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We have shared so many good quotes by unknown authors and well known authors, that a page has become necessary for the volume. It is a worthwhile thing, to read profound and uplifting words, as they sink into our souls and become part of who we are without our realizing it. Enjoy click here to play ENYA-The Sun In The Stream Healing requires a complete change in perception of self,
starting with the acceptance of innocence,
recognition of the various forms of denial,
.the letting go of guilt and fear,
.and reducing the attachment
to outcome and need
Unknown
NATIVE AMERICAN CODE OF ETHICS
1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.
2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.
3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your
path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them thebest food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.
5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours.
6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be
people or plant.
7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression.
8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you.
9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven.
10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism.
11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.
12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow.
13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you.
14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of ones will within this universe.
15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.
16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions.
17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden.
18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first.
19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others.
20. Share your good fortune with others. Participate in charity.
Author Unknown
Count Your Blessings
by Vijay Dandige
How very often many of us develop the habit of looking at the adverse side of life! We lay undue stress on those exceptional incidents that cause us inconveniences, discomfort, or unhappiness.
We don't stop at this. We permit these distressing conditions or
circumstances to color our entire outlook, and to cause us to judge life in terms of the isolated, unfavorable things -- rather than of the more usual and favorable ones.
The result: loss of personal happiness, enthusiasm, and contentment. It brings about an attitude of futility and a feeling of depression and helplessness.At such moments, life feels like a burden, rather than a challenge and a joy. However, admittedly, life is filled with problems and difficulties. At times it can be very ruthless. But these distresses and problems are exceptions, for
their number is insignificant when compared with the blessings that are a part of the warp and woof of each day.
But to recognize and appreciate these blessings we must develop an
"awareness" of them. We must develop the habit of seeing that which is the norm, rather than that which is the exception. We must learn to respond to the flowers in our garden, rather than to concentrate on the few weeds we do not like.
Fortunately, there is a very simple way in which we can develop this "awareness" and raise the caliber of our life to one of confidence,
joyousness, and challenge.
It is the simple practice of counting our blessings --
as opposed to counting our tribulations or afflictions.
Let us list them on a sheet of paper divided into two columns; one for the afflictions, and the other for the blessings that are ours.
It is amazing how few are the afflictions or negative factors that one can list. On the other hand, it is even more astonishing how
many are the blessings, any one of which would make life worthwhile.
Let's count our blessings, or at least a few of the hundreds of things that life benignly gives us, often without efforts on our
part - things that mean so much to us that they are priceless.
Here are a few of the blessings that are common to most of us.
The woman (or man) who is our mate;
our children;
all the happy memories they have given us;
our job;
our home;
the good health of our family;
our food;
clothing;
educational opportunities;
recreational facilities;
our freedom of religion;
the nearness of our churches;
our temples of worship;
our unlimited opportunities for success
our unlimited opportunities for advancement;
our democratic way of life;
our form of government;
all the good friends we have;
the song of the meadowlark;
the beauty of this day;
the illimitable sky at night;
our comforts and conveniences;
the excellent available medical care;
and so on;
and on;
and on.
There is hardly a limit on them.
So, let's count our blessings - put them down on paper - we will probably find a new kind of life, one full of confidence and faith, and enthusiasm and promise.
(I would like to thank Nightengale for this wonderful article it is amazing and thanks for this wonderful warmth that it brought to my soul when I read it hope it does the same to you! )
True Beauty....
The beauty of a woman
Is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
Or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
The passion that she shows,
And the beauty of a woman
With passing years....only grows!
~Unknown
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~~The Strength Of A Man~~
The Strength of a man isn't seen in the width of his shoulders.
It's seen in the width of his arms that circle you.
The Strength of a man isn't in the deep tone of his voice. It's in the gentle words he whispers.
The Strength of a man isn't how many buddies he has. It's how good a buddy he is with his kids.
The Strength in a man isn't in how respected he is at work. It's in how respected he is at home.
The Strength of a man isn't in how hard he hits.
It's in how he touches.
The Strength in a man isn't in the hair on his chest.
It's in his Heart...that lies within his chest.
The Strength of a man isn't how many women he's Loved. It's in can he be true to one woman.
The Strength in a man isn't in the weight he can lift.
It's in the burdens he can carry.
~Unknown
Go with the flow.
Let go of fear and your need to control.
Relinquish anxiety.
Let it slip away, as you dive into the river of the present moment, the river of your life, your place in the universe."
The Language of Letting Go, by Melody Beattie.
1. Do more than exist, live.
2. Do more than touch, feel.
3. Do more than look, observe.
4. Do more than read, absorb.
5. Do more than hear, listen.
6. Do more than listen, understand.
7. Do more than think, ponder.
8. Do more than talk, say something.
John H. Rhoades
Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.
Harvey Fierstein
The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved.
Victor Hugo
I do my thing, and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations.
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
And if by chance we find each other,
It's beautiful.
Frederick S. Perls
There is something very wonderful in music. Words are wonderful enough; but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts as words do; it speaks straight to our hearts and spirits, to the very core and root of our souls. Music soothes us, stirs us up; it puts noble feelings in us; it melts us to tears; we know not how; - it is a language by itself, just as perfect, in its way, as speech, as words; just as divine, just as blessed.
Charles Kingsley
The past, with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.
Lillian Hellman
Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
Oscar Wilde
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Hellen Keller
Nothing has turned out as we expected. It never does. Lifes under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful its no worse than it is.
Gone With The Wind
"Love is the spirit that motivates the artist's journey. The love may be sublime, raw, obsessive, passionate, awful or thrilling, but whatever its quality, it's a powerful motive in the artist's life."
Eric Maisel
From Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach (Warner Books)
***********************************
Affirmation
Let Go
To "let go" does not mean to stop caring, it means I
can't do it for someone else.
To "let go" is not to cut myself off, it's the
realisation that I can't control another.
To "let go" is to admit powerlessness, which means the
outcome is not in my hands.
To "let go" is not to endble but to allow learning
from natural consequences.
To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another,
it's to make the most of myself.
To "let go" is not to care, but to care about.
To "let go" is not to judge, but to allow another to
be a human being
To "let go" is not to be in the middle arranging all
the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their
destinies.
To "let go" is not to be protective, it's to permit
another to face reality.
To "let go" is not to deny, but accept.
To "let go" is not to nag, scold or argue, but instead
to search out my own shortcomings & correct them.
To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each day as it comes, and cherish myself
in it.
To "let go" is not to criticize and regulate anybody
but to try to become what I dream I can be.
To "let go" is not to regret the past, but to grow &
live for the future.
To "let go" is to fear less & to live more.
Author Unknown
Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all of the barriers
within yourself that you have built against it.
~ A Course in Miracles
Serenity isn't freedom from the storm,
but peace within the storm.
~ spiritual maxim
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence....As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit...If you compare yourself with others, you may become bitter or vain, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time...Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is: many persons strive for high ideals, and everwhere life is full of heroism....Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. but do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and stars, you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be...And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann
The Four Agreements
BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean.
Avoid using the word to speak against yourself
or to gossip about others. Use the power of your
word in the direction of truth and love.
DONT TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY
Nothing others do is because of you. What
others say and do is a projection of their own reality,
their own dream. When you are immune to the
opinions of others, you wont be the victim of
needless suffering.
DONT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS
Find the courage to ask questions and to express
what you really want. Communicate with others
as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings,
sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement,
you can completely transform your life.
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST
Your best is going to change from moment to moment;
It will be different when you are healthy as opposed
to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best,
and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret.
~ From The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
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This was posted by Marley (goodheart)
~A Creed to Live By~
Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself to others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life,
for without them life is meaningless.
Don't let your life slip through your fingers
By living in the past or in the future.
By living your life one day at a time,
you live all the days of your life.
Don't give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over...until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Don't be afraid to encounter risks,
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don't shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly.
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don't dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope.
to be without hope is to be without purpose.
Don't run through life so fast
that you forget not only where you've been
but also where you are going.
Life is not a race, but a journey
to be savoured every step of the way.
Author: Nancy Sims
This one was posted by Georgie:
Education consists not so much of Knowledge, but of Knowledge
effectively and persistently applied. People are paid not merely for
what they know, but more particularly for what they do with what
they know.
~ Napoleon Hill
HOPE
Hope is not pretending that troubles don't exist.
It is the trust that they will not last forever,
that hurts will be healed and difficulties overcome.
It is faith that a source of strength and renewal lies within
to lead us through the dark into the sunshine.
-Elizabeth A. Chase
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa
He/she has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women/men, the respect of intelligent men/women and the love of little children; who has filled their niche and accomplished their task; who has left the world better than he/she found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best they had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.
Betty Anderson Stanley
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
C.S. Lewis
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost <http://redfrog.norconnect.no/~poems/poems/00319.html>, The Road Not Taken
Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world.
Samuel Butler
When one has finished building one's house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really needed to know in the worst way--before one began.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Seven National Crimes:
1. I don't think.
2. I don't know.
3. I don't care.
4. I am too busy.
5. I leave well enough alone.
6. I have no time to read and find out.
7. I am not interested.
William J. H. Boetcker
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--which is: Try to please everybody.
Herbert B. Swope
Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde <http://www.anomtec.com/oscarwilde/>, The Picture of Dorian Gray <http://www.airspacemag.com/ASM/Web/Site/QT/DorianFace.html>
There are in the end three things that last: Faith, Hope, and Love, and the greatest of these is love.
St. Paul
How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself.
Publilius Syrus
I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.
William Penn
...submitted by JAY This is on MsMercury's sig:
"Two loves I have of comfort and despair...
Which like two spirits do suggest me still...
The better angel is a man right fair...
The worser spirit a woman colored ill."
William Shakespeare
WHEN SOMEONE CARES
When you meet some disappointment;
An' you're feelin' kind-o'-blue;
When your plans have all got sidetracked
Or some friend has proved untrue;
When you're toilin', prayin', strugglin,'
At the bottom of the stairs --
It is like a panacea, just to know that someone cares.
It will send a thrill of rapture through
the framework of the heart;
It will stir the inner bein' till the tear-drops
want to start
For this life is worth the livin' when someone
your sorrow shares --
Life is truly worth the livin' when you know
that someone cares.
Oh! This world is not all sunshine - some days
dark clouds disclose;
There's a cross for every joy-bell, an' a thorn for
every rose;
But the cross is not so grievious, not the thorn
the rosebud wears --
An' the clouds have silver linin's -- when someone
really cares
--Author Unknown--
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."
-George Washington
The Art of Giving
Remember to be gentle with yourself and others.
We are all children of chance, and none can say why some fields will blossom and others lay brown beneath the August sun.
Care for those around you.
Look past your differences.
Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices in life no more easily made. and give.
Give in any way you can, of whatever you possess.
To give is to love.
To withhold is to wither.
Care less for your harvest than how it is shared, and your life will have meaning, and your heart will have peace."
-- Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son
"..poetry is the journal of a sea animal
living on land
and wanting to fly the air"
(Carl Sandberg 10 definitions) We think in affirmations all the time:
- I don't want to be fat.
- I don't want to be broke.
- I don't want to be old.
- I don't want to live here.
- I don't want to have this relationship.
- I don't want to be like my mother/father.
- I don't want to be stuck in this job.
- I don't want to have this hair/nose/body.
- I don't want to be lonely.
- I don't want to be unhappy.
- I don't want to be sick.
This shows how we are culturally taught to fight the negative
mentality, thinking that if we do so, the positive will
automatically
come to us. It doesn't work that way.
Let's turn the above negative affirmations into positive
affirmations:
- I am slender.
- I am prosperous.
- I am eternally young.
- I now move to a better place.
- I have a wonderful new relationship.
- I am my own person.
- I love my hair/nose/body.
- I am filled with love and affection.
- I am joyous and happy and free.
- I am totally healthy.
Think thoughts that make you happy. Do things that make you
feel good. Be
with people who make you feel good. Eat things that make your
body feel
good. Go at a pace that makes you feel good.
Think for a moment of a tomato plant. A healthy plant can have
over a
hundred tomatoes on it. In order to get this tomato plant with
all these
tomatoes on it, we need to start with a small dried seed. That
seed doesn't
look like a tomato plant. It sure doesn't taste like a tomato
plant. If
you didn't know for sure, you would not even believe it could be
a tomato
plant. However, let's say you plant this seed in fertile soil,
and you
water it and let the sun shine on it.
When the first little tiny shoot comes up, you don't stomp on it
and say:
That's not a tomato plant. Rather, you look at it and say: Oh,
boy! Here
it comes, and you watch it grow with delight. In time, if you
continue to
water it and give it lots of sunshine and pull away any weeds,
you might
have a tomato plant with more than a hundred luscious tomatoes.
It all
began with that one tiny seed.
It is the same with creating a new experience for yourself. The
soil you
plant in is your subconscious mind. The seed is the new
affirmation. The
whole new experience is in this tiny seed. You water it with
affirmations.
You let the sunshine of positive thoughts beam on it. You weed
the garden
by pulling out the negative thoughts that come up. And when you
first see
the tiniest little evidence, you don't stomp on it and say:
That's not
enough! Instead, you look at this first breakthrough and
exclaim with glee:
Oh, boy! Here it comes! It's working!
Louise Hay believes that we create every so-called illness in
our body. The
body, like everything else in life, is a mirror of our inner
thoughts and
beliefs. The body is always talking to us, if we will only take
the time to
listen. Every cell within your body responds to every single
thought you
think and every word you speak.
Continuous modes of thinking and speaking produce body behaviors
and
postures and eases or dis-eases. The person who has a
permanently scowling
face did not produce that by having joyous loving thoughts.
Older people's
faces and bodies show so clearly a life time of thinking
patterns. How will
you look when you are elderly?
From the most beautiful work of Louise L. Hay and the book, You
Can Heal
Your Life ... Visit her site for more of her work at Hay House.
http://www.hayhouse.com/
"Emotions Island"
Once upon a time there was an island where
all the feelings lived; Happiness, Sadness,
Knowledge, and all the others, including Love.
One day it was announced to all of the feelings
that the island was going to sink to the bottom
of the ocean. So all the feelings prepared their
boats to leave.
Love was the only one that stayed. She wanted
to preserve the island paradise until the last
possible moment.
When the island was almost totally under love
decided it was time to leave. She began looking
for someone to ask for help. Just then Richness
was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked,
"Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?"
Richness answered, "I'm sorry, but there is a lot
of silver and gold on my boat and there would be
no room for you anywhere."
Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was
passing in a beautiful vessel. Love cried out, "Vanity,
help me please." "I can't help you," Vanity said, "You
are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat."
Next, Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said,
"Sadness, please let me go with you." Sadness
answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be
alone now."
Then, Love saw Happiness. Love cried out,
"Happiness, please take me with you." But Happiness
was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling to
him.
Love began to cry. Then, she heard a voice say,
"Come Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder.
Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to
ask the elder his name. When they arrived on land,
the elder went on his way. Love realized how much
she owed the elder.
Love then found Knowledge and asked, "Who was
it that helped me?" "It was Time," Knowledge answered.
"But why did Time help me when no one else would?"
Love asked. Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom
and sincerity, answered, "Because only Time is capable
of understanding how great Love is."
Unknown Author
A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. There is nothing that is an accident. You are a special combination for a purpose-and don't let them tell you otherwise, even if they tell you that purpose is an illusion. (Live an illusion if you have to). You are that combination so that you can do what is essential for you to do. Don't ever believe that you have nothing to contribute. The world is an incredible unfulfilled tapestry. And only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours.
Leo Buscaglia |
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| Change...
Change can be so scary
When you want to hang on to the status quo
Leaving a whole life behind you
And everything you know
That feeling of uncertainty
Of not knowing what the future brings
Can make you not want to move on
But make you desperately want to cling
Cling on to those who've hurt you
And to situations that cause you pain
Knowing what to expect can be comfortable
Even when you have nothing left to gain
Breaking out of this cycle is difficult
It takes great courage and perseverance
The road will most often be a bumpy one
But by far the one which remains the clearest
So how do you find the courage
To start a whole new life
When the memories of the "good times"
Still cut through you like a knife
First by realizing that those good times
Weren't always what the relationship was about
Trust, Honesty, Respect and Friendship
Are pillars a relationship can't live without
So keeping this in mind
I will go on and make that first step
Change can be the opportunity to discover
That exciting person inside I just haven't met
~ unknown author~
"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy
Action is the antidote to despair.
Joan Baez
Action should culminate in wisdom.
Bhagavadgita
Adversity is the first path to Truth.
Lord Byron
Every calamity is a spur and valuable hint.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
That which does not kill me makes me stronger.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
The best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence, or perfect understanding between sincere people
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.
Amelia Earhart
Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.
Napoleon I
Courage is a kind of salvation.
Plato
Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
Seneca
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear; not absence of fear.
Mark Twain
Dont despair, not even over the fact that you dont despair.
Franz Kafka
Lord save us all from old age and broken health and a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.
Mark Twain
Ill keep my personal dignity and pride to the very end its all I have left and its a possession that only myself can part with.
Daisy Bates
A physician is one who pours drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less.
Voltaire
Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors!
Louisa May Alcott
Only the educated are free.
Epictetus
The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community these are the most vital things education must try to produce.
Virginia Gildersleeve
Much learning does not teach understanding.
Heraclitus
The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
When you know something about the reality of the world that those who stand in ignorance do not know, then you cant not educate.
Betty Powell
To win ones joy through struggle is better than to yield to melancholy.
Andre Gide
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
Samuel Johnson
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you dont try.
Beverly Sills
To bear is to conquer our fate.
Thomas Campbell
Know how sublime a thing it is / To suffer and be strong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What cant be cured must be endured.
Proverb
.........submitted by wendy (purplevelvet)
"The spiritual journey is one of continually falling on your face, getting up, brushing yourself off, looking sheepishly at God, and taking another step."
Aurobindo
From Something More by Sarah Ban Breathnach
~**Kindred Spirits**~
ENOUGH!
A time comes in your life when you finally get it... When in
the midst of
all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks and
somewhere the
voice inside your head cries out - ENOUGH!
Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like
a child
quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside,
you shudder
once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a mantle of
wet lashes
you begin to look at the world through new eyes. This is your
awakening.
You realize that it's time to stop hoping and waiting for
something to
change or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping
over the next
horizon. You come to terms with the fact that he is not Prince
Charming and
you are not Cinderella and that in the real world there aren't
always
fairytale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any
guarantee of
"happily ever after" must begin with you and in the process a
sense of
serenity is born of acceptance.
You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not
everyone will
always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are...
and that's OK.
(They are entitled to their own views and opinions.) And you
learn the
importance of loving and championing yourself and in the process
a sense of
new found confidence is born of self-approval.
You stop bitching and blaming other people for the things they
did to you
(or didn't do for you) and you learn that the only thing you can
really
count on is the unexpected. You learn that people don't always
say what
they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will
always be there
for you and that it's not always about you. So, you learn to
stand on your
own and to take care of yourself and in the process a sense of
safety &
security is born of self-reliance.
You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept
people as they
are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties and
in the
process a sense of peace & contentment is born of forgiveness.
You realize
that much of the way you view yourself, and the world around
you, is as a
result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained
into your
psyche. And you begin to sift through all the crap you've been
fed about
how you should behave, how you should look and how much you
should weigh,
what you should wear and where you should shop and what you
should drive,
how and where you should live, and what you should do for a
living, who you
should sleep with, who you should marry and what you should
expect of a
marriage, the importance of having and raising children or what
you owe your
parents.
You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view.
And you
begin reassessing and redefining who you are what you really
stand for. You
learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin
to discard
the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have
bought into
to begin with and in the process you learn to go with your
instincts. You
learn that it is truly in giving that we receive. And that
there is power
and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering
through life
merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix. You learn
that principles
such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a
bygone era
but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you
must build
a life.
You learn that you don't know everything, it's not your job to
save the
world and that you can't teach a pig to sing. You learn to
distinguish
between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting
boundaries
and learning to say NO. You learn that the only cross to bear
is the one
you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.
Then you
learn about love. Romantic love and familial love. How to
love, how much
to give in love, when to stop giving and when to walk away. You
learn not
to project your needs or your feelings onto a relationship.
You learn that you will not be, more beautiful, more
intelligent, more
lovable or important because of the man on your arm or the child
that bears
your name. You learn to look at relationships as they really
are and not as
you would have them be. You stop trying to control people,
situations and
outcomes. You learn that just as people grow and change, so it
is with
love.... and you learn that you don't have the right to demand
love on your
terms... just to make you happy. And, you learn that alone
does not mean
lonely...
You look in the mirror and come to terms with the fact that you
will never
be a size 5 or a perfect 10 and you stop trying to compete with
the image
inside your head and agonizing over how you "stack up."
You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside,
smoothing
things over and ignoring your needs. You learn that feelings of
entitlement
are perfectly OK.... and that it is your right to want things
and to ask
for the things that you want...and that sometimes it is
necessary to make
demands.
You come to the realization that you deserve to be treated with
love,
kindness, sensitivity and respect and you won't settle for less.
And, you
allow only the hands of a lover who cherishes you to glorify you
with his
touch... and in the process you internalize the meaning of
self-respect.
And you learn that your body really is your temple. And you
begin to care
for it and treat it with respect. You begin eating a balanced
diet,
drinking more water and taking more time to exercise. You learn
that
fatigue diminishes the spirit and can create doubt and fear. So
you take
more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter
fuels our
soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.
You learn, that for the most part, in life you get what you
believe you
deserve... and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling
prophecy. You
learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and
that wishing
for something to happen is different from working toward making
it happen.
More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you
need
direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn that no
one can do
it all alone and that it's OK to risk asking for help.
You learn that the only thing you must truly fear is the great
robber baron
of all time... FEAR itself. You learn to step right into and
through your
fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it
and to give
in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your terms.
And you
learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under
a cloud of
impending doom. You learn that life isn't always fair, you
don't always get
what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen
to
unsuspecting, good people. On these occasions you learn not to
personalize
things. You learn that God isn't punishing you or failing to
answer your
prayers. It's just life happening.
And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state - the
ego. You
learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment
must be
understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of
you and
poison the universe that surrounds you. You learn to admit when
you are
wrong and to building bridges instead of walls. You learn to be
thankful
and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for
granted, things
that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a
full
refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot
shower.
Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by
yourself and you
make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never,
ever settle
for less than your heart's desire. You hang a wind chime
outside your
window so you can listen to the wind. And you make it a point
to keep
smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful
possibility.
Finally, with courage in your heart and with God by your side
you take a
stand, you take a deep breath and you begin to design the life
you want to
live as best as you can.
-- AUTHOR UNKNOWN
(But dearly appreciated)
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