1 Most Important Writing Principle Ever

“The production of something, where nothing was before, is an act of greater energy than the expansion or decoration of the thing produced. Set down diligently your thoughts as they rise in the fir...

7 Idea Sources For When Inspiration Runs Out

From the writing perspective: Read a lot. That builds the story imagination. I guess when this is applied to other disciplines, e.g. gardening, strategising, cooking, Use writing prompts. I&#...

A Brief Chronology of our Marketing Efforts for Hear Me Move

JUNE 2013 – DECEMBER 2014 JUNE 2013 Fidel — ·      At this stage, the money hadn’t yet come in. We were waiting for the IDC to get back to us, because there had been hectic delays with their leg...

A Day At A Time

I cannot hold a future plan, The weight of many 'morrows. The limits of living a man, The setting sun of sorrow. But yet there is one, for whom the years, Exist in ceaseless day. I’...

A Lifetime of Learning

This got me thinking a lot about how most people hate reading. And seeing as how "going down to the pub" to discuss matters has been replaced by social media … I don't know what that ...

A Pound of Butter

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to a baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the right amount, which he wasn’t. Angry about this, he took the far...

Always tell the truth

“One night four college kids stayed out late, partying and having a good time. They paid no mind to the test they had scheduled for the next day and didn’t study. In the morning, they hatched a pla...

Anatomy of the Premise Line

Picture this: You’re pitching your story to a producer or a network executive. You’ve been working on it on and off for a couple of months and are convinced that you have a pretty solid logline and...

Bad Wiring

Our souls are like a house whose wiring is messed up. So appliances burn and fuses blow up and things short circuit all the time. God is the master electrician, coming in to fix the wiring. But it ...

Be kind to others even if it hurts you

“In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. ‘How much is an ice cream s...

Box Full of Kisses

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Chr...

Brutal Legacy by Tracy Going - Book Review

I normally read books quite quickly, but this one took me a long while to get through. I had to take frequent breaks, because Iswung between despair and anger as I turned the pages of the book. Th...

Closing down the schools

by Giovanni Papini (1881-1956) 1st June 1914 Beware of large building where hundreds of men gather or are therein locked up. Prisons, Churches, Hospitals, Parliaments, Barracks, Lunatic asylums, ...

Combining Save The Cat with the Anatomy of the Premise Line

I don't trust these writing systems anymore. They seem to interrupt [[flow]]. But insofaras it's useful to know what ballpark you're playing in storywise right at the start of a story, ...

Comparing The Anatomy of the Premise Line to the 6 Act Structure

Where [[The Anatomy of the Premise Line]] maps onto the 6 Act Structure. Though I've come to realize that if you have these things in the back of your mind, rewriting - [[flow]] writing over an...

Control Your Temper

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence. On th...

Without conviction it is impossible to continue on a road that doesn't seem to lead anywhere. To keep walking, you are going to have to revisit and strengthen your conviction over and over agai...

DNA

Sometimes I wonder whether DNA doesn't really stand for Disordered Natural Affections.  Because they are inside of us and we can't seem to shake the them off…at least not before we die. #...

Damaged souls still have worth

“A shop owner placed a sign above his door that said: ‘Puppies For Sale.’ Signs like this always have a way of attracting young children, and to no surprise, a boy saw the sign and approached the ...

Decision Making and Prudence

Do you find yourself stuck whenever the moment to take an important decision arrives? We are constantly faced with decision making moments at every moment of the day. Some of the decisions we have ...

Desolate Wasteland

Consolations come and go, and so do desolations. They are like successive tides in the ocean. It’s like consolations build convictions and reaffirm them. They give us a glimpse of the goal and re...

Do not get too greedy

“It was an incredibly hot day and a lion was feeling very hungry. He crawled out of his den and searched here and there, but he could only find a small hare. He caught the hare, but with some hesi...

Don't Be Whoever You Want To Be

Rather than being whoever you want to be, be whoever God wants you to be. That latter is far superior.

Don’t assume you are going to fail

“During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank. As you would expect, the shark quickly swam aroun...

Don’t insult the things you wish you could have

‘One afternoon, a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from a lofty branch. ‘Just the thing to quench my thirst,’ he thought. Taking a couple of steps back, th...

Don’t judge others before you know them

“A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted… ‘Dad, look the trees are going behind!’ Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior ...

Don’t let your circumstances change you

“There once was a blind woman who hated herself purely because she could not see. The only person she loved was her boyfriend, as he was always there for her. She said that if she could only see th...

Don’t say something you regret out of anger

“There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence. On t...

Don’t screw over your friends

“Vijay and Raju were friends. One day while on holiday, exploring a forest, they saw a bear coming towards them. Naturally, they were both frightened, so Raju, who knew how to climb trees, climbed...

Enjoy the moment

“After spending nearly every waking minute with Angel for eight straight days, I knew that I had to tell her just one thing. So late at night, just before she fell asleep, I whispered it in her ear...

Envy

The next time you find yourself envying someone who seems more successful than you are, consider this. When people worship you, and elevate you to God-status, they rip you away from your humanity,...

Even though you’re damaged, you still have value

“A popular speaker started off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. A crowd of 200 had gathered to hear him speak. He asked, ‘Who would like this $20 bill?’ 200 hands went up. He said, ‘I am going...

Exercising 36 Days Straight

Some time ago, I read a book about the craft of writing. But it was less to do with the actual mechanics of writing and more with the lifestyle of writing and how to live and keep healthy before s...

Faith Is A Diamond

Faith is like a tiny diamond. Only in heaven will it be set in the endless circling band of eternity. But here on earth, it is a loose stone that can very easily get lost. Hence we have to take del...

Fiction Books I Have Read

%% #review #flashcards %% I came across a piece of advice once by Louis Lamour where he advised keeping a list of books read. He didn't give the reason why. I've had to work out a reason fo...

flow

What Flow Looks Like On The Outside Non-stop frenzied writing, where the hands can hardly keep pace with recording what the imagination is perceiving. What Flow Feels Like On The Inside Heaven. T...

Focus on the good things in life

“Two friends were walking through the desert. At one stage in their journey, they had an argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without sa...

Freedom, Cars and Motorways

Obviously, my daughters and sons, there are certain limits to our behaviour, because we are children of God; while at the same time we feel, and really are, free. The barriers on motorways, which p...

Getting My Attention Back

GETTING MY ATTENTION BACK by Fred Nam (1258 words) There I was. All alone in my room. Finally. After hours and hours of trying to get through my to do list, handle all the chores, speak to every...

Girl? What girl?

What change is to time, abundance is to space. And since God is in the now, He's more likely to be found in the abundance of space around us. As I walked past a pair of German Shepards this mo...

God created you for heaven, and He created heaven for you. He wants you in heaven more than you yourself do, believe it or not.

God created you for heaven, and He created heaven for you. He wants you in heaven more than you yourself do, believe it or not. References

God writes with His eyes closed

When I look at nature, I realize that God writes with His eyes closed and His hands tied behind His back. And He's just a little crazy also.

Hear Me Move - Final Shooting Script

HEAR ME MOVE Screenplay by Fidel Namisi FINAL SHOOTING DRAFT WHITE: October 28th 2013 PINK: November 20th 2013 Coal Stove Pictures 163 Smit Street, Braamfontein....

How To Avoid Analysis Paralysis When Writing

Do you sometimes find yourself, overwhelmed with all the tools and approaches that can be used when coming up, or brainstorming or writing your stories. I'm sure you've heard of the hero...

Humility Hurts

The more serious a physical therapy illness is, the more painful the treatment it involves. When we have the indigestion, the small discomfort is easily resolved by swallowing a tablet. But when we...

I Need To Spend More Time In Nature

I need to spend way more time sitting looking at nature. Looking at God showing off His skill as the writer-of-being.

If I look at the past.

If I look at the past, there I see the proof of God accomplishing my dreams, and I draw a lot of hope from that. I need to renounce the "CNN mentality": letting one catastrophe, taken ou...

If we pray for more faith, hope and love

If we pray for more faith, hope and love, everything else: hunger, disease, war, suffering - yes, and even death itself; all find their proper solution.

Ignore the haters

“A group of frogs were traveling through the forest when two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that there was no hope left for the...

I wrote this essay in 2007, in part-fulfilment of my honors degree in Dramatic Arts. In it I challenged the theoretical frameworks and schools of thought that had informed my four-year course at th...

Inclusivity

"He drew a circle that shut me out- Rebel, heretic, thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win– We drew a circle that took him in."

Is Harry Potter Evil?

Question: Is Harry Potter evil? Objection 1: It would seem that Harry Potter is evil. This is because the books portray several depictions of witchcraft and wizardry, which are harmful to the you...

Kenward's Day - Early Draft

He slammed his fist into the table in frustration. The error message on the computer screen blinked at him regardless. “Compile error on line 456. Program terminated.” He hit the cancel button, p...

Kenward's Day - Final Draft

Kenward slammed his fist into the table in frustration. The error message on the computer screen blinked at him regardless. “Compile error on line 471. Program terminated.” He stared at the screen ...

Laziness won’t get you anywhere

“In ancient times, a king had his men place a boulder on a roadway. He then hid in the bushes, and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way. Some of the king’s wealthiest merc...

Learn from your problems

“A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice. He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries. He therefore decides to bury it alive. Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey...

Love matters more than material items

“Some time ago, a man punished his young daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became angry when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tr...

Lwanda Magere by Okoiti Omtatah - Book Review

"When death sings a mans praises,
 Nothing can stop him from dancing." The line is from the stageplay "Lwanda Magere" by Okoiti Omtatah. He's an award-winning Kenyan play...

Man of Stone and Shadow - Chapter 1

Luyanda Michaels stepped into the bus. The pneumatic doors closed behind him with a gentle hiss. He was the last person to board, and only one seat was available. He wound his way to it as the bus ...

Man of Stone and Shadow - Chapter 2

The sun was already setting by the time Luyanda turned his steps up the driveway and towards his house in Brackenfell Heights. The journey back home had taken longer than he had expected. He’d gott...

Man of Stone and Shadow - Chapter 3

Luyanda stepped into the garage and flipped on the light switch. His dad’s new hovercar was parked on the floor. It was pristine and gleamed white beneath the incandescent lighting. His mother’s be...

Martha and Mary

38As they traveled along, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message. 40But Ma...

Moby Dick

My impressions from Moby Dick. It's a hard book to read. The first time I tried reading it was in high school. I couldn't finish it. The second time was in university. I still couldn...

My Hall of Mentors by Ntsiki Mkhize

"My Hall of Mentors" by Ntsiki Mkhize packs a lifetime of lessons into a quick and easy read. The author, a social entrepreneur and runner-up for Miss South Africa, has been mentored by s...

Never give up on your dreams

“Once, there was an older man, who was broke, living in a tiny house and owned a beat up car. He was living off of $99 social security checks. At 65 years of age, he decide things had to change. So...

Never let one failure from the past hold you back in the future

“As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was ob...

No Match For It Is To Be Found

This poem was inspired by Liv Taylor's portrayal of Arwen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson. No match for it is to be found, No flaw in it, tis fully sound. It thaws the co...

On Judgements

“Be clear about this: letting go of judgments does not mean ignoring errors. It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them.”</div> This could be an aspe...

On NFTs

Where NFTs are concerned, I’ve become rather cautious. Let me explain. I feel that people who are either not artists or who have allowed their artistic talent to be ruined by a disordered love of ...

On Overthinking

The next time someone tells me that I am overthinking things - usually in response to my views on Google's bid for global information domination or Meta's creation of addictive products - I...

On Risking It All On God

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. HENRY DAVID THOREAU” The thing about taking the risk of believing ...

On St Thomas Aquinas

Today I read the story about how St. Thomas Aquinas's elder brother sent a woman into the saint's room to seduce him, and how St. Thomas chased her out with a firebrand. When he returned he...

It has been said that we are all on different paths to climb up the same mountain, and we will all get to the same peak where we will find the same God. The path may be called Buddha or Yahweh or M...

Worry & Discouragement

"The biggest enemies of creativity are worry and discouragement." To combat worry:  Avoid thinking of the future and remain in the present. Feel the floor beneath your feet (Include the...

Our Souls Are Like Shoes

Two flatmates and good friends both landed job interviews at the same firm in the middle of the city they lived in. They decided to share a cab and go there. But the traffic was so much that a few ...

Pain is God's Megaphone

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in our conscience and he shouts to us in our pain." C.S. Lewis References

Pick it up and read!

This is the verse that St. Augustine read when he heard a voice telling him to pick up the Bible and read, thus triggering his definitive conversion. Romans 13: 11 Besides this you know what h...

Puppies for Sale

Puppies for Sale (Inspirational Short Stories) A shop owner placed a sign above his door that said: “Puppies For Sale.” Signs like this always have a way of attracting young children, and to no s...

Reaching New Heights

This poem was written by my friend, Sagree Naicker. On the 🗻 top, Where it's misty, The view a bit hazy When man doubted that I could, God knew I would, By His strength and grace, Empowered t...

Remix - Episode 1

“REMIX” Episode #: 1 “A SECOND CHANCE” WRITTEN BY Fidel Namisi SUMMARY Sentenced to community service at a church for pirating their own CDs, Tooth and Nails start a gospel singing group to a...

Remix - Episode 5

"REMIX" EPISODE 5 "SOUNDS LIKE TEAM SPIRIT" WRITTEN BY Fidel Namisi 7th December 2012 SUMMARY Tooth reunites the Remix members and manages to lead them to the finals. Mea...

Ride the Feeling

I Didn’t Learn Much In High School  The only book I kept from my years in high school was my notebook from a subject called Ethics. It wasn’t part of the national curriculum in Kenya, so I think I...

Save The Cat Beatsheet

Picture this: you’re hard at work outlining your feature film script or series pilot. You have probably figured out the beginning and have a good idea what the inciting incident is. You may even ha...

Short film script lwanda magere

FADE UP: A yellowing, worn 16th century map of East Africa, supported by a foreboding score and sounds of spears, shields and brawn in battle. NARRATOR (V.O.) Centuries ago, along the banks of t...

Silence - A Poem

Peacefulness, A sea of calmness Washing waves of placid beauty, Of silence, Over a mind, In need of cleansing. A beauty Beyond words, Is found in that stillness, That impresses itself, Onto a mind...

Spiritual Guidance And The Referee

Many people say priests cannot advise about married life because they've never been married. For a referee to officiate s game effectively, he can't also be playing. He has to be on the sid...

Step Into The Real

One of the greatest abilities one can develop in life is learning how to embrace, accept and appreciate reality. Then one discovers what is good and beautiful in even the most trying or most humdru...

Stop chasing happiness

“An old man lived in the village. The whole village was tired of him; he was always gloomy, he constantly complained and was always in a bad mood. The longer he lived, the viler he became and more ...

Stop stressing so much

“Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expecte...

Stop wasting your time complaining

“People visit a wise man complaining about the same problems over and over again. One day, he decided to tell them a joke and they all roared with laughter. After a few minutes, he told them the s...

Strategies and Stories

Are you still unsure what shape a strategy should take? Are you not clear about what to put in or take out? People say that your goals should be SMART (Specific, Measured, Actionable, Relevant and ...

Struggling will make you stronger

“Once upon a time, a man found a butterfly that was starting to hatch from its cocoon. He sat down and watched the butterfly for hours as it struggled to force itself through a tiny hole. Then, it ...

The Anatomy of the Premise Line

Summary of "The Anatomy of the Premise Line" by Jeff Lyons. Chapter 1: Your First Book In Story Development Tell Me Your Story: this is an introductory chapter where he asks...

The Black Hole and the Comet

Deep in space, a little star revolved around a bigger star. Both dazzled the other stars as they stayed not too close but not too far away from each other either.  But the little star wanted to be ...

The Blind Girl

There was a blind girl who hated herself purely for the fact she was blind. The only person she didn’t hate was her loving boyfriend, as he was always there for her. She said that if she could only...

The Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Until it sudd...

The Children of God

Once a new church was being built. One of its great features was to be a stained glass window. The committee in charge searched for a subject for the window and finally decided on the lines of the ...

The Dung Beetle and the Wildebeest

A dung beetle came across an old, hoary wildebeest, weeping and wailing all by itself in the savannah one day.  “Why are you weeping?”  “I used to be the king of the wildebeest. But times are har...

The Elephant Rope

The Elephant Rope (Inspirational Short Stories) A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All t...

The Fallen Cypress

A tall, stately cypress tree had lived for many years, but was very unhappy with its life. It felt that death was near, and it looked forward to its end with eager longing. “My life has been usele...

The Girl Who Refused To Undress

In a little village in the middle of the savannah, there lived a young girl who was fearful and shy. She had a few good friends, and she enjoyed nothing more than playing in the fields with them or...

The Group of Frogs

The Group of Frogs (Inspirational Short Stories) As a group of frogs was traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the pit and saw how deep...

The Heart to Heart Conversation

Now that I am in my thirties, the number of former schoolmates who are getting divorced has taken a sharp uptick. Every single story of how and why they got divorced is different. But one common mo...

The Key

He waited. He could hear the laboured breathing, punctuated by the occasional deep sigh, coming from the other side of the door. Not long now, he thought to himself. Not long before his father as...

The Lost Keys

 There was once a mother who blamed her two little girls for everything that went wrong around the house. Whenever something got broken, or got lost, it was their fault. Whenever they were late for...

The Marriage of Figaro - An Essay from First Year Undergrad

I wrote this in my first year of undergrad studies for a BA in Dramatic Arts. I think it's a really good essay. ESSAY TOPIC: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Discuss Mozart and Da Ponte’s The Marriage of ...

The Not Doing List

HOW SETTING BOUNDARIES SETS YOU FREE by Fred Nam (900 words) Steve Jobs was well known for his decisiveness.  When he got his second shot at running Apple, he was adamant about the company maint...

The Obstacle In Our Path

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. He then hid himself and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and court...

The Palm Tree and the Oak

A tall, elegant palm tree turned to the gnarled, twisted oak growing beside it in a mangrove swamp.  "Look at you…you are old, twisted and ugly..stand up straight, like me, and let people adm...

The Perfectionism Trap

Hello. These are notes I took at THE workshop on perfectionism which happened yesterday, 16 February 2019.  THE PERFECTIONISM TRIP If perfectionism causes unhappiness, then it means it’s a step...

The Premise Line

Picture this: You’re pitching your story to a producer or a network executive. You’ve been working on it on and off for a couple of months and are convinced that you have a pretty solid logline and...

The Problem With Books On The Craft Of Writing

They analyze the product, not the process. Writing is about a process. The reason it's hard to analyze the process is because the mind is engaged during writing. And so to turn part of it in o...

The Redwood and the Lumberjack

 In the middle of a large forest, a proud redwood towered to the skies and looked down on all the other trees. No one had ever been able to cut the redwood down. Its trunk was so thick, that severa...

The River and the Banks

One day, a river said to its banks, "I am powerful and swift. I want to do great things, but you are holding me back. You are old. You never change. But I am ever new and ever young and full o...

The Sailor and the Storm

A lone sailor found himself caught in a terrible storm. He called out to his gods for help. After several more days of storm tossed seas, violent winds and strong winds, he scolded his gods for hav...

The Stanley Chronicles - Chapter 1

The Metro Apartment Complex consisted of five blocks of flats. Each block of dull grey concrete was seven storeys tall and was creatively named after a letter of the alphabet. In apartment 3B, with...

The Two Process Themes

It's like there are two themes in a story. The springboard theme. This gets you going at the beginning. The deep dive theme. This is what you discover the story is really about after you&#...

The Worst Writing Advice Ever

Grow a thick skin! This is the worst writing advice ever, and is a strong contender for the worst life advice ever also. Why? Because as a painter needs to be sensitive to light, and a musician ...

Thinking Out of the Box

In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fa...

Three Brainstorming Techniques To Smash Through Creative Blocks

Are you overwhelmed by all the tools and approaches that can be used when brainstorming and structuring stories? The Hero’s Journey, Save The Cat, The Snowflake Method and many more.  Have you ever...

Throwback - Writing Hear Me Move

I want to do a throwback to my experience writing the screenplay for the dance film “Hear Me Move.” I finished the first draft in July 2011 .At the time, the working title of the story was “Conten...

Virtues Consists In The Good, Not The Difficult

"“The essence of virtue consists in the good rather than in the difficult.… Not everything that is more difficult is necessarily more meritorious. It is necessary for the perfection of human s...

What True Petitionary Prayer Looks Like

Our Lady’s prayer at the wedding of Cana is an example of perfect petitionary prayer. Her aim isn’t to bend God’s will to hers. Her aim is only to communicate to God a concern :"They have no ...

When is the last time that you had a great conversation? I love this excerpt from Irish poet, theologian and philosopher John O’Donohue’s conversation with Krista Tippet of On Being. It comes from...

Whither Education by Silvano Borruso

RECOVERING EDUCATION Taken at face value, the title of this essay means that education has been lost. The loss is by no means obvious. It requires proof, which this essay will undertake to offer. ...

Who cares?

Self 1: Who cares? Self 2: God cares. Self 1: But I don't see Him. Self 2: I don't see my heart either.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

By Fulton Sheen "Look into your own heart. I've looked into mine. I've had a great deal of suffering in the eighty-three years of my life– physical suffering and other suffering. It s...

Why God Hides Himself

There was once a handsome young billionaire who was seeking a wife. The problem was that all the women who pursued him wanted him for his money, his property and his looks…but not for his personali...

Why I Write

I write because God writes, and I play because God plays.

Why Older People Are Holier

The mind and body are a lot like a machine. At first, the machine runs pretty okay and doesn't have any breakdowns. But with time, the parts get worn and the machine breaks down from time to ti...

Why is it that married men always have this exhausted look in their eyes

Why is it that married men always have this exhausted look in their eyes? I have seen this happening to many of my friends. Before they were married, there was a twinkle in their eye and a joy on ...

Writing journal june 2018

I tried to keep a writing journal of sorts as I was writing the very first draft of Man of Stone and Shadow in June - July 2018. Tuesday 11 June 2018 Bad morning. Didn’t write at all. Did pre-wri...

You Probably Eat More Than You Need

According to a report that the World Health Organization published some years ago, South Africa leads the ranking in the most obese countries in sub-Saharan Africa. I don't know how accurate th...

You are not going to get anything handed to you

“A man walked to the top of a hill to talk to God. The man asked, ‘God, what’s a million years to you?’ and God said, ‘A minute.’ Then the man asked, ‘Well, what’s a million dollars to you?’ and ...

You get what you give

“Once, there was a farmer who regularly sold butter to a baker. One day, the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the exact amount that he asked for. He found out that he wasn...

Your good deeds could change the world

“Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home. There’s a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the wat...

Your priorities matter

“Imagine you had a bank account that deposited $86,400 each morning. The account carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part...

Your reaction matters more than what happens to you

“Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It se...

Your talent only matters if you are somewhere it can be used

“A mother and a baby camel were lying around under a tree. Then the baby camel asked, ‘Why do camels have humps?’ The mother camel considered this and said, ‘We are desert animals so we have the ...