P.S. Grandma Says

Belonging

Betrayal

Blame

Boredom

Boundaries

Bragging

Change

Chaos

Character

Charm

Choices

Christmas Eve

Clarity

Common Sense

Compassion

Competition

Competitiveness

Complaining

Compliments

Confidence

Consequences

Control

Courage

Creativity

Criticism

Curiosity

Dad's

Dating

Debt

Decisive

Denial

Depression

Destination

Determination

Disappointments

Discouragement

Discovery

Dogs

Domestic Violence

Drama

Drastic Measures

Dreams fulfilled

Early to Rise

Education

Ego

Embarrassment

Emotions

Empathy

Enemies

Enthusiasm

Envy

Equality

Evil

Excellence

Excuses

Expectations

Expectations (2)

Exploring

Failure

Family

Family traditions

Faults

Fear

Feelings

Fellowship

Figure It Out

Finances

Finishing

Forgiveness

Freedom

Friends

Frustration

Future

Gardening

Generosity

Getting Started

Giving

Goals

Gossip

Grandma’s

Gratitude

Greed

Growth

Guilt

Hanging up on Grandma

Harmony

Hate

Having Faith

Having Fun

Health

Heartbreak

Helping Others

Hero

Hobbies

Home

Honesty

Hope

Hovering Parents

Humor

Imagination

Impressions

Indecision

Influence

Integrity

Intentions

Jealousy

Judgment

Kindness

Letting Go

Laughter

Laws and Lawyers

Laziness

Leadership

Learning

Life...It's Beautiful

Listening

Living Your Dream

Loneliness

Love

Loyalty

Luck

Lying

Magic

Manners

Maturity

Memories and Myths

Men

Mistakes

Moderation

Mom's and Mothers

Money

Motivation

Moving

Mystery

Nature

Niceness

Now

Obligations

Opinions

Patience

Peace

Peer Pressure

People Pleasing

Perfection

Persistence

Planning

Popularity

Potential

Power

Praise

Pride

Privilege

Procrastination

Prom Night

Promises

Purpose

Quitters

Rebellion

Recognition

Regret

Rejection

Relationships

Reputation

Resentments

Respect

Responsibility

Revenge

Rewards

Risk

Rumors

Safety

Self-Control

Self-Worth

Self-esteem

Selfishness

Self-Starter

Sharing

Shyness

Small packages

Smile

Solutions

Solutions (2)

Sorrow

Spirituality

Spoiled

Spring

Stress

Struggles

Success

Suffering

Summer

Surprises

Surviving

Swearing

Sweet 16 Birthday

Tactful

Talent

Talkers

Tardiness

Teamwork

Tears

Teenage Entrepreneur

Teenagers

Texting

Thank you

Thoughts for Granddaughters

Time

Treasure of Memories

True Happiness

Trust

Truth

Uncertainty

Understanding

Vision

Uniqueness

Vitality

Volunteer

Wasted Time

Wealth

What Was My Role

Winning

Winter

Wisdom

Work

Work Ethic

Worry

Writing

Youth

Chapter – Acceptance

Dear Daqri,

The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Especially at such a young age when you are just finding out who you are and comparing that to who you want to be. So one of the first things you need to accept is yourself. It's surprising how many go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others, including being comfortable with family members.

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance. Self-acceptance is the freedom to see oneself without denial. Of course there is no formula for success except, perhaps, an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings. But you have the choice to change it. It is never too late to be what you might have been. There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self. The curious paradox is that when you accept yourself as you are, then you can change.

Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness. Who we are never changes. Who we think we are does. Accept yourself as you are. Otherwise you will never see opportunity. You will not feel free to move toward it; you will feel you do not deserve. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born from with-in as soon as we have acceptance.

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune. You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance. Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. There is no one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it.

Happiness can exist only in acceptance. This is the day your life really begins. Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Grandma says you don't have to like it. Just accept it. Anything in life that we don't accept will simply make trouble for us until we make peace with it. If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.

The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen. The best way to escape from the past is not to avoid or forget it, but to accept and forgive it. To expect life to be tailored to our specifications is to invite frustration. It's been suggested that the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. I find that when we really love and accept and approve of ourselves exactly as we are, then everything in life works. The greatest success is successful self-acceptance. The way you accept yourself sets the standard for others.

P. S. Grandma Says…Imagination was given to us to compensate for what we are not; a sense of humor was provided to console us for what we are. The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there; the ones you build yourself. Those are the high ones, the thick ones, the ones with no doors in. Ask her and she'll tell you there's a proper balance between not asking enough of oneself and asking or expecting too much. Learn to accept it or change it but not complain about it and you'll have hit a home run!

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. So give yourself a hug today!!

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Achievement

Dear Daqri,

There are many kinds of achievements in life. Some achievements are goal oriented. Some are awards. And my favorite achievement involves a person that just simply says he did the best he could do. To me that's a person who should be awarded, as that is a tremendous accomplishment. I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I only believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be. If we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line for greatness.

Achievement isn't always measured in terms of success. Rather, it is a most honest pursuit, one that drives us to do the best we can, given the circumstances we are presented with. The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one's opportunities and make the most of one's resources. Nothing will ever be attempted, accomplished or achieved if all possible objections must first be overcome.

All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. Achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Success is not measured by what you accomplish but by the obstacle you have encountered and conquered. Always aim for achievement and less about success. 

Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement. Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people. High achievement always takes place in a framework of high expectation. If life were measured by accomplishments, most of us would die an early death. 

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat  back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things. I am almost always doing things I can't do and that's how I get things done. The average estimates themselves by what they do, the above average by who they are and what they do.

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for you or anyone to accomplish. If you want to accomplish something, throw out the rule book and get the job done. The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if you clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving. 

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Destiny is a matter of choice; it's a thing to be achieved. Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Remember having to do things twice or three times? Having to rewrite those Chapters over and over to get them right? Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.

P.S. Grandma Says…Be a self-starter and an achiever. She knows how to do things. She says the way to get things done is not mind who gets the credit for doing them. It is important that you recognize your progress and take pride in your accomplishments. Share your achievements with others. Brag a little. The recognition and support of those around you is nurturing within your family and is a great mentoring tool.

I hope that my achievements in life shall be these -- that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need and that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been. Remember that great love and great achievements almost always involve great risk. There is a woman at the beginning of all great things and great women behind every successful man. The greatest achievement of my life is getting Grandma to say I Do many years ago!

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Action

Dear Daqri,

Action! Don't out-think yourself. Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go all in. If you only do what you know you can do you never do very much. Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. Did someone once say actions were louder than words? 

He who contemplates is usually late. Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live. If you’re speaking and not getting a reaction, well, you are just making a speech. Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are so many tomorrows.

Thinking will not overcome fear but action will. Action conquers fear. Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail. There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them but confront them. I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.

Deliberation is a function of the many; action is the function of one. You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth. People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does the center of an egg. Some people dream of success… while others wake up and work hard at it.

Accept responsibility for your actions. The more you are willing to accept responsibility for your actions, the more credibility you will have. After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done. Every day is a day for action. Many fine things can be done in a day if you don't always make that day tomorrow. The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act.  

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action. To live for results would be to sentence myself to continuous frustration. My only sure reward is in my actions.  

The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action. Great talent finds happiness in execution. Never mistake motion for action. Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events and actions, not of words. I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. 

So you think you know what action is. Really? It is not light that you need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. You need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. You need action. You need the power of Niagara Falls. The actions of the pounding ocean surf. Don't think about action. Think about inaction. Get started and try to visualize someone stopping a powerful waterfall. They can't stop it and can't stop you once action begins!

You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless. Intentions are procrastination's in action. Not the action's we're looking for here. 

P. S. Grandma Says…She wants to know what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life. Her experiences suggest the young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible -- and achieve it, generation after generation. Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.

On a personal level I used many years of actions to change me to the person I am today. The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through a choice of action. Since you're from Iowa I trust you'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind. On a final thought, well done is better than well said.

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Addictions

Dear Daqri,

Addiction begins with the hope that something out there can instantly fill up the emptiness inside. No one is immune from addiction; it afflicts people of all ages, races, classes, and professions. It is hard to understand addiction unless you have experienced it. People who have never had an addiction don't understand how hard it can be. It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end. By then end you're thinking where there's death, there's hope. How sad!

That describes the person addicted to alcohol and drugs. People go from one addiction to another. All are ways to not feel your feelings. Keep in mind that not everybody has an addictive personality. We are aware that alcohol and drugs are a waste of one's life. They destroy your family, your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self esteem. But there are so many other addictions that are almost as bad designed to mask your reality.

There is a lot known about isolation and people living in separate worlds that other people can't even understand. People practicing their addiction often misplace things. The biggest thing I ever misplaced was a decade. Drug abuse is when drug taking affects your daily life such as family, school or work. Compulsive and, at times, uncontrollable alcohol and drug cravings and use will take you from Yale to Jail. Life gets really low. Shame was an emotion that had been abandoned years earlier. Addicts and alcoholics know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it. Drugs and alcohol are merely the most obvious form of addiction in our society.

Addiction is one of the things that undermine traditional values. Drugs are much more ferocious then they used to be. There are people wrecking their lives with addiction, which seems much more severe. In a world where everybody is waiting for some blind, random disaster, or some sudden disease, the addict has the comfort of knowing what will most likely wait for him down the road. He’s taken some control over his ultimate fate, and his addiction keeps the cause of death from being a total surprise.

There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away. With so many possible addictions in the world, it seems near impossible to not fall for something. It's unbelievable that people still smoke. I have a bit of a traveling addiction as I love geographical changes. Many love chaos and drama and the rush that accompanies it. There are those that buy clothes and shop till they drop. There is sex, gambling, over-eating, porn, Internet, video games addictions.

The worst has to be those that get into abusive relationships over and over because that's the attraction to them. Now-a-days there are even addictive behaviors with twitter and facebook obsessions. Compulsive behavior is unhealthy and if you're into your 14th cup of coffee and wonder why you have the jitters, you might be addicted to caffeine.

I admire anyone who rids himself of an addiction. When I grew up in the '70s I thought you had to drink or drug. It was almost like I didn't think you had a choice. It certainly was peer pressure. We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking. Your thoughts are the architects of your destiny.

We may think there is willpower involved to stop this behavior but more than likely... change will only come through want power.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, Inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, Which wolf wins? The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed.

In this country, don't forget, a habit is not a private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you. We cannot, in a moment, get rid of habits of a lifetime. We love our habits more than our income, often more than our lives. Habits are first cobwebs, then cables. You do anything long enough to escape the habit of living until the escape becomes the habit.

More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them. If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people. Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who that looks inside, awakens.

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. Whatever you do or dream you can do ...and begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. The beginning is the most important part of the work. The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm. If you share your pain you cut it in half, if you don't you double it. If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. Don't be fooled!

P. S. Grandma Says…As you fully establish the connection of your head to your heart, you will fall deeply in love with yourself. You will love yourself, not in a narcissistic way that is only reflected back to you from the outside world, but in a way that comes from the inside out. It is then that you are open to loving others in just this same way. And that is when doing harm to you or to others is not an option.

Just because you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town. I should know!

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Admiration

Dear Daqri,

The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege. We live by our imagination, our admiration's, and our sentiments. Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, a Painting, a Song. Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it. The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. To cultivate sympathy you must be among living beings and thinking about them; to cultivate admiration, among beautiful things and looking at them.

Admiration and familiarity are strangers. Some people are molded by their admiration's, others by their hostilities. There are endless things to admire. Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and yet they often pass themselves by. Have you ever felt the longing for someone you could admire? For something, not to look down at, but up to? Admiration is as indispensable to life as oxygen. All the admiration in the world can’t fill the spot where love goes. It is said that distance is a great promoter of admiration!

What makes some people admire a person who does not deserve such admiration? There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.

Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object. A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. To a few, admiration is but our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves. When one is born who is able to produce a great thought, another is born who is able to understand and admire it.

When it come to admiration, be less curious about people and more curious about ideas. All things are admired either because they are new or because they are great. I use it for inspiration. I have always been an admirer. I regard the gift of admiration as indispensable if one is to amount to something; I don't know where I would be without it. For the admired there are many, for the admirer there is one. We always love those who admire us; we do not always love those whom we admire.

Admiration is a curiosity. Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt. What I have known with respect to myself, has tended much to lessen both my admiration, and my contempt, of others.

Never be too big to look up to someone. A student never forgets an encouraging private word from their Mentor when it is given with sincere respect and admiration. We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice. Admiration is common. Mental connection is rare and a gift. Its the intellectual part that takes it to the next level. 

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. Admire without jealousy, praise without flattery, follow without imitating, and lead without manipulating. It is better to be admired than to be popular. Strive to be better yourself, and not to please others. I don't know what motivates people to do what they do. But I have a lot of admiration for anybody who can start with absolutely nothing and make a little something out of it. There are those that speak from a conscientious desire to make apparent to others the beauty that has awakened their own admiration.

I have a great deal of respect and admiration for people who put themselves out there and on the line.

To love is to admire with the heart...to admire is to love with the mind. I don't have to agree with you to admire you, like you or respect you. On the other hand, people who hate you are just your confused admirers. They can't figure out the reason why everyone loves you. A mixture of admiration and pity is one of the surest recipes for affection. Actually, the curious thing is that the more you become a subject of admiration or loathing, the more you're examined under a microscope, the distance seems to open up between who you really are and the portrayals that people impose on you.

P. S. Grandma Says…Would Grandma ever say this? If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married. Don't even ask! Go seek full-blast mutual intensity, fully fledged mutual acceptance, full-blown mutual flourishing, and fully felt peace and joy with each other. This requires a level of physical attraction, personal adoration, and moral admiration that is hard to find.

There are charms made only for distant admiration. Only death will find me long before I tire of watching your Grandma!

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Adulthood

Dear Daqri,

Have you ever met anyone who didn't have a very smart child? What happens to these children when they reach adulthood? The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on a large measure upon how our children grow up today. I say that a person becomes an adult at the point when he produces more than he consumes or earns more than he spends.

Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. I think you should be a child for as long as you can. I have been successful for 60 years being able to do that. Don't throw away the coloring book and don't rush into adulthood. This is one of the reasons to stay young. Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy.

The things which the child loves remains in the domain of the heart until old age. When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood. The real trouble with the world is too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 10 years old. A child's world is fresh, new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.

The average, healthy, well-adjusted adult gets up at seven-thirty in the morning feeling just plain terrible. We dread children, even if we love them; they show us the state of our decay. Grown-ups are always more fascinated by what you might become than what you are. If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older. Life allows for detours and adulthood allows for corrections. A life-long blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together. Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood.

Adulthood is when your world opens up and you realize that you are not the center of it. There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong. The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence. People repeat in adult life emotions they experience in childhood. We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying It got lost, and say I lost it.

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise. There's really no need to share all that wisdom. The art of adulthood is to develop self-confidence without arrogance. To be all grown up is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another. From a tricycle to a bike, keep riding. Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

For Adults Only: The management of fertility is one of the most important functions of adulthood. Teenage girls believe that having a baby will make their boyfriends love them, and then they get a taste of adulthood. In reality, all that does is make you into a miserable and unhappy teenager. If you are young and you drink a great deal it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat, in other words, and turn you into an adult. That's another reason to not rush adulthood. Adult children have an adult's right to make their own choices and have the responsibility of living with the consequences.

Being an adult is all about how well you can hide the fact that you're still a kid. As a young adult, I thought I could eat my dessert without eating vegetables. When I was kid, my social network was called 'outside.' I miss those days when I was a child and everything in the whole world seemed huge. I remember putting my thumb over the flashlight to see it glow. When I was young, and it was raining, I used to watch two drops of water roll down the window and pretend they were racing. I miss when I was a child and I didn't care what people thought. I miss when I would never reject my gut feeling. Most of all, I miss not being insecure.

As long as any adult thinks that he, like the parents and teachers of old, can become introspective, invoking his own youth to understand the youth before him, he is lost.

My dad continued to kick empty cans, skip rocks across a lake, have snowball fights, perform tricks and read the funny's in the newspaper. He had the curiosity of a child, the laughter of a silly young kid and the most sparkling youthful eyes his entire adult life. He did not invoke his youth. His was one of difficulty and as an adult just wanted to be a boy. So he joined us and we had a great childhood.

P. S. Grandma Says…I miss the days when you could just push someone into a pool without worrying about their cell phone. I'm amazed when I see these little 8 year old kids with iPhones. You know what I had when I was 8? Imagination. As children, we all lived in a world of imagination, of fantasy, and for some of us that world of make-believe.

I miss the days when all it took to make me feel better was my teddy bear. Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me. Just don't grow up too fast.

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Adventure

Dear Daqri,

One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure. Adventures don’t come calling like unexpected cousins calling from out of town. You have to go looking for them. Somebody ought to tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. That life is just a short adventure. Then we might live life to the limit every minute of every day. Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

Adventure is not outside man; it is within. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – WOW – What a Ride! 

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. 

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Taking a chance is the providence of adventurers. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Don’t die without embracing the daring adventure your life is meant to be. Remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons, fingerprints or bandages. The only question in life is whether or not you are going to answer a hearty ‘YES!’ to your adventure. 

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, and to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Have an adventure! Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. 

There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't. Sometimes adventure is just bad planning and requires courage on your part. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the conquest of it. Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can and see what adventure comes up. If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new. And keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have. You open the book jacket, and it can be like opening the gates to an unknown city, or opening the lid of a treasure chest. You read the first word and you're off on a journey of exploration and discovery. 

A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints. Adventures are only interesting once you've lived to see the end of them. Before that, they are nothing but fear, and being too cold or too hot or too wet or too hungry, and getting hurt.

P.S. Grandma Says…When you're hanging with Grandma, treat life as an adventure not a predicament. Remember the cross country journeys. Revere the white water she rafted down the Colorado River. Remember the trips, the parks, the beaches, the baseball stadiums and the mountains. We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures with that you can have if only you seek them with your eyes open.

Never forget the free spirit she showed with each adventure. Model you life after her and seek to be fearless. Champion the right to be yourself; dare to be different and to set your own pattern; live your own life and follow your own star and treat life as an adventure. Personally, I say if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space. 

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Adversity

Dear Daqri,

Whoever said this had years of life's experiences; 'Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional.' If not already, learn there is no education like adversity. You can't run away from trouble. There's no place that faraway. The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. This is a fact: your next crisis is in the mail. If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change.

I bring to my life a certain amount of adversity. Bad is never good until worse happens and failure is a success if we learn from it. Every great man, every successful man, no matter what the field of endeavor, has known the magic that lies in these words: every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings and to that Golden Road we all desire. Everybody needs to struggle. Once you overcome an obstacle, you springboard into the next dimension. Life is interesting and short and it's not supposed to be easy. 

Damaged people are dangerous. Your peers will not look you over for medals, degrees, or diplomas, but for scars. They know how to survive. All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me. We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, Why did this happen to me? unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. 

What a pity human beings can't exchange problems. Everyone knows exactly how to solve the other fellow's. Don't sweep a problem under the rug. The healthy and strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it. In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.

Sometimes the smallest things in life are the hardest to take. Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge wisdom. Out of difficulties grow miracles. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength. Determination, patience and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation. The best way out of emotional pain is through it. A problem should make you better, not bitter. 

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.

Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience. Adversity introduces a man to himself. I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. 

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself. 

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. The abundant life does not come to those who have had a lot of obstacles removed from their path by others. It develops from within and is rooted in a strong mental resolve to overcome your trials, temptations and disappointments 

The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choose right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity. Even when life isn't good on the outside, you have an option to make it good from the inside. When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. Adversity doesn't build your character. Adversity reveals your character. Your darkest hour has only sixty minutes.

P. S. Grandma Says…Let no one or anything stand between you and the difficult task. Let nothing deny you this rich chance to gain strength by adversity, confidence by mastery and success by deserving it. Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be. 

In times like these it is good to remember that there have always been times like these. Don't be to self-critical. Learn to be on your own side. I was forced to come up the hard way. In reality, maybe it was the correct way! Finally as my Dad used to say, it just wouldn't be a picnic without the ants.

Love,P-Pa

Chapter – Advice

Dear Daqri,

There is nothing we receive with so much reluctance as advice. I'd rather have a horrible vice than to get advice. And you shouldn't go around giving it either. That's unsolicited advice. The worst kind! We should be careful and discriminating in all the advice we give. Advice is one of those things that is far more blessed to give than to receive. Finally, whatever advice you give, be brief.

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your soul as you think in your mind (Except for motherly advice). Part of the reason motherly advice bugs sons and most daughters is because our mothers are so powerful in our lives. When your mother asks, ‘Do you want a piece of advice?’ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.

One's first step in receiving advice is to question everything. You can listen but you don't have to act on it!!! Someone once mentioned to me, 'Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.' Boy was he right.

Remember that most people ultimately succeed through failures like under-capitalization etc. Not from refusing to listen to advice. Solutions, studies, advice, and examples could never have taught them as well as failure has done. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.

Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you. So whatever you do, do it with courage. A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.

Free advice is often overpriced. Most people that come for advice, come to have their own opinions strengthened, not corrected. Few want advice, only corroboration. It's an unfortunate thing to get advice when the one giving it doesn't know. There are some ego maniacs, like a wet dog, that sprinkle a shower of advice over you when you are least prepared for a bath.

Friendship will not stand the strain of very much good advice for very long. When we ask advice we are usually looking for an accomplice. In giving advice to a close friend, I promise you there is a huge difference between helping a friend rather than pleasing a friend.

P. S. Grandma Says…You've must do your own growing, thinking and figuring out on your own. Furthermore, the best advice is this: Don't take advice and don't give advice. But if you must, the art of advice is to make the recipient believe they thought of it themselves. As for me, I always pass on good advice. It's the only thing to do with it. Put all other advice in a vice grip and turn it till it pops except advice from your Grandpa. He always has your back!

I say you should always try to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. That's what I do!

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Anger

Dear Daqri,

Grandma says all topics should be written from the positive side. So when I write about anger I should take the positive side: happiness. I usually agree but we need to know what to do when anger rears its ugly head? Do we ask ourselves about happiness at that angry moment or do we deal with that demon head on? The one thing about anger is you need to control it before it controls you.

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to you than the injury that provokes it. Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness. When you're angry you have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give you the right to be cruel. Learn the difference, especially in your home life.

Most of us get angry over the little things in life. It's not the house burning down that upsets us; it's the broken latch on the gate that won't lock. But if a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?

Forget about getting even, seeking revenge or becoming enraged. Would you bite a dog because the dog bit you? To remain angry, continue a grudge or have resentment is like being stung to death by one bee. Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.

The speed of light cannot catch a word spoken in anger. Want a discussion you'll regret, and then have it while you're angry. Anger is just a cowardly extension of sadness. It's a lot easier to be angry at someone than it is to tell them you're hurt.

Many things make kids angry. You may get angry when something doesn't go your way. Maybe you get mad at yourself when you don't understand your homework or when your team loses an important game. When you have a hard time reaching a goal you might become frustrated. That frustration can lead to anger. Let's not forget all the things at home that can light your fuse including your parents, siblings and not having your own space.

Kids who tease you or call you names can make you angry. Or you might get angry with your parents if you think one of their rules is unfair. Worst of all is when you are blamed for something you didn't do. But it's also possible to get angry and not even know why. Anger is a much underestimated emotion. If you're going to lash out at someone at least have a reason.

On a positive note: Usually when people are angry, they don't do anything. They are frustrated over their condition. But that can bring about a change. Realize that everyone gets angry. Anger can even be a good thing.  When kids are treated unfairly, anger can help them stand up for themselves if they do it in the correct manner. Life is not having a Title Fight every time you get mad.

It's perfectly OK to be angry at times — in fact, it's important to get angry sometimes. But anger must be released in the right way. Otherwise you'll be like a pot of boiling water with the lid left on. If the steam doesn't escape, the water will finally boil over and blow its top! When that happens to you, it's no fun for anyone.

Draw a picture of your anger or write it out next time and see what role you might have played or how important it really was. You may find that at the core of your anger is a need that is not being fulfilled. When someone gets you angry, study your own failings. If you're honest that may get you to forget your anger and make appropriate changes in your thinking and your behavior. Only look at your side of the street when reflecting back.

Did Confucius really have to tell us that if you kick a stone in anger, you'll hurt your own foot? Or that anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one. If you hold a grudge because you’re angry, I'm sure it will make you feel strong. But to set that anger aside takes real strength. Hopefully your emotion is more of frustration than anger.

P. S. Grandma Says…Get angry, then get over it. I'm a firm believer that you don't have to attend every argument you're invited to. Instead of teaching you never to be angry, I'd rather teach you how to be angry. If you want to please your Grandma, it's wise to direct your anger towards problems, not people and to focus your energies on answers not excuses.

Better yet, write a letter to whom your anger is directed. I used to do that and then put it into a shoe box. Remember that Grandma suggest you never mail it. So calm down and stay happy and don't get too upset with life. It's the only one we get.

Love,

P-Pa

Chapter – Animals

Dear Daqri,

Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. These are difficult standards for people to live up to. Animals are amazing creatures that can teach us a lot. They are loyal friends, great companions, and beautiful to view in their natural environment. Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius. An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language. 

Everyone's pet is the most outstanding. You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets. Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains asleep. No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich. A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. Emotional healing is a most amazing gift that's bestowed by our furry friends. The choice to nurture a pet in our life can bring huge returns on our investment.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Every baby animal is unique and adorable, and there is no greater love than that between a mother and her young. It is the power of this love that explains why humans have always sought the company of young animals.

Can you imagine being a wild animal in a jungle without acceptance? The scientific name for an animal that doesn't either run from or fight its enemies is lunch. That's why it is so amazing to watch them in the wild. Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked. Animals are such agreeable friends -- they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. 

God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before. Remember this: Only the animals were not expelled from Paradise. The zoo is a place for animals to study the behavior of human beings. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals love them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.

I hate these sporting events where hunters shoot for trophy's or for the sport of it. 

Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game. The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of a gun. Hunting will be a sport when deer, elk, bears, and ducks are all given 12-gauge shotguns. A true sportsman is a hunter lost in the woods and out of ammo.  

Shoot animals with cameras, not with guns. Animals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the cross-hairs of a gun-sight. And after I've finished shooting, my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated. Thank goodness for shows on National Geographic and Discovery. I ask people why they have deer and bighorn