Stress Prayer

A prayer for the stressed..... Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I cannot accept, And the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they pissed me off. And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today As they may be connected to the ass that I may have to kiss tomorrow. Help me to always give 100% at work.... 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday, 5% on Fridays and help me to remember.................. When I'm having a really bad day, And it seems that people are trying to piss me off, That it takes 42 muscles to frown And only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me. Amen. Today's Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul... " Follow Your Dream I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up. "That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200- acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch. "He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after class.' "The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, `Why did I receive an F?' "The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.' Then the teacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.' "The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.' "Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll keep my dream.'" Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, "I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000- square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace." He added, "The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week." When the teacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.'" Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what. By Jack Canfield from Chicken Soup for the Soul Copyright 1993 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen " Climbing K-2 or floating the Grand Canyon in an inner tube. There are some things one would rather have done than do. --Edward Abbey. You learn a lot when you go to college. You learn that pulling an all-nighter means staying up all night to study for a test you will then sleep through. You learn to appreciate the taste of beer-the cheapest of all alcholic beverages. You learn that you can roll out of bed 10 minutes before class and go to class looking like shit-and no one will notice or care. You learn you really can do things for yourself without your parents looking over your shoulder--but you also learn you never realized how nice it was to have them there, just in case. More than anything, however, you learn how much your friends really mean to you. College friends come to mean a lot to you, but they can never compare to your friends from home. Your friends from home teach you the meaning of friendship during your college years. Because you are apart from them you tend to express your feelings more-you learn how much these people truly affect your life. You've got your best friend who exemplifies friendship - she calls at least once a week, sends email every day, and even sends you real mail. You feel like you never left each other...she still knows everything about you, and even over the internet can tell when something is wrong. She teaches you that distance doesn't have to change a friendship at all. Then there is your other best friend. She rarely calls or writes and she doesn't do the email thing. At times you think she has forgotten about you...until you hear from her. You hear from her for the first time in almost two months- and nothing has changed. You are still you and she is still her-- even though you never talk you are as close as ever, you are still the best of friends. You find yourself expressing to her just how much she means to you- because you realize it now more than ever. She teaches you that true friends are friends in the soul...no separation can tear them apart. Then there are those friends that you sort of lost touch with those last few months of high school and during the summer. You were busy, they were busy...but somehow, the magic of email has brought you closer together than you ever were in four years at the same school. You share secrets, heartache, and joy...it's another person who cares about you as long as you will care about them too. Away from all the pettiness of high school, you've finally formed an adult relationship...and you realize just how great a friend this person is. Suddenly, the people that you thought for sure you would lose touch with in college are the ones you keep in closest contact with--and you miss them more than you ever thought possible. Sadly enough, there are also the friends that you were closest to in high school who drift too far for you to hold on to. You've both changed and suddenly you don't have much to say to each other. But these people teach you a lesson too--they make you value the others, the ones you have stayed close to, that much more. These distant friends, though you miss them when you rarely think of them, show you who your forever friends really are-and they make you appreciate those forevers much more than before. College is rough. College severs some bonds and solidifies others...it puts a distance between you and the ones you love. But it teaches you so much. It forces your real friends to come to the front, while the rest take their places in the shadows of your memories. In college you lose some people-but through real friendship and the strength of the soul(which is where real friends join as one) you keep the ones you will need most in your life. You learn the real meaning of the quote: "If you press me to say why we were friends, I can say no more than it was because she was she and I was I." The people who fit that mold are your forever friends.