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I need a kind of spiritual inhalation, a spaciousness that comes
when I am living from the inside out. Only in this way can I find
my joy again, the tenderness I can feel toward myself and the
world. Find is the wrong word. I don't think anyone "finds" joy.
Rather, we cultivate it by searching for the preciousness of small
things, the ordinary miracles, that strengthen our hearts so we can
keep them open to what is difficult: delight in taking a shower or
a slow walk that has no destination, in touching something soft,
in noticing the one small, black bird who sings every morning from
the top of the big old pine tree that guards this cabin. I need to
give my attention to the simple things that give me pleasure with
the same fervor I have been giving it to the complex things
with which I drive myself crazy0 -
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This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best.
- William Arthur Ward0 -
The well-known maxim, "While there is life there is hope," has a deeper meaning in reverse: "While there is hope there is life."
Hope comes first, life follows. Hope gives power to life. Hope rouses life to continue, to expand, to grow, to reach out, to go on.
Hope sees a light where there isn't any.
Hope lights candles in millions of despairing hearts.
Hope is the miracle medicine of the mind. It inspires the will to live. Hope is the physician's strongest ally.
Hope is our shield and buckler against defeat.
"Hope," wrote Alexander Pope, "springs eternal in the human breast." And as long as it does we will triumph and move forward.
Hope never sounds retreat. Hope keeps the banners flying.
Hope revives ideals, renews dreams, revitalizes visions.
Hope scales the peak, wrestles with the impossible, achieves the highest aim.
"The word which God has written on the brow of every person," wrote Victor Hugo, "is Hope." As long as we have hope no situation is hopeless.
Wilferd A. Peterson0 -
Above all, let us never forget that an act of goodness is in itself an act of happiness. It is the flower of a long inner life of joy and contentment; it tells of peaceful hours and days on the sunniest heights of our soul.
Maurice Maeterlinck0 -
Everybody can be great. . . because anybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve. . . .
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.0 -
Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to effect the most profound changes in the people around us. When we listen, we offer with our attention an opportunity for wholeness. Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied, unloved, devalued by themselves and others. That which is hidden.
In this culture the soul and the heart too often go homeless.
Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone, the unseen singing softly to itself and to you. -Rachel Naomi Remen0 -
Humility is not weakness; it is the epitome of strength. Humility moves a person away from human, personal weakness and limitation into divine expression, strength, and expansion. -Donald Curtis
When you practice humility, you want to become as accomplished and evolved as you can possibly be, yet you are willing to submit to the expertise of others to do so. You understand the scope of your aptitudes yet you choose to eradicate arrogance from your attitude, and you can distinguish the value you possess as an individual while still acting in the interests of your fellow human beings. Humility, simply put, is a form of balance in which you can celebrate your own worth while sincerely believing that every other person on the planet is just as worthy as you. -unattributed
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"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
-- Samuel Ullman
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Our ideals resemble the stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like seafarers on the desert waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.
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Carl Schurz
The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. . . . The ordinary objects of human endeavor -- property, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible. -Albert Einstein
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Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them, the more of them we will see. . . . Better to lose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles. -Maltbie D. Babcock
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A greater poverty than that caused by lack of money is the poverty of unawareness. Men and women go about the world unaware of the beauty, the goodness, and the glories in it. Their souls are poor. It is better to have a poor pocketbook than to suffer from a poor soul.
Jerry Fleishman
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Healing is the journey. The destination is yourself. The full recognition of all the different aspects of yourself—your joy, your sorrow, your pain, your pleasure—all lead you to the source of who you are. Only by having intimate contact with this source can you experience the fullness of your life. Only by fearlessly looking within can you embrace the landscape of your life and open yourself completely to all the love and compassion that lives inside you. -Philip Berk
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When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.
- Tecumseh0 -
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest. . . . whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things; these things do, and the God of peace shall be with you. - Elizabeth Clinton
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It can be tempting to blame others for our loss of direction. We get lots of information about life but little education in life from parents, teachers, and other authority figures, who should know better from their experience. Information is about facts. Education is about wisdom and the knowledge of how to love and survive. But no matter how much advice you get, you are the one who chooses which train to board. As you pass through life, pay attention to the signs and stations; if you don't like the scenery, pull the emergency cord and get off the train. There is no other conductor in charge. There is no one who needs to give you permission to transfer. This is your life. Your journey. Your trip to conduct.
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Once you know with abundant certainty that nothing can trouble you but your own imagination, you come to disregard your desires and fears, concepts and ideas, and live by truth alone. -Nisargadatta
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Introspection enables one to be free from the influence of negativity. Introspection means the desire to be good. Introspection brings the ability to look within and see the true self in the mirror of the heart, thus enabling one to activate the inner spirituality. Then all effort made will be towards activating this inherent goodness. And slowly one finds that the behavior associated with negative traits are no more expressed, as they begin to lose their hold. When I am able to introspect and look within, I can find the goodness that is there within me. Because of this, I naturally am free from expectations from others that they should recognize my goodness or consider me good. Instead I find myself content with what I am and continue to bring out the best from within me. I continue to learn from all situations and experience progress. -Brahma Kumaris
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The place to take the test of a man is not the forum or field, not the marketplace or the amen corner, but at his own fireside. There he lays aside his mask and you may judge whether he is imp or angel, king or cur, hero or humbug. I care not what the world says of him, whether it crown him with bays or pelt him with eggs; I care never a copper what his reputation or religion may be; if his babes dread his homecoming and his better half has to swallow her heart every time she asks him for a five dollar bill, he's a fraud of the first water, even though he prays night and morn until he is black in the face, and howls hallelujah until he shakes the eternal hills. But if his children rush to the front gate meet him, and love's own sunshine illumines the face of his wife when she hears his footsteps, you may take it for granted that he is true gold, for his home's a heaven and the humbug never got that close to the great white throne of God. -William Cowper Brann
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Real education should educate us out of self
into something far finer--into a
selflessness which links us with all humanity.
Lady Nancy Astor0 -
Before you speak to me about your religion,
first show it to me in how you treat other people;
before you tell me how much you love your God,
show me in how much you love all His children;
before you preach to me of your passion for your faith,
teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors.
In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell
as in how you choose to live and give.
- Cory Booker
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In honor of the day:
Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?...
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it BECAUSE it is right.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Nothing in all the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.0 -
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To love means being 100 percent responsible for your
experience of living, to not be a victim or a martyr,
and to be 100 percent accountable for the quality
of your life, which includes the amount of love, joy,
and growth you create in your relationships each day.To love is the ability to remain strong, stable, and
committed through difficult times, changes, and
challenges. It means being gentle, kind, and
supportive of your potential, goals, and aspirations.Harold Bloomfield
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It all depends on how we look at things,
and not on how things are in themselves.
The least of things with a meaning
is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.
- Carl Jung
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To me, the essence of keeping the soul nourished is obedience to one's conscience. I don't think that the soul can be nourished unless people have a strong sense of conscience that they have educated and developed and soaked in the universal and timeless principles of integrity and service. This way, the individual's soul becomes part of the universal soul of service, contribution, and making a difference.
Stephen R. Covey0 -
Walking takes longer than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. -Edward Abbey
Walking exercises the whole person. It exercises the body-- it gives the arms and legs a workout. It stimulates the flow of blood; expands the lungs. It is gentle and relaxing. It exercises the mind-- it shakes up the brain cells. It fills them with oxygen; drives out the cobwebs. A famous scientist says he does his best thinking on the two miles of sidewalk between his home and office.
Walking exercises the emotions. It gives you a chance to observe and enjoy the world. Open your eyes to beauty. See the homes, the trees, the gardens. See the shining faces of little children. Listen for the church chimes, singing birds and the laughter of happy people. -Wilferd A. Peterson0 -
The surface of life is also in a state of constant flux, with good days and bad, victory and defeat. To maintain, as the ocean does, a deep inner calm, while the storms of misfortune, reverses, fears and worries lash at the surface of life, is to discover the secret of serenity.
Years ago, when Thomas Edison's factory burned down, he wasted no time bemoaning his fate. Immediately after the disaster the reporters found a calm, quiet man already at work on plans for a new building.
When Emerson's home was destroyed by fire and his precious books were being reduced to ashes, Louisa May Alcott came to console him. The great philosopher said, "Yes, yes, Louisa, they are all gone, but let us enjoy the blaze now. Isn't it beautiful!"
Some people are ocean personalities. In their inner depths they are not defeated by what happens to them.
The towering waves of circumstances cannot reach us when we go deep within to seek the peace that passes all understanding. While the surface of life is in turmoil we can find an inner calmness to see us through.
Wilferd A. Peterson0 -
As I look back upon my youth I realize how important to me were the help, understanding and courage, the gentleness and wisdom so many people gave me. These men and women entered into my life and became powers within me. But they never knew it. Nor did I perceive the real significance of their help at the time. We all owe so much to others; and we may well ask ourselves, what will others owe to us? You may be sure, that the effect of your own life on those around you is—or can be—great indeed. - Albert Schweitzer
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Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence.
- Rachel Naomi Remen -0
