Double-sided Solution

(Author Unkown)

A father was reading a magazine and his little daughter every now and then distracted him. To keep her busy, he tore one page on which was printed the map of the world. He tore it into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again. He was sure she would take the whole day to get it done. But the little one came back within minutes with perfect map. When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said, “Oh…. Dad, there is a man’s face on the other side of the paper….. I made the face perfect to get the map right." She ran outside to play leaving the father surprised.

Reflection

When I read this story the first thing that came to mind was a tapestry. Have you ever seen the back of a tapestry? It’s messy, dull and looks like a total mess, but when you turn it around its a display of carefully chosen and well arranged materials. This is the same with the challenges we face in our lives. At first we see it as a complex, unachievable mess, but there is always another, ‘better’ side to the experience we are in. It’s just a matter of perspective. The happiest and most successful people I know, see challenge as an agent for growth. These individuals are reflective, they are creative and always see the other side of the problem. Remember the saying “every coin has two sides”, well so do the obstacles we face everyday, it's just up to you to choose the more fitting and opportune side. It's the joy of conquering these obstacles that makes life so meaningful and accomplished. A good start to identify the other side of a problem is time, use time as your advantage. Quit banging your head against the same brick wall over and over. Take time to think things through and find creative solutions. It's scary to see how rushed we all are, the more complex a problem, the more time you will need. Don’t dwell, but don’t rush… find that balance and problem solving will become enjoyable!

May you have an awesome week!
Darren Zwiers

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful" - Joshua J. Marine.  

"Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings" - John F. Kennedy.

Whose Problem?

(Author Unkown)

A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family doctor to discuss the problem. The doctor told him there is a simple informal test you could perform to give me a better idea about her hearing loss. "Here's what you do," said the doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response." That evening, the wife was in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens." Then in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?" No response. So he moves closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Still no response. Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again he gets no response so; he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again there is no response. So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?" "James, for the fifth time I've said, CHICKEN!"

Reflection

It’s funny how quickly we go around saying this person does this and does that and has this issue and that fault, when the problem may just be within you. Now I'm not saying if a person is always late, it's you that's late - what I am pointing out is a little bit of patience and tolerance makes peoples 'faults' seem more manageable. Everyone is fighting their own battles and it's not up to us to be the one to go around judging their personal challenges. Sometimes we can't change who people are or how they act, but we can certainly change how we view them and tolerance is a very good start. Once you can master this, you will learn how much easier it is to have relationships with people you find difficult.

The next time you find yourself judging a persons faults, remember the problem may not be with them, it could very well be within you!

May you have an awesome week!

Darren Zwiers

"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature" ~ Voltaire.

Grab The Bull By The Horns

A young man wished to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked at him and said, "Son, go stand out in that field. I'm going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter." The young man stood in the field awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out came the biggest, meanest looking bull he had ever seen. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through. The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one he thought. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through. The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull, he said to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to grab..... But alas..... The bull had no tail.

Reflection

It's frightening to look back on our lives and see how many opportunities we have missed because we never had the courage to snap it up right away. You remember an old proverb that says "Opportunity knocks only once"? Well it certainly does. That single moment in our life comes only once and never returns. We may end up getting similar opportunities later on, but that exact one will never come again. Too many of us let opportunities pass because we think a better one will come later… You'll be waiting all your life for a better opportunity. Successful people never wait for the next better opportunity. They grab what comes along and make the most out of what is given to them at that exact moment.

Life is full of opportunities, some will be easy to take advantage of, some will be difficult and some even hidden in a special way, but once we let them pass they may never again be available. So, always grab the first opportunity you see.

May you have an awesome week, full of exciting opportunities
- Darren Zwiers

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations” - Charles R. Swindoll

Life is tough, that's a given.

Author Unknown

When you stand up, you're gonna be shoved back down. When you're down, you're gonna be stepped on. My advice to you doesn't come with a lot of bells and whistles.

It's no secret: You'll fall down, you'll stumble, you'll get pushed and you'll land square on your face. But, every time that happens, you get back on your feet. You get up as fast as you can, no matter how many times you need to do it.

Remember this- success has been and continues to be defined as getting up one more time than you've been knocked down.

If experience has taught me anything, it's that nothing is free and living ain't easy. Life is hard, real hard, incredibly hard. You fail more often than you win. Nobody's handing you anything. It's up to you to puff up your chest, stretch your neck, and overcome all the difficult. The nasty. The mean. The unfair.

You want more than you have now? Prove it! You want to be the very best there is? Get out there and earn it!

Once you decide that, you will know where it is you want to be and you won't stop pushing forward until you get there! That's how winners are made.

At the end of the day, success is what we all want. We all wanna win and the race will be won. There is no question about that. So, come on. Get out on top! Run faster! Dream bigger! Live better than you have ever before. This is in you! You can do it!

Do it for yourself. Prove it to yourself.

May you have an awesome week. - Darren Zwiers

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.” – Greg Anderson

Shake it off and Step Up

A story is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' -- or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer felt sorry for the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened and asked them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back: he should shake it off and step up! This is what the old mule did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.

Reflection:

No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up! You guessed it! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him, actually end up blessing him. All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

May you have an incredible week of unlimited opportunities, if anything pulls you down, just ‘Shake it off and step up’ as a hindering moment is a blessing dressed in disguise, only revealing itself once you avoid panic.

Darren Zwiers

A champion is someone who gets up, even when he can't!