"All glory comes from daring to begin." - Eugene F Ware

Today is the first day of the second month of 2012.

So how is it going?

Is the New Year resolution still going well or has it fallen by the wayside?

Do you have a dream for 2012 and if so what have you done to bring it closer?

If 2012 is not going how you want it to go give yourself permission to start the New Year again today. Set the dream and being. Take that first small step that will bring the dream closer.

Thought of the day 02/02/2012

"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got." - Janis Joplin

Who is going to respect you if you do not respect yourself? If you stand up for your beliefs and do as you say then respect will come,

Thought of the day 03/02/2012

"What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do." - Aristotle

We all have free will, which cannot be taken always from us. We choose what we do and what we do not do. What will you choose to do today?

Thought of the day 04/02/2012

"Believe that life is worth living and your belief will create the fact. Be not afraid to live." - William James

Today is world Cancer day

World Cancer Day 2012 has been themed 'Together it is possible' because it is only by every person, organisation, government individually doing their part that the world will be able to reduce premature deaths from cancer and other NCDs by 25% by 2025.

I would like to mention the work of Dr. David Spiegel and Dr. Lawrence LeShan

In the paper "PSYCHOSOCIAL TREATMENT EFFECTS ON CANCER SURVIVAL" Dr. David Spiegel looked at how the treatment of cancer patients affected their survival rates over ten years.

The study looked at 125 patients with metastasis breast cancer. Half of the study group attended a weekly supportive/expressive group therapy session for a year. Within the supportive/expressive group therapy sessions hypnosis was used.

The group attending the supportive/expressive group therapy sessions survived on average 18 months longer than the control group

Dr. Lawrence LeShan, a clinical psychologist, has spent over thirty years working with cancer patients to promote healing and well-being. He asks the patients to consider life in a new way. Rather then asking, "What is wrong with me?" he gets the patient to ask, "What is right within me?" This leads to the question "What brings me joy and a sense of purpose in my life?" To find out more read Dr. Lawrence LeShan's book "Cancer as a Turning Point"

Thought of the day 05/02/2012

"Advice is like snow --- the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Thought of the day 06/02/2012

"All successful men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose." - Brian Tracy

The Birmingham campaign was part of the civil rights movement in America. Martin Luther King had studied the work of Mahatma Gandhi. Both their protests had a set of clear goals to bring about change

The Birmingham campaign is a good example of this. Martin Luther King said "The purpose of ... direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation". Birmingham had some of the strictest segregation policies in America. A non-white person could be arrested for walking on the wrong side of the street. So each day a group of non whites would go and stand on the wrong side of the street with the goal of getting arrested. This seems an odd goal but the bigger goal was to fill the jails in Birmingham. This also seems an odd goal. However, this led to prisoners being moved to jails in the North where there were no segregation laws. This led to the North applying pressure on Birmingham to change the segregation law. This is a rather simplified outline of Martin Luther King plan but it shows if every action has a clear goal that all lead to a much larger goal anything is possible.

So are all your actions aligned to a single goal or are some or your actions self-defeating?

Thought of the day 07/02/2012

"Men build too many walls and not enough bridges." - Isaac Newton

We have all fallen out with people in the past. We have all built walls. Maybe today is the day to try and build a bridge. Why today? Well for no other reason then it is my Birthday!

Thought of the day 08/02/2012

"What was done in the past is done, and it is over now. But this is present time, and you now have the opportunity to treat yourself the way you wish to be treated."  - Louise Hay

Are you still carrying baggage from the past? Is it not time to put it back in the past where it belongs? Be kind to yourself and start treating yourself how you wish others to treat you. Leave the past in the past and be positive about the future.

Thought of the day 09/02/2012

"When a thing has been said, and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it." - Anatole France

Do I need to add anything to this? Thought of the day is all about using what others have said to get you to thing positively about the future. They normally do it so much better then I ever could.

Thought of the day 10/02/2012

"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes." - Sir Winston Churchill

Never judge a comment by your view of the person saying it. The wisest person can say foolish things and a fool can say the wisest things. So always look at what has been said and not who has said it.

Thought of the day 11/02/2012

"Life appears to me to be too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrong." - Charlotte Brontė

Forgive and forget. Most of the time when you fallout or get angry with someone, it is not the person you are angry with but some part of you. A part of you that is holding a memory from the past. Resolve the past memory, then forgive the person and move on.

If you keep falling out with people over time keeping then what is it about time that is important to you?

If you keep falling out with people who are untidy then what is it about tidiness that is important to you?

If you keep falling out with people who let you down then what is it about being let down that is important to you?

What do you fall out with people most over? Is that telling you something about yourself you need to address?

Thought of the day 12/02/2012

"Failing to plan is planning to fail." - Effie Jones

Thought of the day 13/02/2012

"Half the failures of this world arise from pulling in one's horse as he is leaping." - Augustus Hare

At what point to do you give in? At what point do you let fear get the better of you?
They say the night is darkest just before dawn. So most of the time, it's when things seem most hopeless and fear kicks in, when you must have courage and make one last brave push to reach your goal.

Thought of the day 14/02/2012

"Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable." - Mohandas K. Gandhi

Today is as good as any to spread a little love!

Thought of the day 15/02/2012

"The inability to forget is infinitely more devastating than the inability to remember," - Mark Twain

So how long are you going to hold the grudge?
How long are you going to believe the negative statements the teachers told you at school?

How long are you going to dwell on the unhappy event that happened long ago?

To move on we must let go of the past.

Thought of the day 16/02/2012

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." - Robert F Kennedy

I used to work in IT and we said the only way to keep a system completely safe was to not turn it on. The only way not to fail is to not try anything. To achieve you have to take risks. The more you are willing to risk the greater the reward for success will be.

What are you willing to risk? You have a life, now it's time to live it.

Thought of the day 17/02/2012

"A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large." - Henry Ford

If you give perfect service people will come back. Give bad service and people will stay away. So get your product right and then focus on service. Treat your clients like you would like to be treated and they will come back.

Thought of the day 18/02/2012

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood." - Tom Robbins

The past is just a memory. You can choose to view that memory however you want to. There are probably as many happy memories as there are bad memories. So which memories are you going to focus on?

If you have to focus on the negative then I suggest you have a second childhood. Who says we have to be grown up all the time? This weekend be a little childish. Go and have fun with simple childish pleasures.

Thought of the day 19/02/2012

"Wonder, rather than doubt, is the root of knowledge." - Abraham Joshua Heschel