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A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made.
Using a process developed by Helice Bridges of Del Mar, California, she called each student to the front of the class, one at a time.
First she told them how the student made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters which read, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.”
Afterward the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community.
She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony.
Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom, and report back to the class in about a week.
One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt.
Then he gave him two extra ribbons, and said, “We’re doing a class project on recognition, and we’d like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person, to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened.”
Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow.
He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said,”Well, sure.”
The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss’s jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said,
“Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else?
The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people.”
That night the boss came home to his 14-year- old son and sat him down. He said, “The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He thinks I’m a creative genius.”
Then he put this blue ribbon that says “Who I Am Makes A Difference” on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor.
As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you.
“My days are really hectic and when I come home I don’t pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow, tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me.
Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You’re a great kid, and I love you!”
The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn’t stop crying. His whole body shook.
He looked up at his father and said through his tears, “Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and mom, explaining why I had taken my life, and I asked you to forgive me.
“I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn’t think that you cared at all.
“The letter is upstairs. I don’t think I’ll need it after all.”
His father walked upstairs and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain.
He went back to work the next day a CHANGED MAN!
He was no longer a grouch. He made sure that all of his employees know that they made a difference!
Author unknown
Tags: acknowledging people, complimenting people, compliments, honoring people, inspirational stories, making a difference
Here’s a simple inspirational movie that may make you think and maybe re-think your life’s priorities. Below the movie I’ve transcribed the words from the movie, for your review. Enjoy.
Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee
Author Unknown
Brought to you courtesy of Spiritual-Short-Stories.com
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups–porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal–some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He told his guests to help themselves to the coffee.
After everyone had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, “If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.
“While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it is just more expensive, and in some cases, even hides what we drink.
“What all of you really wanted was coffee. But you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other’s cups, to see who had the best one.
“Now consider this. Life is the coffee. The jobs, money, and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. And the type of cup we have does not define, nor change, the quality of life we live.
“Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups!
“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.
“Live simply. Speak kindly. Care deeply. Love generously.”
Author Unknown
Tags: coffee, inspirational movies, inspirational thoughts, life, movie, stress
I used to ponder over and over a statement that Jesus often made when talking with those he healed: He said, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.” After a long time I began to realize the flip side of that statement, a statement that had to be true if that one was true. What I found was, “It isn’t done unto you as it is.”
When we put the two statements together, we see the wisdom of Jesus’ statement: “It isn’t done unto you as it is. It’s done unto you as you believe.” We’re always in the driver’s seat when it comes to what happens to us in life, whether or not we know that and whether or not we believe that. That’s simply how it’s been set up. We’ve been given free will and the power to make our own choices.
That’s why we have a placebo effect. People often believe that a product is going to help them, even when it’s a placebo that they think is a medicine. And the placebo effect works just as well in reverse. If we believe that nothing is going to improve our situation, nothing will, even if it does for others, because it’s done unto us, or not done unto us, as we believe, not as it is. Neither God nor nature can nor will interfere with our own free will. We get to choose how it’s done unto us, regardless of how it might be done or not done unto anyone else. It’s our belief that makes it so.
What we believe colors everything we see, hear, or experience because our interpretation of it will force it to seem like our patterns of belief, just like sunglasses color everything we see, regardless of an object’s original color. But we get to choose the color of our sunglasses, if we only will!
Jesus knew the power we have to create our lives according to our beliefs, and he taught that, unlike most of his followers today. We can use his knowledge to improve our lives by carefully choosing what we believe or disbelieve, knowing that it’s done unto us as we believe, not as it is.
At least that’s my take on the situation. You can take it or leave it, as you feel led. It’s always your choice. I hope that these words will offer inspiration and encouragement to you in your search for healing.
Just trying to be helpful.
Charles Heineke
Tags: belief, negative thinking, placebo effect, positive thinking, thoughts become things
The following is taken from “I Believe God Wants You To Know” daily inspirational email published by Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the famous Conversations With God book series. You can sign up for his daily email here.
Here’s his email for 7/23/2009:
On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know…
….that love is not what you want; it is what you are. It is very important to not get these two confused.
If you think that love is what you want, you will go searching for it all over the place. If you think love is what you are, you will go sharing it all over the place. The second approach will cause you to find what the searching will never reveal.
Yet you cannot give love in order to get it. Doing that is as much as saying you do not now have it. And that statement will, of course, be your reality. No, you must give love because you have it to give. In this will you experience your own possession of it.
Love, Your Friend….
Neale
Tags: Conversations With God, daily inspiration, love, love is what you are, Neale Donald Walsch
The following is taken from “I Believe God Wants You To Know” daily inspirational email published by Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the famous Conversations With God book series. You can sign up for his daily email here.
Here’s his email for 7/15/2009:
On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know…
…that vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn’t, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence.
Honore De Balzac said that, and he was right. Do not let one more day go by without honoring the vocation your soul calls you to pursue. And don’t pretend you don’t know what it is. Of course you do. You can feel it in your stomach whenever you think about it, whenever you see another person doing it.
Life is so very short. Do now what you yearn to do in your life. You do not have to “quit your day job” in order to do this. You may do so if you choose to, but you do not have to. Many people advance a vocation while holding down their “regular job.” You can, too. Then ease into your vocation and turn it into your “regular job.” But you must give energy to your vocation starting today. I mean, today.
Love, Your Friend….
Neale
Tags: Conversations With God, daily inspiration, Honore De Balzac, life's work, Neale Donald Walsch, neglected vocations, vocations
