Steve Goodier Wisdom: Where Change Begins

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about change. Enjoy!

An old mystic said this about himself: “I was a revolutionary when I was young, and my prayer to God was, ‘Lord, give me the strength to change the world.’

As I approached middle age and realized that my life was halfway gone without changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to, ‘Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me, especially my family and friends, and I shall be satisfied.’ Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: Fire in the Heart

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about indifference. Enjoy!

The teacher quizzed her class: “He drove straight to his goal. He looked neither to the right nor to the left, but pressed forward, moved by a definite purpose. Neither friend nor foe could delay him, nor turn him from his course. All who crossed his path did so at their own peril. What would you call such a man?”

A student replied, “A truck driver!” Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: Driving Nails

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about habits. Enjoy!

Desiderius Erasmus has said, “A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.” We should not simply resist “bad habits,” we would do better to create good ones.

A teacher who was lecturing on habits told his class, “Anything you repeat twenty times is yours forever.” From the back of the classroom came a whispered voice, “Amanda.Amanda. Amanda.Amanda.” Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: The Best Gift Ever

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about acceptance. Enjoy!

Merrill Markoe once quipped, “It’s like magic. When you live by yourself, all your annoying habits are gone!” But the bigger question is: Can you still have annoying habits and be accepted anyway?

Author Francine Klagsbrun asked a select group of successfully married couples the secrets of their happy marriages. Often they replied, “We don’t expect perfection.” Even though their spouses had qualities they would like to see changed, they had learned to accept those qualities because, as one woman said, “The payoff is so great in others areas.” Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: Unstoppable

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about enthusiasm. Enjoy!

When a group of two hundred executives were asked what makes a person successful, eighty percent listed enthusiasm as the most important quality. More important than skill. More important than training. Even more important than experience.

Before water will produce enough steam to power an engine, it must boil. The steam engine won’t move a train an inch until the steam gauge registers 212 degrees. Likewise, the person without enthusiasm is trying to move the machinery of life with lukewarm water. Only one thing will happen: that person will stall. Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: Leaving Your Mark

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about accomplishment. Enjoy!

Did you know…?

That Joan of Arc was only seventeen when she was riding at the head of the army that liberated France from the English?

That John Calvin was twenty-six when he published his “Institutes”? Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: Two Pound of Enthusiasm

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about enthusiasm. Enjoy!

Someone quipped that there is a name for folks who are not excited about their work — unemployed! People value enthusiasm.

I’m reminded of that great 18th century founder of Methodism, John Wesley. When asked how he drew such large crowds of people to hear him preach, he responded, “I set myself on fire and they come out and watch me burn!” People are drawn to enthusiasm. Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: Faith at Work

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about faith. Enjoy!

It’s one thing to goof. But it’s another thing to do it in front of a stadium full of people! In their book Oops (The Rutledge Press, 1981), authors Richard Smith and Edward Decter tell of such slip-ups. One occurred during a soccer match between two Brazilian teams. (To protect the player involved, I won’t name the teams.) The first goal was scored within three seconds after kickoff. What made the score particularly hard for the team’s fans to take was the fact that it was made while their goalie was still on one knee with head bowed in prayer.

There is certainly a time for prayer, but this poor man learned the hard way that there is also a time for action. In fact, both are necessary in a well-lived life.  As Gandhi once said, “I have so much to accomplish today, I will have to meditate two hours instead of one.” Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: And It Came To Pass

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about worry. Enjoy!

As I stared out the rear window of the bus, I thought, ‘What if I die? This may be my last night ever!’

My son suggested we take an all-night bus through the Peruvian Andes down to the coast. I was prepared to be driven over high mountain passes and on winding roads. We live in the Rocky Mountains of western United States. But I was not prepared for roads so narrow that the bus had to stop and let on-coming traffic around; or the high speed at which the bus rounded hairpin curves; or roads that were unpaved for long stretches, no guardrails and almost vertical slopes just inches from our speeding wheels. Nor was I prepared to ride in something that passed anything slower than the speed of sound — even around blind mountain curves.

I thought that perhaps I could sleep during the trip, but the excitement and anxiety of what reminded me of an amusement park ride kept my heart skipping beats and my eyes wide open. I thought, ‘What if I die?’ and began to count all the possible ways this bus could slide off the mountainside, not the least of which was the fact that the driver was working a 12-hour shift. What if he became sleepy? My mind was just too filled with “what ifs…” to find rest. I needed an antidote to worry. Read more

Steve Goodier Wisdom: A Life That Counts

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom about living a meaningful life. Enjoy!

They said he died!

One morning in 1888, Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, the man who had spent his life amassing a fortune from the manufacture and sale of weapons of destruction, awoke to read his own obituary. Of course, it was a mistake. Alfred’s brother had died, and the reporter inadvertently wrote Alfred’s obituary.

For the first time, Alfred Nobel saw himself as the world saw him - “the dynamite king,” the great industrialist who had made an immense fortune from explosives. This, as far as the general public was concerned, was the entire purpose of his life. None of his true intentions surfaced. Nothing was said about his work to break down the barriers that separated persons and ideas. He was, quite simply, a merchant of death, and for that alone would he be remembered. Read more

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