Life

Unless we can hear each other singing and crying, unless we can comfort each other's failures and cheer each other's victories, we are missing out on the best that life has to offer.

The only real action takes place on the bridge between people.

Decision

A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action.
If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.

Lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know.

Knowing is not enough! You must take action.

Anthony Robbins

The Road

Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road,

not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task

and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.

Sri Nisargadatta

We are here to do

We are here to do;
and through doing to learn;
and through learning to know;
and through knowing to experience wonder;
and through wonder to attain wisdom;
and through wisdom to find simplicity;
and through simplicity to give attention;
and through attention to see what needs to be done.

Pirke Avot

Chinese Proverb

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.

Great souls have wills, feeble ones have only wishes.

Life

The adventure of life is to learn.

The purpose of life is to grow.

The nature of life is to change.

The challenge of life is to overcome.

The essence of life is to care.

The opportunity of life is to serve.

The secret of life is to dare.

The spice of life is to befriend.

The beauty of life is to give.

The joy of life is to love.

William Arthur Ward

Faith

Doubt sees the obstacles
Faith sees the way
Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day
Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions 'who believes?'
Faith answers, 'I.'

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell when you send a word,
Like an arrow shot from a bow
By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,
Just where it may chance to go,
It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend,
Tipped with its poison or balm,
To a stranger's heart in life's great mart,
It may carry its pain or its calm.

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
Though the harvest you may not see.
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
In God's productive soil.
You may not know, but the tree shall grow,
With shelter for those who toil.

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell what your thoughts will do,
In bringing you hate or love;
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe,
Each thing must create its kind;
And they speed o'er the track to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Precious Gifts

Yesterday a butterfly
Came floating gently through the sky.
He soared up through the atmosphere
Then drifted close enough to hear.

I said, "I'd love to fly with you
And sail around the way you do.
It looks like it would be such fun
To fly up toward the summer sun.

But I have not your graceful charm.
I haven't wings, just these two arms.
I've been designed to walk around.
My human feet must touch the ground.

Then magically he spoke to me
and told me what his wish would be.

Precious Gifts

He said, "What I'd love most to do
Is walk upon God's Earth with you,
To squish its mud between my toes
Or touch my finger to my nose.

I'd love just once to walk around
With human feet to touch the ground,
But I have not two legs that swing,
I haven't arms, just these two wings."

And so we went our separate ways
In wonder and surprise.
For we'd both seen God's precious gifts
Through someone else's eyes.

A Hundred Times More Beautiful

That which God whispher to the rose,
and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty,
God whispher to my heart,
and made it a hundred times more beautiful.

Rumi

Learn to be Quiet

You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, just wait.
You need not even wait,
just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

Whatever Dreams You're Dreaming

Whatever dreams you're dreaming,
May each one of them come true.
Whatever plans you're making,
May they all work out for you.
And may you have more happiness
Than any words can tell.
Not only on this day,
But all the year as well.

May you have a little sunlight
to guide you on your way.
May you discover, little by little,
happiness that's here to stay.
May you grow a little stronger
and a little wiser with each dawn
May you have a little time to
believe in dreams to dream upon
May all the joy your heart desires
find its way to you.
And may the blessings that brighten up your days
keep on shining through.

To Believe

To believe is to know that every day
is a new beginning.
It is to trust that miracles happen,
and dreams really do come true.
To believe is to see angels dancing among the clouds,
To know the wonder of a stardust sky
and the wisdom of the man in the moon.
To believe is to know the value of a nurturing heart,
The innocence of a child's eyes
and the beauty of an aging hand,

To Believe

To believe is to find the strength
and courage that lies within us.
When it is time to pick up the pieces and begin again.
To believe is to know we are not alone,
That life is a gift and this is our time to cherish it.
To believe is to know that wonderful surprises
are just waiting to happen,
And all our hopes and dreams are within reach.

11022011

Not much to offer you,
Just a lotus flower floating
In a small jar of water.

Now is the time

Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.

Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child's training wheels
To be laid aside
When you finally live
With veracity
And love.

Hafiz

I'll Paint You A Rainbow

I'll paint you a rainbow to hang on the wall,
to brighten your heart when the gray shadows fall.
On a canvas of joy outlasting the years,
with a soft brush of sweetness to dry all your tears.

I'll paint you a rainbow with colors of smiles
That glow with sincerity over the miles.
On a palette of words I will tenderly blend
Tones into treasures of sunlight and wind.

Grace Easley

On happiness

Did you know...that when you walk past a flower,
the flower will always smile at you.

The most polite way to respond,

I've been told, is to cheerfully return the smile.

Ron Atchison

On happiness

If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come. 

Chinese Proverb

Knowledge that is useless

Don't busy yourself with trivial details that have no benefit for you in this life. It wastes your time and makes you ignore more important matters.

If one knows it, then his knowledge of it doesn't benefit him, and if one is ignorant of it, then his ignorance of it doesn't harm him.

Lamentation

Yes, they read me and memorize me,
Yet only an ornament am I...
My message lies neglected,
My treasure untouched,
The field lies bare, where blossomed once true glory.
Wrong is the treatment I receive
So much to give I, but none is there to perceive.

Nurturing ideas

If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon
don't smile contemptuously upon its quest.
Everything you possess of skill, wealth and handicraft
wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?

Chinese Proverb

If there is light in the soul,
there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world.

Sincerity

Deeds without sincerity are like a traveler who carries dirt in his water-jug. The carrying of it burdens him and it brings no benefit.

Ibn Al-Qayyim.

Today

This is the beginning of a new day.

You have been given this day to use as you will.

You can waste it or use it for good.

What you do today is important because

you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever;

in its place is something that you have left behind.