TheLeaderInside.com

“Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy”

~~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

About three days ago I was at the local super market to pick up a few groceries. The parking lot was quite full, so I had to park some distance from the entrance to the store. As I got out of the car, I noticed an elderly woman who was parked in one of the handicapped parking spaces near the front of the store.

She was in the process of loading her purchases into the trunk of her car. She had a large bag on the bottom shelf of her shopping cart and was struggling to lift it from the cart into the trunk. I was still quite a distance from her and as I walked toward her I watched as several people walked by her with little more than a glance. One or two people actually looked at her in her predicament and walked right by without offering to help.

Why is it that we so often feel that we don’t have the time or the energy to extend ourselves to others with the small gestures that compose what we call common courtesy? It sometimes seems that this kind of social awareness belongs to the past, to smaller towns and slower times.

“Don’t flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.”

~~~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

How often have you been on the receiving end of someone’s courtesy? Did you feel touched in some good way? When someone simply makes the effort to look us in the eye, smile, and greet us properly when entering a room — that person stands out of the crowd. It seems these people carry with them the elegance and grace of another time, and we are always thankful for our contact with them. Common courtesy is a small gesture that makes a big difference.

One of the essential components of common courtesy is the ability to look outside yourself to see when someone needs help or acknowledgment. Another component is to give courtesy freely, without expecting anything in return. People may not even take notice, much less return the kindness, but you can take heart in the fact that you are creating the kind of world you want to live in with your actions.

“He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love”

~~~ Proverb

By the way, the lady was a person after my own heart — the bag at the bottom of her shopping cart was a big bag of bird seed — something I too, often have in the bottom of my shopping cart. And yes, I did help her lift it into her trunk.

“When music and courtesy are better understood and appreciated, there will be no war”

~~~ Confucius

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
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Speaking of offering a bit of help to a friend, I have a friend in the United Kingdom who is looking for some help from all of us. Last year, she was diagnosed with and treated for Breast Cancer. Today, she counts herself among the survivors. However, many are not so lucky.

She and her daughter are going to participate in a “MoonWalk” to help raise funds for cancer research. This is a 26.2 mile walk through London and will take place this summer. They are already beginning their training.

She is asking you to help spread the word about this by telling your friends and colleagues to go to her web site to learn more about this event. If you have a web site or a blog yourself, putting her link on it would be a great help. Help her out by making comments about it on your MySpace or FaceBook pages, or any other ways you can think of to help.

The blog URL is http://www.teampinkandsparkly.com - you can read the full stories there.

The fundraising page is http://www.justgiving.com/pinkandsparkly

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As you know, I do practice sitting, silent meditation every day in my life. Recently, I did a podcast about this for another blog that I read. Take a moment and click this link to hear what meditation means to me and what it does for me.

My Meditation Podcast

In my meditation I use what I truly believe is the most powerful personal growth and mind development tool on earth. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” - then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels —

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution

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Technorati Tags: peace, inner self, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life

“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”

~~~ John Ed Pearce

Although I know that I’m not alone when I say that I’m glad the end-of-year holidays are over, I still feel as though when I dare say it out loud, as I’m doing here, that it’s some sort of sacrilege. As I get older my ability to be comfortable with all the stress and changes that take place in the home environment during this season seems to be rapidly diminishing.

For most of us, home is our haven. It is the place where we come when we need to rest. It is the place where we are able to recharge our batteries when we’re worn out. It is the place where we find safety and where we can relax in comfort so that we can do a better job of facing the challenges of the world outside our doors. For many, it is the one place where we can find the peace, comfort and tranquility we all desire. I know it is for me.

I’m fully aware that true peace can only be found when we’ve achieved lasting peace within ourselves. Why is it that it often seems to be nearly impossible to attain that inner peace unless we’re deep in meditation or by ourselves? Why is it that when our space is disrupted by events happening outside our homes our inner peace seems to vanish? These disruptions that invade our senses can come from many areas — world events — the local news on television with all the violence being reported — the drama that always seems to be a part of the relationships with friends and family — the health issues that accompany old age — and, for me lately, computer glitches.

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.”

~~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In many ways, I have the luxury of being able to spend a great deal of time alone. As a writer, the isolation without distractions is vital to being able to keep the creative juices flowing. All of my readers here know that I strive constantly to find peace. As I say in all my postings — “peace within — peace without — peace in the world — peace for all beings” — and most importantly — inner peace.

“When a writer knows home in his heart, his heart must remain subtly apart from it. He must always be a stranger to the place he loves, and its people.”

~~~ William Morris

I’m not altogether certain that I truly understand that quote, but it seemed appropriate to include it here. I’m also aware that I seem to be rambling in my writing this morning. I’m struggling to find the sense of inner peace that I had yesterday, but seemed to have lost today. I’m not as peaceful in my space today as I would like to be and I’m not finding the answers I often find as I go through the process of writing. So, if you find yourself scratching your head and wondering, “What the heck is he going on about?” — I apologize. I’m confused right along with you.

In the novel that I’m writing, there are many similarities between the life of the main character and my own. To be completely truthful, this novel is based a great deal on my own early life. The character in this book is in a constant search for a sense of home — a place where he can find his true haven and be protected from the dangers of the world outside himself. In the closing chapters of the book, which I haven’t written as yet, the character, while still a young man, will find that using violence as a way to solve problems is a huge mistake, and he will then embark on his search for peace.

I guess that today I’m focused on the closing chapters of the life of the person on whom my book is based, and wondering if true inner peace will have been attained.

“Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.”

~~~ Christian Morganstern

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
================================================================
As you know, I do practice sitting, silent meditation every day in my life. Recently, I did a podcast about this for another blog that I read. Take a moment and click this link to hear what meditation means to me and what it does for me.

My Meditation Podcast

In my meditation I use what I truly believe is the most powerful personal growth and mind development tool on earth. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” - then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels —

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution

====================================================================

====================================================================

Technorati Tags: peace, inner self, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.

~~~ Oren Arnold

Today’s article is a favorite story for this holiday season. So, rather than the usual article, I’d like to share this beautiful story with you. I know I did this same story last year — and I’ll probably still do it next year. Let’s call it a “tradition” for this blog.

It’s Simple. Charming. Heart-warming. An expression of gratitude. Love. Compassion. Acceptance. Abundance.

It’s a little piece called “Christmas Story” by John Henry Faulk. Faulk was a gifted storyteller and former radio broadcaster. He first recorded his Christmas Story in 1974 for the program “Voices in the Wind.”

National Public Radio started a tradition of airing Faulk’s story every year during this holiday season, so if you’re a regular listener you have probably heard it. But here it is anyway. I hope you enjoy it.

I won’t be writing here next week, so look for a new article on January 3rd.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Shanti,

Ron
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To hear an audio of John Henry Faulk reading the Christmas Story, go to —

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028755

There’s a link to the audio at the top of the page — Look for the “Listen Now” button. There’s also a link there so you can download the story as an mp3 file.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028755

Or — You can read the story right here …. or follow along as you listen to it …..
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The day after Christmas a number of years ago, I was driving down a country road in Texas. And it was a bitter cold, cold morning. And walking ahead of me on the gravel road was a little bare-footed boy with non-descript ragged overalls and a makeshift sleeved sweater tied around his little ears. I stopped and picked him up. Looked like he was about 12 years old and his little feet were blue with the cold. He was carrying an orange.

And he got in and had the brightest blue eyes one ever saw. And he turned a bright smile on my face and says, “I’m-a going down the road about two miles to my cousins. I want to show him my orange old Santa Claus brought me.” But I
wasn’t going to mention Christmas to him because I figured he came from a family — the kind that don’t have Christmas. But he brought it up himself. He said, “Did old Santa Claus come to see you, Mister?” And I said, “Yes. We had a real nice Christmas at our house and I hope you had the same.”

He paused for a moment, looked at me. And then with all the sincerity in the world said, “Mister, we had the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States down to our place. Lordy, it was the first one we ever had had there. See, we never do have them out there much. Don’t notice when Christmastime comes. We heared about it, but never did have one ’cause — well, you know, it’s just papa says that old Santa Claus — papa hoorahs a lot and said old Santa Claus was scared to bring his reindeer down into our section of the county because folks down there so hard up that they liable to catch one of his reindeer and butcher him for meat.

But just several days before Christmas, a lady come out from town and she told all the families through there, our family, too, that they was — old Santa
Claus was come in town to leave some things for us and if papa’d go in town, he could get some Christmastime for all of us. And papa hooked up the mule and wagon. He went in town. But he told us children, said, “Now don’t ya’ll get all worked up and excited because there might not be nothing to this yarn that lady told.”

And–but, shucks, he hadn’t got out of sight up the lane there till we was done a-watching for him to come back. We couldn’t get our minds on nothing else, you know. And mama, she’d come to the door once in a while and say, “Now ya’ll quit that looking up the lane because papa told you there might not be nothing.” And — but long about the middle of the afternoon, well, we heared the team a-jangling harness a-coming and we ran out in the front yard, and Ernie, my little brother, called out and said, “Yonder come papa.” And here come them mules just in a big trot, you know, and papa standing upright in the bed of that wagon holding two big old chickens, all the feathers picked off. And he was just yelling, “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.” And the team stopped right in front of the gate. And all us children just went a-swarming out there like a flock of chichis, you know, and just a-crawling over that wagon and a-looking in.

And, Mister, I wish you could have seen what was in that wagon. It’s bags of stripety candy and apples and oranges and sacks of flour and some real coffee, you know, and just all tinselly and pretty and we couldn’t say nothing. Just kind of held our breath and looked at it, you know. And papa standing there just waving them two chickens, a-yelling, “Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you,” and a-laughing that big old grin on his face. And mama, she come a-hurrying out with the baby in her arms, you know. And when she looked in that wagon, she just stopped, and then papa, he dropped them two chickens and reached and caught the baby out of her arms, you know, and held him up and said, “Merry Christmas to you, Santa Claus.” And baby, little old Alvie Lee, he just laughed like he knowed it was Christmas, too, you know. And mama, she started telling us the name of all of them nuts. They wasn’t just peanuts. They was — she had names for all of them. She — mama knows a heap of things like that. She’d seen that stuff before, you know? And we was, all of us, just a-chattering and a-going on at the same time, us young’uns, a-looking in there.

And all of a sudden, we heared papa call out, “Merry Christmas to you, Sam Jackson.” And we stopped and looked. And here comes Sam Jackson a-leading that old cripple-legged mule of his up the lane. And papa said, “Sam Jackson, did you get in town to get some Christmas this year?” Sam Jackson, you know, he sharecrops over there across the creek from our place. And he shook his head and said, “Well, no, sir, Mister. Well, I didn’t go in town. I heared about that, but I didn’t know it was for colored folks, too. I thought it was just for you white families.” All of a sudden, none of us children were saying nothing. Papa, he looked down at mama and mama looked up at him and they didn’t say nothing, like they don’t a heap of times, but they know what the other one’s a-thinking. They’re like that, you know. And all of a sudden, papa, he broke out in a big grin again. He said, “Dad-blame-it, Sam Jackson, it’s a sure a good thing you come by here. Lord have mercy, I liked to forgot. Old Santa Claus would have me in court if he heared about this. The last thing he asked me if I lived out here near you. Said he hadn’t seen you around and said he wanted me to bring part of this out here to you and your family, your woman and your children.”

Well, sir, Sam Jackson, he broke out in a big grin. Papa says, “I’ll tell you what to do. You get your wife and children and you come down here tomorrow morning. It’s going to be Christmastime all day long. Come early and stay late.” Sam Jackson said, “You reckon?” And mama called out to him and said, “Yes, and you tell your wife to be sure and bring some pots and pans because we’re going to have a heap of cookin’ to do and I ain’t sure I’ve got enough to take care of all of it.” Well, sir, old Sam Jackson, he started off a-leading that mule up the lane in a full trot, you know, and he was a-heading home to get the word to his folks and his children, you know.

And next morning, it just — you remember how it was yesterday morning, just rosy red and looked like Christmastime. It was cold, but you didn’t notice the cold, you know, when the sun just come up, just all rosy red. And us young’uns were all out of bed before daylight seemed like, just running in the kitchen and smelling and looking. And it was all there sure enough. And here come Sam Jackson and his team and his wife and his five young’uns in there. And they’s all lookin’ over the edge. And we run out and yelled, “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.” And papa said, “Christmas gift to you, Sam Jackson. Ya’ll come on in.” And they come in and mama and Sister Jackson, they got in the kitchen and they started a-cooking things up. And us young’uns started playing Christmastime. And it’s a lot of fun, you know. We’d just play Christmas Gift with one another and run around and around the house and just roll in the dirt, you know, and then we started playing Go Up To The Kitchen Door And Smell. And we’d run up and smell inside that kitchen door where mama and Sister Jackson was a-cooking at, and then we’d just die laughing and roll in the dirt, you know, and go chasing around and playing Christmas Gift.

And we played Christmastime till we just wore ourselves out. And papa and Sam Jackson–they put a table up and put some sheets over it, some boards up over some sawhorses. And everybody had a place, even the baby. And mama and Sister Jackson said, “Well, now it’s ready to come on in. We’re going to have Christmas dinner.” And I sit right next to Willy Jackson, you know, and he just rolled his eyes at me and I’d roll mine at him. And we’d just die laughing, you know, and there was an apple and an orange and some stripety candy at everybody’s place. And that was just dessert, see. That wasn’t the real Christmas dinner. Mama and them had done cooked that up. And they just had it spread up and down the table.

And so papa and Sam Jackson, they’d been sitting on the front porch and they come in. Papa, he sit at one end of the table, Sam Jackson sit at the other. And it was just a beautiful table like you never had seen. And I didn’t know nothing could ever look like that and smell that good, you know. And Sam Jackson, you know, he’s real black and he had on that white clean shirt of his and then them overalls. Everything had been washed and was real clean. Papa, he said, “Brother Jackson, I believe you’re a deacon in the church. I ain’t much of a church man myself, but I believe you’re a deacon. Maybe you’d be willing to give grace.”

Well, Sam Jackson, he stood up there and his hands is real big and he kind of held onto the side of the table, you know. But he didn’t bow his head like a heap of folks do when they’re saying the blessing. He just looked up and smiled. And he said, “Lord, I hope you having as nice a Christmas up there with your angels as we’re having down here because it sure is Christmastime down here. And I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you, Lord.

Like I say, Mister, I believe that was the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States of America.”‘

I wish you and yours a peaceful, joyous, loving holiday!

Shanti,

~~~ Ron
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