Russ Towne's A Grateful Man

“The word crisis- is from the Greek, meaning a moment to decide.- The recurrent moments of crisis and decision when understood, are growth junctures, points of initiation which mark a release from one state of being and a growth into the next”.

~ Jill Purce

“Poor Old fool,” thought the gentleman as he watched an old man trying to fish in a puddle of water outside of the bar.

He decided to invite the old man inside for a drink. As they sipped their whiskeys, the gentleman thought he’d humor the old man and asked, “So how many have you caught so far?”

The old man replied, “You’re the eighth today.”

Teacher: Whoever answers my next question, can go home.

One boy throws his bag out the window.

Teacher: Who just threw that?

Boy: Me and I’m going home now.

A company owner was asked a question, “How do you motivate your employees to be so punctual?”

He smiled & replied, “It’s simple. I have 30 employees and 29 free parking spaces. One is paid parking.”

Justine Waddell by Vincent Van Gogh

Whoever loves much, performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Vincent Van Gogh

Love is a word we don’t always feel comfortable using in North America. It’s a word that is limited to how we feel about our lover or our family. To use the word love with any other person can be awkward at best.

Sure we use it as in loving humankind or nature or science or a cause or for activities like bowling, cycling, reading, running, or whatever you love to do. But you won’t catch us referencing it about the letter carrier, a co-worker or neighbor.

And that’s too bad really.

Because even if you have a degree, or years of experience, or you can do whatever it is you do while blindfolded with your hands tied behind your back, it’s just a lot of noise if…

we stopped  to listen to an ensemble of young girls

playing lovely music at the weekend farmer’s market.

their teacher said they were in the 8th grade

where everyone is asked

to contribute something to the community.

these girls chose to offer what they had to give –

their natural gift of music.

they had to organize the day

 by asking permission to play somewhere

finding transportation

planning what to wear

being  on time

introducing themselves

and

remembering their music and instruments.

all of the money they earned

from passers-by

went to a local charity.

it was a beautiful lesson.

—

“music is the movement of sound

to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.”

– plato 

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

Mark Twain

We’ve been told that we should pursue our purpose.

But what if you don’t know what your purpose is?

I had dinner with an old friend last night to celebrate her newly acquired PhD. I’m proud of her, it’s been a long time coming!

This is an exciting time for her, but now what? Now that it’s done she wonders what she should do next; realizing she is no longer happy in her current job.

A job that I once had came up in the conversation. It was my first position after having left a career I had loved. I soon knew that this new position wasn’t the job for me. But having signed a contract I stayed for a year, all the while learning important skills I would need when I launched