Roy Exum
It has been a rather tumultuous week, this after an MRI last week revealed I have some medical problems that need quick attention, so as I journey back to the Mayo Clinic today, I thought I might share what is printed on some neatly-folded papers in my hip pocket. I call them bullets and, if a dark thought or a crummy notion comes along, I zap it with one of my bullets. It is really simple.
These are easy to use and you can reload at any time. They can be used over and over and, best yet, shared with others who need them time to time. So I always keep bullets around for when “the black dog” begins to circle (that’s what Sir Winston Churchill called his depression .)
Allow let me share a few as I head out of town:
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The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. -- Abraham Lincoln
However long the night, the dawn will break. -- African Proverb
Nobody can take away your pain, so don’t let anyone take away your happiness. – Unknown
Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on. — Henry Rollins
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. -- Edward Everett Hale
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -- Theodore Roosevelt
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. – Aristotle
The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? – Psalm 27:1
Experience is what you get by not having it when you need it. -- Anonymous
I have always tried to teach my players to be fighters. When I say that, I don’t mean put up your dukes and get in a fistfight over something. I’m talking about facing adversity in your life. There is not a person alive who isn’t going to have some awfully bad days in their lives. I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you’ve lost your job and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back. – Bear Bryant
I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being. – Hafiz
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. — Bruce Lee
If you think sunshine brings you happiness, then you haven’t danced in the rain. – Unknown
Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends. -- Czech proverb
"It's impossible" said pride. "It's risky" said experience. "It's pointless" said reason. “Give it a try,” whispered God. -- Unknown
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." – Ambrose Redmoon
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. – Psalm 23:4
Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. — Ashley Smith
Be strong now because things will get better. It might be stormy now but it can’t rain forever. - Hailee
I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me! – Dr. Suess
There is no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bear witness that a man has the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer. – Victor Frankl
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer. — Denis Waitley
No one knows the story of tomorrow’s dawn. -- Ashanti proverb
Your attitude’s like the aroma of your heart. If your attitude stinks, your heart’s not right. -- Coach Mitchell in the movie, “Facing the Giants”
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. - Chinese proverb
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. – Harper Lee
The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. — Pierre de Courbertin
Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. – John Wayne
It’s a troublesome world. All the people who’re in it are troubled with troubles almost every minute. You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you’re lucky you’re not! – Dr. Suess
Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. -- Oprah Winfrey
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. – Mark Twain
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. — Albert Schweitzer
When you meet your antagonist, do everything in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword. -- Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Turn your face to the sun, and the shadows fall behind you. -- Maori proverb
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. — Randy Pausch
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. — Maria Robinson
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. – Unknown
The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. -- Lao Tzu
Look, I don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you’re not alive.” — Mel Brooks
The past cannot be changed; the future is still in your power. -- Hugh White
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. — William Wallace
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I mean, any fool can have courage. But honor, that’s the real reason you do something or you don’t. Its’ who you are and maybe who you want to be. -- Michael Oher in the movie “Blind Side”
A man with outward courage dares to die. A man with inward courage dares to live. – Unknown
Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there . . . . I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad and I'll be there in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. And when our folks eat the stuff they raise and live in the houses they build -- why, I'll be there.
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I’ll be back home in a day or two.
royexum@aol.com