“Happiness is often elusive and fleeting. There are three elements that, when combined, always result in happiness. Like a three-legged stool, they work in tandem. Any two of the three”
―
Jim Stovall
“manageable problem. “If we are not allowed to deal with small problems, we will be destroyed by slightly larger ones. When we come to understand this fact, we live our lives not avoiding problems, but welcoming them as challenges that will strengthen us so that we can be victorious in the future.”
―
Jim Stovall
“Laughter is good medicine for the soul. Our world is desperately in need of more such medicine.”
―
Jim Stovall
“... sometimes in life, you either laugh or you cry. And I prefer to laugh.”
―
Jim Stovall
“in their lives, becoming ever-more beaten down, will often be heard to say, “I knew that was going to happen.” On the other hand, the winners in every arena of life seem to continue to win time after time and expect it as their due. As we go about our daily”
―
Jim Stovall
“wife and two children on the spot of barren dirt that hours before had been his home and everything he owned, he spoke the words I will keep with me always. He said, “We have lost absolutely everything. We have nothing left other than the clothes on our backs.” Then, after a brief pause, he continued, “But I guess we are lucky since our whole family is safe and sound. We have everything important.” To have lost everything and still have everything seems contradictory, but it’s not. As I reflect on the lessons presented by the young father, I realize that we all spend a lot of time accumulating things that in the final”
―
Jim Stovall
“experience, and most of those experiences are painful and costly. If you can learn from someone else’s pain and expense, you are a wise person, indeed. I would encourage you to read this book, cover-to-cover, but also keep it as a reference text using the sections and individual columns as a resource you can revisit as your life journey calls for specific wisdom. It is my hope that this is not a one-time encounter that you and I are having. My hope is, in the coming months and years as you travel toward your own personal”
―
Jim Stovall
“Tournament. For months, every team in the country has a goal of making it to the tournament. Then, at the end of the season, 64 teams are selected from various parts of the country. As the tournament progresses, teams are eliminated one-by-one until, at the end of the season, the team remaining is named the national champion. Among all of the participants who began at the beginning of the season, and among all the top 64 who actually made the tournament, only one team comes out on top. If this is our only goal, the majority of us are doomed”
―
Jim Stovall
“I finally know that joy does not come from avoiding a problem or having someone else deal with it for you. Joy comes from overcoming a problem or simply learning to live with it while being joyful.”
―
Jim Stovall
“In order to be truly happy in the largest sense of that word, we must have something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to.”
―
Jim Stovall
“You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, ackowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.”
―
Jim Stovall
“Conventional wisdom would say that the less you give, the more you have. The converse is true. The more you give, the more you have.”
―
Jim Stovall
“Any discussion of money and success would be lacking if I did not state that money is neither good nor bad. In the hands of good people, money can build places of healing, worship, and learning. In the hands of bad people, money can create destruction, disease, and death.”
―
Jim Stovall
“A journey should never be judged by the destination or mode of transportation. It should be judged by the friends who accompany us on the trip.”
―
Jim Stovall
