A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.  After 2 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak all the way back to your house.”

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws.  We’re all cracked pots. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You’ve just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.

Blessings to all my crackpot friends

AWESOME on motivation with Bruce Lee

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Betterboo.com

#42 Practice Affirmation

“There is much to celebrate in yourself, your family, your friends and the world around you. Take the time to reflect….”

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

-Thank you Matt Chmura for my current read (100 Ways to Happiness by Timothy Sharp)

and i flew

“Come to the edge” he said,
“We can’t, we are afraid” they said…

“Come to the edge”
“We can’t, we will fall”
“Come to the edge”
and they came
and he pushed them
and they flew.
Guillaume Appollinaire

Reading?

I wanted to share a few books I have read recently and something I took away from the read. Feel free to get in touch with me to hear more, or if you want to borrow the book. I’d love to hear a comment about some other peoples opinion on these books.

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How to win friends and influence people Carnegie - Ew this name kills me everytime, I dont want to win friends, I want to make friendships. But I couldn’t put off this read any longer, a friend had just finished reading it for the 10th time and shoved it in my face, “read this.” So I did.

And it was good, just like everyone said. There were a lot of techniques in this book I had already been trying to do with my life… like smile more blah blah blah. One powerful message I did take away was never say anything negative about anyone, EVER. It is so easy to be around friends and want to share something negative that had been ticking you off, but whats to gain? I dont think saying something bad about anyone has ever gotten anyone anywhere. Okay, maybe it has, but thats not the way I want to make it.

Lesson Learned- Never say anything negative about anyone ever.

People say “this may be the only book you ever need to read.” Their argument is this book teaches you about personal relationships, and thats the most important thing… and it is. But the most important relationship a person can have is with them self. This book does have answers , but not all of them

8/10

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The Game/Penetrating the secret society of pickup artists. Straus- Again another book I did not want to read. The name once again, disgusted me. Picking up women is far from the most important thing in my life… But I’ll bite.

4 days later, I had read the whole book, thanks to a 4 hour holiday trip to Cincinatti. I couldn’t put the damn thing down. The adventures these swindlers went on truly were awesome, even though some parts may have been “fish stories.” I was impressed, Style and Mystery had some balls and went after the lives they wanted, and got somewhere close to their goals.COOL, men going after their dreams, no matter how ludicrous, thats cool with me.

I am not interested in being a pickup artist or getting the attention of a lot of women, but I learned a lot about self confidence, and the importance of getting out of your comfort zone. I was good about it for awhile, but it is so easy to fall back into your comfort zone, hanging with the same friends, doing the same things… its so easy. DONT DO THAT.

“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”

do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, now.

8/10

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Purple Cow seth godin- Marketing is constantly evolving, thats it.

4/10

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Self Reliance- Ralph Waldo Emerson-Wow, I have tried to read this 3 or 4 times, got completely through it, and didnt understand a damn thing. This shit is deep and thick, you need waders, a rake, and a clear mind to get through it… none of which I have.

It did talk about the importance of being able to be alone and content. Too many people need other people to be happy/satisfied/etc… it is important to know how to be alone, and be happy.

“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude after own own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.“

?/10

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Fire in the Belly/on being a man keen-If anyone has figured out what it means to be a man, let me know. I’ve been trying to figure this out for awhile. This was a refreshing read. Men, we always thought we needed to be these big strong alpha males, and that what it meant.

We thought  that we:

• should have big muscles
• drink busch heavies
• fix shit around the house
• have grease on our clothes
• get with a lot of chicks
• drive fords
• beat up bullies… or nerds

…not really that important.

Are you looking to find yourself, and the things that are really important? Check out this book.

My cousin andrew introduces me to this book and this quote and I am very thankful for that

“”There are two questions a man must ask himself, the first is ” where am I going?” and the second is” Who will go with me” if you ever get this questions in the wrong order, you are in trouble”"

7/10

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I didn’t read through and edit for spelling, grammar, word usage etc(I do know how to, thank you).. this is eddie murphy RAW. If you dont like it, go read a book report, I’ll even send you my country risk analysis on Poland.

Leave some comments of book suggestions.

Godbless

-nick

Its been awhile…

I haven’t blogged in awhile, most likely because I felt pretty vain doing it.

Who really cares what I am thinking/ Whats going on in my life?

But what the hell, I’ll do it anyways. Get ready for a wild ride

IM BACK!

Envisioning Success

We all want to succeed in whatever our dreams may be. However, success is never easy and there are always obstacles in our paths. We may think that the obstacle is the weight being too heavy, or the run being too long. This however is not our biggest problem, our biggest problem is ourselves. Our biggest obstacle is us doubting us.

I was having breakfast with a friend recently, eggs, sausage, home fries and Raisin Brain with chocolate milk, you know standard stuff, and my friend was really nervous about a test. He was questioning himself and his ability to pass the test. He was worried he hadn’t studied enough and thought he would fail. I didn’t want my friend to fail and I knew he had the ability to succeed so I took the conversation in a different direction…..

I am trying something new. Check out the rest of this article at my new site

http://nickchmura.asmiller.com/

DubyaDubyaDubya

The internet does  a lot for us. It connects us with people all around the world instantaneously and it teaches us things in seconds that would take us hours at the library. Here are some things the internet does for me that it could do for you.

The last cd I bought was Creed in the 6th grade, whoa. So I’ve been downloading my music for awhile.  So the  other day I was talking to a girl way to beautiful for me(thanks Alex) and  she suggested a website to download music. I  didn’t know what to think because I know that most colleges like mine have music downloading restricted. When I loaded the website I was surprised that it worked and super thankful. Check it out.  sadsteve.com

Before a workout you gotta get pumped up right? Try this out before your next workout, see how it works for you. pump up

Need a laugh, kids say some hilarious stuff. he kicked him in the penis I don’t like you mommy What are you gonna do to the monster?

Finally,”when I’m totally hating boys” hahahaaa