Paul got off the elevator on the 40th floor and nervously knocked on
his blind date's door. She opened it and was as beautiful and charming as
everyone had said she'd be.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes," she said. "Why don't you play with
Rollo while you're waiting?" He does wonderful tricks. He rolls over,
shakes hands, sits up and if you make a hoop with your arms, he'll jump
through."

The dog followed Paul onto the balcony and started rolling over. Paul
made a hoop with his arms and Rollo jumped through -- and over the
balcony railing straight down 40 stories.

Just then Paul's date walked out.

"Isn't Rollo the cutest, happiest dog you've ever seen?"

"Uhh, well, to tell the the truth," he replied, "he seemed a little
depressed to me . . . "
==========
LOVE's STORY

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived:
Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others including Love.

One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so
all repaired their boats and left. Love was the only one who stayed.

Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment. When the
island was almost sinking...Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness,
can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't...there is a
lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful
vessel, "Vanity, please help me!" "I can't help you Love...you are all wet
and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me go with
you." "Oh...Love...I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not
even hear when Love called her!

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an
elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the
elder her name.

When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Love
realizing how much he owed the elder asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who
helped me?" "It was Time," Knowledge answered.

"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is
capable of understanding how great Love is."
==========
A-B-C METHOD OF MANAGING ATTITUDES
--by Steve Goodier

Have you heard of the A-B-C method of managing your attitude? It's
simple and effective.

"A" stands for the "Activating Event." Let's say you get stuck in
traffic. The traffic jam is the activating event.

"B" stands for your "Belief System." You believe that traffic is only
getting worse and you'll have more and more days like this ahead.

"C" stands for the "Consequence of the Event." You become angry. You
want to honk your horn. our stomach is tied in knots and you bang the
dashboard with your fist.

The problem is...most people jump directly from "A" to "C." They get
stuck in traffic and become angry. They think the traffic jam made them
upset. They don't realize that they didn't HAVE to get angry. They
skipped an important step!

Let's try it again:

"A" - you get stuck in traffic.

"B" - you believe that you were given some unexpected and extra time to
spend in solitude, to listen to a great tape or to plan your day.

"C" - the consequence is that you feel gratitude for the gift of time.

I have a friend who is fond of saying, "A traffic jam has no power to
make us angry. It just stops our car." He is aware that between the
activating event and the consequence is something that we control: our
beliefs about what is happening.

The next time you have a problem -- at home or at work, big or small --
decide to manage your attitude toward it. Practice the A-B-C method.
You probably can't change "A," the activating event. But try changing
"B," your beliefs about the problem. When you change your beliefs, you
also change "C," the consequences of the situation.

It's as simple as A-B-C. Manage your beliefs, and you'll manage to be
a lot happier!
==========
BUTTERFLY COURAGE
--by David L. Kuzminski

Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia in 1977, I saw a
water puddle ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on
the part of the path that wasn't covered by water and mud.

As I reached the puddle, I was suddenly attacked! Yet, I did nothing,
for the attack was so unpredictable and from a source so totally
unexpected. I was startled as well as unhurt, despite having been struck four
or five times already. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped
attacking me. Instead of attacking more, he hovered in the air on graceful
butterfly wings in front of me.

Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing, but I was unhurt, it
was funny, and I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a
butterfly! Having stopped laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker
rushed me again. He rammed me in the chest with his head and body,
striking me over and over again with all his might, still to no avail.

For a second time, I retreated a step while my attacker relented in his
attack. Yet again, I tried moving forward. My attacker charged me
again. I was rammed in the chest over and over again. I wasn't sure what
to do, other than to retreat a third time. After all, it's just not
everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. This time, though, I stepped
back several paces to look the situation over. My attacker moved back
as well to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker
was charging me only moments earlier.

He had a mate and she was dying. She was beside the puddle where he
landed. Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to
fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in
his concern for his mate. He had taken it upon himself to attack me for
his mate's sake, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large.
He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life,
should I have been careless enough to step on her.

Now I knew why and what he was fighting for. There was really only one
option left for me. I carefully made my way around the puddle to the
other side of the path, though it was only inches wide and extremely
muddy. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and
heavier than himself just for his mate's safety justified it. I couldn't
do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side
of the puddle. He had truly earned those moments to be with her,
undisturbed.

I left them in peace for those last few moments, cleaning the mud from
my boots when I later reached my car. Since then, I've always tried to
remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge obstacles
facing me. I use that butterfly's courage as an inspiration and to remind
myself that good things are worth fighting for.
==========
CONVERTING to GAS

Sister Mary, who worked for a home health agency, was out making her
rounds visiting homebound patients when she ran out of gas. As luck would
have it, a gas station was just a block away. She walked to the station
to
borrow a gas can and buy some gas. The attendant told her that the only
gas can he owned had been loaned out, but she could wait until it was
returned.

Since the nun was on the way to see a patient, she decided not to wait
and walked back to her car. She looked for something in her car that
she could fill with gas and spotted the bedpan she was taking to the
patient. Always
resourceful, she carried the bedpan to the station, filled it with gas,
and carried the full bedpan back to her car.

As she was pouring the gas into her tank, two men watched from across
the street. One of them turned to the other and said, "If it starts, I'm
turning Catholic."
==========