“The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.” - Barbara Pletcher
 
Where are your expectations leading you?

Helping Hands
 
A mother, wishing to encourage her son's progress at the piano, bought tickets to a performance by the great Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski. When the evening arrived, they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on the stage. Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away.
At eight o'clock, the lights in the auditorium began to dim, the spotlights came on, and only then did they notice the boy - up on the piano bench, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." His mother gasped in shock and embarrassment but, before she could retrieve her son, the master himself appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard.
He whispered gently to the boy, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side and improvised a delightful obligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized with their blended and beautiful music.
In all our lives, we receive helping hands - some we notice, some we don't. Equally we ourselves have countless opportunities to provide helping hands - sometimes we would like our assistance to be noticed, sometimes we don't. Little of what we all achieve is without learning from others and without support from others and what we receive we should hand out.
 
www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/stories.

“If you want to look good in front of thousands, you have to outwork thousands in front of nobody.” - Arizona Newsletter
 
Who will you outwork today?

“When he took time to help the man up the mountain, lo, he scaled it himself.” - Tibetan Proverb
 
How are you getting to the top?

“The path of least resistance is often the path of the loser.” - H. G. Wells
 
Where is your path taking you?

“It is not death that a person should fear, but they should fear never beginning to live.” - Marcus Aurelius
 
Have you begun to live your life?

"The search for truth is, as it always has been, the noblest expression of the human spirit. Man's insatiable desire for knowledge about himself, about his environment and the forces by which he is surrounded, gives life its meaning and purpose, and clothes it with final dignity... And yet we know, deep in our hearts, that knowledge is not enough... Unless we can anchor our knowledge to moral purposes, the ultimate result will be dust and ashes - dust and ashes that will bury the hopes and monuments of men beyond recovery." - Raymond B. Fosdick,  1883-1972

“A successful person is not one who has found the right set of circumstances, but rather one who has developed the right set of attitudes.” - Dick DeVenzio
 
Do you have the right attitude to be successful?

“Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.” - Jerry Wainwright
 
Can you see the good that could come out of a bad situation? 

“Few men are of one plain, decided color; most are mixed, shaded, and blended; and vary as much, from different situations, as changeable silks do from different lights.” - Lord Chesterton
 
How has life blended you to achieve your goals?