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*Grave Topics* 5/6/02 _____________________________ If you enjoy this free daily email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join the thousands of HeartTouchers.com readers around the world by sending an e-mail with the word "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@aol.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past stories in our archives at: http://www.HeartTouchers.com ____________________________________________ Are you looking for the perfect gift to give for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Graduation? Then check out Michael's Video Production business: Video Imagery! You can transfer your photos over to videotape, or even DVD, all set to music that will make your images come alive! The cost is only $1 per photo, which means no matter what your budget is, you can give the most meaningful gift you have ever given because you determine how many photos you transfer, and therefore, how much you spend! Want to make Mom, Dad, or your favorite graduating senior cry happy tears? Then check out all Michael has to offer at the following web site: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/ AOL Users click here: Video Imagery "I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was the best gift we could have given them!! You did such a beautiful job! They were so surprised and so touched--they really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for the video too! Thanks again!" Kelli-- College Station, TX _________________________________________ We have another new writer to HeartTouchers.com today! This article really touched home with me and it is my hope that it will make all of us take a breath and consider how we are spending our time... Be sure to give Jennifer a warm HeartTouchers welcome! From my family to yours, Michael _________________________________________ Grave Topics By Jennifer Basye Sander, © 1999 ginsander@hotmail.com I picked out my headstone on Saturday night. There in a darkened graveyard lit only by the full moon, kerosene lamps, and fading flashlights, I spotted a familiar shape on the ground -- a large stack of books so tall that some of them were slipping sideways. There are many such piles on the floor of my office, only this one was carved from marble. "Hey, look over there!" I whispered to my husband, my reluctant companion on this moonlight history tour of the Old City Cemetery, "You can have that one made for me when I'm dead. It's perfect!" No readers, I am not announcing my imminent demise. But the sight of a cold, carved gravestone is rather a stark reminder of how rushed our lives can feel nowadays - and just what it is we are rushing towards? After a Saturday night spent traipsing around the graveyard, I sat down Sunday night to watch a videotape of the PBS special "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff." Not because I wanted to learn anything, mind you, I had to. This was strictly work-related, I told myself, as I plopped down onto the couch. Richard Carlson, the author of the best-selling "Don't Sweat" series, began his talk, and I laughed in recognition at so much of the familiar behavior what he described. And then he began to talk about what he calls Emergency Mode. Emergency Mode is the super high octane high speed pace that so much of modern life operates on. The I've gotta get there on time ...Why haven't they returned my phone call yet? ... Dang! Why does it take my computer takes soooo long to boot up? thoughts that leave our stomachs churning and our fingers tapping anxiously. And I began to reflect on the Emergency Mode in my own life, my work life in particular. There I was on a Sunday night at 9 p.m., involved in a consulting project instead of relaxing with my needlepoint. Why couldn't this have waited? And I remembered how the weekend had begun, in the same gotta-do-it-now style: Late in the day on Friday I completed work on a large proposal and raced through traffic to get to the one Fed Ex box with a 5:30 p.m. pickup. Before dropping my envelope in the slot I checked the little box that says "Saturday Delivery." Saturday? Sure, I was sending this to a colleague who works from home in Santa Barbara, not some empty glass building in Manhattan. "It has to get there immediately!" I was telling myself, and by sending it for Saturday delivery I was at the same time telling the guy on the other end, "Hey, you work for yourself. What do you think weekends are for, relaxing? Get busy and deal with this!" I was on Emergency Mode, and I was passing it on down to the next in line. Work, work, faster, faster! So now it is noon on the following Monday. Have I heard yet from the guy in Santa Barbara, the one with the package on his doorstep on a beautiful Saturday morning? Nope. A smart man, he must have been out enjoying the California coast. And now I've gotta get back to my post on the couch and finish watching the PBS tape. Because just minutes after watching Richard Carlson talk about Emergency Mode, I shut the TV off, picked up a novel from one of those falling stacks of books I described earlier, and spent the rest of the evening in Maximum Relaxation Mode. I'd like to recommend that you try it, too. Jennifer Basye Sander ginsander@hotmail.com Write Jennifer and let her know your thoughts on her story! ___________________________________ Jennifer Basye Sander is the co-founder of the women's wealth-building website at http://www.goalsandjewels.com where you can go and print out a beautifully decorated blank goals sheet from the Diamond Room. Fill it out and post on your wall to encourage you to begin living your dreams!) She is also the co-author of The Millionairess Across the Street (Dearborn) and owns and operates Big City Books, a book packaging company, in Granite Bay, Calif. Sander has authored and/or packaged numerous books, including Christmas Miracles and USA TODAY and NYT bestseller The Magic of Christmas Miracles, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published and others. Sander lives in Granite Bay with her husband, Peter, and her young sons Julian and Jonathan. *** The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com are owned by the authors and are used with their permission. We refuse to run stories without the author's permission and contact info listed after the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed as "author unknown." (All of which violates Copyright Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but it is expressly prohibited to cut and paste the stories from here to be used elsewhere unless you have contacted and been given permission by the individual writer. Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who graciously share their stories with us! _________________________________________ Can't get enough inspirational stories in your life? Would you like to send a unique gift to your friends and family? Then order a personalized autographed copy of the inspirational book: Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life" by Michael T. Powers for only $13.95. And best of all, we'll pay the shipping! Michael is an award winning writer whose stories have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines around the world and in the following books: Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandparent's Soul, Stories For the Extreme Teen's Heart, Stories For the Extreme Teen's Heart 2, Stories for the Teen's Heart 2, Heartwarmers, God Allows U-Turns Volumes 1, 3, and 4, Creating Emotionally Safe Schools, and in the upcoming books: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff Story Collection, Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul, and The Miracle of Boys. He has signed several contracts for future Chicken Soup and other inspirational books. Still not convinced? You can preview his book by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/michael_powers AOL Users click here! To order your autographed copy have a check or money order for $13.95 for each book made out to Michael T. Powers, and then send it to: Michael T. Powers 1918 Liberty Lane Janesville, WI 53545 (Please allow about 2 weeks for delivery.) _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "Chance favors prepared minds." --Louis Pasteur Verse for the Day: "The wise man stores up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin." --Proverbs 10:14 Kid's Thought For The Day: "Don't worry about crossing the street until you get to the curb." Parent's Thought For The Day "Your kids will feed their new puppy the day you buy it and the days you threaten to take it back to the pet store." --Bruce Lansky Coach's Thought For The Day "The reason for practicing and playing has nothing to do with winning." Writer's Thought For the Day: "Convince yourself that a rejection of your work is not a rejection of you. If they reject something, I bounce something right back. If I'd used similar methods in college, I'd have had a lot more dates." --Ron Goulart Deep Thought For The Day: "I think that someone must have surveillance equipment set up in my living room, because every once in a while, someone on the TV will tell me what channel I'm watching. That really freaks me out, you know?" ___________________________________________ _ /_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS \_\ / HeartTouchers@aol.com /_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no \_\/\ \ longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I \_\/ live in the body I live for the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 ___________________________________________ The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com are owned by the authors and are used with their permission. We refuse to run stories without the author's permission and contact info listed after the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed as "author unknown." (All of which violates Copyright Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but please do not cut and paste the stories to be used elsewhere unless you have contacted and been given permission by the individual writer. Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who graciously share their stories with us! ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in HeartTouchers.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/ AOL Users click here: Writer's Guidelines ___________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: "I need a daily source of inspiration and encouragement in my life!" To become a HeartTouchers.com Member send an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@AOL.COM Then get ready to laugh, cry, and be deeply touched by some of the best stories on the Internet! __________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: All you have to do is send an e-mail with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@aol.com Give it a day or two to be processed... __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm AOL Users click here: The Four Spiritual Laws __________________________________________ |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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