Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Forgiveness

"Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the remedy. It doesn’t mean you’re erasing the past, or forgetting what happened. It means you’re letting go of the resentment and pain, and instead choosing to learn from the incident and move on with your life. Remember, the less time you spend hating the people who hurt you, the more time you’ll have to love the people who love you."
- from dalal's status.

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

What is Love?

- found this in the "from people >> jas k" folder today (2003).

What is Love?

A group of professionals posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year olds.  "What does love mean?"  The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.  See what you think:
Rebecca – age 8
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.  You know that your name is safe in their mouth.
Billy – age 4
Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.
Chrissy – age 6
Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.
Terri – age 4
Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay.
Danny – age 7
Love is when you kiss all the time.  Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.  My mommy and daddy are like that.  They look gross when they kiss.
Jenny – age 4
Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday
Noelle – age 7
Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.
Clare – age 5
Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken.
Chris – age 8
Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day
Jessica – age 6
When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.
Mark – age 6
You really shouldn't say "I love you" unless you mean it.  But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.  People forget.

Monday, 27 February 2012

Not finding time...

actually all these reflections are reposted from my private blog, the original entries were from ~2yrs ago. just wanted to put in a place where i'd like more people to potentially see it.a bit of bombardment of these "reflections".
maybe oldie, who knows, but i think goodie.

i think this doesn't have to apply to God. can apply to anything that you want to give but 'don't have time' for.




The Poem.


I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.
All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They'd laugh at me I'd fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.
I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said
"Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down ...
But never found the time"

Emergency Telephone Numbers...

These are more effective than 911
When:-

You are sad, phone - John 14
You have sinned, phone - Psalm 51
You are facing danger, phone - Psalm 91
People have failed you, phone - Psalm 27
If it feels though God is far from you, phone- Psalm 139
Your faith needs stimulation, phone - Hebrews 11
You are alone and scared, phone - Psalm 23
You are worried, phone - Matthew 8:19-34
You are hurt and critical, phone - 1 Corinthians 13
You wonder about Christianity, phone - 2 Corinthians 5:15-18
You feel like an outcast, phone - Romans 8:31-39
You are seeking peace, phone - Matthew 11:25-30
If feels as if the world is bigger than God, phone - Psalm 90
You need Christ like insurance, phone - Romans 8:1-30
You are leaving home for a trip, phone - Psalm 121
You are praying for yourself, phone - Psalm 87
You require courage for a task, phone - Joshua 1
Inflation's and investments are hogging your thoughts, phone - Mark 10:17-31
You are depressive, phone - Psalm, 27
Your bank account is empty, phone - Psalm 37
You lose faith in mankind, phone - Corinthians 13
It looks like people are unfriendly, phone - John 15
You are losing hope, phone - Psalm 126
You feel the world is small compared to you, phone - Psalm 19
You want to carry fruit, phone - John 15
Paul's secret for happiness, phone - Colossians 3:12-17
With big opportunity/discovery, phone - Isiah 55
To get along with other people, phone - Romans 12

Alternate numbers:
For dealing with fear, call - Psalm 3:47
For security, call - Psalm 121:3
For assurance, call - Mark 8:35
For reassurance, call - Psalm 145:18

All these numbers may be phone directly.
No operator assistance is necessary.
All lines to heaven are available 24 hours a day.
Feed your faith and doubt will starve to death.

A little perspective...

  • if you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week
  • if you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500million people in the world
  • if you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world
  • if you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep... you are richer than 75% of this world
  • if you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy
  • if you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not
  • if you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder... you are blessed because you can offer healing touch
  • if you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and further more you are blessed than over two billion in the world that cannot read at all.
Sunday, 30th August, 2009. St. Thomas More, Bateman - homily
True all these 'feel good' things may seem irrelevant sometimes, and definitely feels cliche more often than not, but maybe sometimes, just sometimes, they remind us something we've just forgotten or put aside at the back of our minds.

Bill Gate's speech to highschool kids

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. he talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
  1. Life is not fair - get used to it!
  2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
  3. You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
  4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you see your boss.
  5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
  6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
  7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the the parasite of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
    -- that i don't like. i don't think Fr Michael mentioned that tonight. hello, if you don't want kids, don't have them. far out.
  8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
  9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..
  10. Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
  11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Sunday, 30th August, 2009. St. Thomas More, Bateman - homily

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Why do bad things happen to good people?

By no means does this explain everything, but perhaps sometimes keeping this in mind may help understand become more at peace with what is going on... and hopefully we can be graced with Serenity.

The Butterfly
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"One day, a small opening appeared on a cocoon; a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.
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Then, it seems to stop making any progress.
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could not go any further.
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So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and opened the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily.
But it had a withered body, it was tiny and had withered wings.
The man continued to watch because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would open, enlarge and expand, to be able to support the butterfly's body, and become firm.
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Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a withered body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly.
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What the man in his kindness and goodwill did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
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Sometimes our struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If God allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as we could have been.
Never been able to fly.
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I asked for strength ...
and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom ...
and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for prosperity ...
and God gave me brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage ...
and God gave me obstacles to overcome.
I asked for love ...
and God gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for favours ...
and God gave me opportunities.
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I received nothing I wanted ...
but received everything I needed.
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Live life without fear,
confront all obstacles,
and
prove that you can overcome them.

WHY GO TO CHURCH?

A Churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.

"I've gone and done it for 30 long years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the preachers are wasting theirs too by giving lengthy sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing...God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment! When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say," "Jesus, could you get that for me?"

- taken from St. Thomas More Bateman Website.

Three Kinds of Love

Love that Takes is a Love that Breaks
Love that Ties is a Love that Dies

... but...

Love that Gives is a Love that Lives.

Thursday, 2 February 2012

A little gem.


original link here: http://godsgracefulness.com/?p=539

Friday, 20 January 2012

Tips for Fun at Work

*adapted vetlearn.com*

  • Wear different funny hats, sunglasses, or masks to the team meetings.
  • Name the laboratory equipment and call it by name.
  • Keep bubbles, crayons, and child toys to pass around at meetings.
  • Copy someone’s hand using the copier. Type on it: “Need a pat on the back? Stand here.” Tack the sign on a wall where everyone can lean against it for the pat on the back.
  • In the bathroom, put up signs that say “Looking good!” or “You are great—Smile!”
  • Put up a humour/rumor board; first, make certain everyone knows what is appropriate humor for the clinic.
  • Watch a movie together and discuss learning points from it that can be used at the clinic. Good movies to try are Apollo 13 and 12 Angry Men. Encourage the team to look for movies to use.
  • Have a “Joy Jar.” Each month, decide that there will be a 25-cent penalty for a negative behavior, like saying “can’t.” The penalty money goes into the Joy Jar. At the end of the month, identify two people to be the Joy team. The Joy team decides how to use the money in the Joy Jar to spread joy in the clinic. For example, you might have a masseuse come in to give neck massages or get someone to come in and speak on managing stress.
  • Help team members develop their sense of humor by supporting their sharing of funny incidents and stories. Look for opportunities to help people take themselves and their jobs less seriously. Share positive stories, and encourage others to share them with the team.
  • Make sure you have a supply of fun office toys (e.g., Silly Putty, Slinkys, Pez dispensers, Frisbees, Nerf balls, Koosh balls).
  • Bring a camera to work and catch people having fun. Put the photos on a “Wall of Fame” board with funny or heartwarming captions.
  • Post photos from newspapers and magazines on a bulletin board, and have team members write funny captions on sticky notes around the photos.
  • Put fun messages on employees’ paychecks to recognize their performance or special days like their birthday or work anniversary.

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

20 Tips for a Positive New Year

1. Stay Positive. You can listen to the cynics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can trust that with faith and an optimistic attitude all things are possible.
2. Take a morning walk of gratitude. I call it a "Thank You Walk." It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

3. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

4. Zoom Focus. Each day when you wake up in the morning ask: "What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?" Then tune out all the distractions and focus on these actions.

5. Instead of being disappointed about where you are, think optimistically about where you are going.

6. Remember that adversity is not a dead-end but a detour to a better outcome.

7. Don't chase success. Instead decide to make a difference and success will find you.

8. Get more sleep. You can't replace sleep with a double latte.

9. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

10. Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.

11. Live with the 3 E's. Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.

12. Remember there's no substitute for hard work.

13. Believe that everything happens for a reason and expect good things to come out of challenging experiences.

14. Implement the No Complaining Rule. Remember that complaining is like vomiting. Afterwards you feel better but everyone around you feels sick. www.NoComplainingRule.com

15. Read more books than you did in 2011. I happen to know of a few good ones. :)

16. Don't seek happiness. Instead decide to live with passion and purpose and happiness will find you. www.Seed11.com

17. Focus on "Get to" vs "Have to." Each day focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Life is a gift not an obligation.

18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished____________.

19. Smile and laugh more. They are natural anti-depressants.

20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.


www.JonGordon.com

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

說話的態度

急事,慢慢的說
大事,清楚的說
小事,幽默的說
沒把握的事,謹慎的說
沒發生的事,不要胡說
做不到的事,別亂說
傷害別人的事,不能說
討厭的事,對事不對人說
開心的事,看場合說
傷心的事,不要見人就說
別人的事,小心的說
自己的事,聽聽自己的心怎樣說
現在的事,做了再說
未來的事,未來再說
如果對我有不滿意的地方
請一定要對我說!

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Suess

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

YOu have brains in your head. 
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yoursef 
and direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know wht you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

Out there things can happen 
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

Except when you don't 
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups can happen to you.
But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go 
through your enemies prowl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore 
and your gumboots may leak.

Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's 
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and def.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed)


KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So... Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So... get on your way!


 - parchment given to murdoch vet graduates 2011 at graduation dinner 2nd december, 2011.

Friday, 2 December 2011

Veterinarian's Oath

Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.
I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.

Friday, 25 November 2011