Treasury of Joy & Inspiration Read Online Free PDF Page A

and launched him on a distinguished educational career. The first vital impulse, half-hesitantly obeyed, was the starting point.
    The life stories of successful people are chock-full of episodes that have marked turning points in their careers. True impulses are intelligent. They reveal the basic interests of the unconscious mind.
    There is in all of us an unceasing urge toward self-fulfillment. We know the kind of person we want to be because our impulses, even when enfeebled by disuse, tell us. Impulsive action is not to be substituted for reason but used as a means of showing the direction reason is to take. Obviously the path is not without pitfalls. To start suddenly throwing ourselves around on impulse might be hazardous. But at least we can begin responding oftener to inner urges that we know we can trust.
    We know that in the midst of reading we ought to stop and look up a word if the meaning is not clear. We know that we ought to speak more words of unpremeditated praise where they are due. We know that we ought to wriggle out of selfish routine and take part in civic activities, that we ought to contribute not merely money but time to the well-being of the neighborhood.
    Such separate moments of achievement are cumulative and result in enriched living, a consciousness of daily adventure, a long-term sense that life is not blocked out and cut-and-dried but may be managed from within. The man whose philosophy is summed up in the feeble and indecisive motto, “Well, we’ll see about it,” misses the savory moments of experience, the bounce and gusto of life.
    Thumb back over the pages of your own experience and note how many of your happiest moments and greatest successes have followed spur-of-the-moment actions and decisions. They are reminders that only from the depths of your inner self can you hope for an invincible urge toward accomplishment. So, obey your best impulses and watch yourself go!

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    Hometown Hero: A Fine Bouquet
    Nancy Lawlor collects bouquets—flowers from hotels and weddings and corporate events, in cities like New York and Los Angeles. Then she gives them away to people in need, often breaking down larger bouquets so there’s more to go around.
    Lawlor was inspired to start her nonprofit organization, FlowerPower, in 2003.
    Sitting in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, she was riveted by its towering floral displays. Where did they go at the end of the day? After getting her answer—a Dumpster—Lawlor volunteered to take them away instead. Once the hotel agreed, Lawlor delivered $2,000 worth of large pink bouquets to a New York City hospital. “It all started with one person saying yes,” she says.
    FlowerPower has distributed more than $2.5 million worth of flowers to hospitals, rape crisis centers, and rehabilitation clinics. The bouquets last several days, giving patients a healthy dose of good cheer. “I’ve seen thousands of people transformed,” she says, “all over a simple bouquet of flowers that originally would’ve been thrown away.” Now, that’s a beautiful arrangement. Natalie van der Meer
    In Search of Heaven
    By Gail Cameron Wescott
    December 2005
    I n an unadorned room deep inside an Israeli maximum-security prison, a handsome Palestinian youth sits at a small wooden table across from television newscaster Barbara Walters. At age 17, the young man, who is now 21, attempted to set off a bomb on a crowded street to massacre as many people as possible, including himself. The bomb failed to go off. Now he will never leave this desolate place.
    Walters, who is Jewish, wonders if he ever wanted a different life—to get married, have children, live normally.
    â€œI thought about it,” Jihad Jarrar answers matter-of-factly, “but I wanted to kill Jews.” He believes his reward in the end will be to enter paradise—where he looks forward to joyous sex on silken couches amid rivers of milk and