Ask not what your country can do for you- John. F. Kennedy

Its been 50 years since the assassination of  President John.F. Kennedy and his death remains a mystery till this day, with so many conspiracy theory surrounding the cause and the motive behind his assassination, one thing  he will be remembered for is his powerful Inspirational Speeches..
It is on this note that i bring  to you one of such speeches..
This speech was delivered by John F Kennedy at his inauguration in Washington on January 20 1961..


Vice-president Johnson, Mr Speaker, Mr Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice-president Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens: We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom - symbolising an end, as well as a beginning - signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge - and more. To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do - for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom - and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbours know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support - to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak, and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course - both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.
So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide us. Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors.
Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. Let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, the command of Isaiah - to "undo the heavy burdens, and [to] let the oppressed go free." And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavour - not a new balance of power, but a new world of law - where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe. Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation", a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, north and south, east and west, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.
I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavour will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what, together, we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth, God's work must truly be our own.

J.K Rowling's Mind Blowing Graduation Speech at Harvard University

Most of us might not be familiar with the name J.K. Rowling, but at the mention of Harry porter, we all squeal on out seats. In 2008, she was invited to give a commencement speech to the graduating students of the institution and she delivered a breath taking speech, below is the excerpt of her speech..

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates, the first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honor, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight, a win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindor reunion.
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard. You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock.
Achievable goals, the first step to self-improvement. Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day and this.
I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called real life, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.
Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me. I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now. So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.
I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticize my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticized only by fools.
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure. At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment. However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case, you fail by default. Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift; for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.
So given a time turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
Now you might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working at the African research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.
There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.
Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile because they had the temerity to speak against their governments. Visitors to our offices included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had left behind.
I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him back to the Underground Station afterwards and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness. And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just had to give him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.
Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone. Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard, and read. And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.
Amnesty mobilizes thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life. Unlike any other creature on this planet, human beings can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places.
Of course, this is a power like my brand of fictional magic that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathize. And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid. What is more, those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.
One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch, “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.
But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege and your burden.
If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.
I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of real trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for death eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.
So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom, “As is a tale, so is life. Not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
I wish you all very good lives. Thank you very much.


#daringyoutoachievemore

Do-It-Now

Most of us are guilty of postponing what we need to do now till later time, the English word for such is called Procrastination, I hope we all change for the better as you read this article  
Do-It-Now

This is a story that makes you see why you should live each day as if
it were your last…

There was a guy that was born with cancer, a cancer that has no
known cure. He was 17 years old and could die at any moment. He
was always at home, under his mother’s care.

One day he decided to go out, even if it was just once. He asked his
mother for permission and she agreed. Walking down his block he
saw many stores. Stopping at a music store he looked in and saw a
very pretty girl of his own age, it was love at first sight and he walked
in.

He walked up to the counter were the girl was. She smiled at him and
asked “Can I help you with anything?” The guy could only think that it
was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and stuttered, “Well,
ummm, I’d like to buy a CD”. He grabbed the first one he saw and
gave her the money. “Do you want me to wrap it?” the smiling girl
asked. The guy said yes and the girl went into the back room to wrap
it. The guy took the wrapped CD and walked home.

From that day on he visited the music store everyday, and each day
he bought a CD. And each day the girl wrapped them up and the guy
stored them unopened in his closet.

He was a very shy boy, and although he tried he couldn’t find the
nerve to ask the girl out. His mother noticed this and encouraged him.
The next day the guy set out for the store with a determined mind, like
the previous days he bought a CD and the girl wrapped it as usual.
While she was busy he left his telephone on the counter and rushed
out of the store.

The following day the guy didn’t visit the store, and the girl called him.
His mother answered the phone, wondering who it could be. It was
the girl from the music store! She asked to speak with her son and his
mother started crying. The girl asked her what was the matter. “Don’t
you know? He died yesterday.” There was a long silence on the
phone…

Later that afternoon the guy’s mother entered his room to remember
her son. She decided to start with his closet, and to her surprised she
saw a big pile of unopened CDs wrapped in festive paper. She was
curious because there were so many of them, and she opened one.

As she tore open the package she noticed a slip of paper that said:
“Hi! You’re cute; I would love to meet you. Let’s go out sometime.
Sophie”

The mother started crying as she opened another, and another, and
another. Every single CD contained a slip of paper that said the
same.

That’s the way life is, don’t wait to show those special
people the way you feel, tomorrow could be too late.
Do it now.

#daretoachievemore

A Change Is Gonna Come Lyrics - Seal

For those of us born in the eighties, we will be much familiar with Seal, he is a prolific singer cum song writer and has over 30 songs to his credit. I bring to you one of his inspiring soul rendering song 'A CHANGE IS GONNA COME' to give us hope and lighten our world..
Enjoy the read..


There's an old friend
That I once heard say
Something that touched my heart
And it began this way

I was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like the river
I've been runnin' ever since

He said it's been a long time comin'
But I know my change is gonna come, oh yeah

He said it's been too hard livin'
But I'm afraid to die
I might not be if I knew what was up there
Beyond the sky

It's been a long, a long time comin'
But I know my change has got to come, oh yeah

I went, I went to my brother
And I asked him, "Brother
Could you help me, please?"

He said, "Good sister
I'd like to but I'm not able"
And when I, when I looked around
I was right back down
Down on my bended knees, yes I was, oh

There've been times that I thought
I thought that I wouldn't last for long
But somehow right now
I believe that I'm able, I'm able to carry on

I tell you that it's been a long
And oh it's been an uphill journey, all the way
But I know, I know, I know
I know my change is gonna come

Sometimes
I had to cry all night long, yes I did
Sometimes
I had to give up right, for what I knew was wrong

Yes it's been an uphill journey
It's sure's been a long way comin', yes it has
It's been real hard every step of the way
But I believe, I believe

This evenin' my change is come
Yeah, I tell you that my change is come

It will take just 1 minute to read this and change your thinking

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by
describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every colour and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.
She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.

It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’

Epilogue:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.

‘Today is a gift, that is why it is called The Present .’
The origin of this letter is unknown.

What is passion?

What is passion?

 

Some define it as a strong feeling or emotion - a trait of being intensely emotional

..an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for anything.

It is all about having a BURNING DESIRE for something - to learn a skill, to find the ideal partner, to start a business, to help other people..

Whatever it is we should all find what we are passionate about. We should find what our BURNING DESIRE in our life is.

Why?

Because we probably would have found the reason why we came here to Earth...

..our life's purpose.

When you love what you do with all your heart you are one with your higher self. When you fall in love with an idea it becomes your passion. It is the Devine Operation expressing itself through you.

You are creating for yourself and for others. Your burning desire will benefit everyone since you love it so much. It is an expression from the inner world like Thomas Troward so beautifully put it:

My mind is a center of Divine operation. The Divine operation is always for expansion and fuller expression and this means the production of something beyond what has gone before, something entirely new, not included in past experience, though proceeding out of it by an orderly sequence of growth. Therefore, since the Divine cannot change its inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner in me; consequently in my special world, of which I am the center, it will move forward to produce new conditions, always in advance of any that have gone before

Caught up in the Rat Race

Way too many people are caught up in the Rat Race and are too busy to ever finding their true passion.

People are brought up believing that we should go to school, study hard, find suitable work and work hard until we retired. Then we finally can fulfill our dreams - do the things we love all the time. However by that time some people have died, others have lost their health and some have lost the appetite for life.

As such we should all be encouraged to find what we truly love to do early on in life. We must find our passion. However we are not being encouraged. Instead most people are following the recipe that get us caught up in the rat race.

How many people wake up to their alarm clocks to go to work only to spend yet another day earning money doing something they don«t love 100%?

We should not go to work to earn money - we should go to work because we love it.

Unfortunately most people do not love their work. They do it for the money - to pay off the mortgages, to pay the bills, to support their families.

Its understandable because no-one told them that they should follow their passion - no-one encouraged them to pursue what they really love doing - to follow their passion.

Instead most people are brought up to follow the "rat race recipe". Get yourself a decent education so you can earn some good money or get yourself a job to pay for the bills. Get a flat and a house and pay off the mortgage in 20 year back payment plan.

When you ask people if they really would like to do something else than what they currently do now - the majority say yes.

Just ask colleagues where you work. If they won 10 millions dollars in the lottery would they still be working at the same place having the same job and doing the same work?

We all came here to find our life«s purpose - to find our passion which will help ourselves and everyone we get in contact with.

Some people just feel deep inside that they should follow what they truly love from an early age on. They just know it or feel it is the right thing to do.

Steve Jobs and passion

One such person is Steve Jobs - Co-founder of Apple.

In 2005 he held a GREAT speech at Commencement Day at Stanford University. Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, he urged graduates to pursue their dreams...

In his speech he is sharing with us 3 stories from his life. His key message is:

Follow your curiosity, your intuition, your heart - your dreams..and trust that it will work out.

In the video-clip we hear Steve Jobs talking about trust:

you have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma whatever..because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path - and that will make all the difference

Larry Page and dreams

Another very successful person who has followed his dream and his passion is the Google founder Larry Page.

May 2nd 2009 he held a powerful speech at the Commencement Day at University of Michigan.

In the video below you will hear him talking about grabbing those great dreams that comes to you.

You know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don't have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?

Well, I had one of those dreams when I was 23. When I suddenly woke up, I was thinking: what if we could download the whole web, and just keep the links and......

I grabbed a pen and started writing! Sometimes it is important to wake up and stop dreaming. I spent the middle of that night scribbling out the details and convincing myself it would work. Soon after, I told my advisor, Terry Winograd, it would take a couple of weeks to download the web - he nodded knowingly, fully aware it would take much longer but wise enough to not tell me. The optimism of youth is often underrated! Amazingly, I had no thought of building a search engine. The idea wasn't even on the radar. But, much later we happened upon a better way of ranking webpages to make a really great search engine, and Google was born. When a really great dream shows up, grab it!

When you find your passion - your life's purpose - trust the universe to help you out and it will.
We are all part of a universe where everything has its own vibrational frequency and when you love what your are doing you are sending out a very powerful signal and the universe will respond.
People who have a passion do succeed since they love what they do - they can't stop thinking about their passion.It is part of them day and night - it«s who they are - and what they are all about.
Nothing can stand in their way. They never quit because they know that they will succeed if they keep at it - they have the DESIRE, the PERSISTENCE and they TAKE ACTION because they love what they do. They want things to work out. They are creating for themselves and for others and this is what being here is all about.

Denzel Washington inspiring Graduation Speech

Thank you. Thank you very much. I am obviously the most unorganized. Everyone else has nice boxes to bring their script up in; I just like kind of got it all messed up here put inside of a magazine so, in fact, I don’t even have it in the right order, let me get it in the right order here. So if it starts like flying around the stage just, you know, run around and grab it for me and bring it back up here for me. I’ll keep going as I can.
President Gutmann, Provost Price, Board Chair Cohen, fellow honorees beautiful, and today’s graduates, I’m honored and grateful for the invitation today. It’s always been great to be on the Penn campus. I’ve been to a lot of basketball games at the Palestra because my son played on the basketball team. Yeah that’s right; he played on the basketball team. Coach didn’t give him enough playing time but we’ll talk about that later. No, I’m really pleased with the progress Coach Allen has made and I wish them success in the future. I’d always get a warm welcome when I come to Pennsylvania, when I come to Philadelphia, except on the few occasions when I’d wear my Yankee cap. What’s wrong with that? I can’t just suddenly switch up and wear a Philly hat. It’s like taking your life in your hands. People would say, “We love you Denzel. But you walking around with that hat on, we don’t care who you are.” So you’ll be happy to see that I’m not wearing my Yankee cap today but I am wearing my Yankee socks, my Yankee t-shirt, my Yankee jock, my Yankee underwear, my Yankee toe warmers but not my Yankee cap. Still, I’ll be honest with you, I’m a little nervous. I’m not used to speaking at a graduation of this magnitude it is a little overwhelming. It’s out of my comfort zone. Dress me up in army fatigues, throw me on top of a moving train, someone said Unstoppable, ask me to play Malcolm X, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Alonzo from Training Day, I can do all that but a commencement speech? It’s a very serious affair, different ballgame. There’s literally thousands and thousands of people here. And for those who say, “You’re a movie star; millions of people watch you speak all the time.” Yes, that’s technically true but I’m not actually there in the theater, watching them watching me. I’m not there when they cough or fidget around or pull out their iPhone and text their boyfriend or scratch their behinds or whatever it is they’re doing in the movie theater. But from up here, I can see every single one of you. And that makes me uncomfortable.
So please, don’t pull out your iPhones and text your boyfriend until after I’m done, please.
But if you need to scratch your behind, I understand, go ahead. Thinking about the speech, I figured the best way to keep your attention would be to talk about something really, like, juicy Hollywood stuff.
I thought I could start with me and Russell Crowe getting into some arguments on the set of American Gangster, but no. You’re a group of high-minded intellectuals, you’re not interested in that or maybe not. I thought about a private moment I had backstage with Angelina Jolie half naked in her dressing room after the Oscars but I said, “No I don’t think so this is an Ivy League school. Angelina Jolie half naked in her dressing room, who wants to hear about that? No one, no one, no one, this is Penn. That stuff would never go over well here. Maybe at Drexel, but not here. I’m in trouble now.
I was back to square one and feeling the pressure. So now you’re probably thinking if it was going be this difficult, why’d I even accept today’s invitation in the first place? Well, you know my son goes here. That’s a good reason and I always like to check to see how my money’s being spent. And I’m sure there’s some parents out there who can relate to what I’m talking about! Yeah, everybody upstairs. And there were other good reasons for me to show up. Sure, I got an Academy Award but I never had something called a “Magic Meatball” after waiting in line for half an hour at a food truck. Yes, I’ve talked face-to-face with President Obama but I never met a guy named “Kweeder” who sings bad songs over at Smokes on a Tuesday night. I’ve never been to Breeze. I’ve

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never been to Emos. Yes, I’ve played a detective battling demons but I’ve never been to a school in my life where the squirrel population has gone bananas. I mean they’re breaking into the dorm rooms and taking over campus. I think I’ve even seen some carrying books on the way to class.
So I had to be here. I had to come, even though I was afraid I might make a fool of myself.
In fact if you really want to know the truth I had to come exactly because I might make a fool of myself.
What am I talking about? Well, here it is, I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks, nothing.
Nelson Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.” I’m sure in your experiences in school, in applying to college, in picking your major, in deciding what you want to do with life, people have told you to make sure you have something to “fall back on.” But I’ve never understood that concept, having something to fall back on. If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything except my faith. I want to fall forward.
At least I figure that way I’ll see what I’m about to hit.
Fall forward. This is what I mean; Reggie Jackson struck out twenty-six-hundred times in his career, the most in the history of baseball. But you don’t hear about the strikeouts. People remember the home runs. Fall forward. Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments. Did you know that?
I didn’t know that because the 1,001st was the light bulb. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You’ve got to take risks and I’m sure you’ve probably heard that before but I want to talk about why it’s so important.
I’ve got three reasons—and then you can pick up your iPhones.
First, you will fail at some point in your life. Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There is no doubt about it. That’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony but hey, I’m telling you, embrace it because it’s inevitable. And I should know, in the acting business, you fail all the time.
Early on in my career, I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical. A perfect role for me, I thought, except for the fact that I can’t sing. So I’m in the wings; I’m about to go on stage but the guy in front of me is singing like Pavarotti and I am just shrinking getting smaller and smaller. So they say, “Thank you very much, thank you very much; you’ll be hearing from us.” So I come out with my little sheet music and it was “Just My Imagination” by the Temptations, that’s what I came up with.
So I hand it to the accompanist and she looks at it and looks at me and looks at the director, so I start to sing (Washington begins to sing very awkwardly) and they’re not saying anything so I’m thinking I must be getting better, so I start getting into it. But after the first verse, the director cuts me off: “Thank you. Thank you very much, you’ll be hearing from me.” So I assumed I didn’t get the job but the next part of the audition he called me back. The next part of the audition is the acting part of the audition. I figure, I can’t sing, but I know I can act. So the paired me with this guy and again I didn’t know about musical theater; musical theater is big so you can reach everyone all the way back in the stadium. And I’m more from a realistic naturalistic kind of acting where you actually talk to the person next to you. So I don’t know what my line was, my line was “Hand me the cup.” and his line was “Well, I will hand you the cup my dear, and it will be there to be handed to you.” I said, “Okay. Should I give you the cup back?” “Oh yes you should give it back to me because you know that is my cup and it should be given back to me!” I didn’t get the job. But here’s the thing, I didn’t quit. I didn’t fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition, and the next audition, and the next audition. I prayed and I prayed, but I continued to fail, and I failed, and failed but it didn’t matter because you know what? There’s an old saying, you hang around a barbershop long enough, sooner or later you will get a haircut. You will catch a break.
Last year I did a play called Fences on Broadway and I won a Tony Award. And I didn’t have to sing, by the way. And here’s the kicker, it was at the Court Theater; it was at the same theater where I failed that first audition thirty years prior. The point is, and I’ll pick up the pace, every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed but do you have guts to fail?
Here’s my second point about failure, if you don’t fail, you’re not even trying. My wife told me this great expression, “To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.” Les Brown, a motivational speaker, made an analogy about this. Imagine you’re on your deathbed and standing around your death bed are the ghosts representing your unfilled potential. The ghosts of the ideas you never acted on. The ghosts of the talents you didn’t use. And they’re standing around your bed angry, disappointed and upset. They say, “We came to you because you could have brought us to life,” they say. “And now we go to the grave together.” So I ask you today, “How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?” You’ve invested a lot in your education and people invested in you. And let me tell you, the world needs your talents, man, does it ever.
I just got back from Africa a couple of days ago so if I’m rambling on it’s because of jet lag. I just got back from South Africa. It’s a beautiful country, but there are places with terrible poverty that need help. And Africa is just the tip of the iceberg. The Middle East needs your help. Japan needs your help. Alabama and Tennessee need your help. Louisiana needs your help. Philadelphia needs your help. The world needs a lot and we need it from you, we really do, we need it from you the young people. So get out there. Give it everything you’ve got whether it’s your time, your talent, your prayers, or your treasures because remember this, you’ll never see a U-haul behind a hearse.
I’ll say it again. You will never see a U-haul behind a hearse. You can’t take it with you. The Ancient Egyptians tried it and all they got was robbed! So the question is, what are you going to do with what you have? And I’m not talking about how much you have. Some of you are business majors. Some of you are theologians, nurses, sociologists. Some of you have money. Some of you have patience. Some have kindness. Some of you have love. Some of you have the gift of long suffering. Whatever it is, what are you going to do with what you have?
Now here’s my last point about failure, sometimes it’s the best way to figure out where you’re going. Your life will never be a straight path. I began at Fordham University as a pre-med student. That lasted until I took a course called “Cardiac Morphogenesis.” I couldn’t read it; I couldn’t say it; I sure couldn’t pass it. Then I decided to go pre-law, then journalism. With no academic focus, my grades took off in their own direction down.
I was a, 1.8 GPA one semester, and the university very politely suggested it might be better to take some time off. I was 20 years old, at my lowest point. And then one day, and I remember the exact day, March 27th, 1975, I was helping out in the beauty shop my mother owned in Mount Vernon.
An older woman who was considered one of the elders in town and I didn’t know her personally but every time I looked in the mirror she was staring at me and she just kept staring at me. Every time I looked at her she just kept giving me these strange looks. She finally took the drier off her head and said something to me I’ll never forget, first of all she said, “Someone give me a piece of paper.” She said, “Young boy, I have a spiritual prophecy. You are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.” Keep in mind that I was 20 years old and flunked out of school and like a wise-ass, I’m thinking to myself: “Does she have anything in that crystal ball about me getting back into school?” But maybe she was on to something because later that summer, while working as a counselor at a YMCA camp in Connecticut; we put on a talent show for the campers. After that show, another counselor came up to me and asked, “Have you ever thought of acting? You should. You’re good at that.”
When I got back to Fordham that fall I changed my major once again, for the last time. And in the years that followed, just as that woman getting her hair done predicted, I have traveled the world and I have spoken to millions of people through my movies. Millions who, up ‘till this day, I couldn’t see while I was talking to them and they couldn’t see me; they could only see the movie. But I see you today and I’m encouraged by what I see. I’m strengthened by what I see and I love what I see.
One more page, then I’ll shut up. Let me conclude with one final point. And actually the President kind of brought it up; it has to do with the movie Philadelphia. She stole my material. Many years ago I did this movie called Philadelphia. We filmed some scenes right here on campus.
Philadelphia came out in 1993, when most of you were probably still in diapers, some of the professors, too. but it’s a good movie; rent it on Netflix. I get 23 cents every time you rent it. Parents up there, rent it. Tell your friends too! It’s about a man, played by Tom Hanks, who’s fired from his law firm because he has AIDS. He wants to sue the firm, but no one’s willing to represent him until a homophobic, ambulance-chasing lawyer, played by yours truly, takes on the case. In a way, if you watch the movie, you’ll see everything I’m talking about today.
You’ll see what I mean about taking risks or being willing to fail. Because taking a risk is not just about going for a job. It’s also about knowing what you know and what you don’t know. It’s about being open to people and ideas. In the course of the film, the character I play begins to take small steps, to take risks. He is very, very slowly overcomes his fears, and I feel ultimately his heart becomes flooded with love. And I can’t think of a better message as we send you off today, to not only take risks, but to be open to life, to accept new views and to be open to new opinions, to be willing to speak at commencement at one of the country’s best universities even though you’re scared stiff. While it may be frightening, it will also be rewarding because the chances you take, the people you meet, the people you love, the faith that you have that’s what’s going to define you.
So members of the class of 2011, this is your mission. When you leave the friendly confines of Philly, never be discouraged. Never hold back. Give everything you’ve got. And when you fall throughout life and maybe even tonight after a few too many glasses of champagne, remember this, fall forward.
Congratulations, I love you, God bless you; I respect you

"Will You Be There"

"Will You Be There"

Hold Me
Like The River Jordan
And I Will Then Say To Thee
You Are My Friend

Carry Me
Like You Are My Brother
Love Me Like A Mother
Will You Be There?

Weary
Tell Me Will You Hold Me
When Wrong, Will You Scold Me
When Lost Will You Find Me?

But They Told Me
A Man Should Be Faithful
And Walk When Not Able
And Fight Till The End
But I'm Only Human

Everyone's Taking Control Of Me
Seems That The World's
Got A Role For Me
I'm So Confused
Will You Show To Me
You'll Be There For Me
And Care Enough To Bear Me

(Hold Me)
(Lay Your Head Lowly)
(Softly Then Boldly)
(Carry Me There)

(Lead Me)
(Love Me And Feed Me)
(Kiss Me And Free Me)
(I Will Feel Blessed)

(Carry)
(Carry Me Boldly)
(Lift Me Up Slowly)
(Carry Me There)

(Save Me)
(Heal Me And Bathe Me)
(Softly You Say To Me)
(I Will Be There)

(Lift Me)
(Lift Me Up Slowly)
(Carry Me Boldly)
(Show Me You Care)

(Hold Me)
(Lay Your Head Lowly)
(Softly Then Boldly)
(Carry Me There)

(Need Me)
(Love Me And Feed Me)
(Kiss Me And Free Me)
(I Will Feel Blessed)

[Spoken]
In Our Darkest Hour
In My Deepest Despair
Will You Still Care?
Will You Be There?
In My Trials
And My Tribulations
Through Our Doubts
And Frustrations
In My Violence
In My Turbulence
Through My Fear
And My Confessions
In My Anguish And My Pain
Through My Joy And My Sorrow
In The Promise Of Another Tomorrow
I'll Never Let You Part
For You're Always In My Heart.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Biography (1803–1882)

Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most prolific writer of the 19th century...his writings ang quotes are quite inspiring.. i hope you enjoy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American essayist and poet, who asserted in his writings the belief that each person has the power to transcend the material world and to see and grasp the infinite. The philosophical movement of which he was a leader has been given the name transcendentalism. Influenced by such schools of thought as English romanticism, Neoplatonism, and Hindu philosophy (see Hinduism), Emerson is noted for his skill in presenting his ideas eloquently and in poetic language.

Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 25, 1803. Seven of his ancestors were ministers, and his father, William Emerson, was minister of the First Church (Unitarian) of Boston. Emerson graduated from Harvard University at the age of 18 and for the next three years taught school in Boston. In 1825 he entered Harvard Divinity School, and the next year he was sanctioned to preach by the Middlesex Association of Ministers. Despite ill health, Emerson delivered occasional sermons in churches in the Boston area. In 1829 he became minister of the Second Church (Unitarian) of Boston. That same year he married Ellen Tucker, who died 17 months later. In 1832 Emerson resigned from his pastoral appointment because of personal doubts about administering the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. On Christmas Day, 1832, he left the United States for a tour of Europe. He stayed for some time in England, where he made the acquaintance of such British literary notables as Walter Savage Landor, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Carlyle, and William Wordsworth. His meeting with Carlyle marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

After nearly a year in Europe Emerson returned to the United States. In 1834 he moved to Concord, Massachusetts, and became active as a lecturer in Boston. His addresses—including “The Philosophy of History,” “Human Culture,” “Human Life,” and “The Present Age”—were based on material in his Journals (published posthumously, 1909-1914), a collection of observations and notes that he had begun while a student at Harvard. His most detailed statement of belief was reserved for his first published book, Nature (1836), which appeared anonymously but was soon correctly attributed to him. The volume received little notice, but it has come to be regarded as Emerson’s most original and significant work, offering the essence of his philosophy of transcendentalism. This idealist doctrine opposed the popular materialist and Calvinist (see Calvinism) views of life and at the same time voiced a plea for freedom of the individual from artificial restraints.

Emerson applied these ideas to cultural and intellectual problems in his 1837 lecture “The American Scholar,” which he delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard. In it he called for American intellectual independence. A second address, commonly referred to as the “Address at Divinity College,” delivered in 1838 to the graduating class of Cambridge Divinity College, aroused considerable controversy because it attacked formal religion and argued for self-reliance and intuitive spiritual experience.

The first volume of Emerson’s Essays (1841) includes some of his most popular works. It contains “History,” “Self-Reliance,” “Compensation,” “Spiritual Laws,” “Love,” “Friendship,” “Prudence,” “Heroism,” “The Over-Soul,” “Circles,” “Intellect,” and “Art.” The second series of Essays (1844) includes “The Poet,” “Manners,” and “Character.” In it Emerson tempered the optimism of the first volume of essays, placing less emphasis on the self and acknowledging the limitations of real life. In the interval between the publication of these two volumes, Emerson wrote for The Dial, the journal of New England transcendentalism, which was founded in 1840 with American critic Margaret Fuller as editor. Emerson succeeded her as editor in 1842 and remained in that capacity until the journal ceased publication in 1844. In 1846 his first volume of Poems was published (dated, however, 1847).

Emerson again went abroad from 1847 to 1848 and lectured in England, where he was welcomed by Carlyle. Several of Emerson’s lectures were later collected in the volume Representative Men (1850), which contains essays on such figures as Greek philosopher Plato, Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, and French writer Michel Eyquem de Montaigne. While visiting abroad, Emerson also gathered impressions that were later published in English Traits (1856), a study of English society. His Journals give evidence of his growing interest in national issues, and on his return to America he became active in the abolitionist cause, delivering many antislavery speeches. The Conduct of Life (1860) was the first of his books to enjoy immediate popularity. Included in this volume of essays are “Power,” “Wealth,” “Fate,” and “Culture.” This was followed by a collection of poems entitled May Day and Other Pieces (1867), which had previously been published in The Dial and The Atlantic Monthly. After this time Emerson did little writing and his mental powers declined, although his reputation as a writer spread. His later works include Society and Solitude (1870), which contained material he had been using on lecture tours; Parnassus (1874), a collection of poems; Letters and Social Aims (1876); and Natural History of Intellect (1893).