Thought for today:
"'Look at my face. Few would ever know that my middle name was, 'Might have been.' I am the eternal pessimist; the preserver of lost opportunities. When a window of opportunity faces me, instead of rising to it, I pull down the shades and draw the curtains.'
So it is with too many people in this world. They fail to see the opportunities before them and therefore miss them. Opportunities are like sunrises; stay in bed too long with your eyes closed and you will miss them! One more day of your life will have passed you by.
I wonder, how many times do we let an ideal opportunity pass us by? Often we become so preoccupied with life around us that we cannot see the wood for the trees. I have frequently wondered how many soul mates passed me by during my years I spent alone or what positions in my working life I might have had if only I'd been bold enough to apply. Seizing the opportunity doesn't mean hanging around waiting for an opportunity to knock on your door, but it does imply that one should never leave a knocked door unanswered. You may wait a life time listening for the right words to be spoken, or for the ideal man or woman of your dreams to be introduced to you, but unless you always have an open heart, you will sadly remain unemotionally available to all potential partners when they do come along.
My mother used to tell me as a child, 'Billy, you are your own best friend and your own worse enemy. Any lack of confidence you have will hold you back more than six wild stallions pulling you in the opposite direction of which you want to go.' She was in effect telling me that if I wanted to succeed, that I must be prepared to knock on the door of my own destiny, and when it felt right, to 'go with my feelings' and trust my judgement. She also often said, 'Billy, prepare well and someday your chance will come.'
Over my life, I have found that like a bird with places to go and things to do, an opportunity never perches. And contrary to popular belief, though we may miss many opportunities that come our way, they are never lost, because someone else is sure to take them. Just imagine meeting the finest woman in the world with the sweetest smile, the warmest heart, and the most gracious and loving of natures and not being bold enough to take her as your wife and soul mate. Do you think that you can put down such a treasure without another quickly picking her up as his own?
It is a sad fact, but many of us fail to see an opportunity until it has ceased to be one. When I look back now and call to mind the many opportunities I might have had but didn't take, it would be so easy to start to regret the passing of time and the onset of old age. And yet, fortune has indeed smiled upon me when it brought myself and my wife Sheila together in perfect union in the autumn of my life.
I genuinely believe that nothing is more irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity; an opportunity to be a better person today than you were yesterday, an opportunity to be fair in your dealings with all men, an opportunity to strengthen your character and develop your personality to one that is respected and admired by others, an opportunity to begin a new day and to start life anew. That is the eternal opportunity that awaits all people who prefer love over hate, right over wrong and fairness over injustice. Such an opportunity awaits each of us at the start of every day. Even those loved ones who have died and left us their knowledge and the best of their traits help our growing young to become ever stronger. It is the most satisfying of thoughts to know that each generation goes farther than the generation preceding it. Because it stands on the shoulders of that generation, it provides more opportunities than we've ever known." William Forde: September 4th, 2017.
"'Look at my face. Few would ever know that my middle name was, 'Might have been.' I am the eternal pessimist; the preserver of lost opportunities. When a window of opportunity faces me, instead of rising to it, I pull down the shades and draw the curtains.'
So it is with too many people in this world. They fail to see the opportunities before them and therefore miss them. Opportunities are like sunrises; stay in bed too long with your eyes closed and you will miss them! One more day of your life will have passed you by.
I wonder, how many times do we let an ideal opportunity pass us by? Often we become so preoccupied with life around us that we cannot see the wood for the trees. I have frequently wondered how many soul mates passed me by during my years I spent alone or what positions in my working life I might have had if only I'd been bold enough to apply. Seizing the opportunity doesn't mean hanging around waiting for an opportunity to knock on your door, but it does imply that one should never leave a knocked door unanswered. You may wait a life time listening for the right words to be spoken, or for the ideal man or woman of your dreams to be introduced to you, but unless you always have an open heart, you will sadly remain unemotionally available to all potential partners when they do come along.
My mother used to tell me as a child, 'Billy, you are your own best friend and your own worse enemy. Any lack of confidence you have will hold you back more than six wild stallions pulling you in the opposite direction of which you want to go.' She was in effect telling me that if I wanted to succeed, that I must be prepared to knock on the door of my own destiny, and when it felt right, to 'go with my feelings' and trust my judgement. She also often said, 'Billy, prepare well and someday your chance will come.'
Over my life, I have found that like a bird with places to go and things to do, an opportunity never perches. And contrary to popular belief, though we may miss many opportunities that come our way, they are never lost, because someone else is sure to take them. Just imagine meeting the finest woman in the world with the sweetest smile, the warmest heart, and the most gracious and loving of natures and not being bold enough to take her as your wife and soul mate. Do you think that you can put down such a treasure without another quickly picking her up as his own?
It is a sad fact, but many of us fail to see an opportunity until it has ceased to be one. When I look back now and call to mind the many opportunities I might have had but didn't take, it would be so easy to start to regret the passing of time and the onset of old age. And yet, fortune has indeed smiled upon me when it brought myself and my wife Sheila together in perfect union in the autumn of my life.
I genuinely believe that nothing is more irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity; an opportunity to be a better person today than you were yesterday, an opportunity to be fair in your dealings with all men, an opportunity to strengthen your character and develop your personality to one that is respected and admired by others, an opportunity to begin a new day and to start life anew. That is the eternal opportunity that awaits all people who prefer love over hate, right over wrong and fairness over injustice. Such an opportunity awaits each of us at the start of every day. Even those loved ones who have died and left us their knowledge and the best of their traits help our growing young to become ever stronger. It is the most satisfying of thoughts to know that each generation goes farther than the generation preceding it. Because it stands on the shoulders of that generation, it provides more opportunities than we've ever known." William Forde: September 4th, 2017.
