Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit

Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, included the following comments in a university commencement address he delivered several years ago on the relationship of work to one's other commitments in life. He suggests we all have five '`blue chip" items to manage along with some suggestions on how to do so.

Image life as a game in which you juggle in the air five balls named work, family, health, friends, and spirit. As you endeavor to keep them all in the air, you will soon realize that work is a rubber ball, and if you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls, however, family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. Drop one of them, and the ball is irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered, never to be the same. You must understand this fact, and strive for balance in your life. How?

1. Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. it is because we are different that each of us is special.

2. Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

3. Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

4. Don't let life slip through your fingers by living in the past, or living for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

5. Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

6. Don/t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.

7. Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

8. Don't shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give it; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tight; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

9. Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you're going.

10. Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

11. Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

12. Don't use tirne, or words, carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race; rather, it is a journey to be savored each step of the way.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift, and that is why we call it The Present.
Compliments of
Don Meyer Basketball Camps

P.O. Box 159054, Nashville, TN  37215-9054