“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”

-Oprah Winfrey

I have learned that if you must leave a place
That you have lived in and loved,
And where all of your yesterdays are buried deep -
Leave it any way except slow;
Leave it the fastest way you can.
Never turn back and believe that an hour you remember
Is a better hour because it is dead.
Past years seem safe ones, vanquished ones,
While the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.
The cloud clears though, as you enter it.
I have learned this, but like everyone,
I learned it late."

Beryl Markham, 1902-1986
English-born Author, Aviator and Race Horse Trainer

What's behind great accomplishments? Inevitably, great people. But what is in those 'great people' that makes them different? It's certainly not their age or sex or color or heritage or environment. No, it's got to be something inside their heads. They are the people who think differently... They are the people 'who will dream dreams and see visions.'

Charles Swindoll (Slightly Adapted)
American Pastor, Author and Educator

No matter how intelligent or able you may be, if you don’t have a sense of urgency, now is the time to start developing it. The world is full of very competent people who honestly intend to do things tomorrow, as soon as they can get around to it. Their accomplishments, however, seldom match those of the less talented who are blessed with a sense of the importance of getting started now.

Author Unknown

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.

Author Unknown

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live
up to mine.

Fritz Perl, 1893-1970
German-born Psychotherapist

I hope you still feel small
when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance...

I hope you dance..."

From the song 'I Hope You Dance'
As performed by Lee Ann Womack

Hope is not the closing of our eyes
to difficulty, risk or failure.
It is trust that if we fail now,
We shall not fail forever.
And if we are hurt,
We shall be healed.
It is a trust that life is good
and love is powerful.

Author Unknown

If you just look for what's right - in others,
in relationships, in yourself and your journey -
you'll always find it.

Mike Dooley
Inspirational Author, Speaker and Friend

An eight-year-old boy named Jeremy was having his annual checkup and the pediatrician began tapping on his chest. 'Do you hear that sound?' he asked. 'That is the sound of your lungs. Do you know what your lungs are filled with?' 'Air,' said the boy. 'And do you hear that solid sound?' the doctor continued. 'That is your heart. What is your heart filled with?' 'Love,' Jeremy said."

Author Unknown

Do you think the people who were trying to reach to the Everest were not full of doubts? For a hundred years, how many people tried and how many people lost their lives? Do you know how many people never came back? But, still, people come from all over the world, risking, knowing they may never return. For them it is worth it - because in the very risk something is born inside of them: the center. It is born only in the risk. That's the beauty of risk, the gift of risk."

Osho, 1931-1990
Indian Philosopher, Spiritual Teacher

A Prayer
Max Ehrmann

Let me do my work each day; and if the darkened hours of despair overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me in the desolation of other times.

May I still remember the bright hours that found me walking over the silent hills of my childhood, or dreaming on the margin of a quiet river, when a light glowed within me, and I promised my early God to have courage amid the tempests of the changing years.

Spare me from bitterness and from the sharp passions of unguarded moments. May I not forget that poverty and riches are of the spirit. Though the world knows me not, may my thoughts and actions be such as shall keep me friendly with myself.

Lift up my eyes from the earth, and let me not forget the uses of the stars. Forbid that I should judge others lest I condemn myself. Let me not follow the clamor of the world, but walk calmly in my path.

Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am; and keep ever burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of hope.

And though age and infirmity overtake me, and I come not within sight of the castle of my dreams, teach me still to be thankful for life, and for time's olden memories that are good and sweet; and may the evening's twilight find me gentle still.


Max Ehrmann (1872-1945) was an attorney from Indiana, best known for writing the "Desiderata" which begins with the famous line: "You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here."

For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

Benjamin Button (Slightly Adapted)
From the movie: 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button'

Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well and yet everything happens only a certain number of times - and a very small number really. How many times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your life that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many times will you watch the full moon rise, perhaps twenty, and yet it all seems so limitless�"

Paul Bowles 1910-1999
American Writer and Compose

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?
If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.
Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize that nothing is lacking,
the whole world belongs to you!"

Lao Tzu, 604 BC - 531 BC
Chinese Philosopher, Author of 'Tao Te Ching'

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you never walk alone."

Sam Levenson, 1911-1980
American Teacher and Humorist

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone."

Robert Allen

All your life you are told the things you cannot do.
All your life they will say you're not good enough
Or strong enough or talented enough.
They'll say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight
Or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this.
They will tell you 'no', a thousand times 'no'
Until all the no's become meaningless.
They will tell you 'no', quite firmly and very quickly.
And you will tell them 'YES.'"

From an Athletic Shoe Advertisement

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself."

Anna Quindlen
American Author and Journalist

I began to understand that the promises of the world are for the most part phantoms, and that to have faith in oneself and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course."

Michelangelo, 1475-1564
Italian Sculptor, Painter, Architect and Poet

It's You I Like!
Frederick 'McFeely' Rogers


It's you I like,
It's not the things you wear.
It's not the way you do your hair,
But it's you I like.
The way you are right now
The way down deep inside you
Not the things that hide you
Not your diplomas...
They're just beside you.
But it's you I like,
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings,
Whether old or new.
I hope that you'll remember
Even when you're feeling blue,
That it's you I like,
It's you yourself, it's you
It's you I like!


Mr. Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was the host of the internationally acclaimed and highly successful children's television show 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, in production from 1968 to 2001.

Most people don't know
there are angels
whose only job is to make sure
you don't get too comfortable
and fall asleep and miss your life."

Brian Andreas
American Artist and Storyteller

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty, believe me... the gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys too - be not content with them as joys. They too, conceal diviner gifts."

Fra Giovanni, 1435–1515
Italian Architect and Philosopher

We avoid the things that we're afraid of because we think there will be dire consequences if we confront them. But the truly dire consequences in our lives come from avoiding things that we need to learn about or discover."

Shakti Gawain
Inspirational Author and Teacher

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN

Listen to the Mustn'ts,child,
Listen to the Don'ts
Listen to the Shouldn'ts
The Impossibles, the Won'ts
Listen to the Never Haves,
Then listen close to me --
Anything can happen, child,
Anything can be.

Shel Silverstein American Poet

TWO DECISIONS

First, decide what you truly want.
Then, decide that you want it
more than you are afraid of it.

Bill Cosby
American Comedian and Television Star

Voices And Choices

It happens to me too,
the voices and choices
are too much at times
and I need a quiet place
just me and the moon
or me and the sky
a place where I can hear God whisper
reminding me to breathe
asking me to 'hold on'
and when I hear this
I know everything will be O.K.
-- Ron Atchison

Whenever I have knocked, a door has opened.
Wherever I have wandered, a path has appeared.
I have been helped, supported, encouraged
and nurtured by people of all races, creeds,
colors and dreams.

Alice Walker
From her book 'In Search Of Our Mother's Garden'

t takes time to heal.

Build a bridge
from now to tomorrow.
Sink the piers
deep into the Earth.
Pour in concrete
day by day,
a little at a time,
and let it set.

It takes time to heal.

It may feel very awkward,
as if you're making empty promises,
as if you're simply spanning empty space.

But someday, somehow, somewhere,
you'll find yourself
upon a brand new shore,
glancing back at the bridge
which you alone have built.

It takes time to heal.

--Ted Hibberd

Forgive My Fear

(Ryan Chokureva)

I walk on space,
On air so thin
I fear to fall.

Dear God forgive me
For my fear to love
For being so small
In a world so big
Forgive me for not wanting pain
For seeing it first before joy

I know I shouldn't look first,
At how easily I bruise
Or harden my shell to outside touch,
Or hide within my self,
Or stare with dead eyes

Forgive my fear
Of reaching out over empty spaces,
For taking all the love you give
And giving nothing in turn

When next I shy, nudge me to try
When next I sigh, nudge me to smile
When next love needs, steady my feet
That I may be here,
To brave my fear.

The Smile Virus

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin
When he smiled I realized
I'd passed it on to him .

I thought about that smile
then I realized its worth,
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don't leave it undetected
Let's start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!
--Russell H. Conwell

FORGIVENESS

If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion and peace.

Eckhart Tolle
German Author and Spiritual Teacher

Decide To Be Healthy

Decide to be healthy.

Pray to God every day for good health.

Take health as your sacred, God given duty.

Make no room whatsoever for the slightest thought of sickness.

Encourage your trillions of faithful little cells through joy, happiness and confidence.

Thank them, talk to them, sing to them.

Let no foul air, food or liquid poison you.

Let no anger, anxiety or bitterness enter you.

Wake up every morning with gratitude for your resurrection and repeat ten times:

"I am the happiest and healthiest person on earth."

Repeat it again before you sleep.

Close your eyes and think of God, good health and happiness.

And thank your Father in heaven who has given us a body never to be sick, a mind never to be dull, a consciousness never to be empty, and a spirit full of
the heavens and of the Earth.


__Dr. Robert Muller
Dr. Robert Muller is a world-renouned peace activist and former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations. Now in active retirement, Dr. Muller currently presides as the Chancellor of the University for Peace created by the United Nations in Costa Rica.

NO MORE SMALLING UP OF ME

(Jean Wilson)


No more meekly saying 'yes'
When my heart is screaming 'no'
No more taming of my feelings
So my power won't show
No more hiding my exuberance
From disapproving eyes
No more watering down myself
So my spirit won't rise

No more 'smalling up' of me
Pretending I am not here
No more running from the music
And the spotlight's glare
No more living in this prison
Barricaded by my fears
No more turning and retreating
In the face of new frontiers

Even as I am speaking
I am taking shape and form
Harnessing my powers
Like a gathering storm
There's no obstacle so bold
As to dare stand in my way
I am taking back my life
And I am doing it today.



Note: Jean is a Jamaican writer, workshop leader and performance poet with a special interest in inspirational creative expression. No More 'Smalling Up' of Me is the title poem of her poetry book published by Ian Randle Publishers Ltd., Jamaica.

God's Wheel

God says to me with kind of a smile,
"Hey how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"
"Gimme back that wheel," says God,
"I don't think you're quite ready yet."

--Shel Silverstein

Set your sights high, the higher the better.
Expect the most wonderful things to happen,
not in the future but right now.
Realize that nothing is too good.
Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you
or hold you up in any way.

Eileen Caddy, 1917-2006
Spiritual Teacher and Author

I'll Paint You A Rainbow
Grace E. Easley


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.

I'll paint you a rainbow that reaches so wide,
Your sights and your sorrows will vanish inside,
And deep in the center of each different hue,
A memory fashioned especially for you.
So lift up your eyes, for suspended above,
A rainbow designed by the fingers of love...

My uncle Alex Vonnegut, a Harvard-educated life insurance salesman who lived at 5033 North Pennsylvania Street, taught me something very important.

He said that when things were really going well we should be sure to NOTICE it. He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery; or fishing, and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door.

Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during such epiphanies: "If this isn't nice, what is?"

Kurt Vonnegut
American Author

DON'T GIVE UP
(Ron Atchison)

Listen closely and you can hear them...
the great spirits of every tribe
the ones who were here before us
Listen to what they are saying
There is one who calls himself Gandhi
and another who calls himself King
They know that the way is not easy
There is a woman named Teresa
and many who are simply known as
Grandmothers and Grandfathers
and all of them whisper into our ear...
'Don't give up' they tell us...
'Don't become cynical...'
'Take one more step...'
'There is a reason...

ONE PERSON

Never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes in the world come about. So be that person.

Buckminster Fuller
American Designer, Inventor and Author

“Choices! Life is full of them, and as a result, we have to make them constantly. The choices we make are critical to the state of our health and happiness in the lives we live. In short, our lives are a direct reflection of our decisions and actions…”
--John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach

EVERY DAY


Every day when you wake up, ask yourself, "What do I really, really, really want?" You have to say "really, really, really," otherwise you may not believe it.

Elizabeth Gilbert
American Author and Short Story Writer

"It's so easy in every day life to focus on the little annoyances instead of thinking about what a happy life you have."
--Gretchen-Rubin

SIMPLE STORY: GREAT LESSON

The Window Through Which We Look



A young couple moved into a new neighborhood
The next morning while they were eating breakfast,
The young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
‘That laundry is not very clean,' she said.
‘She doesn’t know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.'

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see
a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.
I wonder who taught her this.'

The husband said,
'I got up early this morning and
Cleaned our windows.'
And so it is with life.
What we see when watching others
Depends on the window through which we look.

A miracle is when the whole
is greater than the sum of its parts.
A miracle is when one plus one
equals a thousand.

Frederick Buechner
American Author, Teacher and Minister

f people offer their help or wisdom as you go through life, accept it gratefully. You can learn much from those who have gone before you.

But never be afraid or hesitant to step off the accepted path and head off in your own direction, if your heart tells you that it's the right way for you.

Always believe that you will ultimately succeed at whatever you do, and never forget the value of persistence, discipline, and determination.

You are meant to be whatever you dream of becoming."

Edmund O'Neill

Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.

Walt Whitman
American Poet

When you let go
of trying to get more
of what you don't really need,
it frees up oceans of energy
to make a difference
with what you have.

Lynne Twist
American Activist, Global Fundraiser and Author

“When you're trying to motivate yourself, appreciate the fact that you're even thinking about making a change. And as you move forward, allow yourself to be good enough.”
— Alice Doma

In the quiet hours when we are alone and there is nobody to tell us what fine fellows we are, we come sometimes upon a moment in which we wonder, not how much money we are earning, nor how famous we have become, but what good we are doing."

A.A. Milne, 1882-1956
English Author

Once upon a time there was a broken-hearted young man who decided he would never love again. 'It is just too painful,' he said.

He is a lot like the cat who burned himself while sitting on a hot stove. Because it was such a painful experience, the cat decided he would never sit again."

Author Unknown

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.

Noam Chomsky
American Philosopher, Author and Activist

Travelers, it is late.
Life's sun is going to set.
During these brief days that you have strength,
be quick and spare no effort of your wings."

Jalal ad-Din Rumi
Persian Sage and Poet

Forgive My Fear
Ryan Chokureva
I walk on space,
On air so thin
I fear to fall.

Dear God forgive me
For my fear to love
For being so small
In a world so big
Forgive me for not wanting pain
For seeing it first before joy

I know I shouldn’t look first,
At how easily I bruise
Or harden my shell to outside touch,
Or hide within my self,
Or stare with dead eyes

Forgive my fear
Of reaching out over empty spaces,
For taking all the love you give
And giving nothing in turn

When next I shy, nudge me to try
When next I sigh, nudge me to smile
When next love needs, steady my feet
That I may be here,
To brave my fear.

"Life itself is a gift.
It's a compliment just being born:
to feel, breathe, think, play, dance, sing,
work, make love, for this particular lifetime.
Today, let's give thanks for life.
For life itself. For simply being born!"

Daphne Rose Kingma
Inspirational Author and Teacher

We Thank Thee
Ralph Waldo Emerson


For flowers that bloom about our feet,
For tender grass so fresh and sweet,
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
For pleasant shade of branches high,
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

Your present circumstances don't determine
where you can go; they merely determine where you start.

Nido Qubein
American Businessman and Motivational Speaker

Most people who are standing still in life
aren't going any place for a very simple reason.
They haven't selected a place to go.

Author Unknown
But Very Much Appreciated!

Laugh at yourself, but don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don’t leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.

Alan Alda
American Actor, Director and Author

DECIDE TO BE HEALTHY

Dr. Robert Muller




Decide to be healthy.

Pray to God every day for good health.

Take health as your sacred, God given duty.

Make no room whatsoever for the slightest thought of sickness.

Encourage your trillions of faithful little cells through joy, happiness and confidence.

Thank them, talk to them, sing to them.

Let no foul air, food or liquid poison you.

Let no anger, anxiety or bitterness enter you.

Wake up every morning with gratitude for your resurrection and repeat ten times:

"I am the happiest and healthiest person on earth."

Repeat it again before you sleep.

Close your eyes and think of God, good health and happiness.

And thank your Father in heaven who has given us a body never to be sick, a mind never to be dull, a consciousness never to be empty, and a spirit full of
the heavens and of the Earth.

I know that the answer to what we need to do next is in our own hearts. All we have to do is listen, then take that one step further and trust what we hear. We will be taught what we need to learn.

Melody Beattie
American Self-Help Author and Journalist

WE THANK THEE
Ralph Waldo Emerson


For flowers that bloom about our feet,
For tender grass so fresh and sweet,
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
For pleasant shade of branches high,
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.