quotes

“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” – William Barclay

Many of us at one time or another have wondered what we are doing here. This can be both at times when we are having hectic, stress filled days, or at a standstill in a fog of boredom. We have temporarily lost sight of our purpose.

To obtain a healthy purpose in our lives we need a good balance of our time for work, goals, recreation, and relaxation. The daily routine should be examined, a plan established, and then it should be followed.

We can make good use of our time away from work to increase our knowledge of things and life, to work at a hobby or project, and to just relax. There may not be much room to maneuver, say if you are a working single parent, but perhaps a few hours can be found during your hectic week to do something that you want to do.

“I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. I believe we’re all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose… When you connect with that love and that compassion, that’s when everything unfolds.” – Ellen DeGeneres

Most of us use only a small percentage of our capabilities and can do so much more. Learning new things gives us a feeling of achievement. Reading nonfiction books increases our knowledge and teaches us new skills, but it should be enjoyable. In undertaking a new after hours project do something different from what you do all day at work. Start with something small and complete it, so as not to get discouraged and to get a feeling of achievement when it is done.  

“When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” – Seneca

Red Skelton (1913 – 1997)

On Humor:

“All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner.”

On Comedy:

“If by chance some day you’re not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I’ve said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled.”

On Principles:

“Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles.”

THE RESTAURANT SEATING RULE

“Always give people the best you have, not the least they will accept.”

– – Robert Brault

I’d like to demonstrate this axiom by describing its exact opposite — something I call The Restaurant Seating Rule.


How many times has a restaurant hostess seated you at the worst available table in the house?  You are led past perfectly fine tables to some tight nook next to the kitchen door of just outside the restroom.


If you’re the docile type,  you accept this, leaving the better tables to those who insist upon them.  If you object, then you are immediately shown to a better table, which, of course, is the purpose of the practice — to reserve the better tables to those who will not accept less.


But consider the result of this practice.  It ensures that everybody who enters the restaurant has a less than agreeable experience.  Every customer who walks through the door is denigrated by being shown to an inferior table.  Those who accept the table — the majority — then must watch other, later arrivals, being shown to better tables.  Nor are the later arrivals ecstatic, for they, too, are being shown to the worst available table.


Think what a better impression the restaurant would make by showing each new arrival to the best available table.  There would be, on each person’s part, a small sense that one is special and appreciated — a valued customer.  Even late arrivals, escorted to less attractive tables, would recognize that they are being shown to the best table available.  For everyone, the dining experience would begin on an agreeable note.


Simply put, it is good practice to always put your best foot forward.  To give people the worst that they will accept seems but a systematic way to deny everyone your best.   


From “A Robert Brault Reader”