Poor Substitutes

TODAY'S QUOTE:
"Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth."
Aesop

Most people want to be seen in the best possible light, but if there is nothing behind the image it is just a mask that any stiff breeze can toss aside. Some false faces are painted vivid and bright, yet fade quickly without any inner illumination. Sometimes outer beauty only becomes evident after meeting the spirit housed inside. A fair appearance can turn ugly with one puff of wind, and a homely one can be made gorgeous by a flattering illumination. If I had to choose between outer beauty and inner goodness I would much rather be ugly as sin on the outside than blackened by it soul deep.
The clothes do not make the man, although our eyes may be drawn to a fashionable appearance. The costume of a man does not insure manhood. Charm can be parroted, but grace is beyond a birds understanding. In life the actions you perform during quiet moments are more telling than anything done while on display.
When highlighting the advantages we possess it is much more illuminating to adjust the glow from within than to line the stage with floodlights. And it has been my observation that a shifty soul looks out through darting eyes that never gaze deeply into any mirror. They may contemplate one feature at a time or evaluate the total picture, but avoid direct eye contact with themselves. People who cannot look with honesty upon their own reflection need not try to evaluate anyone else's, but they are often the first to criticize.
Look more deeply and gently upon others, overlooking the obvious. Place more importance with what is visible behind eyes than fashion of dress. A king dressed in rags is still regal, but no matter how richly dressed a jester is he remains foolish in actions and intent. Real class comes from inside. And real beauty is so much more then just skin deep.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Deliberate Actions

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.
Andrew Jackson, 1767-1845, 7th President of the United States

Looking before you leap is a sane sort of jumping, but hesitating for too long in a leaping stance can put you off-balance enough to inspire a hard fall. Changing back and forth between stop and go is even worse, since every beginning and ending is packed full of intense emotions. I cannot like feeling either extreme, so it is all the more distasteful if my own actions are the cause of the upset.
Getting the dial set to the right amount of thinking time is tricky. Meatier issues take longer to digest than fluffy ones. Considering a heavy one for too long can scare a person half to death, or all the way to the asylum. Dwelling upon a light one at length can cause brain cells to shrink, attention spans to shorten, and childlike behavior to develop.
Setting the speed at which you think figures into this formula too. Racing from notion-to-notion gives little insight, half asked questions have no real answers. Loping slowly seems about as ridiculous as speaking slowly in a loud fashion to a blind person. Too fast and you out-distance the answer, too slowly and you never get to it. An ideal medium can be found and maintained with practice and will power.
Strength of will is the portion of self with the most control over what kind of thoughts we have and how we deal with them. A strong mind is necessary to obtain a healthy balance; wrestling a thought out of mind, or killing it altogether takes muscle. After a surprisingly short time the number of bothersome notions will be close to nothing and the ones you do have will be weak as well as lame.
Pondering better thoughts more efficiently will help in thinking before leaping situations. When a target is in mind it is much safer to jump. And going in is more likely to be a successful endeavor with productive planning, even if it is brief than it would be with mindless panic inspired by over-thinking.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

How Deep Can You Go

TODAY'S QUOTE:
To reach a great height a person needs to have great depth.
Source Unknown

It is impossible to make an ocean by stringing together a series of shallow puddles. Petty minds think only of petty things; indulging in or condoning the use of gossip leaves little space to fill with weightier notions. To some a brief moment of feeling like a know it all is completely satisfying, but mucking about in other people's business only means you must have too little of your own worth the bother. Simply repeating twisted facts and half truths about someone else is not a difficult task, any fool can do it and most of them do.
We often expend a ridiculous amount of time and energy on the most foolish of pastimes. Idle minds will fill with whatever is nearest at hand for easy amusement with little or no return. The fact that reaching greater heights takes time and effort kinda keeps it from being more popular than it is, but there is nothing quite as liberating as a healthy brain stretch. Real depth takes digging then each shovel full has to be deposited somewhere before the next can be scooped up.
The past must be pardoned before the present can be faced or the future contemplated. Nobody can walk in all three places at once, although many of us attempt it again and again. Plant your feet firmly in today and see how deep you can go. Once you find your bottomless space then soaring to greater heights is a breeze.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Real Success

TODAY'S QUOTE:
If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.
Anna Quindlen, American Journalist/Novelist/Columnist

Soul noises from faint whispers to full-blown screams will guide any quest for success, if we allow it. Refusing to listen to our built in warning system makes wasted vibrations out of sound advice. Sometimes the mind says we cannot do something and the soul disagrees, yet we let thoughts stop us from even trying. Sometimes the heart wants to believe a lie so badly that it lowers the volume or mutes it altogether while a soul is already weeping for a heart not as yet broken.
Until recently I lacked real understanding of just how powerful the noises are and how much easier everything would be if I listened more carefully. I am adjusting my hearing to a much deeper internal spot than ever before, and flipping the volume as high as it will go. Once something is understood it has to be put to practice or we never grow in wisdom.
Bending in order to belong is always wrong. Any end that is justified by any means is not one worth lending your soul to. Uncomfortable success is only satisfying to someone who does not care what they do to achieve it. They are welcome to their hollow rewards, I will listen to my soul and take whatever success I can reach without setting off any alarms.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

Soul Warmth

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Love is like the sun coming out of the clouds and warming your soul.
Source Unknown

Soul heat warms from the inside out. When we radiate it outward toward others it is always an intense exchange. The type of love determines its expression, and its size dictates the strength but even the smallest amount is powerful. This world can seem such a cold place, so every degree of warmth given or received is precious fuel.
Love is the heat that heals. The more you give the more you possess. The less conditions put upon its use the better it heats the ones it touches. There is nothing quite as comforting as love when you least deserve it, and the ones who love you in an unconditional fashion make you want to become more lovable.
But, do not think that I believe that once you love someone, you are stuck with them no matter what they do to you or others. I know that loving is something you need to give yourself first, so that allowing someone access to abuse is impossible. Love you have to beg for is not worth the effort, because there is nothing quite as chilling to the soul as empty words with no real emotion behind them.
Finding the true balance is difficult, but certainly not impossible. I am paying a lot more attention to how love makes me feel than I used to. This quote will help with clarity if I am ever in doubt again. If I am not warmed by it then there is a limit to the amount of fuel I will use to keep the fire burning. If I am warmed then there is no limit necessary.

THINK ABOUT IT

LET IT GROW

THEN DECIDE

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