Keep your dream alive and follow it...

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.



The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.



“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.



“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after class.’



“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, `Why did I receive an F?’



“The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’



“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’ “Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all.

 He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”
 Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.”


"Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.Keep your Eyes on the Stars and hope in your heart."

Tips for Better Life

 1.Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
 2.Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
 3.Sleep for 7 hours.
 4.Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
 5.Play more games.
 6.Read more books than you did the previous year.
 7.Make time to practise meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
 8.Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
 9.Dream more while you are awake.
 10.Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
 11.Drink plenty of water.
 12.Try to make at least three people smile each day.
 13.Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
 14.Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
 15.Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
 16.Realise that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
 17.Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
 18.Smile and laugh more.
 19.Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
 20.Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
 21.You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
 22.Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
 23.Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don’t compare your partner with others.
 24.No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
 25.Forgive everyone for everything.
 26.What other people think of you is none of your business.
 27.GOD heals everything.
 28.However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
 29.Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
 30.Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
 31.Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
 32.The best is yet to come.
 33.No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
 34.Do the right thing!
 35.Call your family often.
 36.Your inner most is always happy. So be happy.
 37.Each day give something good to others.
 38.Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
 39.When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
 40.Don’t be more calculative in your life for all things.

Goals in Life...

If you ask most people what is their one major objective in life, they would probably give you a vague answer, such as, "I want to be successful, be happy, make a good living," and that is it. They are all wishes and none of them are clear goals.

On the best sunny day, the most powerful magnifying glass will not light paper if you keep moving the glass. But if you focus and hold it, the paper will light up. That is the power of concentration.


A man was traveling and stopped at an intersection. He asked an elderly man, "Where does this road take me?" The elderly person asked, "Where do you want to go?" The man replied, "I don't know." The elderly person said, “Then take any road. What difference does it make?" How true. When we don't know where we are going, any road will take us there.

 Suppose you have all the football eleven players, enthusiastically ready to play the game, all charged up, and then someone took the goal post away. What would happen to the game? There is nothing left. How do you keep score? How do you know you have arrived?

Enthusiasm without direction is like wildfire and leads to frustration. Goals give a sense of direction. Would you sit in a train or a plane without knowing where it was going? The obvious answer is no. Then why do people go through life without having any goals?

The Goals however must be SMART:
1. Specific: For example, "I want to lose weight." This is wishful thinking. It becomes a goal when I pin myself down to "I will lose 10 pounds in 90 days."

2. Measurable: If we cannot measure it, we cannot accomplish it. Measurement is a way of monitoring our progress.

3. Achievable: Achievable means that it should be out of reach enough to be challenging but it should not be out of sight, otherwise it becomes disheartening.

4. Realistic: A person who wants to lose 50 pounds in~30 days is being unrealistic.
 5. Time-bound: There should be a starting date and a finishing date.

Set up SMART Goals for a successful future...