Getting What You Want
There’s a popular idea floating around about how to get whatever you want. It’s called “the law of attraction.” Just think and feel what you want to attract, and “the law will use people, circumstances, and events to magnetize what you want to you, and magnetize you to it.” This positive-thinking philosophy teaches that the “energy” of your dominant thoughts “attracts” your circumstances.
The Alice Tax
Author Calvin Trillin's wife, Alice, held a unique view of income tax. She believed that "after a certain level of income, the government would simply take everything." She thought there should be a limit on how much money people were allowed to keep for themselves. Writing in The New Yorker, Trillin said of his wife, "She believed in the principle of enoughness."
Radical Generosity
Cindy Kienow, who works at a popular restaurant in Hutchinson, Kansas, had been waiting on one of her steady customers for 3 years. He always tipped her well, sometimes leaving as much as half the tab. Then he outdid himself—he gave her a $10,000 tip for a $26 meal. He told her, “I want you to know this is not a joke.” What an amazing display of radical generosity!
Righteousness Endures Forever
A good deal of our unhappiness as we grow older is caused by our pining for the “good old days”—those times when we enjoyed health, wealth, position, or power. But the things of this world don’t last. They are vacillating, changeable, capricious. In time, they may be taken away from us and replaced with poverty, isolation, weakness, and pain.
Are You A Complainer?
There’s a story about a farmer who was known for his negative attitude. One day a neighbor stopped by and commented on the farmer’s wonderful crop. “You must be extremely happy with this year’s harvest,” he said. The farmer grudgingly replied, “Well, yes, it looks like a pretty good one, but a bumper crop is awfully hard on the soil.”
Why Do I Sigh?
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a 15-year-old girl yawned continually for 5 weeks in 1888. No details were given as to the reason for the girl's plight.
Have A Great Day!
I was in a convenience store one day, standing in line behind a man paying for his groceries. When he was finished, the clerk sent him off with a cheery "Have a great day!"
Overcoming Greed
Greed — it has toppled highly paid executives, brought down giant corporations, and cost thousands of workers their jobs and retirement funds. One columnist has written that unrestrained corporate greed is a greater threat than terrorism.
Aging Gracefully
Many people try to reverse the aging process. Those with wrinkles get facelifts, while others have injections to remove unwanted facial lines. Behind this current trend is the notion that an aging face is unacceptable.
