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| << February05, 2006 - Hello, My Friends - Hearts and Humor has a new story for you. |
February14, 2006 - Hearts and Humor - Happy Valentines >> |
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Hello, my friends. I greet you today from a snowy New Jersey. This is our first big snow of the year. So far we have more than 20 inches of snow on the ground. It's a good day to sit and write a story. I want to thank all of you who signed up for my stories. Using Zinester to post my stories seems to have been a good idea. Last week I mailed out to 181 people. Today I have 233 members. Today I am going to talk about a lesson I learned from our animal friends. Mike Goals I stood under a tree in the city. The branches above my head rattled, startling me. I jumped back and looked up. There on a branch, midway up the tree, was a brown hawk. It was a big one, close to a foot and a half long from head-to-tail. ???What was a hawk doing in the middle of the city???? I asked myself, ???Why did it land so close to me???? It was staring not at me, but deeper into the branches. I followed its glare, and there, hanging onto the trunk of the tree, was a squirrel. It was on the opposite side of the trunk from the hawk and peered around the corner to see what the hawk was doing. The hawk stared back. The squirrel and the hawk ignored me. The hawk leaped to a branch deeper into the foliage, closer to the squirrel. The squirrel moved lower down the trunk and at an angle to keep the trunk between it and the hawk. I watch them try to outmaneuver each other. The hawk jumped from branch-to-branch. The squirrel circled the trunk, using it as a shield. Every few minutes, they would peer around the trunk and check to see where the other was. The squirrel finally made it to the base of the tree and escaped into the low shrubs that grew there. The hawk sat on the branch and stared into the brush. A short time later, it gave up and flew away to find its dinner elsewhere. ****************** My beagle??™s howl could be heard in the distance, as he chased his quarry - a rabbit. His bark was high pitched and frequent - a sure sign he was on a strong scent. The barking moved closer and then passed by. I ran up the logging road, where I had been waiting, in the direction of his bark. I overtook him, hoping to see the rabbit cross the road. I was too for about a hundred feet, as my hound??™s howling drew closer. The tracks continued down the road and became two sets of tracks. One set headed away from me and the other came toward me. Fifty feet further on, both sets of tracks stopped. They painted a clear picture. This was a very clever rabbit. It got a good lead on my hound, turned back, followed its own tracks back, and then made a tremendous leap. It landed more than twenty feet from the center of the road, in the shrubs that grew along the side. My hound came into view. He howled and followed the tracks until they came to an end. I could have shown him where the rabbit went, but I didn??™t. I watched as he turned and followed the tracks back the way he came. He stopped, turned - he knew he??™d already been there - went back to where the tracks ended, barked a few times, and began to circle. Each time he made a full circle, he moved further away from the point where the tracks stopped. Soon his circle had grown large enough to encompass the spot where the rabbit landed after leaping from the road. My hound howled. The chase was on again, but by now, the rabbit was long gone. It escaped. ******************** The rabbit, the hound, the hawk and the squirrel had something in common: they had goals. The rabbit and the squirrel??™s goals were to survive. The hawk wanted to eat. The hound??™s goal was to sniff out the rabbit and chase it back to its master. All of them were focused on their goal. Not once did they let anything distract them from what they sought. For long periods of time, they let nothing distract them. I once worked in a position at a fast growing company. I made great money and lived a good life, but something went terribly wrong. The company failed, and I was out of a job. I was out of work for almost two years. There were a few short contracts, but most of the time I was unemployed. I got up every morning, showered, shaved, dressed, sat down at my computer, and looked for work. Like my hound, I searched in ever- widening circles. I networked with friends, searched through internet job boards, and made phone calls. Once in a while, I would get close to my quarry, be granted an interview, and later learn the job had snuck away like that clever rabbit. I never gave up on my goal. It took almost two years. I stayed focused on my goal and got it. The animals taught me a lesson. If you don??™t have a goal, then what motivates you to achieve and grow? It is so easy to sit back and see what life will deal you, however, if you have a goal, and you focus, you will achieve so much more. I got the new job and used it to support my family. Next, I thought about the future, decided on new goals, and worked toward achieving them. Like the animals, I??™m focused. I will succeed. Michael T. Smith To subscribe to this Newsletter: http://subs.ezinester.com/86758 Archives: http://archives.ezinester.com/86758 To unsubscriber from this Newsletter: http://www.ezinester.com/cgi/unsub.cgi?86758&10069747&Pzcyh3ex7jxlBNU6zKB20A |
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| << February05, 2006 - Hello, My Friends - Hearts and Humor has a new story for you. |
February14, 2006 - Hearts and Humor - Happy Valentines >> |
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