Gift to Yourself

"The best thing you can give yourselves...is the gift of possibility. And the best thing you can give each other is the pledge to go on protecting that gift in each other for as long as you live."
--Paul Newman

Possibilitarian

"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be, or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities--always see them, for they are always there."
--Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas Forever

"Christmas is forever, not just for one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel in some box upon a shelf;
the good you do for others is good you do yourself."
--Norman Wesley Brooks, Let Everyday Be Christmas

Children at Christmas

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time."
--Laura Ingalls-Wilder

Light

"At this time of year, when the sun is most hidden...at such times, we yearn for the sun, and the light and the warmth that it provides. Often, it is through simple and unrecognized miracles that we are able to feel the warmth of hope and light."
--Rabbi Rafael Goldstein

Best Gifts

"The best gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."
--Burton Hillis

Gifts

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas."
--Peg Bracken

Homesick

"Christmas is a time when you get homesick--even when you're home."
--Carol Nelson

Giving

"I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!"
--Carolyn Wells

State of Mind

"Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind."
--Mary Ellen Chase

Magic Wand

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."
--Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas Day

"Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends."
--Margaret Thatcher

Storybook Christmases

"A big orange and some fresh pine boughs and 'Silent Night' are all I need, and cookies, of course. They are the strings that when I pull on them I pull up the complete glittering storybook Christmases of my childhood."
--Garrison Keillor

A Christmas Heart

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."
--Roy L. Smith

Christmas Children

"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty founder was a child himself."
--Charles Dickens

Christmases Past

"The most vivid memories of Christmases past are usually not of gifts given or received, but of the spirit of love, the special warmth of Christmas worship, the cherished little habits of the home."
--Lois Rand

Magical Blanket

"Christmas--that magical blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved."
--Augusta E Rundel

Christmas Means...

"For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home."
--W.J. Ronald Tucker

Hearts of Children

"In the eyes of children we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts we find its meaning."
--Leland Thomas

Decorations

"Perhaps the best holiday decoration is being wreathed in smiles."
--Unknown

December

"Remember this December,
That love weighs more than gold."
--Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

Christmas in the Air

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."
--WT Ellis

The Fullness of Life

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
--Melody Beattie

True Thanksgiving

"He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart."
--JA Shedd

Silence

"Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone."
--GB Stern

Difference in Men

"There is no greater difference between men than between grateful & ungrateful people."
--R.H. Blyth

True Measure of Thanksgiving

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them is the true measure of our Thanksgiving."
--WT Purkiser

Profit

"If you count all your assets, you always show a profit."
--Robert Quillen

Arithmetic

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."
--Eric Hoffer

Appreciation

"The deepest need of human nature is to be appreciated."
--William James

All You Want

"If you haven't all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you wouldn't want."
--Unknown

Touching Heaven

"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven."
--Johannes A. Gaertner

Currency of Gratitude

"None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy."
--Fred deWittVanAmburgh

Key to Happiness

"Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy--because we will always want to have something else, something more."
--David Steindlrast

Alive

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
--Thornton Wilder

Count Your Blessings

"If you're not happy with what you have, how could you be happier with more?"
--Unknown

Wisdom

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for those things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."
--Epictetus

It's Electric

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all."
--William Faulkner

Reap What You Sew

"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel."
--Unknown

Counting Blessings

"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."
--Willie Nelson

Sunshine

"Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?"
--Rose Kennedy

Born to Be

"We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be."
--Anne Lamott

Charmed Life

"Anyone who is in love is living a charmed life, especially if you've been in love for many years, through good times and bad."
--Layng Martine, Jr.

Scars

"It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars."
--Garrison Keillor

Ideas

"The toughest question has always been, 'How do you get your ideas?' How do you answer that? It's like asking runners who they run, or singers how they sing. They just do it!"
--Lynn Johnston

Little Things

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
--Leo Buscagalia

Give Love

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."
--Morrie Schwartz

Color

"Color, like music, takes a shortcut to our senses and emotions."
--Phillip Ball

Happiness

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. You can spend the day in bed recounting your difficulties or get out of bed and be thankful for the happy memories you have stored away."
--Unknown

Love Life, Not Stuff

"Realize that life, not stuff, is what matters. Objects are just objects — if you lose them, if they get stolen or destroyed … it’s not a big deal. They’re just objects — not your life. Your life is the series of moments that is steaming through your consciousness right now, and how you use those moments and what you fill them with is what truly matters, not what you fill your home with. At the end of this short journey, you’ll look back and remember your experiences, the people you loved and who loved you back, the things you did and didn’t do. Not the stuff you had. "
--Zen Habits

Don't Quit

"The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best."
--Barack Obama

Music

"Music moves us and we know not why; we feel the tears but cannot trace the source. Is it the language of some other state, born of its memory? For what can wake the soul's strong instinct of another world like music."
--LE Landon

Nonsense

"I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells..."
--Dr. Seuss

Self-Worth

"Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside."
--Hugh Macleod

Forgiveness

"If you haven't forgiven yourself of something, how can you forgive others?"
--Dolores Huerta

Lost Loved Ones

"Where do people go when they die?
Somewhere down below or in the sky?
'I can't be sure,' said Granddad, 'but it seems
They simply set up home inside our dreams.'"
--Jeanne Willis Inside our Dreams

Books

"If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell you again when you're fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you're reading a whole new book."
--Ursula K Le Guin

Joy

"Ah, life is a gate, a way, a path to paradise anyway, why not live for fun and joy...why not go to your desire and LAUGH..."
--Jack Kerouac

Passion

"If you don't love what you do, you're never gonna be good at it. Life's short. Go have fun."
--Jeffrey Gitomer

People

"We as humans do want to share our lives. And guess what people, it is not about the numbers. We just want to share our lives with people who can add value. Who make us think and laugh. And feel good. People we trust. People just like us."
--Robbin Phillips

Creativity

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."
--Ray Bradbury

Funny

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door to his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house, and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room, the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter. The fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried that she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know how every day when you come home from work you askme what in the world I do all day?"

"Yes."

"Well, today I didn't do it."

--Unknown (I received from Grandma Hansen)

Natural Team

The flightless fairy penguin of Australia stands less than a foot tall and is clumsy on land, where the fox is its natural enemy. Alone, one penguin wouldn't survive for long. So, after each day in the water, they gather where the surf meets ths shore, waiting until the last penguin joins them. Then, shoulder to shoulder, they march up the beach to their burrows. They support each other, they rely on each other. And everyone, except the fox wins.

The acrobatci, high-energy dolphin must spend most of its time hunting to survive. But when a pod members is sick or injured, others will set aside their own needs to come to its rescue. A pair of dolphins, one on each side, will stay beside it, lifting it to the surface to breathe each breath--sometimes for days at a time--until it recovers the strength to swim for itself.

With every flap of its wings, the lead bird in a flight of Canadian geeese is breaking through a wall of air, creating a swirling vortex that provides a "push" for each follower. Some estimates show that geese in a V-formation can fly as much as 70 percent farther than they could fly alone. It's exhausting work to be the lead goose, but they have an answer to that too: they take turns. When the leader drops back, another takes its place.

--Baudville

Friendly

"Sometimes, busy people need to remind themselves (and us) how busy they are by shaving off the last two seconds of what would otherwise be a pleasant interaction.

At a restaurant yesterday, the maitre d, who is paid to be busy, looked up our name in the reservations book and then said, "over there against the wall," while he pointed. He repreated this approach with at least three other parties.

How much longer to say, "Welcome, we'll be ready for you in just a second. Would you mind waiting over there please?" Amazingly, saying that while smiling takes precisely the same amount of time.

If you're going to interact, spend a few extra beats to be calm and gracious. It's hard to overstate how much better everyone will feel and how much more productive you'll become as a result."

--Seth Godin

All That Matters

"Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart. 'Cause that's all that matters in the end."
--Kris Kristofferson

Present

"Take a bit of the future and make it your present."
--Andy Grove

Execution

"The difference between a crazy idea and a good idea is all in the execution."
--Olivier Blanchard

Elixir of Life

"I love discourse. I'm dying to have my mind changed. I want to know, you understand? I like listening to everyone. This to me is the elixir of life."
--Jack Nicholson

Change

"Change is not threatening."
--Steve Wynn

Courage

"Courage is doing something you need to do that might get you hurt."
--Bobby Bowden

Kindness

"Hire [be] people who will treat the swithboard operator as friendly as they'll treat the managing director."
--Sir Richard Branson

Happy

"Mondy doesn't make people happy. People make people happy."
--Steve Wynn

Gamble

"If a guy doesn't have a little gamble in him, he isn't worth crap."
--Evel Knievel

Achievement

"The measure of achievement is not winning awards. It's doing something you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile."
--Julia Child

Playing

"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."
--George Bernard Shaw

Fun

When we are very young, everything is play. We don’t worry about failing because we’re so excited about the trying. We haven’t yet learned that we’re supposed to think of ourselves as being on trial before the world.

Think back to your childhood and the first time you rode a bike. Or jumped off the high dive. My guess is that the giddiness and excitement you felt outweighed any bumping-into-curbs or belly-flopping that you might have done. You didn’t do it perfectly, but you had a blast making the attempt. And because you had so much fun, you did it again, and again, until you improved. But the improving wasn’t the goal. The fun was.

So here is the reason why I’m saying that it’s vital to screw things up once in a while. You must learn that it is not the end of the world. That you can recover, and keep trying, and get better.

You must learn failure-resiliency. You need to know, deep in your bones, that you can always bounce back.

And maybe even have some fun in the process.

--Michelle Russell

Sunshine

"Sunshine is the best disinfectant."
--Justice Louis Brandeis

Enjoy

"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

Creating Yourself

"The self is made not given. It is a creative and active process of attending to life that must be heard, shaped, seen, said aloud into the world, finally enacted and woven into the lives of each other."
--Barbara Myerhoff

Freedom

"Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice...No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out."
--Thich Nhat Hanh

Question

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
--Albert Einstein

True Happiness

"True happiness is an acceptance of life as it is given to us, with its diminshment, mystery, uncontrollability and all."
--Michael Gellert

Sharing Joy

"One of the sanest, surest and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others."
--Archibald Rutledge

Giving Up

"I have, despite all illusionment, never, never allowed myself to feel like giving up. This is my message today: it is not worthy of a human being to give up."
--Alva Myrdal

Essentials

"So, whatever you want to do, just do it...Making a damn fool of yourself is absolutely essential."
--Gloria Steinem

Importance

"You have complete control over your thoughts, which control your actions. Keep remembering what's important to you. Keep it at the front of your mind and it will happen in your life."
--Ralph Marston

Growing Pains

"The effort necessary for achievement is often difficult and uncomfortable. It will stretch you and likely demand more of you than you thought you had. And therein lies the true reward of success."
--Ralph Marston

Dream

"...while one is obliged to plan with care the stage of one's journey, one is entitled to dream, and keep dreaming of its destination."
--Shimon Peres

Untapped

"No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born."
--Dale E. Turner

Self

"Allowing the truth of who you are--your spiritual self--to rule your life means you stop the struggle and learn to move with the flow of your life."
--Oprah Winfrey

Stressed

"Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not!"
--Unknown

Chocolate

"Research tells us that 14 out of any 10 individuals likes chocolate."
--Sandra Boynton

Funny

"Never eat more than you can lift."
--Miss Piggy

Kindness

"Trust me, life's too short. Besides, no one ever lost any sleep by being too kind or forgiving."
--Keith Scott, One Tree Hill

Become

"When I stop becoming, that's when I worry."
--Stephen Dunn

Revision

"It's never too late--in fiction or in life--to revise."
--Nancy Thayer

Change

"Every exit is an entrance somewhere else."
--Tom Stoppard

Faith

"Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into."
--Mahatma Gandhi

Cook

"An empty belly is the best cook."
--Estonian Proverb

Comfort

"Chowder breathes reassurance. It steams consolation."
--Clementine Paddleford

Veggies

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."
--Jim Davis, Garfield

Hot Fudge

"Always serve too much hot fudge on hot fudge sundaes. It makes people overjoyed and puts them in your debt."
--Judith Olney

Teaching

"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand."
--Confucius

Adventures

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
--Alan Cohen

Self-Trust

"Self-trust is the first secret of success."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Seeking

"Love stays where nothing is, and seeks."
--Sharon Olds

Laugh

"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine."
--Lord Byron

Relationships

"...create relationships that ignite movements...relationships, if nurtured and handled right, seldom end up in the trash can."
--Brains on Fire

Give

"Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given."
--Deepak Chopra

Passion

"Passions are those things that carry us away. Experiences that we get lost in. Things we're willing to sacrifice for, and personally invest in. They're irrational, not reasoned...Khalil Gibran wrote, 'Reason is the rudder of our seafaring soul, but it is passion that puts the wind in our souls."
--Justine @ Brains on Fire

Meaning of Life

"What is the meaning of life? Whatever you want it to be."
--James Frey

Giving

"If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way."
--Buddha

Real Wealth

"Someone once said that when something is diminished it enhances the value of what is left. If there is an upside to our current situation, it is that with less economic wealth we might better appreciate the real wealth that is left."
--Mark Sanborn

Spending

"We have gotten in the habit of spending money we haven't earned, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't like. So get rid of that habit."
--Deepak Chopra

Place

"I've always believed in the idea that each of us has a particular place in the universe where we belong, and that if we find it everything will fall into place and we will flourish."
--Patrick O'Connell

Communication

"Effective communication is the cement that binds an organization together. It is the foundation upon which successful teamwork and good customer relations are built."
--Connie Podesta

First Class Performance

"People judge you by every action that you take. They keep mental bookmarks about promises you make and how you fulfilled them. You must always give a first class performance."
--Jeffrey Gitomer

Mistakes

"To avoide situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all."
--Peter McWilliams

Ordinary Favors

"Any ordinary favor we do for someone or any compassionate reaching out may seem to be going nowhere at first, but may be planting a seed we can't see right now. Sometimes we just need to do the best we can and then trust in the unfolding we can't design or ordain."
--Sharon Salzberg

Smile

"Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, even when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family."
--Mother Teresa

Musically Speaking

"Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we are, the form of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves we are the same."
--John Denver

Doing

"Ability is what you're capable of, motivation determines what you do, attitude determines how well you do it."
--Lou Holtz

Definition

"The past does not define you, the present does."
--Jillian Michaels

Books

"Reading was a way to make friends or enemies, a way to discover how all these different people exist in the world and to rub shoulders with them."
--Amy Poehler

Simple

"...it is always the simple that produces the marvelous."
--Amelia E. Barr

Happy

"the world is mud-luscious & puddle-wonderful."
--ee cummings

Bend

"I need to live like that crooked tree--that knelt down in the hardest winds but could not be blasted away."
--Edward Hirsch

Laugh

'What a language it is, the laughter of women."
--Lisel Mueller

Friends

"Female relationships that work are relationships in which women help each other to belong to themselves."
--Louise Bernikow

Achieving

"You achieve much once you stop telling yourself you can't do things."
--Elizabeth Kadetsky

Creating

"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without."
--Cecil B. Demille

Becoming

"The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it."
--John Ruskin

All Because Two People Fell In Love

"Let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story."
--Don Snyder

Freedom

"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it."
--William Faulkner

Why Hire an Athlete?

...Or let your child be an athlete.

"An athlete knows he or she has to warm up before playing the game and is therefore more likely to be prepared for the job, the customer and the sale.

Athletes love to compete. Athletes know there are skills that must be learned and mastered in order to win. And athletes have the drive, determination and self discipline to learn them and master them.

There are other great, but subtle qualities that athletes have:

1. They have made friends with many of their teammates, but even the ones they have not made friends with, they still know how to get along with, cooperate with and play with as a team.
2. They have made victory a habit. They know what winning feels like and how to repeat it.
3. They have stamina, based on practice and desire.
4. They have superior hand-eye coordination, and are more observant of their surroundings.
5. They have the ability, interest and desire to learn 'the game' and not just 'the job.'
6. They play by the rules and have leared there's a penalty or price for not playing by the rules...

...Think about this: all athletes play to win. All athletes want to succeed. They have the internal drive not only to play the competition and beat them, but also to compete against themselves, always bettering themselves. Athletes are always raising their own personal standards--always aiming to achieve their personal best."

--Jeffrey Gitomer

Summer

"In summer, the song sings itself."
--William Carlos Williams

Timeless

"Timeless music doesn't come around often.

When it does, you remember--fan or not."

--Jordin Sparks

Trust

"Trust is a delicate property of human relationships. It is influenced far more by actions than by words. It takes a long time to build, but it can be destroyed very quickly. Even a single action--perhaps misunderstood--can have powerful effects."
--The Professional Manager by McGregor

Your American Dream...

...Whatever you want it to be.

"In our society today, there is a lot of pressure. Pressure to get a degree. Pressure to make money. Plressure to be successful. And pressure to find what it is that you want to do for the rest of your life. But here's the thing: Society isn't right.

You don't have to go to college right out of high school. You don't have to decide on a major in a four-year time period because 'you're supposed to.' You don't have to get stuck doing something for the rest of your life that you don't want to do. The fact is, there are a lot of people out there who have absolutely no idea what they want to do, but know they want to find something. And that's okay.

For many people, it takes years of trying new jobs, activities, clubs, associations, traveling and life experiences to figure out what it is they are truly passionate about and how to make that work for them.

I read about a study where a group of teenagers ranked what the 'American Dream' meant to them. The highest ranking answer was, 'simply being happy, no matter what I do.' If that's the American Dream, isn't all the pressure to live up to other people's standards a waste of time?

I recently spoke at a high school where I asked students what they wanted to do after graduation. One student said he wanted to own his own plumbing business. Everyone in the class laughed at him. I immediately told the class to stop laughing and explained how people laughed at me when I said I was starting a magazine. Nobody has the right to tell you what you want to do in life.

If you feel like you've got a huge weight on your shoulders and have to decide your eternal path by tomorrow, don't worry--you can always change your mind. Don't let outside pressures, whatever they might be, influence your right to your American Dream.

It may take a while. Ray Kroc didn't launch McDonald's until he was 52, but the moral is that he kept trying. And that's my message to you. Don't ever stop trying to find your own American Dream. You've got to go out there and find it, because it's sure not going to come find you."

--Bryan Sims, CEO Brass Magazine

Commitment

"Commitment is what transforms a promise to a reality..."
--Abraham Lincoln

Failure

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."
--Woody Allen

Play

"You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than a lifetime of conversation."
--Plato

Passion

"The brain can be hired.
The heart and soul have to be earned."
--FISH

Good Deeds

"Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all of the people you can,
for as long as you can."
--John Wesley

trust

"For teams to be successful, each team member must come to an important realization: 'I am not the lone ranger.' A better credo might be the three musketeers' 'All for one and one for all.'"
--Robert Rogers & Sheryl Riddle

Kindness

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
--Mother Teresa

Change

"The only person you can change is you. You can't change others, although you can influence them by being the change you wish to see in them and in the world."
--Unknown

Bending

"Learn to bend, it's better than breaking."
--Unknown

Stability

"True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted..."
--Tim Robbins

Capability

"If we all did what we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."
--Unknown

Hunches

"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level."
--Joyce Brothers

Self-Trust

"Self trust is the first secret of success."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Secret

"The secret is to enjoy being you."
--Diane Von Furstenberg

Beauty

"Real beauty isn't about symmetry or weight or makeup; it's about looking life right in the face and seeing all its magnificence reflected in your own."
--Valerie Monroe

Living for Today

"You pile up enough tomorrows and you'll be left with nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering."
--Meredith Wilson

A Good Day's Work

"How little a thing can make us happy when we feel we have earned it."
--Mark Twain

rest

"Come out into the open, into a clearing,
and rest."
--John Ashberry

Groovin'

"Don't lose the groove just to find a note."
--Jeremy Clawson

Fight Like a Girl

"Hold your head high
Don't ever let them define
The light in your eyes.
Love yourself, give 'em hell
You can take on this world.
You just stand and be strong
And then fight like a girl."
--Fight Like a Girl, Bomshel

Beauty Weapon

"Happiness is the true beauty weapon."
--Susan Sarandon

Be Friendly

"Be friendly first, and everything else falls into place. Friendly breeds likability and trust. People [spend time and] do business with people they like and trust."
--Jeffrey Gitomer

Delirium

"I want to die in music, not in reason or in prose. People don't deserve the restraint we show by not going into delirium in front of them."
--Louis-Ferdinand Celine

Faith

"Faith is not simply a patience which passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather, it is a spirit which bears things...with blazing serene hope."
--Corazon Aquino

Working Together

"The strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack."
--Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

Failure

"If you see failure as a monster stalking you, or one that has already ruined your life, take another look. That monster can become a benevolent teacher, opening your mind to successes you cannot now imagine."
--Martha Beck

Faith

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

time

"I would like to do whatever it is that presses the essence from the hour."
--Mary Oliver

Naturals

"There's no such thing as a natural. A natural dancer has to practice hard. A natural painter has to paint all the time."
--Joe Louis

Beauty

"There is no end to the beauty for the person who is aware. Even the cracks between the sidewalk contain geometric patterns of amazing beauty."
--Matthew Fox

Perfect in Imperfection

"...We spend far too much time and energy contemplating our inadequzcies. We forget that we are all perfect in our imperfection."
--Kate Dillon

Team

"It becomes quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as the singular periods of life lived to the fullest. Some spend the rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit."
--Peter Senge

Power

"True knowledge of ourselves is knowledge of our power."
--Mark Rutherford

Unashamedness

"Be real and unashamed. Even of your faults."
--Amy Bloom

Women

"I think that women making no apology for being women is very refreshing."
--Drew Barrymore

Greatness

"Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some acheive greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
--Shakespeare

Joy

"Surely joy is the condition of Life." --Henry David Thoreau

Training

'To train the mind, you must exercise the patience and determination it takes to shape that steel."
--Dalai Lama

Existence

"Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep...They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence."
--Father Anthony deMello

Menus

"As a child, my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it."
--Buddy Hackett

Self-Worth

"Above all, be the heroin of your life, not the victim."
--Nora Ephron

Influential People

"You don't have to be a 'person of influence' to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me."
--Scott Adams

People

"When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion."
--Dale Carnegie

Creativity

"Be brave enough to live creatively." --Alan Alda

Breaking Point

"You can stretch a rubber band for a long time. Then it breaks." --Seth Godin

Woman

"Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply.

• If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
• If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
• If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her crap, you will receive more shit than any human being can handle."

--Unknown

The Road Less Travelled

"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success." --John D. Rockefeller

True Friends

"Lots of people want to ride in the limo with you, but what you want is someone who will ride the bus with you when the limo breaks down." --Oprah Winfrey

Together

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone--we find it with another." --Thomas Merton

Nurture

"Echo every good deed you've encountered to nurture someone along their way."
--Janice Bryan Howroyd

Can Do

"Living with mediocrity or maintaining the status quo is a decision you make as a leader. Focus on what you can do instead of what you can't." --Lou Holtz

Hope

"One of the very first things I figured out about life. . .is that it's better to be a hopeful person than a cynical, grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way. If you're hopeful, you have more fun." --Barbara Kingsolver

Happiness

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means you've decided to look beyond the imperfections." --Unknown

Fulfillment

"...There is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." --President Barack Obama, in his inaugural adress

Mother Teresa Prayer

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Me

"I was born with music inside me." --Ray Charles

Revelation

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." --Beethoven

Face the World

"The best music is essentially there to provide you with something to face the world with."
--Bruce Springsteen

No Pain

"One good thing about music: when it hits you, you feel no pain." --Bob Marley

Life's Winners

"The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better." --Barbara Pletcher

Common Occasions

"Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Sieze common occasions and make them great."
--Orison Swett Marden

Joy Amplified

"When you are with someone you love, hardships are lessened and joys are amplified."
--Laura

Potential

"We can either watch life from the sidlines, or actively participate...either we let self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy prevent us from realizing our potential, or embrace the fact that when we turn our attention away from ourselves, our potential is limitless."
--Christopher Reeve

Service

"It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most." --James C Penney

Change

"If you're not happy with what you've got, what radical changes are you willing to make to change what you're getting?" --Seth Godin

Beauty

"Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical."
--Sophia Loren

Compassion

"Compassion is the most necessary ingredient in all relationships. Everything depends on it." --Jane Stanton Hitchcock

Idle Time

"We only deliberately waste time with those we love--it is the purest sign that we love someone if we choose to spend time idly in their presence when we could be doing something more 'productive.'" --Sheila Cassidy

God in the Pledge of Allegiance

"With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attachs, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of The Pledge of Allegiance?" --Jay Leno

Learn

"Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can--there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did." --Sarah Caldwell

Struggles

"Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go othrough hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." --Arnold Schwarzenegger

Measure of a Man

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
--Samuel Johnson

Age and Love

"Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age."
--Jeanne Moreau

Plan

"Plan your hours to be productive. Plan your weeks to be educatinoal. Plan your years to be purposeful. Plan your life to be an experience of growth. Plan to change. Plan to grow."
--Iyanla Vanzant

"I Believe...

...in never approaching things half-heartedly.
...in eating good food. Life's too short not to!
...that stepping into a good high-heeled shoe opens a world of possibilities."
--Tori Amos

Vision

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." --Carl Jung

The Journey

"Find enjoyment in the small things and even in the striving. It will keep you going. Relish the journey and it will help you reach the destination." --Ralph Marston

Ice Cream

"Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos." --Don Kardong

Forgiveness

"Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were."
--Cherie Carter-Scott

Difficulties

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them." --Phyllis Bottome

Joy

"The joy of life is the forward road." --Tertius Van Dyke

Improvement

"You can only work on yourself. Start there." --Alice O. Howell

Creative Life

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." --Joseph Chilton Pearce

Snow

"The snow reminded me of the beauty and mystery of creation, of the essential joy that is life." --from Snow by Orhan Pamuk

Simplicity

"Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." --Albert Einstein