A lecturer when explaining

stress management to an audience, Raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.' He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, As the burden becomes increasingly heavy, We won't be able to carry on. ' 'As with the glass of water, You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.' 'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, Let them down for a moment if you can.' So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while. Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life: * Accept that some days you're the pigeon, And some days you're the statue. * Always keep your words soft and sweet, Just in case you have to eat them. * Always read stuff that will make you look good If you die in the middle of it. * Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be Recalled by their maker. * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague. * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, It was probably worth it. * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others. * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, Because then you won't have a leg to stand on. * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. * Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late. * The second mouse gets the cheese. * When everything's coming your way, You're in the wrong lane. * You may be only one person in the world, But you may also be the world to one person. * Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. * We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box. *A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Thought this was interesting, Enjoy.

Towns that boast . . .

smile in Smileyberg, KS

Mizu no Akashi

            
Mizu no naka ni yoru ga yureteru
Kanashii hodo shizuka ni tatazumu
Midorinasu kishibe
            
Utsukushii yoake wo 
Tada matte iraretara
Kirei na kokoro de
            
Kurai umi to sora no mukou ni
Arasoi no nai basho ga aruno to
Osiete kureta no wa dare
Dare mo ga tadori tsukenai
Soretomo dareka no kokoro no naka ni
            
Mizu no nagare wo shizumete 
Kureru daichi wo uruosu shirabe
Ima wa doko nimo nakutemo
Kitto jibun de te ni ireruno
Itsumo, itsuka, kitto
            
Mizu no akashi wo kono te ni
Subete no honoo wo nomikonde nao
Hiroku yasashiku nagareru
Sono shizukesa ni tadoritsuku no
Itsumo, itsuka, kitto
Anata no te wo tori...
          

            
The night is wavering in the water
The greening shore is so still and silent 
That it is painful*
            
 
            
If only I could wait
For a beautiful dawn
With a pure heart...
            
 
            
Who told me that
There is a land without any conflicts
Beyond the dark seas and skies?
No one can reach that land,
Or perhaps it only exists in someone's heart
            
 
            
A melody that can quench the thirst
Of the land that calms the waters' flow 
Even if it does not exist anywhere right now, 
I will come to possess it
Always, someday, for sure
            
 
            
Let the token of water be in my hands
Even after engulfing all the flames,
It still continues to flow, gently and broadly
I will reach its tranquility
Always, someday, for sure
With your hand in mine...
            
 
          

*The actual word is "sad", but since that makes the translation very awkward, I decided to stray a bit from the literal interpretation and used "painful" instead

Subject: Your purse

 
 Mom always got so upset when her guest
 Came in the door and plopped their purses
 Down on the counter where she was cooking
  or setting up the buffet. She always said
 that purses are really dirty, because of
 w here they have been. Smart Momma!

 (KUTV) SALT LAKE CITY

 It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we
 may know what's Inside our purses, do you have any idea what's on the
 outside?
 Shauna Lake put purses to the test - for bacteria - with surprising
 results.
 You may think twice about where you put your purse.

 Women carry purses everywhere; from the office to public restrooms
  to the floor of the car.  Most women won't be caught without their
purses, but did you ever stop to think about where your purse goes during
the day?

 "I drive a school bus, so my purse has been on the floor of the bus
a lot," says one woman. "On the floor of my car, probably in
restrooms."

 "I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, on the floor of bathroom
 stalls while changing a diaper," says another woman and of course
in my home which should be clean."

 We decided to find out if purses harbor a lot of bacteria. We
learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, then we set
out to test the average woman's purse.
Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the
bottom of their purse.  Most said they usually set their purses on
top of kitchen tables and counters where food
Is prepared.  Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't
be surprised if their purses were at least a little bit dirty.

 It turns out purses are so surprisingly dirty, even the
microbiologist who tested them was shocked.  Microbiologist Amy Karren of Nelson
Labs says nearly all of the purses tested were not only high in
bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria.

 Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can
cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the
purses could make people very sick.  In one sampling, four of five purses
tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. 
"There is fecal contamination on the purses," says Amy.

Leather or vinyl purses tended to be cleaner than cloth purses, and
lifestyle seemed to play a role.  People with kids tended to have
dirtier purses than those without, with one exception. The purse of
one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst
 contamination's of all.  "Some type of feces, or even possibly
vomit or something like that," says Amy.

So the moral of this story - your purse won't kill you, but it does
have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where
you eat.  Use hooks to hang your purse at home and in restrooms, and
don't put it on your desk, on a restaurant table, or on your kitchen
countertop.  Experts say you should think of your purse the same
way you would a pair of shoes.  "If you think about putting a pair of shoes
onto your countertops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put
your purse on the countertops," says Amy.

The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a purse will help.
Wash cloth purses and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of
leather purses.