Book Profile
Bitter
or Better
"Adversities
are inevitable in life, but misery is a choice"
by Paul Haigazian
Bitter or Better is for all those who are tired of crying over spilled milk, let alone the more discouraging, painful events of life.Within its 179 nonfiction pages, readers will be filled with inspiration and wisdom in dealing with their own trials.
The book was born out of the author's own hardships.
You can read the Introduction to the book on the Intro page and when you decide to buy the book, you can do that on the Order page.
About the Author - Paul Haigazian
From birth, Paul Haigazian has had a silent twin - adversity. The pediatrician held no hope, contending Paul's severe physical and mental deficiencies warranted life-long institutionalized care. However, three reasons made his future bright: devoted parents, a gracious God, and an attitude that it is not what a person has, but what he does with it that counts.
Out of his own disability and the adversities of others, Paul provides his readers encouragement to persevere through tough times. "We can wallow in our problems or decide to become better people because of them," he states.
Paul earned a Master's degree in psychology from Pepperdine University in 1983. He presently lives in Manhattan Beach, California.
How will people remember you and I?
Will we be remembered as those who have allowed the windstorms of life to shipwreck our lives? Will we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by them and make us ineffectual in helping others? Will these windstorms cause us to accuse God of evil, or even deny His existence altogether? Or will we be remembered as accepting life's tests and temptations as "friends"? Yes, friends that teach us the importance of a selfless life, of godly character and of noble action.Table of Contents
with the main quote from each chapter:1. I Have Wondered, Have You?
Unless you have been in the lowest valley, you cannot appreciate the magnificence of the mountaintops.2. Welcome to the Real World
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.
-Helen Keller3. New Vistas in Education
What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.
-Joubert4. Attitudes and Values
A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.
-John Steinbeck5. The Adversity Advantage?
Take all the sorrow out of life and you take away all the richness, the depth, and tenderness. The capacity of sorrow belongs to our grandeur. It is the furnace that melts the hearts together in love.
-unknown6. Life Is Not Fair
I hold not with the pessimist that all things are ill, nor with the optimist that all things are well. All things are not well, but all things shall be well, because this is God's world.
-Browning7. Life is Too Precious to Cheapen
There is so much loneliness on this uncharted earth.
It seems each one's a prisoner within a cell from birth.
There is much need for union, such need for clasping hands.
Yet we deny the brotherhood the human heart demands.
-unknown8. Dare to Dream! Dare to Act!
There are risks and costs to a Program of Action. But they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.
-John F. Kennedy9. Thankfulness
What would you have left if everything you hadn't given thanks for was taken away?10. Look for the Silver Linings
God's most striking victories rise out of the graves of apparent defeats.
-Haddon W. Robinson11. Bring Out the Best in Others
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.
-unknown12. Throwing the Baby Out With the Bath Water
To hold a person accountable for his misdeeds without harboring resentment against him is the essence of forgiveness and love.13. Overcoming Bitterness
The more a man denies himself, the more he shall obtain from God.
-Horace14. Resignation to God's Will and Prayer
Resignation is to accept the course that God establishes for us. In other words, whatever God chooses to provide for us is sufficient. This puts an entire new emphasis on what we ask for in prayer.15. Finish Well
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - Not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
-Apostle Paul, Second Timothy 4:7,816. Final Thoughts
There is no security on this earth. There is only opportunity.
-Douglas MacArthur
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Page last updated February 16, 2004