William Gass

"The true alchemists do not change lead into gold.  They change the world into words."

Paulo Coelho

"When you say 'Yes' to others, make sure you are not saying 'No' to yourself."

rumi

"Doing as others told me, I was blind.
Coming when others called me, I was lost.
Then I left everyone, myself as well.
Then I found everyone, myself as well."

One Altar

"I go into the Muslim mosque and the Jewish synagogue and the Christian church and I see one altar."
~Rumi~

Rumi

"When you're walking through the graveyard at night 

and you see a boogeyman, run AT it,

and it will go away."

"Let the beauty we love be what we do."

"Be patient.

Respond to every call

that excites your spirit."

"Don't regret what's happened.  If it's in the past,

let it go."

"This world is a mountain.  What we do

is a shout.  The echo comes back to you."

"Some human beings are safe havens.

Be companions with them.

Others may seem to be friends,

but they're really consuming your essence"

Appreciating Ourselves

"We are the greatest thing that will ever happen to us. Believe it. It makes life much easier.

It is time to stop this nonsense of running around picking on ourselves.

We may have walked through much of our life apologizing for ourselves either directly or indirectly—feeling less valuable than others, believing that they know better than we do, and believing that somehow others are meant to be here and we are not.

We have a right to be here.

We have a right to be ourselves.

We are here. There is a purpose, a reason, and an intention for our life. We do not have to apologize for being here or being who we are.

We are good enough, and deserving.

Others do not have our magic. We have our magic. It is in us.

It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in our past. We all have a past, woven with mistakes, successes, and learning experiences. We have a right to our past. It is ours. It has worked to shape and form us. As we progress on this journey, we shall see how each of our experiences will be turned around and used for good.

We have already spent too much time being ashamed, being apologetic, and doubting the beauty of ourselves. Be done with it. Let it go. It is an unnecessary burden. Others have rights, but so do we. We are neither less than nor more than. We are equal. We are who we are. That is who we were created and intended to be.

That, my friend, is a wonderful gift.

God, help me own my power to love and appreciate myself. Help me give myself validity instead of looking to others to do that."

~Melody Beattie~

Anne Lamott

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image if it turns out that your God hates the same people you do."

Cobain

"I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not."

Timber Hawkeye

"No one can drive you crazy, unless you give them the keys."

Bob Dylan

"Just when you think you lost everything, you find out that you can always lose a little more."

Gesshin Greenwood

"From the ultimate perspective, True practice is all the same practice. There's zazen in the morning, work, zazen and then sleep. Throughout zazen and work and sleep there's always your mind, your thoughts and opinions and emotions drifting by like clouds. There's your attitude and attention, which is the only thing you can really control: how you relate to people, how you chop vegetables, the quality of your interaction with the world around you. There are doubts and fears and then letting go of those doubts, and continuing with practice. The water is clear right down to the bottom, and fish swim like fish."

Thomas Edison

"The doctor of the future will give no medicines, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the causes and prevention of disease."

10 x 10

“To rise at six, dine at ten, sup at six and go to bed at ten, makes one live ten times ten." 
~ 16th century proverb

Einstein

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us 'the universe', a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.  This delusion is a  kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

Sakyong Mipham

"The most outrageous thing we can do in this world is to accept what happens and fly with it."

Samuel Beckett

"Ever tried.  Ever failed.  No matter.  Try again. Fail again.  Fail better."

Don Miguel Ruiz

"Once lived, the past has very little value.  And yet we carry its lifeless body into all future moments.  Allowing it to crush us with its weight, to identify us, and to speak for us."

Mark Twain

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great"

Sakyong Mipham

"We are meant not to wait for moments of love to randomly arise but to be always cultivating love like a garden.  We need to till the soil so that the seed of our love can open, sprout and break through.  If we water it and give it air and sunshine, it will grow."

Nelson Mandela

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Jim Morrison

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."

Bruce Lee

“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”

Albert Camus

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer."

Dalai Lama

"Don't let the behaviors of others destroy your inner peace."

Paulo Coelho

"Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Thich Nhat Hanh

"To be beautiful means to be yourself.  You don't need to be accepted by others.  You need to accept yourself."

Live In Truth

"Once when golfer Bobby Jones was playing in a big tournament, he inadvertently moved his ball a few inches in the rough.  He penalized himself based on what had happened.  When someone pointed out to him that no one else had seen the ball move, he said, 'I saw it move, and that is all that matters.'"

~Sakyong Mipham~

Ajahn Chah

"If you let go a little
you will have a little happiness.
If you let go a lot
you will have a lot of happiness.
If you let go completely
you will be free."

New Year

"Affirming the Good

Fun becomes fun, love becomes love, life becomes worth living. And we become grateful.

Wait, and expect good things—for yourself and your loved ones.
When you wonder what is coming, tell yourself the best is coming, the very best life and love have to offer, the best God and His universe have to send. Then open your hands to receive it. Claim it, and it is yours.
See the best in your mind; envision what it will look like, what it will feel like. Focus, until you can see it clearly. Let your whole being, body and soul, enter into and hold onto the image for a moment.
Then, let it go. Come back into today, the present moment. Do not obsess. Do not become fearful. Become excited. Live today fully, expressing gratitude for all you have been, all you are, and all you will become.
Wait, and expect good things.
Today, when I think about the year ahead, I will focus on the good that is coming."

~Melody Beattie~