美文与经典

Frankness You must study to be frank with the world: frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do, on every occasion. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot. You would wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one. The man who requires...

It's a sin around here to not thoroughly enjoy every moment of every golden day. It's embarrassing to answer, "Did you get out and enjoy the sunshine this weekend?" with "No, I stayed inside." Co-workers frown and exchange suspicious looks; apparently I'm one of those rain-loving slugs. I tried lying, but my pale complexion gave me away. Another mark in rain's favor is that my body doesn't betray...

I've got a deep secret few people understand and even fewer will admit to sharing. It's time to tell the truth: I love the rain, deeply and passionately and more than the Sun. At least I live in the right place, famous for its damp weather and spawning its own genuine rainforest. I can't imagine living anywhere else than the Pacific Northwest. The sun shines so infrequently that my friends forget...

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check. Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restr...

From the golden-tipped fields of mid-west America to the ancient kingdoms of verdant Palestine, there is a happy truth to be shared with all who would take heed. In more recent times, this truth has been expressed as: April showers bring May flowers. This is a truth that promises light bursting from darkness, strength born from weakness and, if one dares to believe, life emerging from death. Farme...

The most pressing problems at work might be struggling with a “bad boss” or a hopelessly toxic work environment. A bad boss is a big problem, and not easily fixed. In fact, front-line leaders are the primary drivers of employee engagement (or lack thereof) . If you are working for a bad boss I suggest you try these tactics over a three- to six-month period. 1) Make sure you aren’t the one with the...

Working is usually not a likable thing. But if the salary is good, we might as well put up with it. However, if you unfortunately have a very difficult boss, then it is another story. Sometimes, you do come across that kind of boss who keeps giving verbal consent , but never taking the commitment seriously. You may have already met this kind of boss. At first they agreed to let you push forward a...

1. Limit the pain, target the gain. Recognize that working for this person is a temporary assignment. You can set limits on how long you'll tolerate it, and use the time to make yourself more marketable. Let's say you decide you can take one more year of this (assuming your boss sticks around that long). If you figure out what you need to get out of the job to help your career, and go after it, yo...

Are you ready for a new boss? Your happiness and success in your job has a lot to do with the relationship that you have with your boss. You might spend a long time building this relationship, but people move on, and one day, they might leave. You find yourself reporting to someone new, and you want to establish their trust and respect, quickly. The first step you should take is to build in some “...

Impressing your boss is key to getting promoted and making more money. And a career expert has a few easy tips for making it happen. He recommends you start first with your immediate boss because they're most aware of your day-to-day efforts. They're also most integral in performance reviews and promotions. Here are five effective tips. 1. Be the can-do employee. Accept any assignment graciously a...

Recognize the importance of expressing emotions. Unexpressed emotions affect your life. For example, many people who struggle with ongoing depression or anxiety are often actually angry. Because the unexpressed anger has nowhere to go, the person experiences the emotion as depression or anxiety. If you want to take control over your emotional life, you need to first recognize that it is important...

I cherish being around people who are totally comfortable with who they are. There always seems to be an aura of love and acceptance that follows these folks around. I think it's because they've figured out one of the biggest secrets to life: The possibility of being loved and accepted grows exponentially when we can truly say we couldn't be more comfortable with ourselves. People like being aroun...

1. Prepare. While preparing for my speech, I was at a loss about what I should say. Hall of Fame speaker Patricia Fripp later asked me, "If you could have one sentence instead of the entire talk, what would you say?" My message was, "Go for your dreams and never give up." Using that as a guide, I came up with personal stories that people could relate to. In just minutes, I wrot...

The greatest ecstasy in life is when you fall in love. Love, well, you cannot snatch it, lock it or create it. It should come from within you. Being in love is an experience and only if you go through it you will know the intricacies of it. You feel the best of yourself when you are in love. Love is a process where your brain has taken a backseat and your heart is working overtime. Love is not jus...

Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home. There's a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water's edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her. This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her. As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in f...

How can we avoid the gossip’s harassments in working environment? Well, my solution is pretty simple. Confirm the source of the information. Yes, we all have those annoying moments. Sometimes, you don’t go to gossip, but gossip will come to you. And this is particularly troubling in workplaces. How to deal with that? If you simply refuse to talk to others, it will seem like that you have a low emo...

There is a saying that who you socialize with defines who you are. I find it very inspiring. Find a healthier socializing way. Don't fall into the pit of gossip, especially not in the office. The reason some people participate in workplace gossip in the first place is that they are afraid of being isolated. If this is exactly your situation, then you are drinking poison to quench thirst. One of th...

Humiliation. Many of us have experienced it, right? That horrific feeling of just wanting the ground to open up and swallow us. It's an awful sensation when someone decides to belittle us and make us feel small. But what is humiliation, and how can we move on from it? Humiliation is quite often compared to the feeling of shame. However, the fundamental difference is that we feel shame is deserved,...

1. Cut back on hanging out with lavish friends who do lavish things that you don't really enjoy. If you love skiing, go. But you don't have to go to Aspen during Christmas week and stay at the St. Regis. Go off-peak, go for fewer days, and stay someplace cheaper - maybe with Starwood points. Stay at a cheap motel. 2. Shop ethnic supermarkets. Often much cheaper and you get to try exotic fruits and...

"If I died today, how would I feel about my life?" Life is fragile. A good friend of mine called me today and shared that his girlfriend's brother passed away last night. He was married, with two young children. He died of a massive heart attack in the middle of the night. And he was only 44 years old. "It could never happen to me," we think. "I'm too young to die." B...

Tonya listens to the sea. She likes the noise. Then she hears something different. ‘Is it a baby crying?’ she thinks and looks up. Ten metres in front of her is a big fin . . . a very big fin. Under the fin is a killer whale. The whale is making the noise. But it is not a baby – it is five metres long. Behind it is another whale. And another. And another. ‘Killer whales eat people. I am going to d...

‘Come in here!’ says Mike’s boss. He is angry – again. Mike is a cameraman and he works for SFX News. His boss, Mr Frank, is angry with him. It is the second time this week. Mike walks slowly into the office. He is in big trouble. ‘Close the door,’ says Mr Frank. There is a video in his hand. ‘This is bad,’ thinks Mike. ‘He doesn’t like my work.’ Mr Frank looks at Mike. ‘Are you a news cameraman?’...

Dorothy lived in a small house in Kansas, with Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, and a little black dog called Toto. There were no trees and no hills in Kansas, and it was often very windy. Sometimes the wind came very fast and very suddenly. That was a cyclone, and it could blow trees and people and buildings away. There were cellars under all the houses. And when a cyclone came, people went down into their...

In 1866, everyone was excited about one thing. There was a strange monster in the sea, people said. Different ships saw it at different times in the Atlantic and in the Pacific. It was very big, very long, and it moved very fast. It threw water up into the sky, too. Perhaps it was a whale? Of course, some people did not believe in the monster. But then, in 1867, some important ships had bad accide...

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee...