Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
As I grow older I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
What Poker Taught Tony Hsieh About Business
I noticed so many similarities between poker and business that I started making a list of the lessons I learned from playing poker that could also be applied to business:
Evaluating Market Opportunities
- Table selection is the most important decision you can make.
- It’s okay to switch tables if you discover it’s too hard to win at your table.
- If there are too many competitors (some irrational or inexperienced), even if you’re the best it’s a lot harder to win.
Marketing and Branding
- Act weak when strong, act strong when weak. Know when to bluff.
- Your “brand” is important.
- Help shape the stories that people are telling about you.
Financials
- Always be prepared for the worst possible scenario.
- The guy who wins the most hands is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
- The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
- Go for positive expected value, not what’s least risky.
- Make sure your bankroll is large enough for the game you’re playing and the risks you’re taking.
- Play only with what you can afford to lose.
- Remember that it’s a long-term game. You will win or lose individual hands or sessions, but it’s what happens in the long term that matters.
Strategy
- Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.
- Figure out the game when the stakes aren’t high.
- Don’t cheat. Cheaters never win in the long run.
- Stick to your principles.
- You need to adjust your style of play throughout the night as the dynamics of the game change. Be flexible.
- Be patient and think long-term.
- The players with the most stamina and focus usually win.
- Differentiate yourself. Do the opposite of what the rest of the table is doing.
- Hope is not a good plan.
- Don’t let yourself go “on tilt.” It’s much more cost-effective to take a break, walk around, or leave the game for the night.
Continual Learning
- Educate yourself. Read books and learn from others who have done it before.
- Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.
- Learn by surrounding yourself with talented players.
- Just because you win a hand doesn’t mean you’re good and you don’t have more learning to do. You might have just gotten lucky.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for advice.
Culture
- You’ve gotta love the game. To become really good, you need to live it and sleep it.
- Don’t be cocky. Don’t be flashy. There’s always someone better than you.
- Be nice and make friends. It’s a small community.
- Share what you’ve learned with others.
- Look for opportunities beyond just the game you sat down to play. You never know who you’re going to meet, including new friends for life or new business contacts.
- Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re trying to do more than just make money.
Aside from remembering to focus on what’s best for the long term, I think the biggest business lesson I learned from poker concerned the most important decision you can make in the game. Although it seems obvious in retrospect, it took me six months before I finally figured it out.
Through reading poker books and practicing by playing, I spent a lot of time learning about the best strategy to play once I was actually sitting down at a table. My big “ah-ha!” moment came when I finally learned that the game started even before I sat down in a seat.
In a poker room at a casino, there are usually many different choices of tables. Each table has different stakes, different players, and different dynamics that change as the players come and go, and as players get excited, upset, or tired.
I learned that the most important decision I could make was which table to sit at. This included knowing when to change tables. I learned from a book that an experienced player can make ten times as much money sitting at a table with nine mediocre players who are tired and have a lot of chips compared with sitting at a table with nine really good players who are focused and don’t have that many chips in front of them.
In business, one of the most important decisions for an entrepreneur or a CEO to make is what business to be in. It doesn’t matter how flawlessly a business is executed if it’s the wrong business or if it’s in too small a market.
Imagine if you were the most efficient manufacturer of seven-fingered gloves. You offer the best selection, the best service, and the best prices for seven-fingered gloves–but if there isn’t a big enough market for what you sell, you won’t get very far.
Or, if you decide to start a business that competes directly against really experienced competitors such as Wal-Mart by playing the same game they play (for example, trying to sell the same goods at lower prices), then chances are that you will go out of business.
In a poker room, I could only choose which table I wanted to sit at. But in business, I realized that I didn’t have to sit at an existing table. I could define my own, or make the one that I was already at even bigger. (Or, just like in a poker room, I could always choose to change tables.)
I realized that, whatever the vision was for any business, there was always a bigger vision that could make the table bigger.
Evaluating Market Opportunities
- Table selection is the most important decision you can make.
- It’s okay to switch tables if you discover it’s too hard to win at your table.
- If there are too many competitors (some irrational or inexperienced), even if you’re the best it’s a lot harder to win.
Marketing and Branding
- Act weak when strong, act strong when weak. Know when to bluff.
- Your “brand” is important.
- Help shape the stories that people are telling about you.
Financials
- Always be prepared for the worst possible scenario.
- The guy who wins the most hands is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
- The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
- Go for positive expected value, not what’s least risky.
- Make sure your bankroll is large enough for the game you’re playing and the risks you’re taking.
- Play only with what you can afford to lose.
- Remember that it’s a long-term game. You will win or lose individual hands or sessions, but it’s what happens in the long term that matters.
Strategy
- Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.
- Figure out the game when the stakes aren’t high.
- Don’t cheat. Cheaters never win in the long run.
- Stick to your principles.
- You need to adjust your style of play throughout the night as the dynamics of the game change. Be flexible.
- Be patient and think long-term.
- The players with the most stamina and focus usually win.
- Differentiate yourself. Do the opposite of what the rest of the table is doing.
- Hope is not a good plan.
- Don’t let yourself go “on tilt.” It’s much more cost-effective to take a break, walk around, or leave the game for the night.
Continual Learning
- Educate yourself. Read books and learn from others who have done it before.
- Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.
- Learn by surrounding yourself with talented players.
- Just because you win a hand doesn’t mean you’re good and you don’t have more learning to do. You might have just gotten lucky.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for advice.
Culture
- You’ve gotta love the game. To become really good, you need to live it and sleep it.
- Don’t be cocky. Don’t be flashy. There’s always someone better than you.
- Be nice and make friends. It’s a small community.
- Share what you’ve learned with others.
- Look for opportunities beyond just the game you sat down to play. You never know who you’re going to meet, including new friends for life or new business contacts.
- Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re trying to do more than just make money.
Aside from remembering to focus on what’s best for the long term, I think the biggest business lesson I learned from poker concerned the most important decision you can make in the game. Although it seems obvious in retrospect, it took me six months before I finally figured it out.
Through reading poker books and practicing by playing, I spent a lot of time learning about the best strategy to play once I was actually sitting down at a table. My big “ah-ha!” moment came when I finally learned that the game started even before I sat down in a seat.
In a poker room at a casino, there are usually many different choices of tables. Each table has different stakes, different players, and different dynamics that change as the players come and go, and as players get excited, upset, or tired.
I learned that the most important decision I could make was which table to sit at. This included knowing when to change tables. I learned from a book that an experienced player can make ten times as much money sitting at a table with nine mediocre players who are tired and have a lot of chips compared with sitting at a table with nine really good players who are focused and don’t have that many chips in front of them.
In business, one of the most important decisions for an entrepreneur or a CEO to make is what business to be in. It doesn’t matter how flawlessly a business is executed if it’s the wrong business or if it’s in too small a market.
Imagine if you were the most efficient manufacturer of seven-fingered gloves. You offer the best selection, the best service, and the best prices for seven-fingered gloves–but if there isn’t a big enough market for what you sell, you won’t get very far.
Or, if you decide to start a business that competes directly against really experienced competitors such as Wal-Mart by playing the same game they play (for example, trying to sell the same goods at lower prices), then chances are that you will go out of business.
In a poker room, I could only choose which table I wanted to sit at. But in business, I realized that I didn’t have to sit at an existing table. I could define my own, or make the one that I was already at even bigger. (Or, just like in a poker room, I could always choose to change tables.)
I realized that, whatever the vision was for any business, there was always a bigger vision that could make the table bigger.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
5 Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires
They’re just like you. But with lots of money.
When you think “millionaire,” what image comes to mind? For many of us, it’s a flashy Wall Street banker type who flies a private jet, collects cars and lives the kind of decadent lifestyle that would make Donald Trump proud.
But many modern millionaires live in middle-class neighborhoods, work full-time and shop in discount stores like the rest of us. What motivates them isn’t material possessions but the choices that money can bring: “For the rich, it’s not about getting more stuff. It’s about having the freedom to make almost any decision you want,” says T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Wealth means you can send your child to any school or quit a job you don’t like.
According to the Spectrem Wealth Study, an annual survey of America’s wealthy, there are more people living the good life than ever before—the number of millionaires nearly doubled in the last decade. And the rich are getting richer. To make it onto the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, a mere billionaire no longer makes the cut. This year you needed a net worth of at least $1.3 billion.
If more people are getting richer than ever, why shouldn’t you be one of them? Here, five people who have at least a million dollars in liquid assets share the secrets that helped them get there.
1. Set your sights on where you’re going
Twenty years ago, Jeff Harris hardly seemed on the road to wealth. He was a college dropout who struggled to support his wife, DeAnn, and three kids, working as a grocery store clerk and at a junkyard where he melted scrap metal alongside convicts. “At times we were so broke that we washed our clothes in the bathtub because we couldn’t afford the Laundromat.” Now he’s a 49-year-old investment advisor and multimillionaire in York, South Carolina.
There was one big reason Jeff pulled ahead of the pack: He always knew he’d be rich. The reality is that 80 percent of Americans worth at least $5 million grew up in middle-class or lesser households, just like Jeff.
Wanting to be wealthy is a crucial first step. Says Eker, “The biggest obstacle to wealth is fear. People are afraid to think big, but if you think small, you’ll only achieve small things.”
It all started for Jeff when he met a stockbroker at a Christmas party. “Talking to him, it felt like discovering fire,” he says. “I started reading books about investing during my breaks at the grocery store, and I began putting $25 a month in a mutual fund.” Next he taught a class at a local community college on investing. His students became his first clients, which led to his investment practice. “There were lots of struggles,” says Jeff, “but what got me through it was believing with all my heart that I would succeed.”
2. Educate yourself
When Steve Maxwell graduated from college, he had an engineering degree and a high-tech job—but he couldn’t balance his checkbook. “I took one finance class in college but dropped it to go on a ski trip,” says the 45-year-old father of three, who lives in Windsor, Colorado. “I actually had to go to my bank and ask them to teach me how to read my statement.”
One of the biggest obstacles to making money is not understanding it: Thousands of us avoid investing because we just don’t get it. But to make money, you must be financially literate. “It bothered me that I didn’t understand this stuff,” says Steve, “so I read books and magazines about money management and investing, and I asked every financial whiz I knew to explain things to me.”
He and his wife started applying the lessons: They made a point to live below their means. They never bought on impulse, always negotiated better deals (on their cars, cable bills, furniture) and stayed in their home long after they could afford a more expensive one. They also put 20 percent of their annual salary into investments.
Within ten years, they were millionaires, and people were coming to Steve for advice. “Someone would say, ‘I need to refinance my house—what should I do?’ A lot of times, I wouldn’t know the answer, but I’d go find it and learn something in the process,” he says.
In 2003, Steve quit his job to become part owner of a company that holds personal finance seminars for employees of corporations like Wal-Mart. He also started going to real estate investment seminars, and it’s paid off: He now owns $30 million worth of investment properties, including apartment complexes, a shopping mall and a quarry.
“I was an engineer who never thought this life was possible, but all it truly takes is a little self-education,” says Steve. “You can do anything once you understand the basics.”
3. Passion pays off
In 1995, Jill Blashack Strahan and her husband were barely making ends meet. Like so many of us, Jill was eager to discover her purpose, so she splurged on a session with a life coach. “When I told her my goal was to make $30,000 a year, she said I was setting the bar too low. I needed to focus on my passion, not on the paycheck.”
Jill, who lives with her son in Alexandria, Minnesota, owned a gift basket company and earned just $15,000 a year. She noticed when she let potential buyers taste the food items, the baskets sold like crazy. Jill thought, Why not sell the food directly to customers in a fun setting?
With $6,000 in savings, a bank loan and a friend’s investment, Jill started packaging gourmet foods in a backyard shed and selling them at taste-testing parties. It wasn’t easy. “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work.”
She stuck with it, even after her husband died three years later. “I live by the law of abundance, meaning that even when there are challenges in life, I look for the win-win,” she says.
The positive attitude worked: Jill’s backyard company, Tastefully Simple, is now a direct-sales business, with $120 million in sales last year. And Jill was named one of the top 25 female business owners in North America by Fast Company magazine.
According to research by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80 percent of millionaires say they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.
4. Grow your money
Most of us know the never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. “The fastest way to get out of that pattern is to make extra money for the specific purpose of reinvesting in yourself,” says Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker. In other words, earmark some money for the sole purpose of investing it in a place where it will grow dramatically—like a business or real estate.
There are endless ways to make extra money for investing—you just have to be willing to do the work. “Everyone has a marketable skill,” says Langemeier. “When I started out, I had a tutoring business, seeing clients in the morning before work and on my lunch break.”
A little moonlighting cash really can grow into a million. Twenty-five years ago, Rick Sikorski dreamed of owning a personal training business. “I rented a tiny studio where I charged $15 an hour,” he says. When money started trickling in, he squirreled it away instead of spending it, putting it all back into the business. Rick’s 400-square-foot studio is now Fitness Together, a franchise based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with more than 360 locations worldwide. And he’s worth over $40 million.
When extra money rolls in, it’s easy to think, Now I can buy that new TV. But if you want to get rich, you need to pay yourself first, by putting money where it will work hard for you—whether that’s in your retirement fund, a side business or investments like real estate.
5. No guts, no glory
Last summer, Dave Lindahl footed the bill for 18 relatives at a fancy mansion in the Adirondacks. One night, his dad looked out at the scenery and joked, “I can’t believe we used to call you the black sheep!”
At 29, Dave was broke, living in a small apartment near Boston and wondering what to do after ten years in a local rock band. “I looked around and thought, If I don’t do something, I’ll be stuck here forever.”
He started a landscape company, buying his equipment on credit. When business literally froze over that winter, a banker friend asked if he’d like to renovate a foreclosed home. “I’m a terrible carpenter, but I needed the money, so I went to some free seminars at Home Depot and figured it out as I went,” he says.
After a few more renovations, it occurred to him: Why not buy the homes and sell them for profit? He took a risk and bought his first property. Using the proceeds, he bought another, and another. Twelve years later, he owns apartment buildings, worth $143 million, in eight states.
The Biggest Secret? Stop spending.
Every millionaire we spoke to has one thing in common: Not a single one spends needlessly. Real estate investor Dave Lindahl drives a Ford Explorer and says his middle-class neighbors would be shocked to learn how much he’s worth. Fitness mogul Rick Sikorski can’t fathom why anyone would buy bottled water. Steve Maxwell, the finance teacher, looked at a $1.5 million home but decided to buy one for half the price because “a house with double the cost wouldn’t give me double the enjoyment.”
When you think “millionaire,” what image comes to mind? For many of us, it’s a flashy Wall Street banker type who flies a private jet, collects cars and lives the kind of decadent lifestyle that would make Donald Trump proud.
But many modern millionaires live in middle-class neighborhoods, work full-time and shop in discount stores like the rest of us. What motivates them isn’t material possessions but the choices that money can bring: “For the rich, it’s not about getting more stuff. It’s about having the freedom to make almost any decision you want,” says T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Wealth means you can send your child to any school or quit a job you don’t like.
According to the Spectrem Wealth Study, an annual survey of America’s wealthy, there are more people living the good life than ever before—the number of millionaires nearly doubled in the last decade. And the rich are getting richer. To make it onto the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, a mere billionaire no longer makes the cut. This year you needed a net worth of at least $1.3 billion.
If more people are getting richer than ever, why shouldn’t you be one of them? Here, five people who have at least a million dollars in liquid assets share the secrets that helped them get there.
1. Set your sights on where you’re going
Twenty years ago, Jeff Harris hardly seemed on the road to wealth. He was a college dropout who struggled to support his wife, DeAnn, and three kids, working as a grocery store clerk and at a junkyard where he melted scrap metal alongside convicts. “At times we were so broke that we washed our clothes in the bathtub because we couldn’t afford the Laundromat.” Now he’s a 49-year-old investment advisor and multimillionaire in York, South Carolina.
There was one big reason Jeff pulled ahead of the pack: He always knew he’d be rich. The reality is that 80 percent of Americans worth at least $5 million grew up in middle-class or lesser households, just like Jeff.
Wanting to be wealthy is a crucial first step. Says Eker, “The biggest obstacle to wealth is fear. People are afraid to think big, but if you think small, you’ll only achieve small things.”
It all started for Jeff when he met a stockbroker at a Christmas party. “Talking to him, it felt like discovering fire,” he says. “I started reading books about investing during my breaks at the grocery store, and I began putting $25 a month in a mutual fund.” Next he taught a class at a local community college on investing. His students became his first clients, which led to his investment practice. “There were lots of struggles,” says Jeff, “but what got me through it was believing with all my heart that I would succeed.”
2. Educate yourself
When Steve Maxwell graduated from college, he had an engineering degree and a high-tech job—but he couldn’t balance his checkbook. “I took one finance class in college but dropped it to go on a ski trip,” says the 45-year-old father of three, who lives in Windsor, Colorado. “I actually had to go to my bank and ask them to teach me how to read my statement.”
One of the biggest obstacles to making money is not understanding it: Thousands of us avoid investing because we just don’t get it. But to make money, you must be financially literate. “It bothered me that I didn’t understand this stuff,” says Steve, “so I read books and magazines about money management and investing, and I asked every financial whiz I knew to explain things to me.”
He and his wife started applying the lessons: They made a point to live below their means. They never bought on impulse, always negotiated better deals (on their cars, cable bills, furniture) and stayed in their home long after they could afford a more expensive one. They also put 20 percent of their annual salary into investments.
Within ten years, they were millionaires, and people were coming to Steve for advice. “Someone would say, ‘I need to refinance my house—what should I do?’ A lot of times, I wouldn’t know the answer, but I’d go find it and learn something in the process,” he says.
In 2003, Steve quit his job to become part owner of a company that holds personal finance seminars for employees of corporations like Wal-Mart. He also started going to real estate investment seminars, and it’s paid off: He now owns $30 million worth of investment properties, including apartment complexes, a shopping mall and a quarry.
“I was an engineer who never thought this life was possible, but all it truly takes is a little self-education,” says Steve. “You can do anything once you understand the basics.”
3. Passion pays off
In 1995, Jill Blashack Strahan and her husband were barely making ends meet. Like so many of us, Jill was eager to discover her purpose, so she splurged on a session with a life coach. “When I told her my goal was to make $30,000 a year, she said I was setting the bar too low. I needed to focus on my passion, not on the paycheck.”
Jill, who lives with her son in Alexandria, Minnesota, owned a gift basket company and earned just $15,000 a year. She noticed when she let potential buyers taste the food items, the baskets sold like crazy. Jill thought, Why not sell the food directly to customers in a fun setting?
With $6,000 in savings, a bank loan and a friend’s investment, Jill started packaging gourmet foods in a backyard shed and selling them at taste-testing parties. It wasn’t easy. “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work.”
She stuck with it, even after her husband died three years later. “I live by the law of abundance, meaning that even when there are challenges in life, I look for the win-win,” she says.
The positive attitude worked: Jill’s backyard company, Tastefully Simple, is now a direct-sales business, with $120 million in sales last year. And Jill was named one of the top 25 female business owners in North America by Fast Company magazine.
According to research by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80 percent of millionaires say they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.
4. Grow your money
Most of us know the never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. “The fastest way to get out of that pattern is to make extra money for the specific purpose of reinvesting in yourself,” says Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker. In other words, earmark some money for the sole purpose of investing it in a place where it will grow dramatically—like a business or real estate.
There are endless ways to make extra money for investing—you just have to be willing to do the work. “Everyone has a marketable skill,” says Langemeier. “When I started out, I had a tutoring business, seeing clients in the morning before work and on my lunch break.”
A little moonlighting cash really can grow into a million. Twenty-five years ago, Rick Sikorski dreamed of owning a personal training business. “I rented a tiny studio where I charged $15 an hour,” he says. When money started trickling in, he squirreled it away instead of spending it, putting it all back into the business. Rick’s 400-square-foot studio is now Fitness Together, a franchise based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with more than 360 locations worldwide. And he’s worth over $40 million.
When extra money rolls in, it’s easy to think, Now I can buy that new TV. But if you want to get rich, you need to pay yourself first, by putting money where it will work hard for you—whether that’s in your retirement fund, a side business or investments like real estate.
5. No guts, no glory
Last summer, Dave Lindahl footed the bill for 18 relatives at a fancy mansion in the Adirondacks. One night, his dad looked out at the scenery and joked, “I can’t believe we used to call you the black sheep!”
At 29, Dave was broke, living in a small apartment near Boston and wondering what to do after ten years in a local rock band. “I looked around and thought, If I don’t do something, I’ll be stuck here forever.”
He started a landscape company, buying his equipment on credit. When business literally froze over that winter, a banker friend asked if he’d like to renovate a foreclosed home. “I’m a terrible carpenter, but I needed the money, so I went to some free seminars at Home Depot and figured it out as I went,” he says.
After a few more renovations, it occurred to him: Why not buy the homes and sell them for profit? He took a risk and bought his first property. Using the proceeds, he bought another, and another. Twelve years later, he owns apartment buildings, worth $143 million, in eight states.
The Biggest Secret? Stop spending.
Every millionaire we spoke to has one thing in common: Not a single one spends needlessly. Real estate investor Dave Lindahl drives a Ford Explorer and says his middle-class neighbors would be shocked to learn how much he’s worth. Fitness mogul Rick Sikorski can’t fathom why anyone would buy bottled water. Steve Maxwell, the finance teacher, looked at a $1.5 million home but decided to buy one for half the price because “a house with double the cost wouldn’t give me double the enjoyment.”
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I Miss My Loving Father...
Saw a great movie last night called "The Last Song". That movie reminds me of my loving father and his wisdom and kindness. I cried when I saw the movie. Any one who has a father is a beautiful thing and a simple happiness. My father means so much to me, I miss my loving father every single day. And I'm sure my father misses his only child every day from above.
Dad, I love you. I miss you so much. Can you feel my heart?
Life is hard and love is so fragile in the U.S.
Here is the story of the movie: Seventeen-year-old Veronica 'Ronnie' Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Tybee Island, Georgia. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father ...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer on Tybee Island with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church. The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story about love in its myriad forms - first love, the love between parents and children - that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that deeply felt relationships can break our hearts ...and heal them.
Monday, April 12, 2010
American Business Philosopher Jim Rohn
Change: We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.
Skills: Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.
"Don't just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it."
"Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune"
- Jim Rohn (America's foremost business philosopher)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Zappos CEO Tony - Part 2.
I like Tony, he is such a SMART man! Here are some of the funny and wise things he said:
1. Amazing sunset on Manhattan Beach, saw 2 dolphins swimming together. Asked for an encore but I don't think they could hear me.
2. Turned to give goodbye hug to a friend and almost accidentally hugged the hotel valet guy instead.
3. On plane, old man in seat next to me raised up the armrest between us. I guess he wanted to get rid of the generation gap.
4. Tried to resist but the force was strong. Accidentally walked past a Snuggie display at Walmart, had no choice but to buy one.
5. Enjoyed dinner w/ @livestrongceo. It's always inspiring talking w/ people that are trying to change the world.
6. Kind of weird to think I lost 8 pounds over the past month from diet & exercise. That's the weight of a healthy newborn baby.
7. Study finds sugar helps with making big decisions - http://bit.ly/daGSwN
8. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." -Thomas Edison
9. "A goal is a dream with a deadline." -Napoleon Hill (via @workhappynow)
10. http://twitpic.com/107eeo - After 10 years, we changed the Zappos.com home page. We just held a funeral. It will be missed. It led a happy life.
1. Amazing sunset on Manhattan Beach, saw 2 dolphins swimming together. Asked for an encore but I don't think they could hear me.
2. Turned to give goodbye hug to a friend and almost accidentally hugged the hotel valet guy instead.
3. On plane, old man in seat next to me raised up the armrest between us. I guess he wanted to get rid of the generation gap.
4. Tried to resist but the force was strong. Accidentally walked past a Snuggie display at Walmart, had no choice but to buy one.
5. Enjoyed dinner w/ @livestrongceo. It's always inspiring talking w/ people that are trying to change the world.
6. Kind of weird to think I lost 8 pounds over the past month from diet & exercise. That's the weight of a healthy newborn baby.
7. Study finds sugar helps with making big decisions - http://bit.ly/daGSwN
8. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." -Thomas Edison
9. "A goal is a dream with a deadline." -Napoleon Hill (via @workhappynow)
10. http://twitpic.com/107eeo - After 10 years, we changed the Zappos.com home page. We just held a funeral. It will be missed. It led a happy life.
Friday, February 19, 2010
I Believe...
I believe... behind every successful man there is a great woman and behind every successful woman there is a great man.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
What puts a smile on your face?
Question: Angel, what puts a smile on your face?
Answer: A lot of things can put a smile on my face. And a lot of times, it is the small things that he does for me will make me happy.
1) In big, when I see my parents (especially my loving mom who have been sacrificing her life for me) and spend my time with them, will make me truly happy.
2) If my future boyfriend care about my parents.
3) If my future boyfriend take me to vacation. I love travel especially tropical countries! :)
4) If he buy me a gift (it does not have to be expensive), the heart that counts.
5) If he open car door for me, every time. Yes, every time. I like a man who is a gentleman.
6) If he pour the tea in my tea cup in a Chinese restaurant.
7) If he buy me roses on our first date, and on every holiday (such as Valentine's day).
8) If he hug me and kiss my tears when I cry.
9) If he say "I am truly sorry" after he hurt me both intentionally and unintentionally.
10) If he write me love letters. I am a very romantic girl.
11) If he support my business. If I get married, if he allow me to have my own business, I want to be in the fashion (fine evening dress, those that you see in the upscale department stores such as Neiman Marcus) or jewelry (fine jewelry) or Skin Care / Cosmetics business.
12) If he email me or text me or call me at least once a day :)
13) If he reply to my email / text message / phone call as soon as possible.
14) If he have a romantic date with me at least once a week.
15) If he is marriage-minded and want to be a husband and father.
16) To be continued...
With a dream of love,
An angel
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
I Miss You, Dad
This song almost made me cry
I miss you, dad...
I love you more than words can say
Can you feel my heart, dad?
Hurt (lyrics)
Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face
You told me how proud you were, but I walked away
If only I knew what I know today, ooh, ooh
I would hold you in my arms, I would take the pain away
Thank you for all you've done, forgive all your mistakes
There's nothing I wouldn't do to hear your voice again
Sometimes I wanna call you but I know you won't be there
Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself by hurting you
Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit
Sometimes I just wanna hide 'cause it's you I miss
And it's so hard to say goodbye when it comes to this, ooh
Would you tell me I was wrong? Would you help me understand?
Are you looking down upon me? Are you proud of who I am?
There's nothing I wouldn't do to have just one more chance
To look into your eyes and see you looking back
Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself, oh
If I had just one more day
I would tell you how much that I've missed you
Since you've been away
Oh, it's dangerous
It's so out of line
To try and turn back time
I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself
By hurting you
I miss you, dad...
I love you more than words can say
Can you feel my heart, dad?
Hurt (lyrics)
Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face
You told me how proud you were, but I walked away
If only I knew what I know today, ooh, ooh
I would hold you in my arms, I would take the pain away
Thank you for all you've done, forgive all your mistakes
There's nothing I wouldn't do to hear your voice again
Sometimes I wanna call you but I know you won't be there
Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself by hurting you
Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit
Sometimes I just wanna hide 'cause it's you I miss
And it's so hard to say goodbye when it comes to this, ooh
Would you tell me I was wrong? Would you help me understand?
Are you looking down upon me? Are you proud of who I am?
There's nothing I wouldn't do to have just one more chance
To look into your eyes and see you looking back
Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself, oh
If I had just one more day
I would tell you how much that I've missed you
Since you've been away
Oh, it's dangerous
It's so out of line
To try and turn back time
I'm sorry for blaming you
For everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself
By hurting you
Sunday, February 14, 2010
People don't always appreciate...
Someone sent me this note today that I'd like to share it with you...
It's true Angel, sometimes life is sad and people don't always appreciate other people and what they do. That is just the way it is and you can't let it stop you or bring you down. Having lived a couple more decades than you, believe I have had my share of hardships and have seen the ugly and painful side of life. But here is what I know. What matters is the true love and connection that you make with other people. Everything else just fades away over time. The golden rule to me is be kind and love each other, everything else will take care of itself.
Very kindly,
Your friend
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Zappos CEO Tony - Part 1.
Funny and wise things read from Zappos.com CEO Tony:
1. Honorable Mention at "Technically Correct, But Not So Helpful" Awards
2. I don't like it when restaurants asking if I want my water still or sparkling. I'd rather they ask "dead or alive?"
3. I think my Christmas tree might be feeling lonely.
4. "When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself." -Wayne Dyer
5. Glad we are putting radios in our office restrooms to make things less awkward. I was uncomfortable w/ hiring bathroom DJs.
6. Late night dinner with my family. My mom just announced to the table that she was 80% vegetarian.
7. Did u know if u put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will go up&down continuously? This has been our entertainment tonight.
8. Sushi at @kerrysimon restaurant w/ family. My mom brought her own chopsticks w/ carrying case. At least she didn't bring fish.
9. Checked in. Hotel manager said "We've been expecting you Tony!" Felt special, then realized that's also known as a reservation.
10. "Every artist was first an amateur." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
1. Honorable Mention at "Technically Correct, But Not So Helpful" Awards
2. I don't like it when restaurants asking if I want my water still or sparkling. I'd rather they ask "dead or alive?"
3. I think my Christmas tree might be feeling lonely.
4. "When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself." -Wayne Dyer
5. Glad we are putting radios in our office restrooms to make things less awkward. I was uncomfortable w/ hiring bathroom DJs.
6. Late night dinner with my family. My mom just announced to the table that she was 80% vegetarian.
7. Did u know if u put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will go up&down continuously? This has been our entertainment tonight.
8. Sushi at @kerrysimon restaurant w/ family. My mom brought her own chopsticks w/ carrying case. At least she didn't bring fish.
9. Checked in. Hotel manager said "We've been expecting you Tony!" Felt special, then realized that's also known as a reservation.
10. "Every artist was first an amateur." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
French Maid
I bought a sexy set of French Maid lingerie yesterday at Victoria's Secret, and am feeling beautiful and sexy :)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Man's Love VS Woman's Love
Man’s love is of his life a thing apart;
‘Tis woman’s whole existence.
- Puccini, Madama Butterfly
‘Tis woman’s whole existence.
- Puccini, Madama Butterfly
Saturday, December 12, 2009
I Love You
I Love You
I love you
say we're together baby
you and me
I can only give my life
and show you all I am
in the breath I breathe
I will promise you my heart
and give you all you need
if it takes some time
If you tell me you don't need me anymore
that our love won't last forever
I will ask you for a chance to try again
to make our love a little better
I love you
say we're together baby
say we're together
Oh, I need you
I need you forever baby
you and me
say you hardly know
exactly who I am
so hard to understand
I know right from the start
the way I felt inside
if you read my mind
If you tell me you don't need me anymore
that our love won't last forever
I will ask you for a chance to try again
to make our love a little better
remember when you used to hold me
remember when you made me cry
you said you loved me
Oh, you did
Yes you do
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Irresistible, Sexy and Beautiful High Heels!
I love my classy, elegant and sexy new high heels! Just bought yesterday at Neiman Marcus San Francisco. They are so expensive ($761.03) but I can't help!
Monday, November 30, 2009
A Mother's Love
A Mother's Love
I have a pair of socksa very plain pair of socks
At one time, there was a hole in the toe of each sock
I almost threw them away
But my mom said, "No. I can sew them for you and you can wear them again."
I am now gazing at the sock and thinking about my mother and her love
My mother, my best friend so dear
Throughout my life she has always been near
I have a pair of socks
Every time I wear this pair of socks
I feel my mother's love...At one time, there was a hole in the toe of each sock
I almost threw them away
But my mom said, "No. I can sew them for you and you can wear them again."
My mom was born in a poor family and she has been frugal all her life
Mom added a piece of cloth to the toe of each of the torn socks and sewed themI am now gazing at the sock and thinking about my mother and her love
A mother's love is instinctual, unconditional, and forever
To a child's ear, "Mama" is magic in any languageMy mother, my best friend so dear
Throughout my life she has always been near
A tender smile to guide my way
She's the sunshine to light my dayBest friends forever, my mom and me
picking flowers and cleaning homes
a shoulder to cry on, secrets to share
Warm hearts and hands that really care
My mother's love for me
is the greatest love of my life
I love you, my dear loving mom...
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Let's Start From Here
Let's Start From Here
giving up
why should i
have come too far to forget
beautiful
just got lost
somewhere along the way
so much was missing when you went away
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance
don't think too deep
all those promises we couldn't seem to keep
I don't care where we go
let's start from here
standing here
face to face
a finger on your lips
don't say a word
don't make a sound
silence around us now
even when you were gone I felt you everywhere
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance don't think too deep
all those promises we couldn't seem to keep
I don't care where we go
let's start from here
I've never been the one to open up
but you've always been the voice within
the only one for my heart
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance
don't think too deep
and all those promises
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance don't think too deep
all those promises we couldn't seem to keep
I don't care where we go
let's start from here
giving up
why should i
have come too far to forget
beautiful
just got lost
somewhere along the way
so much was missing when you went away
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance
don't think too deep
all those promises we couldn't seem to keep
I don't care where we go
let's start from here
standing here
face to face
a finger on your lips
don't say a word
don't make a sound
silence around us now
even when you were gone I felt you everywhere
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance don't think too deep
all those promises we couldn't seem to keep
I don't care where we go
let's start from here
I've never been the one to open up
but you've always been the voice within
the only one for my heart
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance
don't think too deep
and all those promises
let's start from here
lose the past
change our minds
we don't need a finish line
let's take this chance don't think too deep
all those promises we couldn't seem to keep
I don't care where we go
let's start from here
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Respect
If you respect me, I will respect you more.
If you do not respect me, I will NOT respect you.
If you do not respect me, I will NOT respect you.
Very Good-looking EurAsian - Part 1.
1. (Picture 1-4) He’s name is Dennis Joseph O’neil. Just look at him…enough said! Haha. This hottie is a popular Korean-American model and actor who is called by Dennis O in Korea. Dennis has the best genes from both worlds and he’s the hottest eurasian man I’ve ever seen.
His Full Name: Dennis Joseph O’neil
Date of Birth: August 29, 1981
Height: 6′2″
Weight: 190 lbs
Parents: Korean mom, American dad
2. Mix and perfect match...model Michelle Lee, whose Eurasian features are of the type rated attractive by Westerners and Asians.
3. Devon Aoki is an American model and actress.
Aoki was born in New York City, New York, and grew up in California and London, attending high school at The American School in London. Her Japanese American father, Rocky Aoki, a former Olympic wrestler, was the founder and owner of the Benihana restaurant chain until his death on July 10, 2008. Her mother, Pamela Hilburger, is a jewelry designer of German and English heritage.
Aoki was discovered in New York at a Rancid concert she had gatecrashed. She started modeling when she was 13, the same year Aoki was introduced by her godmother to Kate Moss, who would later take the young Devon under her wing. She was signed onto Storm Model Management at age 14.
In 1998, at the age of 16, Devon replaced Naomi Campbell as the face of Versace. An A-grade student at school, Devon chose not to go on to college, believing that working and traveling offered her a "broader and deeper education" than a degree.
Win First, Then Fight
Military leaders, politicians and businessmen are all trying to gain an advantage over their competition and many turn to Sun Tzu’s ancient work, The Art of War. Now, for the first time ever, international renowned business speaker and bestselling author Chin-Ning Chu demonstrates how you can apply this Taoist wisdom to succeed in modern workplace.
Sun Tzu states, “Ancient warriors first place themselves in an invincible position, then wait for the opportunity to defeat their enemies.” This statement is one of the most mysterious in the entire book. Everyone has attempted to make sense of it, but few have.
By following the Master Sun’s essential elements of strategies—righteousness, timing, know thyself and others, leadership, management, the utilization of the paradoxical force of strengths versus weaknesses, assets verses liabilities, real verses unreal, innovation verses tradition—.can help you and your company transforming weaknesses into strength, raise corporate sales dollars, expand domestic and international marketing territories and guide leaders in the making of tough decision and advance in your career.
In order to achieve “Win First, Then Fight” you need to incorporate Sun Tzu’s proven winning strategic elements and a winner’s attitude that able you to effectively respond to friction during battle and everyday business challenges.
Today, you are going to discover how Master Sun’s Win First, Then Fight will alter the course of your career.
Timeless Asian Wisdom
Chin-Ning Chu—The Strategist Chin-Ning is the foremost American authority on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and author of the
international best-selling books: Do Less, Achieve More; Thick Face, Black Heart; The Asian Mind Game and The Art of War for Women with translations in
seventeen languages. She has readers and clients in over sixty countries, counting among them presidents and prime ministers, chairmen and CEOs of the international Fortune 500. Chin-Ning presents the warrior philosophy as a premier vehicle for mastering strategic thinking in the corporate world as well as daily life.She weaves the diverse elements of strength, strategy, pragmatic enterprise and personal growth into every topic she addresses. She fuses timeless Eastern wisdom with Western practicality into dynamic tools which produce tangible results for solving life’s ever-shifting challenges. Chin-Ning crisscrosses five continents as she delivers her custom-tailored speeches that raise corporate sales dollars, expand domestic and international marketing territories, and guide leaders in the making of tough decisions. She achieves a commonality among diverse cultural groups and she assists women to excel in the workplace. As an Asian-born American and a woman, Chin-Ning has learned to compete by going beyond the obvious while examining the different hues of the rainbow—turning liabilities into assets and creating strategies at will.
Her speaking style is energetic, truthful and humorous; her message—profound and thought-provoking. Chin-Ning’s work is frequently praised by diverse global media from CNN, The London Financial Times, Business Week and USA Today to the international editions of People Magazine and Vogue. Her name, "Chin-Ning" means "Journey to Peace" in Chinese. She was born in China, educated through college in Taiwan, and became a naturalized American after immigrating in 1969. She is president of Asian Marketing Consultants and Strategic Learning Institute, and the founder of Women WorldWide International.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Flattering
1. What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.
2. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
3. The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.
4. There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.
5. When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.
6. Poverty does not produce unhappiness: it produces degradation.
7. Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: life itself is the miracle of miracles.
-George Bernard Shaw
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Optimists & Pessimists
"Both optimists & pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the airplane, the pessimist the parachute."
-George Bernard Shaw
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Art of War
The Art of War
Be Persistent.
Pursue one's own strategic designs to overawe the enemy. Then one can take the enemy's cities and overthrow the state.
Pursue one's own strategic designs to overawe the enemy. Then one can take the enemy's cities and overthrow the state.
-Sun Tzu
If the sovereign heeds these strategems of mine and act upon them,
he will surely win the war,
and I will stay with him.
If the sovereign neither heeds nor acts upon them,
he will certainly suffer defeat,
and I shall leave.
-Sun Tzu
If the sovereign heeds these strategems of mine and act upon them,
he will surely win the war,
and I will stay with him.
If the sovereign neither heeds nor acts upon them,
he will certainly suffer defeat,
and I shall leave.
-Sun Tzu
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Miss Pretty Brown Eyes
A friend of mine wrote a wonderful poem for me recently. So beautiful, it melt my heart...
And here is my new picture (please click on the picture to enlarge) with my Pretty Brown Eyes...
And here is my new picture (please click on the picture to enlarge) with my Pretty Brown Eyes...
Miss Pretty Brown Eyes
There are gems that glitter,
Gems that shine,
Gems that weep and smile
And gems that sing divine.
There is one that lights up during dawn,
And flames all the way through the morn,
And then drifts across the silent sky
Waiting for the slow, long day to die.
There are moon pearls on a raven night,
And ocean gems in the watery light.
Glass kingdoms hiding in clouds of grey,
And diamonds strewn across the Milky Way.
There is a burning jewel when sunset calls,
And a thousand little more after night falls,
And none, not even the rubies in fireflies,
Can compare to those Diamonds Of yours,
Miss Pretty Brown Eyes.
My Lovely New Picture :)
My Lovely New Picture
Please click on the picture to enlarge. By the way, although I am an expert of skincare and make-up but I didn't wear make-up at all in this picture. My friends told me that I am a natural beauty. Happy to hear that :)
With a happy demure smile,
Princesse Ange ("Princesse Ange" means "Princess Angel" in French, I am studying French now.)
With a happy demure smile,
Princesse Ange ("Princesse Ange" means "Princess Angel" in French, I am studying French now.)
Monday, October 19, 2009
An Orphan in the U.S.
I feel like an orphan in the U.S. with no one really love me and care about me
Living in this cold-hearted country is not easy at all
I am cold, nobody care
I am hungry, nobody care
I am feeling painful, nobody care
I am sad, nobody care
Nobody know my sorrow and pain
I am feeling sad
But no one care about, no one
With tears and sadness,
An orphan in the U.S.
An orphan in the U.S.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I Miss You, My Loving Father...
I Miss You, My Loving Father...
Give your father a hug, a great big kiss
because one day, he will be greatly missed
My dad has gone away from this land
I miss the precious touch of his loving hands
I never knew 2004 was the last year
I could look at my dad, hug him, and say: "I love you, Dad!"
Don't let one day go by without telling him how dear he is
remember you may not have another year to tell him this
All I have now is great memories
a heart full of love and eyes full of tears
and to remember his love throughout the years
Now I will have to look up at the heaven and say, "I love you, Dad!"
I miss you, my loving father...
Give your father a hug, a great big kiss
because one day, he will be greatly missed
My dad has gone away from this land
I miss the precious touch of his loving hands
I never knew 2004 was the last year
I could look at my dad, hug him, and say: "I love you, Dad!"
Don't let one day go by without telling him how dear he is
remember you may not have another year to tell him this
All I have now is great memories
a heart full of love and eyes full of tears
and to remember his love throughout the years
Now I will have to look up at the heaven and say, "I love you, Dad!"
I miss you, my loving father...
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
I Keep You In My Heart
Sweet moment, stay with me
and pray do not flee so soon
Let me enjoy the bliss of that first kiss beneath the moon
I keep you in my heart
There's a place for you
I think of you
That in my heart
There's a place for you
Saturday, August 22, 2009
You Hurt My Feelings...
You Hurt My Feelings...
When I first met you
You told me you really liked me
I thought you were nice
The innocent look in your eyes
Made me realize I like you too
That night, you told me you really liked me
We liked each other and that made me happy, truly
What a wonderful beginning! I thought
It may be too good to be true
And it was
I have been waiting for your email, or call, or text message all day long
Yesterday and today
But I haven't heard anything from you
Nothing...
Nothing...
Nothing...
You hurt my feelings
I didn't know what to do
I have been feeling blue
I thought maybe you are just another player in the big pond of players
My heart felt the little pain
I wanted to cry but no tears
I don't know what happened to you
Or you may have changed your mind
Or you may...
Or you may...
Or you may...
I am feeling hurt, but you don't know
Cause I will not show
These feelings I hide
If you only knew how I feel
If you only knew what I think
I am scared to be wounded again
I am scared to be hurt again
I am scared...
I want you to know
You hurt my feelings
And made me feeling blue
I won't feel the hurt if I don't care
I want to know why
I want to know the truth
You cannot hurt me anymore
I am going to contact you and find out why...
When I first met you
You told me you really liked me
I thought you were nice
The innocent look in your eyes
Made me realize I like you too
That night, you told me you really liked me
We liked each other and that made me happy, truly
What a wonderful beginning! I thought
It may be too good to be true
And it was
I have been waiting for your email, or call, or text message all day long
Yesterday and today
But I haven't heard anything from you
Nothing...
Nothing...
Nothing...
You hurt my feelings
I didn't know what to do
I have been feeling blue
I thought maybe you are just another player in the big pond of players
My heart felt the little pain
I wanted to cry but no tears
I don't know what happened to you
Or you may have changed your mind
Or you may...
Or you may...
Or you may...
I am feeling hurt, but you don't know
Cause I will not show
These feelings I hide
If you only knew how I feel
If you only knew what I think
I am scared to be wounded again
I am scared to be hurt again
I am scared...
I want you to know
You hurt my feelings
And made me feeling blue
I won't feel the hurt if I don't care
I want to know why
I want to know the truth
You cannot hurt me anymore
I am going to contact you and find out why...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Dance With Me
I have sent you my invitation, the note inscribed on the palm of my hand by the fire of living. Don't jump up and shout, "Yes, this is what I want! Let's do it!" Just stand up quietly and dance with me.
Show me how you follow your deepest desires, spiralling down into the ache within the ache. And I will show you how I reach inward and open outward to feel the kiss of the Mystery, sweet lips on my own, everyday.
Don't tell me you want to hold the whole world in your heart. Show me how you turn away from making another wrong without abandoning yourself when you are hurt and afraid of being unloved.
Tell me a story of who you are, And see who I am in the stories I am living. And together we will remember that each of us always has a choice.
Don't tell me how wonderful things will be . . . some day. Show me you can risk being completely at peace, truly OK with the way things are right now in this moment, and again in the next and the next and the next. . .
I have heard enough warrior stories of heroic daring. Tell me how you crumble when you hit the wall, the place you cannot go beyond by the strength of your own will. What carries you to the other side of that wall, to the fragile beauty of your own humanness?
And after we have shown each other how we have set and kept the clear, healthy boundaries that help us live side by side with each other, let us risk remembering that we never stop silently loving those we once loved out loud.
Take me to the places on the earth that teach you how to dance, the places where you can risk letting the world break your heart. And I will take you to the places where the earth beneath my feet and the stars overhead make my heart whole again and again.
Show me how you take care of business without letting business determine who you are. When the children are fed but still the voices within and around us shout that soul's desires have too high a price, let us remind each other that it is never about the money.
Show me how you offer to your people and the world the stories and the songs you want our children's children to remember, and I will show you how I struggle not to change the world, but to love it.
Sit beside me in long moments of shared solitude, knowing both our absolute aloneness and our undeniable belonging. Dance with me in the silence and in the sound of small daily words, holding neither against me at the end of the day.
And when the sound of all the declarations of our sincerest intentions has died away on the wind, dance with me in the infinite pause before the next great inhale of the breath that is breathing us all into being, not filling the emptiness from the outside or from within.
Say, "Yes!" Just take my hand and dance with me.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Furthest Distance In The World
The Furthest Distance In The World
The furthest distance in the world
is not between life and death
but when I stand in front of you
yet you don't know that
I love you
The furthest distance in the world
is not when I stand in front of you
yet you can't see my love
but when undoubtly knowing the love from both
yet cannot be together
The furthest distance in the world
is not being apart while being in love
but when I plainly cannot resist the yearning
yet pretending you have never been in my heart
The furthest distance in the world
is not struggling against the tides
but using one's indifferent heart
to dig an uncrossable river
for the one who loves you
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