MORE STORIES OF LIFE AND LAUGHTER BY FR. BEL SAN LUIS, SVD

• We don't always know what God's plans are for us, we just know that his ways are not our ways, but his ways are always the best.

• Success in marriage is more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person.

• God is not hard on the sinner, but he will be stern to the person who makes it easier for another to sin.

ON EAGLE'S WINGS: GOD-TALES FOR YOUNG AND OLD by Nil Guillemette

• Where there is no risk, there is no gain.

• Coincidence is really a small miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous.

• Pray for 3 graces:

1. Courage in adversity.
2. Humility in prosperity.
3. Trust that God will give just the right amount of both.

• God can always make a masterpiece of our lives, whatever defects and flaws they might have, provided we offer Him these flaws and let Him work on them in His own mysterious way.

BEING HAPPY: A HANDBOOK TO GREATER CONFIDENCE AND SECURITY by Andrew Matthews

This book offers ideas to improve our self-image, because our self image determines how much we like living in the world and exactly how much we will accomplish in life.

To boost the way you feel about yourself, you need to:

1) Accept compliments.  Say thank you to a compliment, we don't have to be perfect to accept a compliment with a graceful thank you.

2) Give compliments.

3) Always speak well of yourself.

4) Praise yourself when you do something right.

5) Separate your behavior from yourself.  If you do something silly, it doesn't make you a bad person, you simply made a mistake.

6) Treat your body well.  Think healthy, happy thoughts.  The "disease of the mind" becomes the "disease of the body".

7) Let people know how you expect to be treated.

8) Get around good people.  If you are serious about changing your life, get serious about changing what sorrounds you.

9) Read books which give you ideas and inspirations.

Remember:
"Today's efforts create tomorrow's results.  Whatever you will be experiencing in your next ten or twenty years will be influenced by what you do today."

LIFE STRATEGIES: DOING WHAT WORKS, DOING WHAT MATTERS by Phillip C. McGraw

This book teaches 10 laws that could be a helpful guide in life.  The message in general is for a person to take full and conscious ownership of his/her actions.     

The following are the life laws in the book:

Life Law 1: YOU EITHER GET IT, OR YOU DON'T

This reminds that you have to make a plan and work the plan. Life is not a dress rehearsal.

Life Law 2: YOU CREATE YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE

This tells you to acknowledge and accept accountability for your life.

Life Law 3: PEOPLE DO WHAT WORKS

To analyze why you act a certain way, you have to determine the payoffs that elicit and sustain the behavior.

Life Law No. 4: YOU CAN'T CHANGE WHAT YOU DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE

When you see the world like a censored letter, with 50% of the of the word cut out, you are living a fantasy.  You need to get real with yourself about your life and everybody in it.

Life Law No. 5: LIFE REWARDS ACTION

You have to be committed, do what it takes, and you will have what you want.  The difference between losers and winners is that winners do things losers don't want to do.

Life Law No. 6: THERE IS NO REALITY, ONLY PERCEPTION

You only know and experience this life through the meaning that you assign to it, thus you should identify the filters through which you view the world.

Life Law No. 7: LIFE IS MANAGED; IT IS NOT CURED

If you continue to do what you've always done, you will continue to have what you've always had. If you do different, you will have different.

Life Law No. 8: WE TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO TREAT US

This tells you to own, rather than complain about, how people treat you.

Life Law No. 9: THERE IS POWER IN FORGIVENESS

The power of forgiveness is the power to set yourself free from the bonds of hatred, anger and resentment.

Life Law No. 10: YOU HAVE TO NAME IT TO CLAIM IT

Indecision creates inaction, inaction leads to results you do not want.  You should be clear about what you want and take action.

The book further teaches that willpower is unreliable emotional fuel as it is only "temporary".  The only way to guarantee forward movement during down times is to design a solid strategic plan that sustains your commitment in the absence of emotional energy.