Greetings! We are now onto “Quotes #2”! I received such great feedback and inspiration from including my first quotes section, and since I have come across so many wonderful quotes since then in the last three years, I have decided to continue. If you have not read through “Quotes 1” yet, please do so at your leisure, and I also explain there why I included it on a “massage website”. If you haven’t guessed by now, I am about much more than “just massage therapy”. I have a passion to help others feel empowered, and to find balance in our lives. It is easy to relay a lot of this information, but I am human too, and it is not always as simple to put all this knowledge into action. But the knowledge, I believe, is an important first step. We need to be AWARE of certain issues, challenges or problems before we know that we need to address them. Reading books, quotes, and even seeing the messages in various music, movies and other shows or in the nature that surrounds us, or in repeated patterns, habits, and circumstances help us to see things from other perspectives. It is easy to think, “I am right! Why don’t you see things my way!?” It is just so interesting when we put that on hold and learn new information, new ideas, new choices. We don’t have to do what we have always done if it doesn’t serve us…

How does this tie into massage and stretching? When we feel disempowered, have low self –esteem, are overwhelmed, sad, lonely, angry or resentful, etc.,  on a continued basis, these feelings manifest in our bodies as “dis-ease”. Quite often, it results in muscle tension, headaches, loss of flexibility and even injury. Repeated patterns of thinking = repeated health issues…Take the word “Flexibility”…our bodies are flexible, or not…if not, are your thoughts and beliefs flexible? Are we rigid in our thinking? Do we “go with the flow”?    [“Whatever is flexible and flowing will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die”.- Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu's teachings- “A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison.”- Francis Bacon ***"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
— Edward Stanley]                                                                                           This is one small example. I’d like to suggest two books on this subject, but then please enjoy the quotes included here. “You can heal your Body”, by Louise Hay and  “New Bach Flower Body Maps”, by Dietmar Kramer. Bach Flower Remedies (see Descriptions of Services) have the premise that all physical ailments have an emotional component to them.

So! I have included here many quotes that really make an impact on me and make me think—about my life, my choices, how others that I encounter may feel, abundance and prosperity, health, and just simply—living this life and sharing it with others. I want to be a joy to be around, especially if, as one quote says, “you can only be lonely if you don’t like the person that you are with when you are alone”! I hope you enjoy these as much as I have!  [Another interesting thing to do is to take 5 quotes, from here or on your own, that represent ‘you’, or who you would like to be, and display it prominently and refer to it often as a reminder…kind of like your life’s mission or purpose…I would suggest no more than 5, because then it becomes burdensome, like too many New Year’s resolutions!]

~Only by having faith in ourselves can we be faithful to others.                                          -Erich Fromm

~Around the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate.                                    - J.R.R. Tolkien

~We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the paths of life. -Carl Jung

~If I were to begin life again, I should want it just as it was; only I would open my eyes a little more. ~Jules Renard

~That which we do not confront in ourselves we will meet as fate. -Carl Jung

~Before we can forgive one another, we must understand one another.          -Emma Goldman

~Some people say that they haven’t yet found themselves. But the self is not something one finds; it is something one creates. --Thomas Szasz

~Before we can make friends with anyone else, we must first make friends with ourselves. –Eleanor Roosevelt

~Acceptance is recognizing that whatever happens, and however we respond, is precisely what we need for our highest good and learning. –anon.

~Our ability to relax into life reflects our willingness to trust. –anon.

~The real measure of our wealth is our worth if we lost our money. –anon

~Success is sweet, but it usually has the scent of sweat about it.- anon.

~My life is my teaching. -Mahatma Ghandi

~In each of us are heroes; speak to them and they will come forth. –anon.

~Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do. –William Ellery Channing

~What we are is God’s gift to us; What we become is our gift to God.-anon   (These two last quotes remind me of a saying that goes something like, “to focus on what we don’t have or who we are not is to be ungrateful for what we do have and who we are…) 

~Grace is when we notice the near misses we survived instead of the wishes that didn’t come true. –Nancy Hull-Mast

~To be yourself in a world which does its best to make you someone else means fighting the hardest battle that any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. ~e. e. cummings

~He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.                     -Marcus Aurelius

~The time has come for us to stop tuning separate instruments and, together, to create a symphony.- anon.

~As far as your self control goes, as far goes your freedom.                                              –Maria Ebner Von Eschenbach

~As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. - Goethe

~Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Fall in with it and turn it your way. –Robert Frost

~If gravity is the glue that holds the universe together, balance is the key that unlocks its secrets…Achieving balance in even one area of our life can make a significant difference in our effectiveness. –Dan Millman

~Although we often give goods, favors, appreciation, or attention in order to receive something in return, the universe reminds us that whatever we feel we most need is what we most need to give.- Dan Millman

~If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now. –Mildred McAfee

~The events of childhood do not pass but repeat themselves like seasons of the year. –Eleanor Farjeon  (Your old pattern will tend to reassert itself unless you break it by doing something different to interrupt it. -Anon)

~Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly. –Julie Andrews

~Live with great expectations and great things happen. –Art Fettig

~Live according to your highest light, and more light will be given.                              –Peace Pilgrim

~One should strive not to lie in the negative sense by remaining silent.                      - Leo Tolstoy

~Vision isn’t enough unless combined with venture. It’s not enough to stare up the steps unless we also step up the stairs. –Vance Havner

~It seems essential, in relationships and all tasks, that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important. -Soren Kierkegaard

~Relationship is surely the mirror in which you discover yourself.                                 – Krishnamurti

~It is never too late to be what we might have been.- George Eliot

~The purpose of life is a life with purpose. –Robert Byrne

~Each day shapes our lives like running water shapes a stone. –Anon.

~There is one light, but many lamps. –Proverb

~We are all teachers; the question is not whether we will teach, but what.                       –Anon.

~I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand.                –Zen Proverb

~We discover what works by finding out what doesn’t work; those who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.- Samuel Smiles

~A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing. – George Bernard Shaw

~The wise learn from adversity; the foolish repeat it. –Anon

~Illness is the most heeded of doctors; to goodness and wisdom we only make promises; we obey pain. –Marcel Proust

~God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.-Anon.

~Never mistake thinking for doing or knowledge for wisdom; one helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. –Sandra Carey

~We may be disappointed if we fail, but we are doomed if we don’t try.                   –Beverly Sills

~I am not bound to win but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed but I am bound to live up to what light I have. – Abraham Lincoln

~To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. –Eva Young

~People who deliberate too long before they take a step may spend their lives on one leg. –Anthony de Mello

~When you get a wake-up call, pick up the phone. When opportunity knocks, answer the door. –Anon.

~There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action. –Goethe

~To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy.- Hippocrates

~Those who hesitate are sometimes saved. –James Thurber

~A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives the flowers.                                        –Chinese proverb

~Forgiveness is the scent left by the violet to the heel that has crushed it. –Anon.

~The dead take with them only that which they have given away.                              –Dewitt Wallace

~The measure of our success is the means by which we’ve acquired it. –Anon.

~If you have much, give of your wealth. If you have little, give of your heart. –Arab proverb

~We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.         –Mother Teresa

~Don’t give up an hour before the miracle. –Anon

~Success involves doing the common things in life uncommonly well. –Anon

~Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.                        –John Wooden

~Use what talent you possess. The woods would be silent if only the birds sang that sing the best. –Anon.

~For people to achieve all that is demanded of them, they must regard themselves as greater than they are. – Goethe

~You can’t heal the world’s suffering, only your own…if you want a peaceful world, then make peace within; if you want a kinder world, act with kindness….only from your freedom can you free others. –Dan Millman

~To the dulled mind, nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world sparkles with light. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

~We often take the limits of our own vision for the limits of the world.         –Schopenhauer

~There are three truths; my truth, your truth, and the truth.                                       –Chinese proverb

~Whoever undertakes to set himself up as the Judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods. –Albert Einstein

~If you must speak badly of someone, don’t speak it, but write it—in the sand, at the water’s edge, near the waves. –Anon

~I have a simple philosophy: Fill what’s empty, Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches. –Alice Roosevelt Longworth

~Through adversity we find strength; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest. –Greek saying

~In the midst of winter I found within me and invincible summer. –Camus

~A certain amount of opposition is a great help. Kites rise against the wind, not with it. –John Neal

~Storms make trees take deeper roots. –George Herbert

~To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.-Robert M. Pirsig

~The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it’s a different kind of life. –Buckminster Fuller

~To the questions of your life, you are the answer. To the problems of your life, you are the solution. –Jo Coudert

~To better hear the world outside, listen faithfully to the voice inside.                                              –Quaker proverb

~When we walk in solitude, angels whisper to us. –Anon

~Your body is a metaphor of your life. In the marriage of flesh and spirit, divorce is impossible. –Gabrielle Roth

~Everything that begins also ends. Make peace with that and all will be well.             –The Buddha

~We do not remember days, we remember moments. –Cesare Pavese

~To feel the love of people whom we know is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those we do not know—that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens the boundaries of our being and unites all living things. –Pablo Neruda

~If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.                                         –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

~We are each angels with only one wing; we fly only by embracing each other. –Luciano de Crescenzo

(Most of the above quotes were found in two books by Dan Millman to illustrate various points, and I highly recommend both. “The Life You Were Born To Live”, and “Living On Purpose”. Two other books written in story form by Dan Millman are “Way Of The Peaceful Warrior”, and “Laws of the Spirit”.)

~”The glass is half empty or the glass is half full…doesn’t matter, I’m just happy to have a cup!”---“How about having a completely empty cup so we can fill it with what we want!?”—A conversation between Nita and a friend  =)

~Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight." -- Benjamin Franklin

{The following 4 quotes came to me this week, in addition to messages from friends,

Coaches and a variety of sources in response to my question/intention to the universe of ‘what is it I need to do/know’---or more simply put…”JUST DO IT!”

~"The great end of life is not knowledge but action." Thomas Huxley

~"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Alva Edison

~"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking". Voltaire

~"Well done is better than well said". -Benjamin Franklin

~…It doesn’t interest me if the story you are 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; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy…--excerpt from “The Invitation”, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

~…To be in a situation or relationship out of obligation makes you a slave, and it lacks dignity…to be in a situation or relationship out of love, freedom and choice holds all the dignity in the world…-Wayne Dyer

~Search for a smile, and share it~ Chicken soup for the soul~

~Happy is the woman who can laugh at herself—she will never cease to be amused!  -anon.

~Watch your habits for they become your character. Develop your character for it becomes your destiny—anon.

~Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.- Aldous Huxley, writer

(live, learn and grow....)

~"Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can be aroused by two things: first, an idea which takes the imagination by storm; and second, a definite, intelligible plan for carrying that idea into action."                                                -- Arnold Toynbee

~"Enthusiasm is the best protection in any situation. Wholeheartedness is contagious. Give yourself, if you wish to get others." -- David Seabury

~"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm." -- Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

~"One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life." -- Edward B. Butler

~ "A misty morning does not signify a cloudy day." --Ancient Proverb 

~  No matter how dim the light at the end of the tunnel seems, it is still a light. Each day is an opportunity for that light of hope to get closer and closer, until eventually the clouds above your head part and you feel the forgotten sunshine on you again. (I received this in an e-newsletter, but cannot remember which one! It also reminds me of another quote, “The sun is always shining even when the clouds are in the way!”)

~ (from the tao)--"A man is born gentle and weak. At his death, he is hard and stiff. All things, including the grass and the trees are soft and pliable in life, dry and brittle in death. Stiffness is thus a companion of death. Flexibility is a companion of life."
Flexibility and softness and pliability are associated with life. A tree that is young is flexible. The wind comes along and blows, and it'll blow, and then it'll come back. A tree that's old and hard--as the wind comes along, it'll snap it in half. So I've learned that this is true not just in our bodies, but in the way that we think as well.

--Wayne Dyer

~ "Like the elephant, we are unconscious of our own strength. When it comes to understanding the power we have to make a difference in our own lives, we might as well be asleep.
If you want to make your dreams come true, wake up. Wake up to your own strength. Wake up to the role you play in your own destiny. Wake up to the power you have to choose what you think, do, and say."
--Keith Ellis, Bootstraps

~ The true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him no good.- Ann Landers

~"You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart." — Thomas J. Watson: Former president of IBM

~"We begin to see that the completion of an important project has every right to be dignified by a natural grieving process. Something that required the best of you has ended. You will miss it." -Anne Wilson Schaef

~"If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less than excellent work."  --Thomas Watson, Founder of IBM

~"Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself." -- Abraham Joshua Heschel

~"One discipline always leads to another discipline." -- Jim Rohn 

~"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." -- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

~It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. -Seneca

~It is not new people, places, and horizons we seek
but new eyes through which to see. ~anon.

~"You are the same today that you are going to be five years from now except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read." -- Charles Jones

~“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” ~Bette Reese~

~Be wise in the use of time. The question in life is not how much time do we have. The question is what shall we do with it. - Anna Robertson Brown,

~"Time management requires self-discipline, self-mastery, and self-control more than anything else." -- Brian Tracy

~You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.- Shira Tehrani

~***Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast--you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." 

Eddie Cantor

~Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles.... it empties today of its strength.- Aunt Linda, as quoted by Jennifer Cribbs, SparkPeople community member

~"Do we need more time? Or do we need to be more disciplined with the time we have?" — Kerry Johnson

~Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.- H. Jackson Brown

~The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.
-anon.

~"You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour." — Jim Rohn

~"Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance."                   -- Brian Tracy

~There is a real possibility that I have all that I need to enjoy my abundance.~ anon.

~That which we are, we are all the while teaching, not voluntarily, but involuntarily." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

~"Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions." - Aristotle 

~"If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience or the opportunity to become patient? If someone prays for courage, do you think God gives them courage or the opportunity to be courageous? If someone prays for their family to become closer, wouldn't God then give them the opportunity to become closer....?" --from "Evan Almighty", Morgan Freeman as God

~Never place a period where God has placed a comma…--anon

~If we protect ourselves from the rain, we will never be watered…anon (The above 2 quotes may have been taken from the Tao Te Ching, but I am not positive on that…if you know for sure, please let me know!)

~I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards.

- Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President

~Perhaps they are not stars,

but rather openings in heaven where the love of our

lost ones pours through and shines down upon us

to let us know they are happy. ~Eskimo legend

~The palest ink is better than the best memory.- Chinese Proverb 

~"Many years ago, while attending the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, I took up white water canoeing along with some of the other vet students.  Our guide was a wise and knowledgeable college professor who also loved canoeing, who took us under his wing so that we wouldn't drown before we graduated. His first safety lesson was very simple.  "When you fall into the waters at a set of rapids, be sure to keep your feet out in front of you, your head up out of the water, then relax and enjoy the ride."
What if we approached our lives like this, instead of resisting the ride, we simply sat back and enjoyed ride along the rapids of the Universal flow? -- Brad Swift

(This is cool...this is what I learned when I went kayaking, and realized I didn't know how to swim the first time I capsized...If you put your feet "down" you could get caught on something but if you just relax, you will just float...nk)

~All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly and its spines crumble.- William S. Halsey, WWII U.S. Admiral

~"Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it."                      — Jack Canfield: Author, Chicken Soup for the Soul.

~"Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

~...on some level the perfection is inside us now,

just as the seed contains the fully grown tree. 

We can tap into that perfection at any time...

Kaballah Newsletter

~People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun's out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light within. ~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

~There are two ways to spread light; to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.- Edith Wharton

~"We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears." -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

 ~The fool who thinks he is a fool is for that very reason a wise man;
But the fool who thinks he is a wise man is rightly called a fool. -Dhammapada 63

~"The past should be culled like a box of fresh strawberries, rinsed of debris, sweetened judiciously and served in small portions, not very often." -- Laura Palmer

~"Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar." -- William Wordsworth

~"To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future." -- Plutarch

~"True wisdom is less presuming than folly.  The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance." – Akhenaton

~We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.  - Aristotle

~"Winning isn't everything, but making the effort to win is." -- Denis Waitley

~"Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." -- General George S. Patton

~"We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off, which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else." - Tom Stoppard

~"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." -- Audre Lorde

~"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision." -- Helen Keller

~"The most elusive and desired quality of leadership is vision. Vision is the perfume of the mind." -- Harriet Rubin

~"You are invariably attracted to, and most compatible with, people who have the same values, beliefs and convictions that you do." -- Brian Tracy

~"Success is the prize for those who stand true to their ideas!" -- Josh Hinds

~"Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."                                                  -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

~"The principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live by, you will change your world." -- Blaine Lee

~"I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood; I see that the elementary laws never apologize..." -- Walt Whitman

~"Buried deep within each of us is a spark of greatness, a spark than can be fanned into flames of passion and achievement. That spark is not outside of you it is born deep within you." -- James A. Ray

~"There isn’t a ruler, a yard stick or a measuring tape in the entire world long enough to compute the STRENGTH and capabilities inside you." -- Paul Meyer

~"An attitude of calm, confident expectation activates your creativity and unlocks your mental powers." -- Brian Tracy

~"Genius is there in all of us, just waiting for us to tap into it." --Robert R. Toth 

~"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own." -- Benjamin Disraeli

***"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." — Edward Stanley

~"We could learn a lot from babies.  For one, they aren't embarrassed by their failures.  They seem to possess enough self-esteem to know that they don't have to be perfect at something to start. As adults, we seem to forget this concept, and focus only on those things that we already do well."
--Eric, J. Aronson,  'Dash" (Determination, Attitude, Success, and  Happiness)

~"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today." — Dale Carnegie: Pioneer in personal development

***Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.- Maurice Setter

~Whatever is flexible and flowing will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die.- Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu's teachings

~The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
- Swedish proverb

~"The inescapable truth is that we can only achieve and sustain optimum metabolism when we eat, exercise, and live under an optimum emotional state. Our frame of mind directly impacts metabolism to such a degree that what we think and feel profoundly influences how we digest a meal. Metabolic power is not only about what you eat, but who you are when you’re eating." — Marc David: visionary health and nutrition consultant, author.

***Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great.- Mark Twain, writer and satirist

~We can't become what we need by remaining what we are.- Max Dupree

~"When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there." — Zig Ziglar

~All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward." -- Ellen Glasgow

~There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either IN or you're OUT. There's no such thing as life in-between.- Pat Riley, basketball coach

~"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it".... ~ Rumi

~A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison.- Francis Bacon

~I love you the more in that I believe you have liked me for my own sake and for nothing else. –John Keats

~The truth that  there is only one, terminal dignity-love.

   And the story of love is not important—What is important is that one is                          capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.  –Helen Hayes

~There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less. –Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound

~Strange is your situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know-we are here for the sake of each other, above all, for those upon whose smile and well-being our happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am still receiving.                                –Albert Einstein

~We are the ones we have been waiting for. To our fellow swimmers: There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift, that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know that the river has it’s destination. The Elders say that we must let go of the shore, push off into  the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our head above the water. And we say, see who is there with you and celebrate. At this time in history we are to take nothing personal, least of all ourselves, for the moment that we do, our Spiritual growth and journey come to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves. Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for. – the Hopi Elders

~Strength comes not from great accomplishment, but from how we rise up  every time we stumble along the way.- anon

~Self confidence is the first requirement of any great achievement.- anon

~On the road to accomplishment, one should never stand in the way of their own sunshine.- anon.

~No Life ever grows great until it is FOCUSED, DEDICATED, and DISCIPLINED. –Harry Emerson Fosdick

~You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. –Henry Drummond

~Believe that your life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. –William James

~Hold onto dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. –Langston Hughes

~Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. –Helen Keller

~Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. –Joshua J. Marine

~We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. – E. M. Forster

~Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. –James Baldwin

~Its good to let a little sunshine out as well as in. –anon   (I love this because one of my favorite songs from when I was a kid goes like this, “let the sun shine in, face it with a grin, smilers never lose, frowners never win…so open up your heart and let the sunshine in!!!”---now, who can tell me where I heard THAT song??? 50% off one (60) minute massage if you can name it!)

~Accept the gift you have given to so many. Let people love you back. –anon

~Keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away. –anon

~The birds of worry and care fly above your head, this you cannot change. That they build nests there, this you can prevent. –anon

(The last 4 quotes were taken from a calendar by “Brush Dance”…   see www. Brushdance.com. It is about being true to yourself.)

~You were made for enjoyment, and the world was filled with things which you will enjoy. –John Ruskin

~Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves.
- Robert Frost

~If the world seems cold to you, kindle fire to warm it.- Lucy Larcom, hymnist

~"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." -Winston Churchill:

~ And we learn to love with complete abandon, as free men and women, without rules or roles or guarded hearts." -- David Deida - Intimate Communion

~Treat everyone you meet as though they are the most important person you’ll meet that day. –Roger Dawson.

(This reminds me of an exercise we did at a seminar. First, we were to ‘greet’ each person we came into contact with for 5 minutes as if they meant nothing or were a bother to us, and the energy was very low. It was uncomfortable and almost a little painful, because we each were being greeted that way. Then the next 5 minutes were to greet each person as if they were the most cherished person in our lives, or long lost friends, and the energy shift was absolutely amazing! Lots of laughs and light-heartedness. Absolutely beautiful!)

~The above seminar was given by one of the authors of a little book called FISH!

The four principles of the “FISH!” philosophy are: PLAY, MAKE THEIR DAY, BE THERE (be present), and CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE. 

~The “Four Agreements”,  another little book, are pretty simple, (but not always easy) and if we live our lives like this, would do away with much suffering: -Don’t take anything personally, Be impeccable with your word (being honest and kind to others and your self), Always do your best, Don’t make assumptions.

~It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought.                                                –Agnes Repplier

~Pleasure is Nature’s Test, her sign of approval. When man is happy, he is in harmony with himself and his environment. –Oscar Wilde

~When you die God and the angels will hold you accountable for all the pleasures you were allowed in life that you denied yourself. –anon

~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

~You cannot travel within and stand still without. –James Lane Allen

~It’s not what you are going to do, but it’s what you are doing now that counts. –Napoleon Hill

~The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives. –Einstein

~Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. –George Bernard Shaw

~Change itself is not progress, but change is the price that we pay for progress. –Clayton G. Orcutt

~Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbons. –Ann Schabacker

~Don’t be afraid of going slowly; be afraid of standing still. –Chinese Proverb

~Unless you try to do something beyond what you’ve already mastered, you will never grow. –John Maxwell

~A winner knows how much he still has to learn, even when he is considered an expert by others; a loser wants to be considered an expert by others before he has learned enough to know how little he knows. –Sydney Harris

~We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. –John Maxwell

~Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. –Oliver Wendell Holmes

~We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.

-Konrad Adenauer

~One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. –Andre Gide

~The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long  yet live very little.. –Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

~Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one things of changing himself. –Leo Tolstoy

~Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances. –Bruce Barton

~We exist temporarily through what we take, but we live forever through what we give.  –Douglas M. Lawson

~"no outside circumstances will offer us full time and forever the security we all long for. And in like manner, none will adversely interfere with our well being, except briefly and on occasion....only the relationship we have with ourselves and God within can promise the gift of security" (selected from a daily meditation book)

~Listen,  

     are you breathing just a little,  

     and calling it a life?... -Poet Mary Oliver

~God doesn’t look at how much we do, but with how much love we do it.

   –Mother Teresa

~But if a window exists, why not open it and get some fresh air for the year?                              -kaballah newsletter

 ~Ease brings very little out of people. –John Maxwell

~The greatest mistake one can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. –Elbert Hubbard

~As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again. -Dhammapada

~I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides.
  I honour the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
  I honour the place within you where, if you are in that place in you.
  And I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.--Samy Chong

~Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive. -Anais Nin

~~And I would be remiss if I didn’t include the quotes I hear everyday by  my little family here. Each day they teach me the joy and quality of life

by simple pleasures; a good stretch worthy of a deep sigh, exultant jubilance of a daily walk, a broad smile which comes with a good scratch, the focused attention on a delectable treat, and to ask for affection without hesitation and bask in unconditional love and affection, from these wonderful little teachers, friends, children and complete joys of my life, they say, “woof, gruff, awoowoo, purrrrr, paw paw”---Angus, Freckles, Caden, Smokey and Porthos!!

 

~A lesson from the unstoppable potato farmer~

(I found this in a magazine, and really loved it and wanted to pass it along!)

Cliff Young was an amazing person. In 1983 when he was 61 years old, Cliff showed up to compete in a 600 kilometer race between Sydney and Melbourne Australia. Far more grueling than a marathon, this 5-day racing event attracts only the best of the best, world class runners, the kind of athletes who know all there is to know about their sport and routinely break records to prove it.

Cliff Young was not that kind of athlete. In fact, he had never run in a race like this before and to make matters worse, he showed up that day in 1983 wearing overalls and workboots covered by galoshes. No one considered him a runner--everyone considered him a joke.

When asked by the media what made  him think he was qualified for such a race, and what he had done to condition himself for the run, Cliff answered honestly that he was a farmer, not an athlete.  His personal trainers had not been professional running coaches who understood the sport, but rather the cows and pigs on his farm--chasing them on foot had gotten him in shape.

Cliff was a real oddity--not only was he too old and dressed inappropriately, he ran with a shuffle--he didn't pick up his legs well, and as the race began, people along the sidelines yelled to get the old man off the track before he killed himself.

It was obvious that Cliff just didn't know any better, Living in the outback where televisioin and newspapers were still a rarity and before the Internet, Cliff was unaware of how such races are run--for example, that runners go for 18 hours and then sleep for 6 to rest for the next day--Cliff didn’t realize it was impossible to do otherwise, and so, he just kept going. And going. And going.

Had Cliff finished the race in 3rd or 4th or even 10th place, his story would have been remarkable, especially since many of his opponents were a third his age. But he didn't finish 3rd or 4th---he finished 1st...stepping across the finish line far ahead of the 2nd place runner, possibly because he wasn't aware of all the "facts" that said he couldn't. Cliff not only won the race, he cut a day and a half off the world record time!!

It’s been more than 20 years since Cliff ran that record-winning race. Every once in a while, when you've got a mind to do the impossible, think about Cliff and let his story motivate you into action~

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