Stan Musial–A Role Model for All of Us

Baseball legend Stan Musial, who played 22 years for the St. Louis Cardinals Major League baseball team, passed away this week at the age of 92. During his career, he was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player three times, made the All-Star team 24 times and held 55 baseball records when he retired in…

An Easy Way to Avoid Criticism

Recently, my wife shared an Aristotle quote with me about avoiding criticism: “Criticism is something we can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing.” The lesson here is that if you live your life to avoid criticism, you’ll wind up living an empty and meaningless life.

Taking Risks is Part of the Good Life

Many people prefer comfort of security over the excitement of taking risks. They would rather sit inside the safety of their comfort zones and watch the world go by. As a result, they miss out on much of the good life. Blind and deaf American author and political activist Helen Keller understood this well. As…

Why Not Make 2013 the Happiest Year of Your Life

If you want to make 2013 the happiest year of your life, all you need to do is to follow the advice of Og Mandino: “Remember that true happiness lies within you.  Waste no time looking for peace, contentment and joy in the world outside.  Remember there is no happiness in having or getting, but…

‘Tis the Season for Sharing Good Will with Retail Clerks

As the holiday shopping season gets into full swing, malls and stores become more and more crowded which ramps up the stress levels of shoppers. Some of these uptight shoppers vent their stress at retail clerks by being rude, mean and nasty toward them. This, in turn, makes their job incredibly difficult and thankless during…

Play is Important for Our Success

While many people think that playing or goofing around is analogous to wasting time, Dr. Robert Brown, coauthor of a book called Play and founder of the Institute for Play, has found that play is extremely important for our success. Dr. Brown has collected more than 6,000 “play histories” of people from all walks of…

Keep Your Fork

I was listening to a friend tell a story about attending a luncheon. As the server was bussing his dishes after the main course she said to him, “Keep your fork.” He said that put a smile on his face because the best part of the luncheon–dessert–was yet to come. This is an excellent mantra…

It’s Time to Count Our Blessings

Life can bring on its share of negative experiences such as losses, setbacks, disappointments and unfulfilled dreams.  These experiences can overwhelm us at times to the point where we think only about them and lose sight of the many blessings that are showered on us on a daily basis.  In fact, if were to take…