Survival of the Clever

Survival Of The Clever In life, there are dogs, leopards and monkeys. we just have to decide to which category do we belong. Here is a tale to explain the difference: a wealthy man decides to go on a safari in Africa. He takes his faithful pet dog along for company. One day the dog starts chasing butterflies and before long he discovers that he is lost. So, wandering about the dog notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of having lunch. The dog thinks, "Boy, I'm in deep doo doo now." Then he notices some bones on the ground close by, and immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching black-spotted feline. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the dog exclaims loudly, "Man, that was one delicious leopard. I wonder if there are any more around here?" Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in mid-stride. Suddenly a look of terror comes over the spotty cat, and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew," exclaims the leopard. "That was close. That dog nearly had me." Meanwhile, a monkey, who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard, So, off he goes. But the dog sees the monkey going after the leopard with great speed, and figured that something must be afoot. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself and the leopard. The slick cat is furious at being made a fool and says, "Here monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine. Now the dog sees the leopard with the monkey on his back, and thinks, "What a I going to do now?" But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers and pretending he has not seen them yet. And just when they get close enough to hear, the dog says, "Where's that monkey? I just can never trust him! I sent him off half an hour ago to bring me another leopard, and he's still not back!!!" Now that's what I call being cool, calm and collected. Let's face it, folks. There will always be leopards in the work place - insecure bullies who would spare no effort in having a free lunch and you are his lunch. Allow yourself to be intimidated or react to anger and fear, and you will be eaten alive. There will always be monkeys in the work place, too. These apes have nothing to do but flatter their bosses and destroy other people so that they can look better. No sense in paying attention to these crafty critters. Stay as far away from them as possible. They're bad news and there's nothing good going for you in the company of these chimpanzees. Be the wise dog in the story. Be cool. Be calm. Use wisdom to deal with people of different personalities in the work place. Respond and do not react. Master your moods and never reveal your emotions to people who would take advantage of you. Trust in God and let the revenge business be his. Meanwhile, simply do your honestly level best as you begin to apply the mentioned Da Vincian principles in your work; and pay no attention to the losers and jerks in the work place. Never forget that the best revenge is a life well lived. -An article from The Early Bird Catches The Worm But The Second Mouse Gets The Cheese by Francis J. Kong

A free soul musician

     

By Ron Pope

Where should I start…these stories, my music, it comes from all the places I’ve been, the people I’ve been blessed to play music along side, the way it feels to play my guitar until it bleeds or to bang on that old piano in my living room until my shoulders ache and my fingers won’t move anymore.From Georgia to New York, New York to the road; Charleston and Memphis, Vermont to Chicago. Left home to release my first record with The District…Maine and Boston and who knows where else…walked down Wilshire, blinking in the Los Angeles sun… made love in the grass and meant it. Got lost in Delaware scrambling to get home to my family after too much time…swam in the ocean with the boys, thanking God for purple and orange Florida sunrises. Soaked up New Orleans…tried to become Levon Helm; realized I wasn’t much of a drummer. Wrote A Drop In The Ocean with Zach Berkman and then put it away for six months because I didn’t get it…fell in love…drank whiskey from the bottle and howled at the moon. Released Last Call…played the blues back-to-back with Buz in Charlotte and just about everywhere else along that godforsaken highway…the van broke down…we fixed it…the van broke down again. Got lost heading to South Carolina and ended up in Alabama…fell out of love and hit my head on the way towards the bottom…made a Christmas album, because, damn it, I like Christmas albums. Played big rooms…played small rooms…listened to Van Morrison and cried…listened to trains scream somewhere off in the distance on sleepless, blue-black nights…dreamed of California sunshine in the dead of an endless New England winter. Struck out on my own…wrote an album about love and loss, hope in the face of desperation, and all the places I find beauty; called it Daylight because for a long time, I was sitting in the dark, waiting on the sun.Years ago, I traced the outline of a woman’s face on a piece of paper; someone I loved and didn’t want to forget once we’d put the whole thing to bed. The picture didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped, so I took my ink-stained fingers and spelled her name out in big, smeared letters on my arm. I guess that’s all I’ve ever really had…my words. This music is the story of where I’ve been, who I am, and where I’m going…these songs are my life. 

source:http://www.myspace.com/ronpopeny

Here are some of my favorites from Ron Pope. =)

A Drop in the Ocean

I'm yours

My current favorite is 'Beautiful and Lost'. I love how he sing, he has this beautiful voice who sing with his soul on the lyrics of the song.

Wait For Me 

 

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A winner is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul

I found this article from Francis Kong's Book, The Early Birds catches the worm and the second mouse eat the cheese.

The Winner's prayer

The late Commodore John W. Caunce, master of the original Elizabeth (that majestic ocean liner of the Cunard fleet), kept a framed copy of an old prayer on a wall in his quarters. He often showed it to passengers who visited him. Many people know the prayer, but its origin is obscure:

Here's how the prayer goes.

Lord, thou knowest better than I know my self that I am growing older and will someday be old.

• Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
• Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.
• Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy.
• With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.
• Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;
• Give me wings to get to the point.
• Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.
• I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure them with patience.
• I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.
• Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
• Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint (some of them are so hard to live with) but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.
• Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people.
• And give me, Lord, the grace to tell them so. Amen.

Now, this seems to be a prayer that would surely be honored by God.

You seem to sense immediately the maturity level of a person by the way he prays. Most people I know, when faced with an extremely difficult situation, would pray this way: “Lord, remove the problem away from me because I cannot handle it.”

And then you find people who get themselves in a nasty fix and then blame God for placing them there. There prayer goes this way: “Lord, why do you put me in this difficult situation?”

But the mature person prays this way: “Lord, give me the strength to go through this and grant me the wisdom to learn lessons from this situation. I cannot deal with the problem on my own strength, so then in You I will put my trust.” Now that's the prayer of faith and humility, and I am positively certain that God honors prayers like this.

One day a businessman, who needed millions of pesos to clinch an important deal, went to church to pray for the money. By chance he knelt next to a man who was praying for P100 to pay an urgent debt. The businessman took out his wallet and pressed P100 into the other man's hand. Overjoyed, the man got up and left the church. The businessman then closed his eyes and prayed: “And now, Lord, that I have your undivided attention...”

Hard to imagine God would be pleased with a prayer like that...

By the way, how do you pray, anyway?

Life is a matter of perspective. It's not what happens to you; it's how you look at it and how you take it. Don't take life too seriously. No one has gotten out of it alive anyway.    

----end----

Other people when they  heard about the The Winner's prayer by Commodore John W. Caunce, the first thing comes in their mind is this prayer is being prayed when you want to win something or to win on a competition,  but when we read the prayer carefully the prayer  is about being humble with our talents and gifts that God's given to us, being strong and not always complaining when we experiencing pains and down falls, asking for guidance to speak the truth, to have patient and humility, learn to not let our hearts grow back crooked because sometimes when our heart breaks it can grows twisted, gnarled and hard to forgive, and lastly is to be appreciative on people. 

In short, the prayer is about asking God for his guidance to become a better person because being one, you can already consider  yourself as a winner. Because a winner is winning your own self to become better and it can only be possible if our prayer is accompanied  with actions.


Same like how William Ernest Henley says,"I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." Let us be the master of our fate and  the captain of our soul to become a better person under the guidance of God, because through this you become a true winner on this life.

 

You can't measure a dream

Like the famous saying, "When you start thinking you are already good that’s the time you stop being good". You will lose the need to improve when you think you  already achieved or fulfilled your goal. If you want to keep a room for improvement and become better than before, I always keep  this kind of mindset, you have to set to be the best as a goal, but never think yourself as the best because when you start thinking you are the best that’s the time you stop being one . I never said that I am the best because I never think that I am, but I used this mindset so I will always do my best in everything I do to improve either myself or my performance.

 Think this way, when we think that you are already the best you will lose the need to work hard and to improve, but when you think that you are still not, you will keep doing your best and  work hard. The good thing about this is, you will be surprise by the improvements you can make with this kind of mindset and at the same time this will also help you to keep your feet on the ground every time when you achieve something. Because when we achieve something we start to have this kind of mindset we start thinking that we are better than others or we are already the best, eventually we will lose the need to practice or to work hard for next time. Then we start to lose humility and the passion to work hard to become better. 

 Do you know where did I learn this kind of mind set? I learn this kind of mind set on people like Michael Jordan (the legendary basketball player super star), Francis Kong (a top business man in the corporate world) and the famous R&B singer Usher. The one they have in common is they are on the top of their own field but they never think they were the best, because they always make sure to leave a room for improvement.

Let me borrowed this one story from Francis Kong’s article. 

 Basketball great Michael Jordan once said, “When you see me play, you see Larry play.”

Larry Jordan, that is. He is Michael’s intensely competitive older brother. Sportswriter David Halberstarm called Larry Jordan “a formidable athlete in his own right, though packaged in a wrong-sized body. [He] had great strength, athletic ability, and ambition, but was simply too small to achieve in sports what his heart, will and talent normally would have earned him.”

Clifton Herring, who coached both boys at Laney High in Wilmington, said that “Larry was so driven and so competitive an athlete that if he had been six two instead of five eleven, I’m sure Michael would have been known as Larry’s brother instead of the other way around.”

As a kid, Larry Jordan beat his little brother’s butt so many times playing one-on-one in the backyard court that Michael learned to hate losing. “As soon as I grew taller than him, I vowed to never lose out to him again, “Michael remembered. 

Michael Jordan become what he was today, it’s all because of the size of his heart’s desire that elevate him to the top. As a kid, he never thinks he is the best, but he works hard that’s why he became one.

Same with Francis Kong mentality he remain on the top of business ladder, it’s because he doesn’t stick to his job description but he become well-rounded person . He is adventurous. Accept challenge and make the most of his time learning things and adding more value to who he was and what he can do. If you are going to read his biography you see that he is man who have a multi-profession. 

The famous R&B singer Usher confessed in the press conference of his comeback album Raymond VS Raymond that, when you are the top of your league you feel you are the best, like he was  invincible. But that is his mistake, when you start to think that you are good that’s the time you stop being one. Because he thought he is already the best, that’s why he stops to venture new things to offer to people. But he realized that he was wronged on that, because people change. Like the famous line in American reality show Project Runaway, “one day you're in. And the next day, you're out”.  He learned that we should always keep a student mind to learn new things and improve ourselves. I think he was right on that, because after a long hiatus and  hangover on his success during his 2004 Confession album, Usher proves it on his number one come back song “OMG”.

I think sharing this kind of success stories and kind of mentality make us realize that the people we thought who are best doesn’t think themselves as the best. Isn’t it amazing that when we are not thinking that we are the best, it makes you work harder and improve ourselves? And the opposite reaction is you become better while other people think you are the best.  That’s how powerful our mind is, the mind creates our own reality.

To end this entry the point is no one can ever measure our hearts desires or our dream. Same with my favorite quote of Nathan Scott from the American drama series One tree hill, when he was struggling to achieve his dream:

“Numbers are funny. They can measure you, time you, analyze you all they want, but all they know what really matters are how you play the game. He thinks I've lost a step since the accident, so he's gonna play tight, I haven't. Now he'll back off because he doesn't want to get beat off the dribble, just a half step, that's a mistake. Have you ever heard the expression you can't measure heart? Well the truth is you can't measure any of it. Heart, want, need. They think I can't play point guard, but Q knew I could. You can't measure a dream”.

Most importantly, we shouldn't forget God in the process of achieving our dreams because we couldn't achieve something or anything without these gifts he have given to us. To remain to  walk with Him in the process and to share this to others is the way we could give Him our gratitude.

Note:

 I will just share  my own battle cry, When you dream, dream like Neil Armstrong reach for the star. If someday you may not reach the star but with your hard work and determination you'll be landing on the moon.♥

What I mean is I want to dream like Neil Armstrong because he dream to reach the star, but fortunately he discovers something better than what he dream,  he discovers the moon .

In the faced of failure

I believe that as a human being there's a lot of things I still  have to learn and  to improved in myself. I don't aim for perfection, but I want to become a better person and if possibly I want to become a good servant of God. To learn and to achieve something you can be a smart person who learn from your mistakes or be the smarter person who learn from other people mistakes. Do you know how we became different from one another? It is how we respond and react to our situation.

Positivity lift up people or build something while negativity destroys it. What I have said in one of my entry before that a positive reinforcement can build people to become a better performer and person. Just think of this, when your teacher, parents or boss didn't say anything  positive about you, do you think you can be encourage to become a better performer or a person? When all you can hear from them is you are a failure or loser in life?  When your boss or teacher  doesn't give any compliment  that you did a job well done in your work or say thank you for what you have done. What do you think will happen? Same with telling success and failure stories, When you tell a story about how you failed, it serves as a lesson or a warning for others that these are the things that doesn't work for me or for you. But when you tell success stories, it inspires and motivate people that after failures there is a sweet success that is waiting. When you failed you have to accept it, but never put it in your heart. Get up!  it is not the end, it simply means that it is another thing that doesn't work for you.



I got this from Francis Kong's article, And Then There Was Light:

The world may not realize how significant Thomas Edison is to our lives. As the inventor of the incandescent lamp, he provided the world with light needed to carry on life and progress. Let me tell you something about him. On October 18, 1879, the young inventor Edison sat in his laboratory after 13 months of repeated failures in his search for a filament that would stand the stress of electric current. To add to his problems, the men who had been giving him financial aid now refused to put up any additional funds.

Having tried every known metal in his experiment, Edison was baffled. Casually picking up a bit of lampblack., he mixed it with tar and rolled it into a thin thread. Suddenly the thought struck him-why not try a carbonized cotton fiber? For five hours he worked on the first filament, but it broke before he could remove the mold. Edison used two entire spools of thread in similar fruitless efforts. At last a perfect strand emerged, only to be ruined when he tried to place it inside a glass tube.

Still Edison refused to admit defeat. He continued to work without sleep for two more days and nights. Eventually he managed to insert one of the crude carbonized threads into a vacuum-sealed bulb. "When we turned on the current, "he said, "the sight we had so long desired finally met our eyes!"

Thomas Edison had endured failure after failure, and his finances were in jeopardy. He was under tremendous stress. But his persistence in the face of the most discouraging circumstances gave the world one of its greatest inventions-the electric light.

A great American, Booker T. Washington, had this say about stress: "No man should be pitied because everyday of his life he faces a hard, stubborn problem. It is the man who has no problems to solve, no hardships to face, who is to be pitied. he has nothing in his life which will strengthen and form his character, nothing to call out hos latent powers and deepen and widen his hold on life."

Rich McLawhorn says something encouraging, too: "In the midst of stress and tension, direct your trust toward heaven. The wind of God is always blowing. That wind can bring you countless blessings, including peace. But one's sail must be raised to catch the wind. Hoist your sail, and catch God's wind."

And the Word of God comforts us in Isaiah 26:3: " He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!"

When you encounter stress, keep these words and Edison's example in mind. They will help you keep your equilibrium. As stress exerts its force on you, seek true peace. And what is true peace? Not the absence of conflict, but rather, the absence of inner turmoil.




Francis Kong seminar watch here

Francis Kong  share on this seminar how he handles his children when they are facing failure. I think parents and teachers should learn from this. Sometimes, our wrong response and reaction when we handle other people who are  facing failures creates a great impact on them. We should be careful on how we handle it, because we can build or might destroy them.

Happy Energy inspired!

I was inspired by Happy Energy: Happy Bean campaign by Naver (It's the Korean search engine site), where every purchased of virtual bean in their official site is you can help to provide supply for a particular organization.



JYJ's Junsu Happy Energy: Happy Bean campaign support Kenyan to build music schools for children or people who are interested or love music.


After seeing this campaign I remember my childhood dream, I dream to have my own organization for a cause, and I just realized today that I want to support and advocate HAPPY ENERGY. Where the organization's mission is to produce "happy energy" for a better life and better world. In able to be possibly achieved this,  let's campaign  healthy and balance positive thinking in each of every one of us.


Through positive encouragement with one another to promote positivity in the heart and mind of everybody, so we can feed the hunger, so we can build home for the homeless, so we can help other draw their dreams and achieve it. Together with a positive outlook, let's make the world a better place to live in.





Happy Energy campaign watch here

NAVER Happy Energy 2011

Kindness Acts are classic

I'm currently working at the airport, a few days ago I helped a mister who lost his I.D., I remember when I was in duty in the information counter during that time when he asked me to helped him to contact the airport office to report his lost I.D and so he can request for a new one. During that moment, I could see the worry look on his face, because there's a policy in the airport, where if an employee  lost his/her I.D. there's a certain penalty and the worst cased would be getting suspended to have the privileged of an I.D. pass in all areas of the airport. As an employee how can you able to go work without your I.D.? the airport security won't let you in and everyone knows that in any establishment, even in schools that if you have no I.D. you cannot enter the building . Even I was newly hired during that time, I was thankful that I was able to helped him. 

And just two days ago, after few days passed, we met again and unexpectedly he still remembers me. I was touched by that gestures how he can still remember me for what I have done, I could see how grateful he was for my small kindness in helping him during that time. I realized  that, the act of kindness is still classic after all. No matter what, people will never forget your small acts of kindness, they makes you immortal in their hearts. And the best part of it is the happiness you feel in your heart that you know you have helped someone who is in need.