~0B~/H{                  A BETTER WAY TO LIVE - 17 Rules to Live By}

                              By: Og Mandino

~0E   RULE ONE:~0B  Count your blessings.  Once you realize how valuable you are
   and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will 
   break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move
   forward toward the life that God intended for you . . . with grace, strength
   courage and confidence.

~0E   RULE TWO:~0B  Today and everyday, deliver more than you are getting paid to do.
   The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting
   out more than is expected in all that you do.  Make yourself so valuable
   in your work that eventually you will become indispensable.  Exercise your
   privilege to go the extra mile, and enjoy all the rewards you receive.  You
   deserve them!

~0E   RULE THREE:~0B  Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life,
   don't look back at it too long.  Mistakes are life's way of teaching you.
   Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity
   to reach your goals.  No one wins them all, and your failures, when they 
   happen, are just part of your growth.  Shake off your blunders.  How will
   you know your limits without an occasional failure?  Never quit.  Your
   turn will come.

~0e   RULE FOUR:~0B  Always reward your long hours of labor and toil in the
   very best way, surrounded by your family.  Nurture their love carefully,
   remembering that your children need models, not critics, and your own 
   progress will hasten when you constantly strive to present your best side
   to your children.  And even if you have failed at all else in the eyes of 
   the world, if you have a loving family, you are a success.

~0e   RULE FIVE:~0B  Build this day on the foundation of pleasant thoughts.
   Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress.
   Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you are a creature of God and
   have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts.  You can
   fly when you decide that you can.  Never consider defeat again.  Let the
   vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint. Smile!

~0e   RULE SIX:~0B  Let your actions speak for you, but be forever on guard 
   against the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your
   progress.  The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist 
   in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining will
   give you a correct measure of your importance.

~0e   RULE SEVEN:~0B  Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may
   not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles and handicaps
   of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your
   future.  You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and
   the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for
   success.  Never again.  There is a better way.

~0e   RULE EIGHT:~0B  Never again clutter you days or nights with so many 
   menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real
   challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A DAY
   MERELY SURVIVED IS NO CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION.  You are not here to fritter
   away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by
   making a slight change in your routine.  No more busywork.  No more hiding
   from success.  Leave time, leave space, to grow.  Now!  This is your day!

~0e   RULE NINE:~0B  Live this day as if it will be your last.  Remember that
   you will only find "tomorrow" on the calendars of fools.  Forget 
   yesterday's defeats, and ignore the problems of tomorrow.  This is it. 
   Doomsday.  All you have.  Make it the best day of your year.  The saddest
   words you can ever utter are, "If I had my life to live over again...." 
   Take the baton, now.  Run with it!  This is your day!

~0e   RULE TEN:~0B  Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe,
   loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight.  
   Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and
   kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no 
   thought of any reward.  Your live will never be the same.

~0e   RULE ELEVEN:~0B  Laugh at yourself and at life.  Not in the spirit of 
   derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will
   ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective 
   that seemingly terrible defeat of the moment.  Banish tension and concern 
   and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to
   think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come.  Never take
   yourself to seriously.

~0e   RULE TWELVE:~0B  Never neglect the little things.  Never skimp on the 
   extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or
   thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do.  It does not matter
   what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about
   you.  You can never do your best, which should be your trademark, if you 
   are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special.  Act
   it.  Never neglect the little things!

~0e   RULE THIRTEEN:~0B  Welcome every morning with a smile.  Look on the new
   day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity
   to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday.  Be a self-starter.
   Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is
   certain to echo through your entire day.  Today will never happen again.
   Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all.  You were not born
   to fail.

~0e   RULE FOURTEEN:~0B  You will achieve your grand dream, a day at a time,
   so set goals for each day - - - not long and difficult projects, but chores
   that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow.  Write them down, if
   you must, but limit your list so that you won't have to drag today's undone
   matters into tomorrow.  Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in 
   twenty-four hours.  Be patient.  Never allow your day to become so 
   cluttered that you neglect your most important goal - - - to do the best
   you can, enjoy this day, and rest satisfied with what you have 
   accomplished.

~0e   RULE FIFTEEN:~0B  Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus
   cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day.  Remember that no 
   talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up
   in the fault-finding business.  Nothing external can have any power over
   you unless you permit it.  Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in
   wasted days combating in menial forces of hate, jealousy, and envy.  Guard
   your fragile life carefully.  Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish
   child can pull it to pieces.

~0e   RULE SIXTEEN:~0B  Search for the seed of good in every adversity. 
   Master the principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard 
   you well though all the darkest valleys you must traverse.  Stars may be
   from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the
   mountaintop.  So will you learn things in adversity that you would never 
   have discovered without trouble.  There is always a seed of good.  Find it
   and prosper.

~0e   RULE SEVENTEEN:~0B  Realize that true happiness lies within you.  Waste
   no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the 
   world outside.  Remember that there is no happiness in having or in 
   getting, but only in giving.  Reach out.  Share.  Smile.  Hug.  Happiness
   is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on
   yourself.

       Plagiarized from the book "A BETTER WAY TO LIVE" By: Og Mandino
             Bantam Books   ISBN 0-553-05717-0  Copyright 1990



                          ~04 A J.D.S. Production ~0B
                               ~04 05/13/92 ~0B