Just when my thoughts are contained in my heart, screaming to get out of my mind.. someone posts them online... so vividly, so perfectly - touching my soul...

Thoughts Thoughts Thoughts

"A memory is an abstract painting; it does not present things as they were but rather as they felt."

saddest of all..

the silence is deafening..
you look at me but. don't see me.
you hear me but you don't hear me..
this is the saddest feeling of all.
so many changes.
you've shut yourself out by the wine that keeps you warm.
can things ever be the same again?

Goodbye without reasons is the most painful one. Love without reasons is the most beautiful one.


Don't explain your feelings. They belong to you

And then again they say...

When the days are too short, chances are you are living at your best.
     Earl Nightingale

Little minds attain and are subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.
     Washington Irving

All glory comes from daring to begin
     Eugene F. Ware

All that we send to the life of others comes back into our own.
     Edwin Markham

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.
     George Orwell

I attribute my sincerity to this:
I never gave or took an excuse.
     Florence Nightingale

Sometimes opportunity knocks, but most of the time it sneaks up and then quietly steals away.
     Doug Larson

Peace is the skillful management of conflict.
     Kenneth Boulding

This is the urgency: Live! and have your blooming in the noise of the whirlwind.
     Gwendolyn Brooks

Change.. That's the way Life Goes...

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.  ~Arthur Schopenhauer


Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.  ~Bertold Brecht


Things do not change; we change.  ~Henry David Thoreau


After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully.  After five years, look at it with suspicion.  And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.  ~Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958


All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.  ~Ellen Glasgow

Why I Love Steve Jobs' Mind...

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”



On Management
My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects.
And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.
On Hiring
Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview.
So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data. 

On Firing
We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place — the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.
On a CEO succession Plan
I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple.
My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.
On Product Strategy
It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.
We just want to make great products. (I think he means “insanely great products!“)
5 Leadership Mantras
On Leadership
So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.
On Evangelism
When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.
They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else. (this actually reiterates my oft-repeated mantra of “ubiquitous evangelism” in companies)
On Focus
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.
On the User Experience
Our DNA is as a consumer company — for that individual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.
On Creativity
That happens more than you think, because this is not just engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of one of these crises, you’re not sure you’re going to make it to the other end. But we’ve always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder.
I think the key thing is that we’re not all terrified at the same time. I mean, we do put our heart and soul into these things.
And, my favorite, which nails the ethos of living the dream at your job 
We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.
Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.

 http://mariosundar.com/2008/08/14/top-10-steve-jobs-quotes/


On Leadership - Part 1


Leadership isn't really a big word. Today, I saw two familiar faces, both examples of true leaders. To S and R, my greatest respect to your leadership. To you both, my honor to have met you.. Continue to journey with joy..



"
A good leader inspires other men with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves." Anon

"The key to successful leadership today is inlfuence, not authority." Kenneth Blanchard

"Leadership, like swimming, cannot be learned by reading about it." Henry Mintzberg

"A leader is a man who makes decisions. Sometimes they turn out right and sometimes they turn out wrong; but either way, he makes them."


Rainy Day Thoughts

"When the pressure is on you have the opportunity to go from a diamond in the rough to a priceless gem... Go there!"

"Just because some people like to make things right doesn't mean he is hard to work with." RG, PaPi

"Let it go..be free..and dance through life." ~ Yoko Ono

"Live your life with your own way. Head up high, be brave, fearless." TMO

"It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." ~ Roy Disney


Getting Past Your Mountains.. again by Paulo Coelho


Aosta Valley, Montblanc, 15 setembro 2010


A] Choose the mountain you want to climb: don’t pay attention to what other people say, such as “that one’s more beautiful” or “this one’s easier”. You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing.

B] Know how to get close to it: mountains are often seen from far off – beautiful, interesting, full of challenges. But what happens when we try to draw closer? Roads run all around them, flowers grow between you and your objective, what seemed so clear on the map is tough in real life. So try all the paths and all the tracks until eventually one day you’re standing in front of the top that you yearn to reach.

C] Learn from someone who has already been up there:
no matter how unique you feel, there is always someone who has had the same dream before you and ended up leaving marks that can make your journey easier; places to hang the rope, trails, broken branches to make the walking easier. The climb is yours, so is the responsibility, but don’t forget that the experience of others can help a lot.

D] When seen up close, dangers are controllable
: when you begin to climb the mountain of your dreams, pay attention to the surroundings. There are cliffs, of course. There are almost imperceptible cracks in the mountain rock. There are stones so polished by storms that they have become as slippery as ice. But if you know where you are placing each footstep, you will notice the traps and how to get around them.

E] The landscape changes, so enjoy it:
of course, you have to have an objective in mind – to reach the top. But as you are going up, more things can be seen, and it’s no bother to stop now and again and enjoy the panorama around you. At every meter conquered, you can see a little further, so use this to discover things that you still had not noticed.

F] Respect your body: you can only climb a mountain if you give your body the attention it deserves. You have all the time that life grants you, as long as you walk without demanding what can’t be granted. If you go too fast you will grow tired and give up half way there. If you go too slow, night will fall and you will be lost. Enjoy the scenery, take delight in the cool spring water and the fruit that nature generously offers you, but keep on walking.

G] Respect your soul:
don’t keep repeating “I’m going to make it”. Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don’t keep saying “it’s harder than I thought”, because that will make you lose your inner strength.

H] Be prepared to climb one kilometer more: the way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far. But since you were prepared to go beyond, this is not really a problem.

I] Be happy when you reach the top
: cry, clap your hands, shout to the four winds that you did it, let the wind – the wind is always blowing up there – purify your mind, refresh your tired and sweaty feet, open your eyes, clean the dust from your heart. It feels so good, what was just a dream before, a distant vision, is now part of your life, you did it!

J] Make a promise: now that you have discovered a force that you were not even aware of, tell yourself that from now on you will use this force for the rest of your days. Preferably, also promise to discover another mountain, and set off on another adventure.

L] Tell your story: yes, tell your story! Give your example. Tell everyone that it’s possible, and other people will then have the courage to face their own mountains.


http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/08/11/1-min-reading-manual-for-climbing-mountains/

Tweets by Paulo Coelho

"You can only criticize someone if you can do better than them. If you can't..."

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.
As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/09/08/the-fisherman-and-the-businessman/


Getting By.. Getting There... from The Single Woman

Favorite tweets from The Single Woman...

"My happiness depends on me."

"There is no mountain you can't climb when confidence is your ladder."

"You are here to upgrade the world, not to let the world downgrade you. See not how low you can go but how high you can fly!"

"If you wanna change the ending, you're gonna have to flip the script. It's never too late to rewrite your life.

"Roadblocks are designed not to deny us, but to try us..not to impair us, but to prepare us,"

When friends speak... 09.18.10

‎"Never expect, never assume, never ask and never demand. Just let it be because if it's meant to be, it will happen just the way you want things to be".. JN

"You need to shake off those bad moods when they arrive. Keep shaking it off no matter how much people try to dump on you. Before you know it, you'll find victory from your bad moods." JM

"The best revenge is a vow to never be like the one who hurt you." LA



LIKE Posts From Friends..

From RAJD on FB -

"Try to be "good", you'll be judged. Try to be yourself, you'll be criticized. Better to choose the second option and move ahead; God will never let you down." - Paulo Coelho

“One of the marks of superior people is that they are action-oriented. One of the marks of average people is that they are talk-oriented.” — Brian Tracy


“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson


From SLO in FB


Moving on doesn't mean forgetting one's past but looking forward to a brighter future as one strives to bring one's dreams to life.


From FN


"I'm an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job." - Bernie Mac


‎"A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails."







When birds speak...