TrevorNelDailyOnline

Our family will be away for two weeks over the Christmas break period. this will be the last post this year. Wishing you and yours everything you wish for yourselves for 2005. Merry Christmas.

Found this lovely piece by Nancy Simms on the internet... enjoy:

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Winners take chances.

Like everyone else, they fear failing, but they refuse to let fear control them.

Winners don't give up.

When life gets rough, they hang in until the going gets better.

Winners are flexible.

They realize there is more than one way and are willing to try others.

Winners know they are not perfect.

They respect their weaknesses

while making the most of their strengths.

Winners fall, but they don't stay down.

They stubbornly refuse to let a fall keep them from climbing...

Winners don't blame fate for their failures nor luck for their successes.

Winners accept responsibility for their lives.

Winners are positive thinkers who see good in all things.

From the ordinary, they make the extraordinary.

Winners believe in the path they have chosen even when it's hard,

even when others can't see where they are going,

Winners are patient.

They know a goal is only as worthy as the effort that's required to achieve it.

Winners are people like you.

They make this world a better place to be.


Ends.

Walking… a simple past-time that can fit everyone’s pocket

I woke up in pain this morning, with my thigh muscles as stiff as a post, a fairly hectic weekend of moving heavy furniture and tons of books around from room to room. All in the quest for conserving space… as my years of collecting information threaten to see me drown under tons of books, magazines and papers.

Not what you would call ‘earth-shattering news’ but it did cause me to forgo my early morning visit to the gym and think of taking a walk around our village in the evening. As I limped through the day I began to question whether my body is just protesting about undergoing hard labour in its 50th year. To add insult to injury, my wife has nothing wrong with her muscles despite being on the other end of all the cupboards we carried around our home..!

Maybe I am being forewarned to take WALKING seriously… so I did a bit of research which proved enlightening. Here’s what I learnt:

According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, one in every three Americans, ages 35 through 45, was obese, as of 1991. This figure is 36 percent higher than it was in 1962.

"This obesity seems to be related to physical inactivity," said Mark Fenton, editor of Boston-based Walking Magazine. http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/articles/inactive.htm

According to Fenton, it is not just American children and adolescents who are inactive. Fenton says that adults in the United States are more sedentary than ever as well.

"Americans are less active than they ever have been," he said.

"Twenty-five percent of our population is essentially sedentary 55 percent are only sporadically active and only about 10 percent of the population exercises regularly."

This lack of exercise is killing us, say researchers at the CDC and the American College of Sports Medicine. According to a joint statement they issued this year, approximately 250,000 deaths a year in the United States can be attributed to physical inactivity.

The good news from these organizations is that 30 minutes daily of moderate exercise can promote long-term health.

"Walking is a good way to get that exercise," Fenton said.

"There are dozens of ways that a 30-minute walk can be fit into your day. It doesn't have to be putting on Iycra tights and going out and doing power walking."

"We encourage people to make a walk part of their daily life -- to intentionally keep a post office box and walk down there to get the mail, or walk to the video store or to the place where you get your milk or newspaper," he said.

And kids? How do we get them to walk more?

"Role modelling is a very important thing," Fenton said. "If you're the kind of parent who actually suggests to their kid that you need not drive the car everywhere and that maybe they could walk back from band rehearsal with a couple of friends instead of you going to get them, that can help set the tone a lot."

Fenton adds that the psychological benefits of regular physical activity for older adults are immense.

"We see again and again that regular exercise gives an improved sense of self-worth and an improved sense of purpose," he said. "It's also clear that regular activity may reduce the likelihood of clinical depression -- a problem among the elderly who may begin to feel they are a burden to their family. With regular exercise, they can continue to be contributing members of society and if they want, they can get involved in volunteer work or part-time work."

Other health benefits from regular physical activity such as walking include:

- Reduced risk of dying prematurely

- Decreased risk of dying from heart disease

- Decreased risk of developing colon cancer

- Reduced risk of developing high blood pressure

- Help in reducing blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure

- Decreased risk of developing diabetes

- Lower risk of developing hypertension

- Increased muscle strength, flexibility and sense of balance, all of which reduce the risk of falls

- Help in controlling weight


"What's really notable is just how much benefit there is for older adults to be physically active."

"We used to think that once you got to a certain age, it really didn't make any difference anymore, but what we're finding out is that even men and women into their nineties can see major increases in cardiovascular fitness and strength with regular physical activity."

Research sourced with permission: Partnership for a Walkable America by Emily Smith of the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center

Ends.

Bibliography:

Ziglar, Zig. “SEE YOU AT THE TOP” Pelican Publishing Company.

Ziglar, Zig. “ZIGLAR ON SELLING” Thomas Nelson Publishers

Ziglar, Zig. “SECRETS OF CLOSING THE SALE” A Berkley Book

Ziglar, Zig. “CONFESSIONS OF A HAPPY CHRISTIAN” A Bantam Book.

Points To Ponder

1. We learn most when we are teaching.

2. Read something of value every day.

3. We can change our lives by changing what goes into our minds.

4. We become like the people we associate with.

Ends.

For example, in a chapter from his book “Confessions of a Happy Christian” he writes : “Broke? Don’t Blame God. If you want financial strength and security it is available if you will follow God’s teachings. (I urge you to read the Book of Proverbs for the greatest lessons on business success ever written.)" "All I’m suggesting is that if you are broke, you shouldn’t blame God for your problem because He wrote the book on how to prosper. Question: Do you believe the Book? Jesus spoke to us very clearly on this point: ‘Ye have not because you ask not’."

"My Bible indicates that Jacob was a wealthy man, that Moses was probably a millionaire, that Abraham had ‘cattle on a thousand hills,’ that Solomon was the richest man who ever lived, and that Job wouldn’t have exactly qualified for the food stamp program - if you know what I mean. None of what God says sounds like a beggar’s down-in-the-mouth philosophy to me. Don’t misunderstand. Money must not become your god,... but God can bless you financially and then use that wealth to glorify Him and spread His Gospel.”

With such information you can’t help but want to investigate further, well I did anyway.

Look at what he has to say about Jesus Christ. “As the Roman soldier at the crucifixion said, ‘Surely this is no ordinary man.’ Any fair-minded individual would have to agree. Ask ten thousand educated people from every corner of the globe to name the ten greatest men who ever lived and you would surely get ten thousand different lists. Ask them to name the (one) greatest man who ever lived and the result would be a foregone conclusion. Jesus Christ. The reason again is obvious to any fair minded person. He was no ordinary man. He lived as a man, was subjected to every temptation you and I are subjected to, yet he lived without sin, which no mortal could possibly do.”

Zig refers us to the work of Bishop Phillips Brooks who said in his work, “One Solitary Life: He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. Until he was thirty He worked in a carpenter shop, and the for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He wrote no books. He held no office. He never owned a home. he was never in a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. The authorities condemned His teachings. His friends deserted Him. One betrayed Him to His enemies for a paltry sum. One denied Him. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed on a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He owned on Earth - His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, yet today He is the crowning glory of the human race, the adored leader of millions of the Earth’s inhabitants. All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that were ever built and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the rulers that ever reigned - put together - have not affected the life of man upon this Earth so profoundly as that One Solitary Life!”

Makes you think doesn’t it?

Well, thanks to Zig Ziglar, it certainly made me think, and now, I too believe in the unbelievable and look forward to the future with incredible hope and optimism.

Let’s conclude with Zig’s closing words on the subject: “Let me encourage you to gather all the information you can on the spiritual aspects of life and make your own choice. When you know and understand this aspect of your health, all other areas of life are handled more effectively”.

Bibliography tomorrow:

Zig Ziglar is famous for carting around an old-fashioned chrome-plated water-pump which, for him, conveys the story of life. At his seminars he demonstrates that before you can get water, you first have to prime the pump.

Meaning that if you expect to get something out of life, your marriage, your job.... you have to first put something in. Too many people tend to say ‘If you reward me now, then I’ll perform...’. As Zig says, “what they are saying is ‘Stove... if you give me some heat, then I’ll put some wood in you’...”

Once the pump is primed you have to begin pumping vigorously to get the water all the way up the long pipe, and if you get tired and stop, the water will fall all the way down again, and you will have to start all over again. So, you have to persist in whatever you do in life. When you get into a new project you have to pump it with enthusiasm, even though you can’t see results in the short-term. When the water finally flows, then it becomes an easy gentle pumping action to keep it flowing in abundance.

Zig concludes: “Life’s story has nothing to do with who you are, or what you are, or your education, or your up-bringing, or whether you are black, brown, red, green or white... anyone can do it!”

Finally, I would not do justice to either Zig Ziglar, or you, the reader of this article, if I did not express the fact that it was Zig’s writing’s and simple, yet profound, style of presentation that led me to an acute understanding and belief in the Christian faith.

More tomorrow:

But what if you really have tried something new and different... and failed?

Well, Zig offers his most meaningful statement: “Failure is an event, not a person”.

Meaning that... you may have failed, but you are not a failure... if you look forward with hope in the future. All of which boils down to living your life with the right attitude.

Zig offers seven specific action steps for finding and keeping the right mental attitude:-

Step 1. “Accept the fact that you CAN control your attitude”.

Step 2. “Make the commitment to do whatever is necessary to take control of YOUR attitude”.

Step 3.“Evaluate each book, television program, movie, and video before you start reading or viewing it with a question: ‘Is this going to help me in personal, family, or business life, or is there a better use I could make of this time to advance my personal, family, and business life?’.”

Step 4. “Learn one new word each day. One word a day will make a difference, a dramatic difference in your personal, family, and sales life.”

Step 5. “Read something of value to you personally and professionally for at least twenty minutes every day - something that is informative, inspiring, and educational. If you’re an average reader (reading 220 words a minute), in one year you will have read twenty 200-page books. Your reading might relate to your profession, personal growth and development, psychology and human nature, or just about any subject you determine is beneficial to you.”

Step 6. “Turn your car into a university. At the University of Southern California, I learned of a study revealing that if you live in a metropolitan area and drive 12,000 miles each year, in three years time you can acquire the equivalent of two years of college education while you’re in your automobile. If you can read even at the fifth-grade level, there is literally no excuse for not acquiring a quality education.”

Step 7. “Choose your associates carefully. The Los Angeles Times did a study on some very successful people and discovered one of the things they had in common: At some point in their careers they consciously made a decision to upgrade the people with whom they were working, spending time socially, and hobnobbing in general. They all said this was an essential factor in their success”.

More tomorrow: