Something Inspiring...

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Article was originally written by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated

As a Man Thinketh

Some inspiring quotes from James Allen :

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not remain so if you only perceive an ideal and strive to reach it. You can't travel within and stand still without. Here is a youth hard pressed by poverty and labor. Confined long hours in an unhealthy workshop; unschooled and lacking all the arts of refinement. But he dreams of better things. He thinks of intelligence, or refinement, of grace and beauty. He conceives of, mentally builds up, an ideal condition of life. The wider liberty and a larger scope takes possession of him; unrest urges him to action, and he uses all his spare times and means to the development of his latent powers and resources. Very soon so altered has his mind become that the workshop can no longer hold him. It has become so out of harmony with his mind-set that it falls out of his life as a garment is cast aside. And with the growth of opportunities that fit the scope of his expanding powers, he passes out of it altogether. Years later we see this youth as a grown man. We find him a master of certain forces of the mind that he wields with world-wide influence and almost unequaled power. In his hands he holds the cords of gigantic responsibilities; he speaks and lives are changed; men and women hang upon his words and remold their characters. Sun-like, he becomes the fixed and luminous center around which innumerable destinies revolve. He has become the vision of his youth. He has become one with his ideal.

:
Tempest-tossed souls, wherever you may be, under whatever conditions you may live, know this: In the ocean of life the isles of blessedness are smiling and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming. Keep your hands firmly upon the helm of thought. In the core of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, "Peace. Be still."

:
The weakest soul knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth--that strength can only be developed by effort and practice--will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself. And, adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop and will at last grow divinely strong.

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself


To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

Just Get Started!

You do not have to know everything to get going. Just get into the game.You will learn by doing. Stop being the spectator and get on to the court. Its a lot of fun as well as hard work.

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. Ray Bradbury, author

Quit waiting for things to be perfect.

Too many of us wait to do the perfect thing, with the result we do nothing. The way to get ahead is to start now. While many of us are waiting until conditions are “just right” before we go ahead, others are stumbling along, fortunately ignorant of the dangers that beset them. By the time we are, in our superior wisdom, decided to make a start, we discover that those who have gone fearlessly on before, have, in their blundering way, traveled a considerable distance. If you start now, you will know a lot next year that you don’t know now, and that you will not know next year, if you wait.
- The William Feather Magazine


As Ray Kroc , founder of McDonald's said, there are three keys to success :

1. Being at the right place at the right time

2. Knowing you are there

3. Taking action

Maximize your Life

Insist on getting the maximum that an activity or action has the capacity to give you whether it be an effort, an opportunity, a day, a dollar, or a relationship.

Demand the highest standards and insist on only the best. Know who you are and what you want and stay focused. Along the way there will be many distractions, small and big to divert you and test you. There will be brick walls to see how badly you want something but as long as you know where you are going the roadblocks will only be temporary.

Radiate happiness and joy

You can be, do, have anything you want. Give love to everyone you meet , only do what gives you joy, and things and people wil become attracted towards you like a magnet all conspiring to make your dreams a reality. Whatever you ask for is already there , you just need to manifest it and that is through your actions. Thoughts are things. Your thoughts create your feelings which in turn will translate into action. So be mindful of what you are thinking. Monitor your thoughts constantly and shun any trace of negativity. When you focus on what you want and not on what you don't want all the forces will be unleashed to make your dream a reality.

Whether it is your dream home, or you dream partner, or your children getting top grades , or earning a fantastic living doing what you love to do, or being radiantly healthy you can have it all. You just need to make the decision and then committ yourself to action. Small steps on a daily basis working towards your life goals will eventually get you there. Think what you can accomplish in five years, ten years, twenty years or even thirty years. The sky is your limit and the world really is your oyster. This magnificent universe is full of abundance so claim your share in it. Remember that God wants you to have what your heart desires.

The first step you can take is to express your gratitude to your Creator who has already given you so much. You are already wealthy except that you do not know it and God wants to shower you with more blessings , wealth , health and happiness.

The secret is in being , being the person that God wants you to be . We tend to look at life in the wrong order. We think that if we had lots of money then we can do whatever we want and then we will be happy. In fact it works the other way round. You have to be first , then do, then have . If you work on being the wonderful human being that you really are and cast off all the grime that has gathered around you over the years through limiitng beliefs and needless baggage you can now shed it to reveal the true diamond that you really are. Or think of yourself as the perfect sculpture like Michaelangelo whom David sculpted to bring to the world the beautiful piece of art that was always there in the stone.

Act as if. If you want the perfect relationship , then imagine that you are already in the perfect relationship and he or she is already in your life. If you want financial freedom act as if you already have enormous wealth. Never use phrases such as 'I can't afford...'

Set yourself a goal that YOU believe you can achieve. The motivational speaker, Jack Canfield set himself a goal of earning $100,000 by the end of the year after attending seminar given by W. Stone. He was onl earning $8000 per annum as a teacher but he set himeself this huge goal to see if it works. After four weeks he got his first idea to make the $100,000 . He had written a book and he thought to himself that if he could sell it to enough people he could reach his target. At the end of the year he made $92,000 and combined with his teacher's salary it amounted to $100,000.

Seek and you shall find. Ask and it will be given.

Live your life form the future backwards.

Expanding Horizons

Expanding horizon, expanding possibilities. I could add the words of TS Eliot about seeing with new eyes and having arrived at the place we already know but I will not dwell on that as it has been covered extensively in other books and websites.

Reading is extremely important and not only in your own field but try to read on a wide range of genres. Read magazines, read books , listen to audio tapes, attend courses, attend events, don't miss out on anything.

Make it a year in which you decide to be extraordinary and you will be amazed at the momentum you create and the extraordinary people you draw into your life and at the end of it unable to believe thatyou really did do all that and towards the end of the year when anyone asks you how was your year , you can relply 'I was truly on fire!'

Committment is important, and once you make the decision to committ all these synchronicities will occurr which will drive you to unprecedented directions.

I should know - I remember specifically two years in which I really was on fire. Six years ago, in January I started volunteering. I joined as a volunteer teacher in a supplementary school which ran in a community centre on Saturdays helping children from disdvantaged immigrant communities with their homework as they were more likely to come from homes where the parents did not know much English. These classes ran from ten o clock in the morning to about one thirty in the afternoon. I received tremendous satisfaction from being with the children but the greatest benefit i derived was that it opened up a new world for me in which I met some extraordinary people who were to become very close friends.

Wouldn't it be great if at the end of every year we can look back and say 'Boy , was I on fire again!'