Life in Small Bites

Life is like a journey on a train with its stations…
with changes of routes…
and with accidents !

We board this train when we are born and our parents are the ones who get our ticket.

We believe they will always travel on this train with us.

However, at some station our parents will get off the train, leaving us alone on this journey.

As time goes by, other passengers will board the train,  many of whom will be significant – our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of our life.

Many will get off during the journey and leave a permanent vacuum in our lives.

Many will go so unnoticed that we won’t even know when they vacated their seats and got off the train !

This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, good-byes, and farewells.

A good journey is helping, loving, having a good relationship with all co passengers and making sure that we give our best to make their journey comfortable.

The mystery of this fabulous journey is we do not know at which station we ourselves are going to get off.

So, we must live in the best way – adjust, forget, forgive, and offer the best of what we have.

It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to leave our seat… we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.

Thank you for being one of the passengers on my train !

Have a very pleasant journey of life………!

I just viewed the movie Noah.  The mythical story about God destroying Man who had evolved to be evil and corrupted the earth.  It’s a story about new beginnings wherein a chosen man and family were selected to start over.  Noah created an ark to save mated pairs of every animal and to ride above a global flood sent by God.

The metaphor and the message were boldly portrayed through imaginative visual effects and human drama.  For me it was a powerful reminder that ‘new beginnings’ are always available and are the elixir of life.

How does God speak to me?  Continually I see and hear life-engaging messages.  Most are dismissed as visions and sounds of everyday life.  The meanings I attach to them vary, rise, and fall.  I feel that they become significant when these messages portray values of moving forward – regardless of current circumstances.  The impactful messages only point to continue taking actions to model behaviors affirming the importance of family, fairness, compassion, helpfulness, courage, and thankfulness.  What if like Noah I was ‘chosen’ and ignored the ‘calling’?  What if everyone of us is?

“The purpose of life is a Life of Purpose.”  Much angst is experienced in trying to ‘figure it out’.  In times when I experience clarity it comes from determining that there is no purpose other than moving forward with resourceful integrity and compassion without regard for what is currently happening.  Being useful in service to others feels purposeful.  The significance of Noah’s story is to listen, abide, and act on the messages that rise up from the inner voice that I connect to Truth.

Your thoughts?

“Don’ judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”  – Robert Louis Stevenson

Story by Michael Josephson – former law professor and attorney, founder of nonprofit ‘Institute of Ethics’ in Los Angeles, California.

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I received an email with a story worth sharing. Only the names have been changed to preserve privacy.

Doug is the proud and loving father of Emma, a high school junior who takes a leadership class responsible for putting on dances and other student events. All student body officers must take the class, but a number of other kids like Emma who just like to participate are also enrolled. Well, Emma is a little different and she’s becoming more aware of those differences. Recently, she began to tell her father through tears, “I don’t like having Down’s Syndrome.”

Doug comforted and encouraged his daughter the best he could, but he admits he always wonders how her classmates really perceive her. Do they just tolerate or patronize her, or do they see the richness of her character and appreciate her sense of humor and the beauty of her heart?

These concerns came into play when he visited Emma at a school event where she was working at a table with the student body president, a handsome kid named Chris. Later, Emma announced that Chris had invited her to the homecoming dance. Doug was doubtful and afraid that she might be embarrassed or hurt if she misunderstood. So he checked with the leadership teacher, who discreetly confirmed it was true. This extraordinary young man asked Emma to accompany him to dinner and the dance.

Doug was moved to tears and confessed he was ashamed he doubted this could happen. He wrote of his joy seeing his daughter prepare for one of the greatest days in her life. And he marveled at the kindness and self-confidence of the young man who was able to see and care about the inner Emma.

Doug was rightfully proud of Emma, but how good would you feel to be Chris’s parents?

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

by author John Vespasian

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The key to avoid going down the wrong path. The importance of restating your vision once and again.

A clear perception of the world brings man unlimited rewards, but learning to see the truth is seldom easy and never without cost. Only by developing an ambitious and realistic vision of the future can man escape the trap of paralysis. Without sharply-defined objectives, we tend to fall into conformity, a bank from which we can borrow short-term convenience in exchange for a mortgage on our soul.

How to avoid blocking your own personal development

“Men should avoid the distractions of pretense and delusion,” wrote German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in the year 1842. “Expectations disconnected from reality always result in disappointment and sorrow.”

Take the time to reflect about what you want to achieve in life and try to condense your dreams in one sentence. Without self-starting motivation, man is easily blinded by a fog of contradictions that lead to expensive mistakes.

Only a self-image of health can permanently prevent individuals from consuming unhealthy food. People who have not established self-preservation as a goal, keep on consuming damaging substances despite being aware of their long-term negative effects, in the illusion that, somehow, they alone will be immune to the consequences.

The same principle applies to decaying work environments. Men and women who have not determined ambitious long-term objectives for themselves, tend to close their eyes to signs of decline in the company they work for in order to avoid the nuisance of searching alternative employment.

The key to avoid going down the wrong path

Write down your own vision of the future and keep it where you can see it. Defining your destination will help you avoid wrong relationships and avert people who drag you down. Men who lack firm ethical values tend to ignore character flaws in people they meet and often go as far as attributing non-existent virtues to whomever they find sexually attractive, even if that person is manifestly keeping them away from the path of achievement.

Defining your goals in life will not render you immune to errors, but will help you minimize them. When it comes to choosing the right alternative, few habits are as effective as standing still, questioning what looks too good to be true, and checking its consistency with your established objectives.

The importance of restating your vision once and again

“Only an unclouded vision of reality allows man to perceive truth,” observed Schopenhauer. “Decisions based on facts render individuals self-supporting, which is the key of happiness.” History shows that lack of rational values, more than ignorance, constitutes the main block to progress. A man should never forget that his advancement towards success and happiness depends on his loyalty to his own rational objectives.

Write down your fundamental goals and summarize them in one sentence. Restate your vision of the future at every opportunity and discard options that don’t match it. Only by our achieving philosophical clarity can our actions be consistent and effective. Moving continuously in the direction of your goals will maximize your chances of success and happiness.

Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com

Fiction with a philosophical twist: “When everything fails, try this” by John Vespasian

Rev. Russell Williams
Chief Inspirational Officer
Leaders of Integrity, ETHICAL EDGE, and I am blessed to add, my friend.

It was a Friday evening…mid-December 1955.  The holiday season was in full display.  Dad was driving his 3 kids…my sister, brother and me…to the Santa Fe Railroad Depot in Pasadena to await the arrival of our grandmother traveling on the Super Chief from Albuquerque. We got there early enough to take our positions standing behind the white line to await the train’s arrival.  It was the first time we had ever seen the Super Chief arrive at night. I was so excited!

The announcement of the train’s imminent arrival did not occur over a loud speaker.  It was far better than that.  Before I could see the Super Chief 300 yards up the track as it made its turn from the east onto the southbound straightaway to the depot, there was a vibration on the ground that grew by the moment until the vibration was so strong that it went through my whole body. Then came the moment….as the locomotive engine made its turn…a brilliantly large single, oscillating light came into view bringing a showering of light everywhere present to accompany the overwhelming vibration that now roared through my body.  What a treasured childhood memory!

That boyhood experience matured over the years into a deep, appreciative understanding of the Author of Light guiding our journey as individuals and a living humanity.  The Light that leads us is wisdom discovered and applied in our practice to become leaders of integrity whose mission it is to serve as an influence for good at home, at work and in the community.

Back in 1781 as our fledgling nation sought to define a Constitution  to guide us, Benjamin Franklin, the oldest member of  The Constitutional Convention, stood before his peers for the first time…at a perilous moment in the proceedings and stated, “The longer I live..I see the truth that God governs the affairs of men.”

As I turn the corner into the metaphoric last 300 yards of my professional life, I am choosing to dedicate my energies to give voice to a role I now define as the chief inspirational officer of the Leaders of Integrity initiative birthed in 2009 as the Ethical Edge. Similar to the turbulent time of long ago, we shall, together, grow our influence as wisdom keepers of the Light leading us.

I believe every person who is pursuing their role as a leader of integrity needs the powerful vitamins of hope and encouragement to offer light to their path. This effort now animates my work with you and many others in our shared mission of influence for good.

In closing, I thank you for your involvement and support of the mission of Passkeys, a   non-profit publicly supported foundation.   I appreciate your year-end, charitable gift as an expression of your gratitude for the contribution the foundation is making in the lives of many…and  I trust includes you.