Infinite Nature

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you
as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you
 and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.


- John Muir

Through adversity we learn

It is not good for all our wishes to be filled;
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 Proverb

Gratitude

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

Never Again

History,

despite its wrenching pain,

cannot be unlived,

but if faced with courage,

need not be lived again.

- Maya Angelou

No Hiding from Success

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many
menial and unimportant things that you have no time
to accept a real challenge when it comes along.
This applies to play as well as work.
A day merely survived is no cause for celebration.
You are not here to fritter away your precious hours
when you have the ability to accomplish so much
by making a slight change in your routine.
No more busy work.
No more hiding from success.
Leave time, leave space, to grow.
Now. Now! Not tomorrow!

- Og Mandino

Changing

Everyone thinks of changing the world,
but no one thinks of changing himself.

- Leo Tolstoy

Extraordinary Thing Called Love

The moment you have in your heart

this extraordinary thing called love

and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstacy of it,

you will discover that for you

the world is transformed.

- I. Krishnamurti

Living -- the Act of Giving

I had found a kind of serenity, a new maturity... I didn't feel better or stronger than anyone else
but it seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not--
more important now was for me to love them.
Feeling that way turns your whole life around;
living becomes the act of giving.

- Beverly Sills

I am a Dreamer

Determination

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

- Og Mandino

Ideals

Ideals are like stars:
you will not succeed in touching them with your hands,
but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters,
you choose them as your guides,
and following them you reach your destiny.

~Carl Schurz

Light Within

People are like stained glass windows:

they sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in
their true beauty is revealed

only if there is a light within.

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Meaning of Life

The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.

- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Suffering

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches.
If suffering alone taught,
all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers.

To suffering must be added mourning, understanding,
patience, love, openness
and the willingness to remain vulnerable.

- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Friendship

Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant,
and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it.

- Cicero

Salt Water

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.

- Isak Dinesen

Marriage

Marriage is not a ritual or an end.
It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together
and nothing matters more
than your own sense of balance
and your choice of partner.

- Amy Bloom

Truly Living

When we are motivated by goals
that have deep meaning,
by dreams that need completion,
by pure love that needs expressing --
then we truly live life.

- Greg Anderson

Don't Be Silent

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.

- Martin Luther King

Truest Life

Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.

- Henry David Thoreau

Dreams

Dreams are renewable.
No matter what our age or condition,
there are still untapped possibilities within us
and new beauty waiting to be born.

- Dr. Dale Turner

Kindness

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear
and the blind can see.

~ Mark Twain

A Kiss

It is the passion that is in a kiss

that gives to it its sweetness;
it is the affection in a kiss
that sanctifies it.

- Christian Nevell Bovee