The Zen of Travel (Article) - 6/15/2016 11:34:12 PM
A poignant story to illustrate your philosophy. I tend to fly by the mantra that one never knows what another is going through despite putting their best face forward.
The Zen of Travel (Article) - 6/14/2016 6:07:12 AM
A great story about how kindness can help people in more ways than one.
It brought to mind two incidents of mine. First the bad one. After visiting a friend the week before my girlfriend insisted that we get a hotel "near" O'Hare Airport. The hotel was difficult to find, far from the airport, dirty and old, and generally a mistake. She was slow to get going in the morning, so by the time we got to the airport, we missed the flight. We got rescheduled for a later flight and waited. Being unable to get up and walk around easily, I relied on her to check on the flight.
Time for the flight came and went. A plane had lost its front landing gear upon landing and the airport was in disarray. Finally, I asked my girlfriend one more time to check on the flight and she was told that it was boarding on the other side of the airport! I started yelling. Just then, the friend we had visited came along with his son after dropping off someone at the airport. He saw me yelling. I stopped. I was so embarrassed and didn't know how to tell him why I was so angry. An old lady airport employee pushed me in a wheelchair--very fast--to our gate what seemed like a half-mile away. It was another half hour before our flight finally took off.
Another friend and I were in Kennedy international checking our bags for our flight to London when a man was yelling at a Moroccan Airline employee that he had to check his bags because his plane was leaving. I saw his concern and told him that he could cut line in front of us because we were still some hours from our flight.
A week later, while walking on the street in Cairo, my friend and I came upon the man and his mother. He told us he was a medical doctor from Virginia visiting his family over the Christmas holiday. Thanked us for our kindness, but didn't invite us into his family's home. Something that many other strangers I met on route often did.
Ron
Rainbows and Banana Peels (Article) - 11/18/2015 2:52:01 AM
Your healthy attitude, no doubt, contributed greatly to triumphing over breast cancer. I am one of those rainbow skeptics, even though I tread carefully over banana peels. When you're on an even keel, you're not as disappointed.
Rainbows and Banana Peels (Article) - 11/4/2015 7:29:18 AM
I like your expression of banana peels and rainbows as metaphors for life. I also like the positive nature of your article and your encouragement for everyone to be of a positive mind in spite of negative influences all around.
Authors tend to be a skeptical lot having read much and, for some, having experienced, much. As for me, in spite of some serious slips along the way, for the most part, when I ventured out into the world that many feared for various (mostly ignorant) reasons, I found it wonderful, peaceful, and filled with adventure, rather than pain. Since negative tends to draw more attention than positive, our world is filled with negative information. The real world is just the opposite. So, I encourage people to ignore threats of potential banana peels and take a ride on some rainbows that they haven't, before.
Ron
If they can do it in 1929, you can do it in 2014 (Article) - 8/7/2014 11:32:41 AM
Thank you for your thoughts Ron. The article is intended to be motivational, not a "how to start a business" article. I think everyone should live their dream whether that is writing a book, learning to paint, or starting a business. Loving what you do for a living and loving life!
Indeed, if you are starting a business you absolutely should do your homework and research it thoroughly. Take some classes, read some books and get as much information as you can before starting. However, you need to go into business with the thought that you are going to succeed ... NOT the thought that you're going to fail. Be positive in all you do! Life is just too short not to.
Good luck to you!
Katharine
If they can do it in 1929, you can do it in 2014 (Article) - 8/7/2014 8:07:50 AM
While I found your pep talk motivational, I didn't see any concrete things that could be used to come out of it except the idea that businesses that capitalize on the needs of people that are strapped for money, like dollar stores and paycheck lenders, tend to flourish during hard times and can be built into empires. The name of the game is always selling some service or good at a cost lower than the other guys. In this case, one must use the Internet to determine who was selling a similar item at a lower cost, even if one has an outlet like a store for sales.
The fallacy in this is that 9 out of 10 startup businesses are failures within a year or two because of lack of capitalization. Failure is the norm. All one has to do is watch the TV show, Shark Tank, to see failure happening. It takes many skills to run a business and most people don't have all of those skills. Failure is a hard way to learn, that is the way most learn. Without going into detail, there are many things that can cause a business to fail. A person wishing to start a business, should get as many facts about costs and perception of the prototype product as possible before spending life savings on a losing proposition.
Ron
How to Spot a Fraud Email (Article) - 3/13/2013 4:39:59 AM
Thank you Katherine for taking the time to write this. I am now a fan.
May peace be with you, love surround you and blessings abound you,
John Michael
Water Under The Bridge (Article) - 3/13/2013 4:37:30 AM
Hi Katherine,
Today I am grateful for you. "Water Under the Bridge" provides sound advice. We all need affirmation and confirmation. This did it for me.
Thank you!
May peace be with you, love surround you and blessings abound you,
John Michael
How do you Measure Success? (Article) - 1/13/2013 9:01:27 AM
Hi Katharine,
I was just checking on some inspirational articles when I notice this one from you;I have to admit this is a very good thought.
But personally, when I think of my success, It was when I succesfully turn from the world, and turn to CHRIST.
He has made the difference. Everything else just fell into place.
May God Bless you, and keep up the good work. I will definatly read more of your work Daphne.
Water Under The Bridge (Article) - 7/3/2011 5:45:34 PM
Hi Katharine,
Thank your for your aritcle. I forwarded it to my grown up children.
How do you Measure Success? (Article) - 6/16/2011 5:15:20 PM
Hi Katherine.
I agree fully with your approach to the subject matter. Especially your making a list of all the good accomplishments you have made. You are already a successful person.
I hope more people will read your article.
When you have the time, check out my stories and articles.
My focus is 1) ultimately to save a person's soul and 2) to keep the person healthy while still in this planet.
All the best to you, your family and your business. I will read up your other articles.
How do you Measure Success? (Article) - 5/18/2011 6:51:36 AM
Good advice, Katharine, spot on. Wealth, status, power etc. are fleeting in the happiness and success stakes. If success equals happiness (and I think you're more or less saying that it does), it can only be lasting if it starts from the inside and is allowed/encouraged to blossom outwards. Great post.
How do you Measure Success? (Article) - 1/6/2010 3:11:26 PM
A funny thing happened on the way to success for me. I am a waiter, and have been for most of the last 27 years. I have waited on the rich; the super rich, celebrities and I have waited on the poor and the average American. In 27 years I have probably waited on over a million individual people. Remember McDonald's signs in the 60's? 5 million burgers sold and then 6 million sold, until it became billions and billions sold? Well with all of that personal contact with people and listening to their stories, I started to feel luckier and luckier each year. When I was a kid, I thought my family sucked, but I only knew ten families. I thought for sure that we were number 10 out of 10. I was making decisions about my life from a very small information sample. After waiting on about 35,000 families, I run up to my mom now and hug her, and I realize how lucky I was. 10 out of 35,000 isn't so bad is it? When I was 7 I wanted to be Howard Hughes the richest man in the world at the time. I even had to have my birthday at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas because Howard Hughes lived on the top floor, which was only 7 floors high in 1969. "thanks mom!" I wanted to be the richest man in the world. That was my plan. But as I waited on more and more people, I started to realize that the more money you had, the more fame you had, the more prestige and power you had, the more problems you had. Look how money worked out for Howard in the end. Or so rich and famous that the only way you can sleep is by taking Propoval like Michael Jackson. Today I have something called Joy, which is more powerful than happiness. Joy is not dependent on things of this world. Rocky Stone is correct when he says in his post that bank robbers can be happy, if only temporarily. You can take the most depressed person and let them pick out any car they want, and they will be happy, if only temporarily. As I talked above about the small sample I was using to make my family ranking decisions on, and as the sample got larger and larger, I was finally able to really appreciate how great my family was. This is a key to all readers out there who are struggling with happiness. Increase the size of your sample. Do you measure you success by what Bill Gates or Warren Buffet have done? Well then you are in for disappointment. What blows my mind is that as a waiter in the United States of America, I am one of the richest men in the world. I didn't say I was one of the richest men in the United States, because that would be ludicrous. But like an Iceberg that only shows about 10 percent above water, and 90 percent below water, most of the people in the world will not even make a thousand dollars this year. So if you want to be really happy and joyful, learn to realize every moment of the day how truly lucky you are, and that's how you measure success.
How do you Measure Success? (Article) - 12/4/2009 7:30:49 PM
Interesting...but if succes is to be measured by happiness or achieving a goal, many bank robers do both. Would you consider them or their life a success? Or are they successful, because the obtained what they wanted? It has been said, "a bull dog could whip a skunk, but it would not be worth it". Some think they are successful...but to others...they smell pretty bad. Are you sure your comments were a success, or were they just a passing glance?
How do you Measure Success? (Article) - 11/24/2009 6:16:45 AM
thanks for this article. very inspirational indeed.
Sometimes Big Messages come from Small Packages (Article) - 11/13/2009 11:19:29 PM
Yes, I can relate. Too much on my plate. But I would rather be busy than bored!
PS: Where is your new material???
Is it Positive or Negative? You decide. (Article) - 5/20/2009 5:42:55 PM
I LOVED it!!!
I will use your checklist (with your permission) for my motivational seminar at our church.
BTW who is Connie Domino? Tell me more about her book. Why?
I am John Michael Domino (Da Pizzaman)
Really...Check it out on my Website.
JMD
Ten Tips on How to Start a Concierge Business (Article) - 10/28/2008 2:43:32 AM
Magnificent job! You have written a poingnant gameplan that is applicable not only to your specialty, but to all entrepreneurs interested in starting a business.
Regards ...
Reginald V. Johnson
Along Came a Spider (Article) - 8/2/2008 1:52:14 PM
Another lesson from that spider is the fact that as long as it lives, it will never give up. No matter how low things get, time always fixes the situation one way or the other. Patience and trust in God is the key. After all, God created time. We only have clocks.
Is Technology Really Making Life Easier? (Article) - 7/25/2008 8:24:50 AM
I LOVED your article! It really makes one THINK! How did you get to be so articulate?
BRAVO!
Is it Positive or Negative? You decide. (Article) - 7/7/2008 7:55:04 AM
I have to stay with positive thinking to keep my manic depressive order in gear and going strong. Sometimes it is hard to do and I backslide, but say be positive and things do go better. Liked these very positive views and the negatives we can throw out the windows.
