Inspiration 365 Days!

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After making a mark in long distance swimming in India, a teenage swimmer from Mumbai has her eyes set on conquering the Strait of Gibraltar and English Channel.

Aakanksha Mishra, who turned 16 recently and became old enough to brave the waters of the English Channel, plans to swim the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Africa and back, a feat few Asian swimmers have achieved.

“The Strait of Gibraltar is considered tougher for swimmers despite being only 21-km long, since it is shark-infested and also happens to have very strong currents which makes it difficult to swim through,” says Aakanksha.

“Angels We Have Heard On High” on a big broccoli ocarina? Is it possible?

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When you’re feeling down the answer is to pick yourself up, not to try to get used to it.

The further down you go, the more ‘up’ there is to aim for.

Believing in yourself means believing in others too.

You are never as wrong as you think you might be.

Mistakes are made in the past… success is in the future.

Today I will do my best to be better than I’ve ever been.

— Succeed With Me by Selwa Anthony with Jimmy Thomson

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Marketers on a Mission: 40+ Internet Marketers
Coming Together to Help Autistic Children. Proceeds to Benefit the Pioneer Learning Center.

Dear Friend,

The latest statistics show that 1 out of 144 children have autism (up from 1 out of 10,000 just two decades ago).

In my house, 1 out of 2 children has autism. My 8 year old Ryan.

Three years ago, Ryan was diagnosed with Asperger’s disorder, part of the Autism Spectrum. He often experiences sensory overload, where certain sounds and images of TV and radio causes his brain to malfunction. We would often find him huddled in our closet, screaming uncontrollably, and frightened beyond belief. Normal everyday sounds are “fingernails being scratched on a chalkboard” to an autistic child.

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A group of frogs were traveling through the woods. They were laughing and having fun when suddenly two of them fell into a deep pit.

The pit was so deep that the other frogs started yelling to the two frogs who had fallen, “Oh dear! You’re as good as dead. The pit is so deep there is no way you’re getting out of it.”

The two frogs were frantically trying to jump up out of the pit with all their might that they ignored the comments. But the other frogs kept telling them, “Didn’t you hear us? You’re as good as dead. You just can’t jump out of the pit. You might as well stop trying now.”

As the music plays
my heart aches
it aches with pain
pain of the past
and pain of the present

As the music plays
my heart aches
it aches with hurt
hurt that I have caused
and hurt that has been caused

As the music plays
my heart aches
it aches with passion
passion that yearns
and passion that wants

As the music plays
my heart aches
it aches with love
love that will never be shared
and love that will never be known

As the music stops
my heart no longer aches
it doesn’t feel anything
the music has stopped
and so has everything else.

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It might seem daunting to think that effort and chance, as much as innate talent, are what counts. But I find it encouraging because, while our genetic makeup is out of our control, our degree of effort is up to us. And the effects of chance, too, can be controlled to the extent that by committing ourselves to repeated attempts, we can increase our odds of success.

— The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

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I tend to see all negativity and criticism as a good thing because people are at least tasking about me.

— Singer Christina Aguilera