Top 10 Inspirational Quotes from Olympic Athletes

With the Olympic Games in full swing, it’s tough not to get caught up in the excitement of your country winning and the camaraderie of all of the athletes coming together to culminate years of hard work and dedication.  So, who better to motivate and inspire than some of the greatest Olympians of all time. Here are some of our favorite inspirational quotes by them. Please feel free to share yours. Continue reading »

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

This uplifting and moving video of cancer patients, doctors and nurses from Seattle Children’s Hospital performing a lip sync to Kelly Clarkson’s song “Stronger” was created by Chris Rumble who himself is a cancer patient at the hospital. He said “It was not only good to see the kids happy, but it was also great to see how their parents were so happy as they watched their kids just being kids – dancing, singing and having fun.”

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.— Friedrich Nietzsche

Never, Ever Give Up. Arthur’s Inspirational Transformation!

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
—Confucius

This amazing video shows the inspiring transformation of Arthur Boorman, a veteran of the Gulf War who had been disabled for 15 years.  He was told by doctors that he would never be able to walk on his own again. But did that stop him from trying? No. Arthur fell many times but never gave up and he proved the doctors wrong. He shows us all, that through hard work and determination, we can accomplish anything we put our minds to.

25 Simple Ways to Simplify Your Life and Focus on What’s Truly Important

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.—Hans Hofmann

When I met my wife 10 years ago, she was a minimalist and I was, well, the opposite. I was an impulsive consumer, always “wanting” and “needing” the latest and greatest. I held on to things both physical and emotional. I kept things, like clothes that I hadn’t worn in years, because I thought maybe one day I would want to wear them again or they would come back in style.  I held onto emotional stuff mainly because I wasn’t even aware of the harm it was doing to me. I held grudges, anger and resentment and had a lot of trouble letting go. I was always “busy” mostly because I was disorganized, I couldn’t say NO and I always wanted to please everyone. As the years went on, my wife fortunately started rubbing off on me and showed me lots of easy ways to simplify my life.

Looking back over the past 10 years I realized that everyone can benefit from her lessons, so I put together this list. Simplifying your life is a process of eliminating everything that is not essential, getting rid of clutter, both emotional and physical, and reducing excess and complexities. This in turn reduces stress and frees up time and space, so you can do the things you actually want to do and help you on the road to a more meaningful life. Even small changes in our environment, thoughts,  habits and attitude can make a big difference in our lives. Funny thing is, this started as a list of 100 easy ways to simplify your life, but instead I decided that the first step to simplifying your life would be to cut down this list. So here are the top 25 ways that worked for me, let us know what works for you. Continue reading »

Caine’s Arcade – A Cardboard Arcade Made By A Creative 9 Year Old Boy

Caine Monroy is an inspiration! He had a dream to create this incredibly creative arcade built out of cardboard boxes he found in his Dad’s warehouse. He spent months building the games by hand in hopes that one day he would have a lot of customers to enjoy the games.
As luck would have it, his first customer was Nirvan Mullick, a filmmaker looking for a door handle for his car. Impressed by what he saw, Nirvan decided to organize a flash mob to get customers to the arcade, which he documented and made into this short film. Nirvan also helped set up a scholarship fund for Caine with the hope of raising $25,000 for his college fund. You can donate at Caine’s Arcade website.
As Caine and his Dad drove home from the arcade after the flash mob, Caine said to his Dad. “This was the best day of my whole life.”
Update to this story:
As of April 17, 2012 not only has Caine’s scholarship fund raised over $170,000, but The Goldhirsh Foundation has pledged to match the donations dollar for dollar up to $250,000. The money from Goldhirsch will go towards the Caine’s Arcade Foundation, which was set up to help other creative kids reach their dreams.

 

Live One Day at a Time – A to Zen of Life; Lessons from the Dalai Lama

This A to Zen of Life, lessons from the Dalai Lama poster, can serve as a great guide and reminder to help you live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece. Here is what it says, in case you have trouble reading the image above: Continue reading »

Magic Johnson: Something I learned in Basketball

For me, it always goes back to something I learned in basketball. There’s winning and there’s losing, and in life you have to know they both will happen. But what’s never been acceptable to me is quitting. —Magic Johnson in the ESPN film The Announcement

Top 10 Ways to Motivate Yourself and Reach Your Goals

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
—Thomas Jefferson

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.—Vince Lombardi

A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with an old friend and he mentioned that he has been trying to motivate himself to accomplish a goal, but was feeling lazy and unmotivated. After he told me what his goal was, we discussed what he could do to light a fire under his behind, and feel motivated again. Within a few minutes, we had listed off a bunch of ideas that we felt could help motivate him and get him back on the road to accomplishing his goal.

We all have been there at one time or another, so here are the top 10 ways to motivate yourself that we came up with: Continue reading »

Top 10 Dr. Seuss Quotes

Dr. Seuss Life quote print by kbphotographie on Etsy

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss was born on March 2, 1904. In honor of  his birthday birthday here are our top 10 Dr. Seuss quotes.

  1. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
  2. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
  3. “Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”
  4. “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
  5. “Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
  6. “The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn the more places you’ll go.”
  7. “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
  8. “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
  9. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.”
  10. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

What’s Right with the World – Random Acts of Kindness Week

In honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week we want to take notice of the kindness in the world with “What’s right with the world” today. Enjoy these inspiring stories of kindness, generosity, courage and goodness.

  1. 366 random acts of kindness in 2012
  2. Snow storm inspires random acts of kindness
  3. Bill Gates donates $750 million to fight Aids, TB and malaria
  4. Kindness at the Corner Perk coffee shop
  5. No Rhinos poached in Nepal last year
  6. Blind 11 year old girl finishes Honolulu marathon
  7. Boy writes nice encouraging letter to football player
  8. Kindness overtakes gas station
  9. Restaurant owner surprises strangers with kindness
  10. Jon Bon Jovi opens pay what you can restaurant
  11. Good Samaritan rescues driver

Please share your stories with us about what’s right with the world.