Elizabeth Gilbert
It’s time for something that was beautiful to turn into something else that is beautiful.
Let Go and watch the stars come out, on the outside and on the inside.
With all your heart, ask for grace, let go.
With all your heart, forgive.
Let your intention be freedom from useless suffering.
When a relationship is done, only love remains.
When the past has passed from you, begin the rest of your life, with great joy.
Do Not Ask Your Children To Strive
by William Martin
Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.
Henry David Thoreau
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Og Mandino
Laugh at yourself and at life.
Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously.
D. Simone
May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For,
May your arms Never Tire.
Old Farmer's Advice
Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You cannot unsay a cruel word.
Every path has a few puddles.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
Don 't judge folks by their relatives.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life.. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
Don 't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around..
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
Tim Hansel
If I had only…forgotten future greatness and looked at the green things and the buildings and reached out to those around me and smelled the air and ignored the forms and self-styled obligations and heard the rain on my roof and put my arms around my wife …perhaps it’s not too late.
Alexander Pope
Nothing is foreign; parts relate to the whole;
One all-extending, all-preserving soul
Connects each being, greatest with the least;
Made beast in aid of Man, and Man of beast;
All served, all serving; nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown.
Katherine Nelson Davis
One touch of beauty…
One shimmering thing
Like a butterfly’s wing
Can open my heart to the day;
One edge of sky
Soft-silver grey,
One almost-blooming flower.
Look at the light
On a leaf…
The delicate tracings,
The frail inter-lacings
Of sun and shadows.
Watch the crystal
Snowflake fall…
Silent,
Small,
Magnificent.
Open your face
To the sky
And the stars.
To the towering
Faraway hills.
Pause…
While your soul fills
With beautiful music;
Walk on the diamond-flecked sands
By the sea…
Look on a field
Bright with goldenrod…
Touch hands
With beauty;
Touch hands
With God.
Helen Lowrie Marshall
You never know when someone
May catch a dream from you.
You never know when a little word
Or something you may do
May open up the windows
Of a mind that seeks the light –
The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know – it might.
Show Me The Way To Go lyrics: Jeff Tweel sung by Glen Campbell and The Oak Ridge Boys
Looking back now I can see me yesterday
In places I used to know
Crossroads everywhere
But there was no one there
To show me the way to go
Following your dreams you're bound to make wrong turns
Dreamers learn hard and slow
I need your guiding light to be my second sight
And show me the way to go
If I go astray when crosswinds to blow
Come into my heart
And show me the way to go
Instructions for Life - Jackson Brown and H. Jackson Brown, Jr., from "Life's Little Instruction Book"
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
Memorize your favorite poem.
Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.
When you say, I love you, mean it.
When you say, I'm sorry, look the person in the eye.
Be engaged for at least six months before you get married.
Believe in love at first sight.
Never laugh at anyone's dreams.
Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live completely.
In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
Don't judge people by their relatives.
Talk slow but think quick.
When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, Why do you want to know?
Remember that great love and great acheivements involve great risk.
Call your family.
Say, Bless you, when someone sneezes.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
Remember the three R's: Respect for self, Respect for others, Responsibility for all your actions.
Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, his/her conversational skills will be as important as any other.
Spend some time alone.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
Remeber that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Read more books and watch less TV.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is important. Do all you can to creat a tranquil harmonious home.
In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
Read between the lines.
Share your knowledge. It's a way to acheive immortality.
Be gentle with the earth.
Never interrupt when you're being flattered.
Mind your own business.
Don't trust a lover who doesn't close their eyes when you kiss them.
Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
If you make a lot of money, put it to use while you are living. That is wealth's greatest satisfaction.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.
Learn the rules, then break some.
Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Remember that your character is your destiny.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
LOST by David Wagoner
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
Comes The Dawn/You Learn/After A While - Veronica Shoffstall/Jorge Luis Borges
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to understand that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head held high and your eyes open,
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
You learn to build your roads
On today because tomorrow’s ground
Is too uncertain for plans, and futures have
A way of falling down in midflight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine
Burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate
Your own soul, instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you can really endure,
That you really are strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and learn … and you learn
With every goodbye you learn.
Child Of God – Teresa Of Avila
May today there be peace within
May you trust your highest power that you are where you are meant to be…
May you not forget the infinite possibilities born of faith
May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you
May you be content knowing you are a child of God
Let this presence settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance and bask in the sun
It is there for each and every one of you
Dr. Chérie Carter-Scott's Rules of Life
Rules for Being Human
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial-and-error and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works.”
4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. It you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. “There” is no better than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here,” you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7. Others are simply mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and sources you need. What you make of them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie inside you. The answers to life’s questions lie inside you. All you have to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.
Footprints In The Sand - author is question
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.
This really bothered him and be questioned the Lord about it. “Lord,” You said that once I decided to follow You, You’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed You most You would leave me.”
The Lord replied, “My son, My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
Poem written by Richard Allen, to his father after his death
When you love, give it everything you have got, and when you have reached your limit give it more. And forget the pain of it, because as you face your death, it is only the love you have given and received that will count. And all the rest, the accomplishments, the struggles, the fights will be forgotten in your reflection. And if you have loved well, then it will have been worth it, and the joy of it will last you through the end. But if you have not, death will always come too soon and be too terrible to face.
The Invitation by Oriah
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want you to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of future pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithless, and therefore be trustworthy.
I want you to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your life from it’s presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.