I found this wonderfully inspiring list of reasons to never, ever give up when adversity strikes.

Sometimes we need reassurance that staying the course will eventually reward us.

Here are a few reasons to never give up:

1. As long as you are alive, anything is possible.
2. You are stronger than you think.  A little setback is not enough to stop you from achieving your goals.
3. If someone else can do it, so can you.
4. Another reason:  Your family and friends.  Let the people you love and who mean the world to you inspire you. 
5. You are so close.  At any given time you are only a heartbeat from success.

Baseball great Babe Ruth said, “You just can’t beat the person who won’t give up.”

See the entire list of 22 here.

Some claim that they cannot stay motivated unless they have high expectations of succeeding.

Yet, this approach is almost a guarantee of failure.

Alfred Korzybski posited that since our knowledge of anything is always limited and the future is uncertain, keeping our expectations low is a more productive use of our time and efforts.

Having no expectations is cynical and encourages us to not even try.

Harry Weinberg, the Temple University Professor and general semanticist reminds us that when we keep our expectations low, we “have a map that fits the territory”.

So life becomes a series of successes no matter how small they are making us happier than we would be with high risk, high expectations.

According to Weinberg:

“There is a big difference between high hopes and high expectations. In the former, we are prepared for failure and for success, in the latter only for success.  The ideal is embodied in the old chestnut ‘Expect the worst and hope for the best’”.

Working harder and expecting less is the formula to increased happiness.

The best selling author Harold Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People) wrote another book, not as well known but powerful beyond imagination.

In When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough Kushner reminds us that the happiest people in the world are not the richest and most famous.

Not the ones that work hardest at being happy.

That may explain why being happy doesn’t appear on many to-do lists.

The happiest people are the ones who are kind, helpful and reliable.  Isn’t that fascinating? 

And then happiness just happens while they are busy doing these things – a byproduct not a primary goal.

Kushner says,

“Happiness is a butterfly – the more you chase it, the more it flies away from you and hides.  But stop chasing it, put away your net and busy yourself with other, more productive things that the pursuit of personal happiness, and it will sneak up on you from behind and perch on your shoulder.”  

Today is a great day to try just being the fine person you are and letting happiness land on your shoulder.

The devastation from Hurricane Sandy has challenged millions of people in its wake forcing them to count their blessings and believe in their ability to begin anew.

Henry Kavett, a long time friend of mine dating back to his ABC Radio days has been without electricity, low on food and running on empty and yet his recent email could be an inspiration to all of us because it takes a hurricane to cause this kind of widespread damage but only a moment of gratitude to put things in perspective.

 “Things will get back to some kind of normal…because…” Out of bad…comes  good”, right? You said that…and I believe it… 

Things that we learned this week:

1. Gas is gas– brand name or XXX off brand, doesn’t matter
2. Life is precious and fragile
3. Live wisely
4. Things can be replaced
5. You will find out who truly cares about you in a crisis”

Adversity introduces a person to him or her self and to those around them.

Oprah Winfrey said:

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

Go on a jealousy diet and relieve yourself of the deadweight that kills relationships. 

I think the two worst human conditions are the fear of intimacy and jealousy.

Jealousy is a complicated and involved malady but to the extent that it hurts us from being our best and bringing the best out of others, we need a plan to eliminate or greatly reduce it from our lives, our families, relationships and workplaces.

We go on low-fat and low carb diets.  Why not a Jealousy Diet as I outline in my book.

1. Let go of the fear that you don’t have any value.  Take the eye off of others and turn the attention to within.
2. Repeat often:  “Jealousy hurts me more than it hurts them”.  William Penn wrote that “the jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves”.
3. Count jealousies like calories – make a list of the people of whom you are jealous.
4. Focus on your accomplishments.  Harold Coffin said, “Envy is the art of counting the other person’s blessings instead of your own.”
5. Make amends for jealous behavior.

“In jealousy there is more self-love than love” – Francois VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maximes (1665)