December 14, 2012

Healthy Writer's Club: Tis The Season

Tis the season for giving, so today I thought I'd share
about someone who really knew what "giving" meant.

(And yes, yes I am avoiding the whole physical health aspect of the Healthy Writer's Club.
I may just procrastinate until after the first of the year).

So today is Inspiration Day!


Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Mother Teresa
Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Humanitarian
1910 - 1997

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.
~Mother Teresa

Agnes Gonhxa Bojaxhiu decided at age 12 that her future was as a missionary. She left her native Macedonia to train first in Ireland and then went to India where, in 1950, she started her own Order. Through her tireless work in Calcutta, her mission grew to more than 400 sisters in 123 countries, establishing orphanages, homes for lepers, the cripples, those with HIV/AIDS and many more.
~Women Who Dared by Evelyn Beilenson and Lois Kaufman.

I know from reading her biography that Mother Teresa suffered from bipolar and it seemed like she was in agony every day and even struggled with her faith. But her dedication to the down-trodden never waivered. That is true giving.

I am humbled.
I will never be like her, but I can be inspired by her
and pray that just a little of her humanity will rub off on me.

I didn't get my calling until late in life.

Can you imagine getting a calling such as hers at such an early age?

 
When did you get your calling?

December 7, 2012

Healthy Writer's Club: The Love Doctor

Thank you Shallee McArthur for hosting!


My butt has been in a chair all week and it barely moved. I had great intentions. I really did. I went for a couple of walks with the dogs, but that's about it. I guess this is where I should start making excuses, right? Well, you've already heard them all, I'm sure, so I'll move on.

Have you ever heard of Leo Buscaglia? He wrote many books on love. In fact, he was called the Love Doctor and even taught a very popular non-credit class called Love 1A at USC. Strange, huh? And yet he had students clamoring to take his class.

I've read most of his books and am always inspired by what he had to say. Check this out:

You know, I love to walk in an elevator and turn around with my back to the door! And I look at everybody and I say, "Hi! Wouldn't it be marvelous if the elevator got stuck and we could all get to know each other?" And then an incredible thing happens. The door opens on the next floor and everybody gets off! "There's a crazy man in the elevator. He wants to know us!"
Leo F. Buscaglia, Ph.D

I probably would have been the first person out of that elevator, I'm not gonna lie! But he had a point. Six people ride in an elevator and don't speak, eyes up front. One person gets off, another gets on, turns around with eyes up front. Like Zombies.

I'm sure we're missing out on knowing a lot of awesome people because we distance ourselves. And I'm the worst. I'm quiet and introverted. But I'm working on it.

What are you working on?