fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills." And humorist Bob Orben added,
"That sounds a lot like our family vacations." And for some people it
sounds a lot like everyday life.

The problem is not whether we who live in families will have
squabbles, arguments and fights. My worry is more whether those
conflicts will end anytime soon. I don't want home life to become the
Hundred Years' War - going on and on with no end in sight while the
casualties mount. Conflicts need to have an ending so that the family
can get about its real business.

At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his young
players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" The
little boy nodded yes.

"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a
team?" The little boy nodded yes.

"So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you are out
at first, you don't argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you
understand all that?" Again, the boy nodded yes.

"Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to your
mother."

I believe a family can be like that sports team. A successful family
wins as a team. But if its members are intent upon winning their own
individual battles with one another, the team loses.

A winning solution is to work out the differences and, when it's
over, let it be over. Then they can get back in the game as a team.

 Steve Goodier

You cannot hold on to any moment, for as soon as you know it is here it will be gone. What you can do, though, is to live each moment fully so its value will always be with you.

You cannot bring back the fondly remembered circumstances of the past. Yet what you can do is take the joy from those times still living in your heart and express it again and again in new and creative ways.

Though life is constantly and relentlessly changing, the true goodness you experience is never left behind. The more fully and authentically you live each moment, the more your life will be filled with value that you cannot lose.

The joys you have gathered were not the result of any particular circumstance. They came to you because you opened yourself up to life's goodness, and they are still with you even though many things may have changed.

Though you cannot hold on to this beautiful moment, there really is no reason to do so. For when you see, appreciate and fully experience its beauty, that beauty, that joy will always be in you.

Let go of the need to cling to any fleeting thing or circumstance. And make room for joy to grow in your life with each passing moment.

Ralph Marston