K The Ken Bradbury Foundation

← Speeches & Workshops

6 Oct 96, 3rd Presby. S’field

David…basketti Bummy…

Inquired about the age of your club members. Don’t worry, I haven’t been given a list. I’m approaching retirement and have been giving a lot of thought as to how to live the last third of my life gracefully.

10 Commandments of retirement.. But unlike those of Moses, this is a smorgasbord.. You can pick and choose.

  1. DON’T REHASH THE NEGATIVE

Our teacher’s lounge For once, don’t get if off your chest Teacher I know..kids drive her crazy.. ..meet her in IGA...guess what she talks about...

Corrie Ten Boom “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorry, It empties today of its strength.” Every morning I do calisthenics... Life is too precious to remind ourselves of what’s gone wrong.

  1. Realize that no matter what factors determine your day, you are the Main Factor.. J. Stephens...taught, sold, taught. whistles and sings... Mom: Alcatraz …… sail boats

If life’s bumming you out, chances are you aren’t giving enough of yourself. give and give. Even when they don’t have time. Even when they’re too tired.

This is the opposite of what the self-help books preach.

Self-centeredness : depression. Becky...funeral... Carl Menninger JHS girl: CFS

A. Sweitzer: “The only ones among you who will be truly happy as those who will have sought and found out how to serve.”

  1. Collect Interesting and enthusiastic people

Marie...salt and pepper shakers.

Friendships don’t have to simply be things that happen...They can be created... Nuture friends who encourage you. Tony Compello “Five years from now you’ll be pretty much the same as you are now except for two things: The books you’ve read and the people you’ve met.

Surround yourself with people who tell you how things can be done, not tell you why they can’t.

Charlie Rose show: architect Johnstone: 90 years old. Hottest place in hell for whiners and complainers ..... “If life were 100 times longer, there would still excuse for every getting bored by it.” Cultivate friends who are not bored by life.

  1. Don’t get so busy with the important things in your life that they forget the important things in life. James Dobson..monopoly Dad...hay ...rain....
  1. Saints Choose carefully whom they try to please. Quest...Inner-Outer Self

HINEY THE MULE

  1. Know How to Lighten up.... Jim Kern...MRS. BROWN

LIGHTEN UP.... ....go barefoot more often ....turn off the TV some night and pull taffy. ...eat nothing but ice cream for a whole day. ...wear underwear backwards...will break into uncontrollable giggles for no reason every time you think about it. ....walk up to biggest grouch you know and say “I just want you to know that I feel great!” It’ll throw them off all day. ...do some serious coloring ....get the preacher to serve pizza at the next communion. ...start living to succeed instead of living in fear of failing... ...break the dress code occasionally.

.....McDonnald’s “Have a nice Day” Why?

3 things in life are real...WHEN YOU’RE BORN, WHEN YOU DIE WHEN YOU REACH OUT TO HELP ANOTHER in everything else...LIGHTEN UP.

  1. Don’t take yourself too seriously.. because chances are, no one else does.

Chillochothe...”probably dead”

Church lady...music at her funeral.

Jeff W...Free Spirit..Robbed and tied.

Travel LIghter...Your anxieties? Look in your purse or pocket or billfold...ME: comb.

Roger Ebert.

  1. Start living in the present.

ONE CONCLUSION: Success in life boils down to one thing... love. Love is the one thing that can’t be done in the past or future tense..It must be done in the present. Success boils down to loving what you do and loving the people around you. The ability to live in the present. Some of you during my speech have been thinking about how long...., tomorrow, this weekend. When you drive home this evening with your spouse, enjoy the moment you’re in. Look around you here today… When will you ever be in a room again with this many wonderful people. Heather Baccus.. New Salem.

As Americans, our live is so filled with “things” that we seldom leave time to enjoy where we are and what we’re doing.

  1. If you’ve got faith, then use it. Make this deal with yourself. For every minute you spend worrying about things, spend a minute praying my them. We spend our life investing... Today’s paper... girl: Miss Illinois pageant... I know: Mom and Dad: $7,000 each to get as far as Springfield. We invest.

This Present Darkness… Demons.. prayer lady On behalf of our kids, on behalf of our nation, on behalf of our world, I beg you to become a prayer warrior.

Conway Twitty.

Enjoy this time of your life… It’s the dessert.