Go as far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant,
they have their stories too.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
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 ideal, and everywhere life 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.
Beyond a wholesome disipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees 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 with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful. Strive to be happy.
Author: Max Ehrmann Copyright 1952
It's magic and it's free
It's not in a prescription
It's not in an IV.
It punctuates our laughter
It sparkles in our tears
It simmers under sorrows
And dissipates our fears.
Do you know what Hope is?
It's reaching past today
It's dreaming of tomorrow
It's trying a new way.
It's pushing past Impossible
It's pounding on the door
It's questioning the Answers
It's always seeking more.
It's rumors of a breath
It's whispers of a cure
A roller coaster ride of remedies unsure.
Do you know what Hope is?
It's candy for the soul,
It's perfume for the spirit,
To share it, makes you whole.
Author Unknown
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life,
for without them, life is meaningless
Do not let your life slip through your fingers
By living in the past nor for the future.
By living your life one day at a time,
You live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is a fragile thread that binds is to each other.
Do not be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Do not shut 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.
In addition, the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Do not dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope;
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that you forget
not only where you have been, but also where you are going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
Author Unknown
just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them.
Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to
be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things
you want to do.
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong,
enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.
Always put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel that it hurts you,
probably hurts the other person too.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched,
and those who tried, for only they can appreciate
the importance of people who have touched their lives.
The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life
until you let go of your past failures and heartaches. When you were
born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so that when you die ...
you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
Author Unknown
right away that they were meant to be there...to serve
some sort of purpose, to teach you a lesson or to help
you figure out who you are or who you want to become.
You never know when these people might appear,
but when you lock eyes with them,
you know that every moment you
spend with them, they will affect your life
in some profound way.
And sometimes things happen to you that
may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but on
reflection you realize that without overcoming these
obstacles you would have never realized your
potential, your strength, your willpower,
your heart.
Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens
by chance or by means of good luck. Ilness, injury,
love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer
stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul.
Without life's challenges, life would be like a
smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere....
safe and comfortable but dull and utterly pointless.
The people you meet affect your life.
The successes and downfalls that you experience
help create who you are,
and the bad experiences can be learned from.
In fact, they are probably the most
poignant and important ones.
If someone hurts you, betrays you or breaks your heart,
forgive them because they have helped you learn
about trust and the importance of being cautious
to whom you open your heart to.
If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally,
not only because they love you, but because they are
teaching you to love and open
your heart and eyes to the essence of life
which is love.
Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and
take from it everything that you possibly can, for you
may never be able to experience it again.
Talk to people you have never talked to before,
and actually listen to what they say
Let yourself fall in love, break free
from any limitations to loving another
and set your sights high.
Hold your head up because you have every right to.
Tell yourself you are a unique individual.
Believe wholly in yourself.
For truly and indisputably
there is no other person quite
like the being that you are.
Author Unknown
strikes midnight. I have responsibilities to fulfill today.
I am important.
My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have.
Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or ... I can be
thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.
Today I can feel sad that I don't have more money or ... I can be
glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and
guide me away from waste.
Today I can grumble about my health or ...
I can rejoice that I am alive.
Today I can lament over all that my parents didn't give me when I
was growing up or ... I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.
Today I can cry because roses have thorns or ... I can celebrate that thorns have roses.
Today I can mourn my lack of friends or ... I can excitedly embark
upon a quest to discover new relationships.
Today I can whine because I have to go to work or ... I can shout
for joy because I have a job to do.
Today I can complain because I have to go to school or ... eagerly
open my mind and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.
Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework or ... I
can appreciate that I have a place to call home.
Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am,
the sculptor who gets to do the shaping.
What today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have!
Have a GREAT DAY ... unless you have already made other plans.
Author Unknown
each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck.
One of the pots had a crack in
it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full
portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the
master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one
and a half pots full of water in his master's house.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end
for which it was made.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,
and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had
been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter
failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, and want to apologize to you. "Why?" asked the
bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these
past two years, to deliver only half my load because of this crack in
my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's
house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you
don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said,
"As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful
flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old
cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers
on the side of the path, and this cheered it somewhat. But at the end
of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and
so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers
only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because
I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted
flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk
back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have
been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's
table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this
beauty to grace his house."
The moral of this story:
Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. In this
world, nothing goes to waste. You may think like the cracked pot that
you are inefficient or useless in certain areas of your life, but
somehow these flaws can turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
Kind of makes ya proud of being a cracked pot, doesn't it?
Author Unknown
and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not
a slip. This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed
me the slip. It was exquisite ... silk, handmade and trimmed with
a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on
it was still attached. "Jan bought this the first time we went
to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She
was saving it for a special occasion.
"Well, I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me
and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to
the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a
moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me.
"Don't ever save anything for a special occasion.
Every day you're alive is a special occasion."
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that
followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad
chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on
the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where
my sister's family lives. I thought about all the things that she
hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she
had done without realizing that they were special.
I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life.
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and
admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden.
I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time
in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a
pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize
these moments now and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything. We use our good china and crystal for
every special event ... losing a pound, getting the sink
unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to
the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous,
I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without
wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties;
clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that
function as well as my party going friends.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my
vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to
see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would
have done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow
we all take for granted. I think she would have called family
members and a few close friends ... She might have called a few
former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles.
I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner,
her favorite food. I'm guessing ... I'll never know.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew
that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good
friends whom I was going to get in touch with-someday. Angry
because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to
write-one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my
husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them.
I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything
that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every
morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special.
Every day, every minute, every breath truly is ... a gift from God
Ann Wells - Los Angeles Times
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