Greatness

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.
Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970, American Speaker/Motivational Writer/Author of "Think and Grow Rich"

Things done for selfish reasons are charged with negative energy from the beginning. Avenues of lies or greed may lead to success but when you travel down them to reach it you reek with a stink that makes you forever suspect. Nothing of great import can be the product of negative energy, which always tears down more than it builds up.
I find great interest in understanding why people do things. What drives someone is more telling than where they are driven. The quickest way to get things to unravel is to do the right things for the wrong reasons. The easiest way to alter a negative is to view it as such and people with a hidden agenda just cannot see anything besides any means justifying the end they hunger for.
I have been walked on and cheated by such people, but most of us can say the same thing to one degree or another. I have paid with years and green backs for agendas I do not believe in, because of lies and manipulation. I cannot focus on the loss, although I do give it its due for a short moment or two. The weaknesses of others only ends up making me stronger in the end. And learning to listen to soul screams instead of heart strings has been brutal again and again. The cost has been dear on my part, but the cost to them will be much higher.
Observation has taught me that they pay a huge price for stepping on others to get to where they end up. When something is dishonestly gained it is forever up for grabs, and the player is doomed to always watch his back. Payback is not always swift, but it is always certain. Karma is a reality.
Whatever seed is planted determines what will grow. Whatever force used to start the
pendulum swinging will be returned, plus the interest earned from evil intent. There is no need for revenge when it is understood that a natural law governs us all. Reaping what is sown is simply a certainty, and I get much comfort from its reality.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

A Better Friend

TODAY'S QUOTE:
One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.
Sophocles

Friendships are almost magical in the amount of comfort and support they bring and friends are not simply driven to put up with each other because of an accident of birth. Nobody hand-picked me for daughter, or sister, and my children certainly did not have a choice in their mother. I sometimes wonder who among my relatives would exchange me for someone more ordinary or main stream if given the chance. I wonder if any of them would fight to keep me just as I am.
Friends seek each other out because of love, not duty. They listen as much or more than they talk and what they say is never spitefully meant, although hard truths are never off limits. Loving is a pleasure not a burden. Missing a friend is a bit like losing a part of self, not just a nagging irritation.
The unconditional love of a true friend is beyond priceless. In times of trouble they give comfort and ask few questions. When we are wrong they love us anyway, never rubbing our nose in the mistake or glorying over being right. My best friend says I told you so only when it can be laughed about by both of us, and I do not think I have ever said it to her.
The brutal times of my life have been inhabited by gentle friendships that helped me long after family had gone back to their own routine. I am blessed with steadfast friendships. Family is wonderful, but ready made before you arrive; friends are the gravy, home-made seasoned to suit your taste, adding flavor to every meal you share. Have a banquet, toast a friendship, and love unconditionally.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Measured Hearts

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold.
Zelda Fitzgerald, 1900-1948, American Author and Wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald

I doubt it can be measured with any real accuracy. Perhaps we are born with an equal capacity, but living shrinks or swells every heart into a different shape and size. Their texture is altered also; some solid as stone, others flexible as elastic. Some are like butterflies or humming birds, alighting briefly or hovering nearby first this thing then that.
Some give away all they hold, while others only know how to take like greedy children. Hearts are true or false, hard or soft, each according to the nature of the being they are housed inside of. The correct answer depends on more than the size of the organ and the nature of the beast, but also upon what is kept there.
Does love take up more space than hate? Does bitterness cause more clutter than joy? Can laughter find a place beside jealousy or greed? Can a grudge crowd out grace? Will pain left unresolved become so swollen by constant tears that it fills all available space? Will a heart expand with one and shrink with the other, causing a lumpy confused surface? Do we take the time to clean when necessary, tossing out the debris that makes it beat with a rhythm so off-balance it keeps us lopsided? If not we certainly should; some mean and dirty things would be better off swept out, making space for things of greater value.
I do not believe there is an answer that would be universal, so we simply do not attempt to achieve one. But I do know that the heart is only limited in what it can hold by the reverence we have for the space it possesses. Fill it with negatives and it shrinks, wrinkles, then hardens. Fill it with positives and it will expand and overflow like a mighty fountain.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

No Loving Time

TODAY'S QUOTE:
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

I find judging a tiresome trait, bringing pain not always earned from someone who has no right, but a lot of nerve. I see beyond things, knowing that the obvious is not always the most important thing to focus upon. A lot of actions are simply foolish reactions to pain or fear and have little to do with a persons true character. Sometimes not judging encourages other's to see for themselves facts they would deny if someone else brought it to their attention. And judges have little or no tact about how they toss the verdict at the person they convict.
I think it makes more sense to try to help heal the cause than to add to it. I believe a gentle touch can do more good than a wagging tongue and a pointing finger. Who am I to measure anyone else's guilt when I carry plenty of my own? And the same can be asked of each of us.
Suspend judgment of things not your direct concern, and the things your business try looking deeper and the need to judge just might disappear. If it does not still leave it go, giving it to a higher power to sort for payment. We are not God's bookkeepers. None of us are worthy of grading one another, because none of us can be held blameless. Why should we expect someone else to reach a state of behavior that we cannot? I do not care who you be, you truly are not the judge of me.
Gentleness soothes the hurt, and a closed mouth and open ears invite the wounded to say things to you they need to hear in their own voice to really understand. I have often realized the reason behind a negative actions just mere seconds before the one committing them absorbs the implications of words that come out of their own mouths. There is a powerful energy behind every dawning of that sort, and lessons learned that way work the best.
Deciding to change a negative has to come from inside the person committing it. They are often acting out of anger and coming at them like a Mack Truck only pisses them off more. And it is not our right to run other people over with what too often is just an opinion made without much evidence. Leave your heart free for love and your mind free for a measure of empathy; walk in their shoes gently, listen for a bit to the silent screams for understanding and share a dawning.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Loving Thoughts

TODAY'S QUOTE:
If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.
George MacDonald

A thought takes just a second then sharing it just a few more. Forever friendships are precious and know no limits upon time and space. There are humans that are connected in such a way that their bond never weakens no matter what separates them. If you are really fortunate they hold enough energy to pass goodwill with just a mere thought, but why not reinforce it with a word or action that will lift it to a higher point. And if you do not possess a friend with telepathic abilities, casting will take more than just deep thinking.
When a friend is down your gentle touch will lift them up. If a friend is melancholy your smile may change their mood from blue grey to sunny yellow. When a friend suffers from confusion of the soul your silent solace may inspire clarity. The soft words of one well-loved can help heal any wounds life can toss their way. Giving of self is a gift beyond the store bought. Its value cannot be calculated on a scale or chart but only measured in a friends expanded heart.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

The Soul Rainbow

TODAY'S QUOTE:
The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
John Vance Cheney, 1848-1922, American Poet

Heartache has its season and its contrast to times of joy only make them more joyful. The pain of childbirth quickly fades to distant memory once you embrace the product of all your agony. Joy is the rainbow after the storm. No territory is storm free, and no life exempt from the ravages of nature, although some of us seem to possess better rain gear.
Fair weather or foul, how we clothe ourselves is up to each of us. If protective clothing is available it ought to be worn, if not it ought to be fashioned. Special care should be given to fabric; absorbent material only get wetter, and weighs heavy upon the wearer. Wrapping yourself in the wrong kind of cloth is often worse than no protection at all.
A bare frame will air dry ages before one covered in sponges even ends dripping puddles everywhere.
The same can be said for our spirits. Surround it with all the tears ever shed and it will be so overwhelmed that it will never even notice the rainbow. Treasuring pain dismisses joy before it ever gets a chance to heal. Soaking up agony and collecting tears seems such a sad waste of time. Cry if you must then dry your eyes and turn them upward. If you must worship something let it be the rainbow that follows every storm.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Overcome The Inevitable

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me."
Ann Landers

Trouble comes to us all. Some people wait until it occurs before reacting, while other's borrow its possible torment as if there were an installment plan and they wanted to get a few payments ahead. Some even invite it into reality by a conviction so powerful that it creates itself just to prove them right.
Putting a burden upon yourself that life may not ever ask you to carry is senseless. Creating the very thing you dread is foolish. Expecting to be trouble free is unrealistic, but waiting to face it until it occurs means if or when it does come you will have the energy to face it and strength enough to overcome it.
Holding your head up is the smart way to face things, because getting blindsided is almost impossible when you keep the your chin up. The troubles we have do not have to define who we are unless we assign them that role. Some problems are solvable, others are beyond our control, but all can be overcome in some fashion. Change what you can, accept what you cannot, give only what is demanded when it is demanded, and travel on past it with as much grace as possible.
Lead it, do not simply go where it tosses you. Step on its neck, leap over its fangs, and let it move you forward with a strength you did not possess before its occurrence. Use it as an exercise in control; by directing your reaction you will loosen its hold and in that way be its master. If something cannot be mastered in one way it can be in another, all it takes is a gentle twist of attitude and a fierce determination to be more than the sum of all the bad things that ever happened to you.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Ladder Safety

TODAY'S QUOTE:
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.
Thomas Huxley

Ladders are portable stairs used to climb to greater heights. When we positively change our position mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually there are certain steps each demands to obtain a higher level. Before I read this quote a ladder had never came to mind as a way of describing how I got from where I was to where I stand now, but it is a perfect fit.
We each possess a ladder of sorts, climbing is every humans possibility, although it is not a certainty. Just as a ladder leaning in the shed will not bring itself out and set itself up underneath our feet the portable stairs we possess will not unfold itself and demand that we climb. Wanting to rise above where you are is the only incentive that will make this assistance available.
We should celebrate the times spent upon the ladder instead of dreading or avoiding it altogether. Rising to a new position takes effort, but only one step at a time. Lingering over-long upon any stair only makes the climb that much harder. Climb with the joy of having a ladder that will take you somewhere worth getting to and of possessing the courage to set yourself upon the first step and begin the assent.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Happiness Comes

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open.
Rose Lane, 1886-1968, American Author and Journalist

Everyone wants happiness. We seek it like hidden treasure. We hunt it as if we could bag it like wild game. We try to trap it by force and hold it hostage then spend its ransom like greedy children. We manipulate to achieve even a small measure. But true happiness never comes to us down any of those twisted avenues.
Desperation to find something can make the search so frantic that you end up missing it altogether. Happiness creeps up on us when we least expect it. And keeping it is much easier using gentle means than foul. What is forced and stolen, or trapped and bound never really belongs to the one so selfish in its ownership.
Real happiness grows inside of us and radiates outward, it is not so much a place as it is a state of mind. There are always more reasons to be happy than unhappy, but some hug the bad times so close to their faces that it blocks everything else from view. Their capacity to be happy is overwhelmed by their determination to let everyone know how badly they hurt and who is to blame. People looking for happiness should remember that it is impossible to embrace any joy while clinging to unresolved pain. There comes a time in every life when we have to take responsibility for what we do with our left over agony. If you were hanging from a cliff would you let go to catch a butterfly? Me either, but some people still insist on butterfly hunting while they are hanging, never realizing that even if they see one they cannot reach for it.
Pulling yourself up from the cliff is often brutal, but then so is just hanging there. I think it makes more sense to feel the agony that will free you from the need of aching
than clinging to the one that has no end. And freeing your hands will make butterfly hunting a doable endeavor.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

The Strength Of Forgiveness

TODAY'S QUOTE:
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mohandas Gandhi

The urge for validation often gets in the way of forgiveness. Things better left alone are picked to pieces for the sake of being right. People who should know better fuss and fight over things not worth the effort then one or both hold grudges like a winning lottery ticket and show it to anyone who looks their way. Dwelling on it becomes the moving force in their lives, and it eats like cancer all healthy tissue in its path.
The hated is not the one who suffers the most, often they care not at all. Sometimes they even get joy out of how ate up the other person is, and what kind of sense does it make to bring joy to someone because of the depth of your own pain. If it does no good and only brings you ill then what is the point, for heavens sake.
One of the most difficult exercises in forgiveness is pardoning yourself. All the times of failure in life can be overwhelming if not given an avenue of escape. I failed many people for years, but it was failing myself that made those misteps possible. I still make blunders in judgment more often than I like to admit, but not as often as long ago. Hell, I do not even make as many as I did last month or last week, each day is contemplated in a different light. And that light comes from a place of unconditional love for everyone, but begins with unconditional love for myself that is a natural added bonus of forgiveness.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Never Do's

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Never do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics.
Source Unknown

This is sound advice. Good lessons given with humor are so much fun, so from time-to-time when I happen upon one I post it here for everyone's sake. I view this quote as a chuckle that reminds us to think about consequence's more often before we do the deed. We all need this reminder to different degrees and I am certainly twisting it in my mind right along side you.
When I was a nurses aide I used to pause in the doorway and look back into the room I was leaving to consider how it would appear to the charge nurse or family member who might enter after my departure. If I found myself in a frustrating situation I placed those same images outside the door ready to step in at any moment and I tempered my action so that if it became reality I would appear to be in gentle control. That practice kept me at a level of service that gave me pride and others much comfort.
So as a test to how well it will work if I use that same tactic in my everyday life I am choosing a watcher to put over my shoulder. I want them always with me, not simply outside the doorway, but fully aware of my every action. I place them there for many reasons, choosing them because I love them well and want them to approve of all I do, knowing that even if I stumble they will not condemn me out of hand. I place them there because I trust them to see me clearly and understand me completely.
For me it seems much safer to place a sentry with me now than wait and have to make up some crazy tale to tell the paramedic's, doctor's, nurse's, councilor's, or shrink's when risky behavior lands me in their path. Hedging the bets, stacking the deck, sweetening the odds, whatever I name it...it beats looking the fool later.

THINK ABOUT IT
LET IT GROW
THEN DECIDE

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

The rain falls soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Irish blessing

May you always walk in sunshine.

May you never want for more.

May Irish angels rest their wings

right beside your door.

Irish blessing

Unsettling Dreams

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don't.
Brett Butler, 'Knee Deep in Paradise'

That is an understatement of pure fact. There is a price paid for success that is not charged for failure. Suddenly having something so weighty to live up to can humble in ways nothing else can. Dream weaving is delightful, dream living is almost too much to wrap your mind around sometimes, but well worth the brief moments of sheer terror that occur when you think on it too hard.
The intensity of a dream made reality is unimaginable. There is a magical quality to everything you do inside the space you create to match one imagined during quiet contemplation. Once any dream is made real a whole new world opens up for you. The awareness that you are a creator makes going back to how things were before an impossibility. Unsettling yes, but never more alive or aware of every heartbeat. Any dream made real holds the same key to enlightenment.
Dreams come in many shapes and sizes, there are no one size fits all fantasy's. A dream can be as simple as a wish for a quiet walk in the woods or as complex as a public walk upon the moon. Some dreams are obtainable in an instant, others can take a lifetime to accomplish, but none of them come true on their own.
Dream big or small; without dreams we live wooden stiff lives. After you dream do not just file them away like fairy tales upon a dusty bookshelf. Think, really think about things that would need to be done to make it fact. Choose the easiest deed first and do it right away then go on to another, looking at one step at a time as you do, do, do them. As you watch it all unfold, enlightenment rising from every crease, life will have a whole new promise. And dreams will have a whole new meaning.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

The First Step

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are many reasons why people hesitate to take the first step. Fear of the unknown freezes some, fear of failure stops others, and more than a few let fear of success keep them from taking any steps at all. Fright feels the same whatever inspires it, but knowing what produces a fear makes it much easier to overcome.
If my footsteps faltered every time I could not clearly see the path ahead I would be in a constant state of stumble. When in doubt, I keep my eyes on the prize and let faith of its value lead me forward. I know my goal is just; if it cannot keep me on the right path then nothing ever will. Trusting in it has been the easy part. Trusting in myself has been much harder.
The way you view yourself is the light in which others see you too. When you put your pain forward they see you as a victim and use compassion as the base they build their opinion on. If they see you heal their opinion rises as you grow, if they see you wallow endlessly then their opinion lowers. We control how others view us whether we admit it or not so the first step to changing that is altering how we view ourselves. We are not what happens to us, but we are a direct product of our reaction to whatever occurs to or around us. Shit happens, but that does not mean you have to sit in it.
People who wear their pain like armor need to rethink the way they dress themselves. Look at how old it is, chances are it belongs to a time long past and the only one still dressed for that era is you. There is a lot to be said for that old saying...laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone. The masses will share your tears for a minute or two, but sob endlessly and you better bring your own tissue.
I let overcoming pain be the billboard I decorate for public consumption. I do not seek pity; hell I want none of that emotion that only encourages the weak to stay weak. Self pity is worse yet. When you take a dose of that you make yourself impotent by default. And saying you cannot un-learn a self destructive trait just insures that will be the case. Tell yourself what you want others to tell you and soon it will be precious fact.
Say you are capable and you will be. Say you are not and guess what? Say you deserve more and you will look for it. Tell yourself to settle for crumbs and crummy you will remain. The only way you can grow in strength is to build yourself up. Other people may help steady you between steps, but if you think for one minute anyone is going to carry you up more than a few you are thinking like a fool.
Every destination has its own path. If you expect to end up at a place of happiness then get off the unhappy trail. Once you admit that you will own all the blame if you continue traveling down Dreary Lane, it ceases to matter who put you there. An easy way to see if you are on the right path is to check for debris. The road to happiness is littered with piles of discarded pain, and misery. The road to regret is litter free because it is a requirement of travel that you carry whatever burdens brought with you. Check your path then change it if need be.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Imagined Wings

TODAY'S QUOTE:
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
Muhammad Ali

The real power behind imagination is a mostly underestimated, untapped resource. There is a magic surrounding all it touches, everything from the mundane to the weighty is altered by the fingers of fantasy. Seers and statesmen throughout history have pondered its fabric and written of its influence upon time and space.

Norman Vincent Peale, 1898 - 1993, American legend and founder of the Peale Center, the Positive Thinking Foundation and Guideposts called it, "The true magic carpet."

Elbert Hubbard, American philosopher and writer 1856-1915, viewed it as "A ladder to the fourth dimension."

Ambrose Bierce (June 24,1842 -- ??) the Ohio-born writer and journalist who vanished in 1913 while attempting to join Pancho Villa in Mexico, defined it as, "A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership."

Our imaginations are like fingerprints of the mind, none the same in what is created, although they basically function in a similar fashion. The direction and distance we travel there is only limited by whatever restraints we enforce. The magic of creation is at our fingertips, but many are unaware of how to use it to their best advantage. Some simply let it drift where it will and then moan about the mischief it gets into.
Every creation begins first in the mind of the creator. The imagination draws the blueprint then the hands just follow directions. Any subject can be placed there for consideration. Simple or complex the end result is the same. We limit its capacity to help us create by limiting it only to the creation of things outside of us.
Try using it to recreate a reality in you life. Hand it a problem that rests deep inside and it will draw a perfect blueprint to guide you toward a positive lasting change. Any echo of doubt that creeps in is only a shadow of fear produced by an imagination used to drifting where it will, so simply silence it with the belief in your ability to do whatever actions are necessary.
Imagine you cannot do something and you cannot, but see yourself as capable and the power will be there. Fantasize of failure and success will be impossible. Do not waste such a powerful tool by letting it run away with you, channel its power to create a life worthy of fantasy status. See who and where you want to be, look clearly at the present day reality then let your imagination draw the map that will surely lead to getting you from here to there. Use it wisely and it will serve you well.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE