No Surrender

When you believe in yourself, in your personal potential, in your own future,

you have no choice - surrender is not an option. There's nothing to do but continue.

Sometimes you want to give up, but you can't - something deep inside you won't let you.

No white flags, no bailing out, no throwing in the towel for you.

You have to keep going; you must carry on; you just take the next step...and the next...and the next...

...a poem by BJ Gallagher

Made in India

Was working up a bit seriously when this mail popped up from a friend..instantly lightened me up!

There was a Japanese who went to India for sightseeing.

On the last day, he hired a cab and told the driver to drive to the Airport.During the journey, a Honda drove past the taxi.

Thereupon, the man leaned out of the window excitedly and yelled, "Honda, very fast! Made in Japan!!!

After a while, a Toyota sped past the taxi and again the Japanese man leaned out of the window and yelled, "Toyota, very fast! Made in Japan!"

And then a Mitsubishi sped past the taxi. For the third time, the Japanese leaned out of the window and yelled, "Mitsubishi, very fast! Made in Japan!"

The driver was a little angry, but he kept quiet. And this went on for quite a number of cars.

Finally, the taxi came to the airport. The fare was 800 rupees!!!!

The Japanese exclaimed, "What?? So expensive!"

There upon, the driver yelled back, "Meter, Made in India VERY VERY FAST !!!!!

Staying the course

Recently there were a lot of things happening on the professional front. Huge demands meant 24 hours per day are not sufficient..at the end of each day it was the same feeling that something more could have been done...in short, it is like "Hey God, can I have one more me please?" Difficult times, indeed.

And then, when I stopped working for an hour in the night to catch up on personal mails, I had the regular mail from simpletruths.com. Well, I call it regular because I get such mails regularly but the content of that mail was nothing regular; it seemed like it was written specially for me, considering the messed up state of mind I was having at that time.

The mail was talking about BJ Gallagher's book The Best Way Out is Always Through. It had a poem excerpt from the book that seemed to fit in so well...

Our journey of life is about progress,
not perfection.
It's not about doing one thing
100% better -
it's a matter of doing 100 things,
1% better each day.

Progress is evolutionary
not revolutionary,
and most days we measure our progress
in inches,
not miles.

What matters most
is showing up for your life
whether you feel like it
or not.

Ask yourself,
"What two or three little things
can I do today
that would move me forward?"

You'll be amazed
at how much distance
you can cover
by taking it in increments.

The little things add up;
the inches turn to miles;
and we string together our efforts
like so many pearls.
Before long,
look what you have -
a whole strand!

It was definitely a WOW! moment.

We should never forget what we all have in common. That is...at some point in our life, we will face adversity. It's not a matter of if, but...when. And when adversity strikes, it's not about what happens that will determine our destiny, it's about how we react to what happens. And so many times, it'll be about...staying the course

- Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths