True Story A Simple Gesture

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, and that he was having lots of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend. They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mothers sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more, you saved my life.”

-John W. Schlatter (true story)

Believe in yourself

There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren’t the way you had hoped they would be.

That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down.

But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself.

There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it is up to you to accept them.

Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction for you. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of who you are.

So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you want your life to be.

Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you.

Keep Believing in Yourself

LEARN FROM MISTAKES

Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”

Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.”

The Important Things In The Life

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

10 Tips for Losing Weight

Let’s face it, losing weight isn’t easy, but it’s not rocket science either. With the right slimming tips you might be surprised by what’s possible for your shape. I have collected 10 tips that are tested and proven to work. The only problem is, most people overlook them. Just two or three of these tips could have a profound effect on your shape, now imagine what would happen if you put all ten into action!

SLIMMING TIP #1: Water power. We’ve all heard that we should drink eight to ten glasses of water a day. But did you realize that by drinking a glass of water before you eat a meal could decrease your appetite? The result will be that you’ll have a harder time eating too much since your stomach is full of water.

SLIMMING TIP #2: Evening tea. This tip is similar to the first one. Often in the evenings, we’ll start feeling hungry. If you give in to this temptation, that’s where the trouble begins because it’s almost guaranteed that whatever you eat in the evening will be added on as extra bodyweight since you won’t have time to work off the calories consumed. So the solution to warding off hunger in the evening is to drink a cup of your favorite tea in the evening to maintain a full feeling.

SLIMMING TIP #3: Deny yourself. It’s proven that if you get a hankering for say pizza or ice cream or anything else that’s calorie loaded and outside your meal times … one of the best moves you can make is to give yourself 15 minutes to deny those hunger signals. Often before 15 minutes are up, you’ll be surprised how those “irresistible cravings” disappear.

SLIMMING TIP #4: Eat more often. By eating five to six small to medium sized meals per day, you will prime your metabolism to burn calories faster than you would if you eat three meals a day.

SLIMMING TIP #5: Early big meals. Many people eat their biggest meal in the evening. As such, your body has limited time to make use of the tremendous calorie dump from that large evening meal. You simply won’t do enough physical activity in the evening as our body’s biorhythm usually slows down. Those excess calories will turn into fat – guaranteed. Can you see why eating bigger meals in the morning or for lunch makes more sense?

SLIMMING TIP #6: Early exercise. By exercising early in the morning, preferably before breakfast, you can speed up your metabolism more easily than if you exercise later in the day.

SLIMMING TIP #7: Include cheat meals. Ideally you want to follow this strategy after you’ve strictly followed a diet for some time. Once you think you’re ready, you can choose to give yourself one or two cheat meals during the week. This will liven up your meal times and it’ll be a special reward for the hard work you’re doing. Plus it’ll help prevent the temptation of just quitting altogether due to boredom or social get together.

SLIMMING TIP #8: Keep trying. It’s important to realise that you’re only human and you will make mistakes with your weight loss program. But because you make mistakes is no excuse to outright quit. Simply keep getting back on the horse.

SLIMMING TIP #9: Always exercise. It’s important to engage in some form of strength training and cardio based exercise. Strength training builds lean muscle, which burns calories at a faster rate. And cardio helps to quickly burn excess calories.

SLIMMING TIP #10: Don’t exclusively strength train. If you’re a woman interested in having a nice feminine shape, then be careful about strength training. Too much of it, will just build up muscle under your existing fat. Some women tend to pack on muscle more readily than others. And after weeks at the gym and intense dieting they may actually look bigger. In this case, it’s important to reduce the amount of strength training you do.

LITTEL BOY

Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: “How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?”

The surgeon said, “I’m sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn’t make it.”

Sally said, “Why do little children get cancer? Doesn’t God care any more? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?”

The surgeon asked, “Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he’s transported to the university.”

Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good-bye to son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair.

“Would you like a lock of his hair?” the nurse asked.

Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy’s hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally. The mother said, “It was Jimmy’s idea to donate his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody else. “I said no at first, but Jimmy said, ‘Mom, I won’t be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.” She went on, “My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could.”

Sally walked out of Children’s mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy’s belongings on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy’s belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son’s room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:

“Dear Mom, I know you’re going to miss me; but don’t think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just ’cause I’m not around to say I LOVE YOU. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, that’s okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn’t like the same things us boys do. You’ll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know. Don’t be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn’t look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD! And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God’s knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That’s when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good-bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn’t allowed. Well, you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him ‘Where was He when I needed him?’ “God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.

Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I’ve written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn’t that cool? I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I’m, sure the food will be great.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don’t hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I’m glad because I couldn’t stand that pain anymore and God couldn’t stand to see me hurt so much, either. That’s when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that?

Signed with Love from: God, Jesus & Me.

WEIGHT LOSS EASYWAY...

The best weight loss tips is following a diet plan without costing your health, without feeling hungry and most importantly without getting the extra weight back once you stop the diet. The way to do this is to increase the pace of your metabolism. And the best way to succeed is to increase your physical activity with exercise, to get into the habit of daily physical exercise. This article is just about that. It outlines 28 weight loss tips with exercise that you can use to achieve your weight loss goals with the help of physical exercise.

Exercise raises the metabolic rate and as a result we burn more fat. The metabolism stays at higher levels even 6 hours after exercise, because the body works by improving the muscle tissue and cleaning the body from the products of combustion during exercise. This additional energy burns calories.

If you increase your physical activity by walking, running, exercising, doing a sport, and spend 400-600 more calories a day, you will lose additional 1-2 pounds or more in a month, all due to the exercise.

To lose one pound of fat, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That sounds like a lot of calories and you certainly wouldn't want to try to burn 3500 calories in one day. However, by taking it step-by-step, you can determine just what you need to do each day to burn or cut out those extra calories. Below is a step by step process for getting started.

1.       Calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Your BMRis what your body needs to maintain normal functions like breathing and digestion. This is the minimum number of calories you need to eat each day. Keep in mind that no calculator will be 100% accurate, so you may need to adjust these numbers as you go along.

2.      Calculate your activity level. Use a calorie calculatorto figure out how many calories you burn while sitting, standing, exercising, lifting weights, etc. throughout the day. It helps to keep a daily activity journal or you could even wear a heart rate monitor that calculates calories burned.

3.      Keep track of how many calories you eat. You can use a site like Calorie Count or use a food journal to write down what you eat and drink each day. Be as accurate as possible, measuring when you need to or looking up nutritional information for restaurants, if you eat out.

4.      Add it up. Take your BMR number, add your activity calories and then subtract your food calories from that total. If you're eating more than you're burning, (your BMR + activity is 2000 and you're eating 2400 calories) you'll gain weight. If you're burning more than you eat, you'll lose weight.

This example shows how easy it is to gain weight without even knowing it. However, it's also easy to lose weight, even if the process itself can be slow. You can start by making small changes in your diet and activity levels and immediately start burning more calories than you're eating. If you can find a way to burn an extra 200 to 500 calories each day with both exercise and diet, you're on the right track. Try these ideas:

Instead of...                                                Do this...

An afternoon Coke                                      Drink a glass of water. (calories saved: 97)

An Egg McMuffin                                        Eat a small whole wheat bagel +1 Tbsp of peanut   butter (calories saved: 185)

Using your break eat sweets                     Walk up and down a flight of stairs for 10 minutes (calories burned: 100)

Hitting the snooze button                         Get up 10 minutes early and go for a brisk walk (calories burned: 100)

Watching TV after work                             Do 10 minutes of yoga (calories burned: 50)