The Mini-skirt Craze

The Mini-skirt Craze

A good friend of mine related the following true story to me.
In the 1970s when mini-skirts were a fashion craze, she was a young 'independent' girl, wanting to keep up with the latest fashion and wear a mini-skirt.
Her mother, concerned for the maintenance of modesty, had other ideas. She verbalised it this way, "Pamela, That's not a skirt -- it's nothing more than a velcro valance! If you insist on wearing a pelmet for your panties, then it's curtains for you!"

-- Lionel Hartley
(Note: a pelmet or valance is a decorative heading to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing.)

Written Communication hazards

There are times when even written communication is fraught with hidden hazards:

The mother  of a fellow student called Mary went on a busines trip to Japan. When the mother returned, Mary asked what hotel she had stayed at. She said that she didn't know the name of it as her employer had handled the bookings. However she had written down the name on a piece of paper. The only problem was that neither of them could decipher the Japanese pictographic writing. Mary brought the piece of paper to class for another student, who was fluent in Japanese, to translate. The Japanese student asked Mary where her mother had read the sign. "On the front door of the hotel," was the reply. "Well that would explain why the hotel is called 'PUSH.' (Pusshu)"
-- Lionel Hartley

(Nikki Scarlett writes, 'The company where I work services cargo access equipment on ships.
After each service job, a report must be filed listing the ship's name, location, and summary of the work performed.
One of our service engineers was writing his report on a recent job, but was unsure of the ship's name.  His boss told him to read the name off the stern of the ship.
The report came back with the ship name listed as: "Beware Of Propeller."')

Pacesetter Vs Pacemaker

Love in the heart is a pacesetter
It sets the rhythm of daily life
Romance in the heart is a pacemaker
It re-energises the relationship especially if the rhythm is out of step.
-- Lionel Hartley, Moral Responsibility, Stereo Publications, Christchurch, ©1966, p27.

Ten Stages of Deadly Depression

Ten Stages of Deadly Depression

1.    Disturbance - Need for readjustment and reconsideration
2.    Disappointment - Need for reappointment and reconsecration
3.    Discouragement - Need for reaffirmation and rediscovery
4.    Disillusionment - Need for realignment and redetermination
5.    Deflation - Need for re-inflation, recrudescence and rejuvenation
6.    Despair - Need for reason, reconfirmation and renewal
7.    Doomsaying - Need for reappraisal and redefinition
8.    Desperation - Need for rescue and reconstruction
9.    Derangement - Need for reclamation, recuperation, rehabilitation and reconditioning
10.  Death - Need for resurrection (Divine intervention)

-- Lionel Hartley, Deliverance from Deadly Depression (Booklet),
Dayspring Health Services, Morisset, NSW, 1986

Creating a Positive Pleasing Personality

Creating a Positive Pleasing Personality.

As you will have already realised, to get the most out of life, you will need to be able to get along with people. This means that others will like you and want to do things for you.
Your personality is your attitude in action.
When you get along with people it is because they find your personality positive and pleasing.  How can we create a positive personality? Here are a few tips:

1. To make and keep a friend, Be a friend; be friendly.
2. Think what type of person you would like to have as a friend - how you would like to be treated, then be that type of person yourself for others.
3. People need to feel wanted, loved, needed, so help create these feelings in others.
4. Be kind to others - You may not feel you can love them, but at least you can be kind.
5. Learn to love yourself because others will often treat to you the way they see you treating yourself.
6. Let others impress you rather than trying to impress them.
7. Honesty often hurts, often makes us vulnerable, but honesty always wins in the end.
8. Deliberately do and/or say things to make others feel important: Praise, encouragement, support, co-operation, courtesy (please & thank-you).
9. Be enthusiastic - it is contagious, it motivates others as well as you, it builds bonds within relationships.
10. Call others by name, repeat it often in conversation.
11. Learn to listen. People are warmed more by how you listen than what you say.
12. Be positive, as positive attitudes are attractive to others. We like to be around positive people - negative people repel us (if we are negative, we repel others).
13. Be cheerful and pleasant. Smile often - smile with your eyes as well as your mouth.
14. Before you choose to argue, stop and place a value on your friendship.
15. Help others to like themselves. Remind them that you like yourself better when you are with them.
16. Show a genuine interest in others, listen as you invite them to talk about themselves. Seek their opinions, ideas, viewpoints.
17. If you can’t say something good about a person, keep silent.
18. Allow the other person to be “right” sometimes.
19. If you really must poke fun at someone, be sure it is you.

-- Lionel Hartley PhD, Deliverance from Depression (Booklet), Dayspring Health Services, ©1986

Destination Heaven

Destination Heaven
[In June 2001] my wife and I were about to enter a restaurant for lunch when our daughter contacted us on the mobile telephone. She would be taking a part in a programme that evening and asked if I could provide a short snippet for her to present as an ice-breaker for the programme. The theme was ‘outer space’, reflecting on our readiness for heaven. Because my wife and I were away from home, my library was inaccessible. So I penned the following free verse fragment in the restaurant while waiting for our meal to be served. It is an announcement supposedly heard over an airport public address system:

“Your attention please, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to Eternity Intergalactic Airport.
Please check in today for Destination Heaven.
Your tickets need to be in order before you board the flight.
And passports, visas and papers must be checked and all right.
Leave luggage & baggage at the boarding gate to Heaven- you won’t need it there.
And your passport of faith has been stamped with your fate (when you chose to accept the free airfare).
For your ticket is paid for by the Pilot’s own Son.
And He sent you His Holy Steward to help you to come.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please.
You all can be ready by the Company’s Grace.
So pack up your worries, invite your friends and take your ease.
The ticket is paid and we’ve reserved you a place.
All flights are in standby mode; you must be ready at all times.
And as we only offer one destination, passengers not ready must travel by another airline.”

-- Lionel Hartley, FreEzineMagazine, Issue Vol 2 # 6  June 2001

Marriage is not a word

Marriage is not a word, it's a sentence -- not a 'jail sentence' -- but a relationship encompassing entire lexicons.
-- Lionel Hartley ©