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en-courage-ment
Encouragement is two small hills with a mountain of courage in the middle.
Japanese Proverb
"One kind word can warm three winter months."
Celeste Holm (Actress)
"We live by encouragement and die without it - slowly, sadly and angrily"
Zig Ziglar "See you at the top" (Tape)
Encouragement is the "art of applying love to fear"
Anon
A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as
good as dead.
The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.
The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said,"Didn't you hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.
Woodrow Kroll "Is there a man in the house?"
Negativism is everywhere. It raises its ugly head in domestic quarrels just as it does in political campaigns. It's so easy to choose contrary words instead of confirming words. In one Florida city, teachers were found to be negative 75 percent of the time. When you multiply that by approximately eight hours of class time each day, think of the magnitude of negative input those children received at school. It's little wonder some children hate school. Fortunately, there are many positive teachers who use words to build up their students rather than tear them down.
Woodrow Kroll "Is there a man in the house?"
A few years ago some parents were asked to participate in an experiment. A test was designed to detect whether these parents said positive or negative things more often to their children. They were asked to record what they said to their kids and whether they would characterize their remarks as positive or negative. The survey determined that these fathers and mothers spoke critically ten times more often than they spoke favorably toward their children.
Woodrow Kroll "Is there a man in the house?"
Some experts claim that it takes four positive statements from an authority figure to offset the effects of one negative statement to a child.
Woodrow Kroll "Is there a man in the house?"
Lombardi was the coach of the Green Bay Packers. During a practice session he noticed one of his big guards was holding out, not putting much of himself into practice. Angrily, Lombardi called the guard aside and laid into him. "Son, you are a lousy football player. You're not blocking, you're not tackling, you're not putting out. As a matter of fact, it's all over for you today. Go take a shower."
The big guard turned and trudged to the dressing room. After practice Lombardi walked into the dressing room and found the young man, still suited up, quietly sobbing.
Known for being as compassionate as he was volatile, Lombardi went over to the player, put his arm around his shoulders and said, "Son, I told you the truth. You are a lousy football player.. You're not blocking, you're not tackling, you're not putting out. However, in all fairness to you, I should have finished the story. Inside of you, son, there is a great football player, and I'm going to stick by your side until the great football player inside of you has a chance to come out and assert himself."
The player was Jerry Kramer. The commitment Lombardi made to stick by him motivated Kramer to become one of the all-time greats in football. In fact, he was voted the all-time best guard in the first 50 years of professional football.
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