Kindness

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

- Aesop

Have you ever received a smile when you were feeling down? Perhaps it was nothing more than a stranger passing you in a shop somewhere, but inside it made you feel just a little better.

Kindness is just that type of infection that grows and grows the more we nurture it. It is so terribly easy to ignore the wants and needs of others or to lose ourselves with our own preoccupations. When we look beyond our own troubles and do something kind, no matter how small, we are helping someone else to also forget their troubles for just a moment and build a little more peace on the planet.

Chickens

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

-Aesop

So many times, especially these days we look to the future, counting on returns that we may never see. The state of the current economy should teach us this lesson all over again, though in all likelihood the majority of us will forget these lessons all too soon.

As we look to the future, it is generally good to keep a positive disposition. However a dose of reality can keep us from unhappiness. Spending money we have not earned, especially buying on credit is one of those dangers that we should heartily avoid wherever possible.

Aesop

Any excuse will serve a tyrant.

-Aesop


How often in our own lives do we seek to dominate those around us? Our spouse? Our children? Our co-workers?

All too often the excuses we offer for our poor behavior are little more than flimsy veils to pad our own conscience while we endulge ourselves in domineering activities that have no place in a civilized society.

I look in the mirror and see in myself the opportunity to become a better person.