December 16, 2011

"You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can't have it."  --Robert Anthony

 

November 7, 2011

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." --John Quincy Adams

“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” --Mother Teresa

"I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet."

--Nadia Comaneci

"We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth."—Virginia Satir

November 4, 2011

"To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed."
 --Bernard Edmonds

October 13, 2011

"Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge." --Eckhart Tolle

"Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be" --Eckhart Tolle

"Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place" --Eckhart Tolle

"Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally" --Eckhart Tolle

"[Relationships] do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring out the pain and unhappiness that is already in you" --Eckhart Tolle

"You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness." --Eckhart Tolle

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” --Eckhart Tolle

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." --Lao Tzu

"At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." --Lao Tzu

"He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know." --Lao Tzu
"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." --Lao Tzu

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." --Lao Tzu

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." --Lao Tzu

"Your body is exactly like a movie projector, and the film running through the projector is all of your thoughts and feelings. Everything you see on the screen of your life is what has been projected from within you, and is what you have put into the film.  By choosing higher thoughts and feelings you can change what you see on the screen at any time. You have complete control of what goes into your film!" --Rhonda Byrne (The Secret)

"CHOOSE wisely" --Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (emphasis added)

October 5, 2011

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” --Steve Jobs

"Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” --Steve Jobs

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." --Lewis Smedes

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." — Michael Jordan

"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future. " --George Bernard Shaw

"We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time." - Art Buchwald

FAILURE

What is "Failure" doing in a POSITIVITY Blog????  Well take a look at the POSITIVITY OF FAILURE....

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." --John Wooden

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit." -- Napolean Hill

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." --Henry Ford

"Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another. "--Napolean Hill

"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail." --Napolean Hill

"No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure."--Napolean Hill

"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure." --Napolean Hill

 "Remember that failure is an event, not a person." --Zig Ziglar

October 3, 2011

"It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice." -- Anonymous

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -- Dale Carnegie

"It's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are our teachers -- they help us to learn." -- John Bradshaw

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Take control of your destiny. Believe in yourself. Ignore those who try to discourage you. Avoid negative sources, people, places, thoughts and habits. Don't ever give up and don't ever give in." -- Unknown

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you do not try." -- Beverly Sills

"The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. " -- Lloyd Jones

"Whenever I get defensive, it means I've missed an opportunity to learn." --Unknown


 

September 30, 2011

"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn one's back on life." --Eleanor Roosevelt

"Surely, in the light of history, it is more important to hope rather than to fear, to try than not to try. For the one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says 'it can't be done.'" --Eleanor Roosevelt

“Think highly of yourself. The world takes you at your estimate.” -- Jim Rogers

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." --Princess Diana

I'm into "lists"....

1. Be Happy
2. Your Choices = Your life experience.
3. Enjoy ALL the moments...big or small.
... 4. Pay attention to the details
5. Find the lessons...heed them...learn from them.
6. Choose the good thoughts, replace the bad ones with good ones. Choose happiness and BE

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else"-- Albert Einstein

"Nothing external to you has any power over you." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

September 26, 2011

“Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another’s control – to be locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else’s nightmare.” --Lance Morrow

“Do you prefer that you be right or happy?” --Norman Cousins

"Never compromise a dream. Sure, take a step back, regroup, go bowling, but never compromise a dream." --Mike Dooley

“Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.” --Sara Paddison

"The things two people do to each other they remember. If they stay together, it's not because they forget; it's because they forgive." --Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." --Gandhi

"Wouldn't it be powerful if you fell in love with yourself so deeply that you would do just about anything if you knew it would make you happy? This is precisely how much life loves you and wants you to nurture yourself. The deeper you love yourself, the more the universe will affirm your worth. Then you can enjoy a lifelong love affair that brings you the richest fulfillment from inside out." --Alan Cohen

"Every youth owes it to himself and to the world to make the most possible out of the stuff that is in him." — Orison Swett Marden

"Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one." --John Lennon

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and follow where they lead." --Louisa May Alcott

"I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be." --Ken Venturi

September 24, 2011

"Always go the second mile. When we go the first mile, we simply do what is required of us. It is when we go the second mile that excellence is achieved." --Deborah McGriff

"You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action." - Anthony Robbin

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The "sure thing" boat never gets far from shore.”
-Dale Carnagie

Do you "love" UNconditionally? Do you "give" UNconditionally? Do you have "expectations" of your friends and family? If so, why? How much of that is your "need" vs. their "benefit?" Something to think about....

"Life is short, don't waste time worrying about what people think of you. Hold on to the ones that care, in the end they will be the ones there." -- Unknown

"Misunderstandings happen because we do not understand that different people have different styles of communication." — Tony Alessandra

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat." — Mother Teresa

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." -- C.S. Lewis

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." --Lao Tzu

"Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud."--Maya Angelou

"At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." --Lao Tzu

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." --Lao Tzu

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." --Lao Tzu

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." --Lao Tzu

"One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular." --Tony Robbins

"We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right." --Marianne Williamson

September 20, 2011

“You are not being tested! You are being fortified! Remember, you cannot fail!”
--Iyanla Vanzant

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” --Eleanor Roosevelt

... “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” --Oprah Winfrey (my slight revision...Where there is no struggle, there is no opportunity to gain strength")

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” --Mahatma Gandhi

“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face. We must do that which we think we cannot.” --Eleanor Roosevelt

"Every single time you make a CHOICE to respond in a way that expands you and creates more peace and well-being, you’re strengthening your ability to make that same positive choice in the future. This is true empowerment; it moves you from being a victim to being a victor.” --Carol Kline & Marci Shimoff (emphasis added)

September 17, 2011

"We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path." --Paulo Coelho

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." -- Chinese Proverb

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” --Mahatma Gandhi

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

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” –-Steve Jobs

"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities." -- Bruce Lee

September 15, 2011

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." -Margaret Thatcher

"80 percent of success is showing up." — Woody Allen

"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

September 14, 2011

"When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny." --Paulo Coelho

It's up to you....Mastery or mediocrity? Excellence or insignificance? It's all up to you. Choose your destiny

"It's always better to give too much, pay too much, and love too much, than not enough." --Mike Dooley

"Your friend is the person who knows all about you, and still likes you anyway." --Elbert Hubbard

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Meade

“Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” - George Bernard Shaw:

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.”. -- Hannah More

"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.” --Og Mandino

"You affect your subconscious mind by verbal repetition." — W. Clement Stone
 

 

COMPASSION

"All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives." --Dalai Lama

"Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. " --Frederick Buechner

"For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?"
--Bell Hooks

"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." --Lao Tzu

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." -- Dalai Lama

"One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion." -- Simone de Beauvoir

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." --Albert Einstein

 

EMPATHY

"Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows as we learn." --Alice Miller

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" --Henry David Thoreau

"Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life. Silence is a place of great power and healing." --Rachel Naomi Remen

"The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does. You have to really see the person. If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises. If you tune into the other person, you feel with them. If empathy arises, and if that person is in dire need, then empathic concern can come. You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act. So I'd say that compassion begins with attention." --Daniel Goleman

"Empathy is full presence to what's alive in the other person at this moment." --John Cunningham

ACCEPTANCE

"Acceptance is not love. You love a person because he or she has lovable traits, but you accept everybody just because they're alive and human.
" --Albert Ellis

"Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune." --William James

"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." --Nathaniel Branden

"The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance." --Brian Tracy

PASSION

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." -- Harriet Tubman

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." --Nelson Mandela

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." --George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."  --Albert Einstein

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." --Nelson Mandela

"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it." --William James

JUDGMENT

"A major advantage of age is learning to accept people without passing judgment." --Liz Carpenter

"Bigotry and judgment are the height of insecurity." --Jasmine Guy

"If you are pained by external things, it is not that they disturb you, but your own judgment of them.  And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment, now."  --Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

     "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." --Carl Jung

"Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances." --Wayne Dyer

 

RELATIONSHIPS

“A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them - they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship.” --Rainer Maria Rilke

"Courage means to keep working a relationship, to continue seeking solutions to difficult problems, and to stay focused during stressful periods." --Denis Waitley

"The formula for achieving a successful relationship is simple: you should treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster." --Quentin Crisp

LIFE FORCE

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”  --Martha Graham

"Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds and these magnets attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts." --Napolean Hill

“Misdirected life force is the activity in disease process.  Disease has no energy save what it borrows from the lief of the organism.  It is by adjusting the life force that healing must be brought about,  and it is the sun as transformer and distributor of primal spiritural energy that must be utilized in this process, for life and the sun are so intimately connected."  --Kabbalah

PERSEVERANCE

"Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond my endurance.  As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us." --Winston Churchill

revised Winston Churchill quote: I am this date and forever more the master of my fate. There is no task that will come before me that is above my strength and endurance. As long as I have faith in my own cause and purpose in life and an unconquerable will to win, succeed and achieve, I will not be denied my victory.

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The difference between try and triumph is a little umph." --Unknown

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” -- Calvin Coolidge

OPPORTUNITY

"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat." --Napoleon Hill

"When the student is ready the teacher will appear." Buddhist Proverb

Open your minds to the teachers that are out there in life ready, willing and able to teach you the lessons life wants to teach you.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." --Winston Churchill

BEAUTY

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." --Confucius

"Beauty is in the heart of the beholder." --H.G. Wells

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. " --Anne Frank

"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 from within." --Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. " --Ashley Smith

NO EXCUSES!

"Don't make excuses - make good." --Elbert Hubbard

"There is no such thing as a list of reasons.  There is either one sufficient reason or a list of excuses." --Robert Brault

"The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse."  --Unknown

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own.  No apologies or excuses.  No one to lean on, rely on, or blame.  The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it.  This is the day your life really begins." --Bob Moawad

"An excuse becomes an obstacle in your journey to success when it is made in place of your best effort or when it is used as the object of the blame." --Bo Bennett

Talk is Cheap.  Excuses just don't cut it.  If you want something, DO the work!  It's all about Choice and Committment!  The Committed get it Done Now!  Don't Wait for your Life...Make It Happen Now!

SELF WORTH

‎"Contrary to popular thinking, being worthy isn't something you earn, it's something you recognize." --Mike Dooley

"Yours is the energy that makes your world. There are no limitations to the self except those you believe in." --Jane Roberts

"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." --Thich Nhat Hanh

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection." --Buddha

"Wouldn't it be powerful if you fell in love with yourself so deeply that you would do just about anything if you knew it would make you happy? This is precisely how much life loves you and wants you to nurture yourself. The deeper you love yourself, the more the universe will affirm your worth. Then you can enjoy a lifelong love affair that brings you the richest fulfillment from inside out." --Alan Cohen

"Self-worth comes from one thing - thinking that you are worthy." --Wayne Dyer

ACHIEVE

"Somewhere in your make-up there lies sleeping, the seed of achievement which, if aroused and put into action, would carry you to heights, such as you may never have hope to attain." --Napoleon Hill

EXPLORE

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

CHOICE

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes ... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility." --Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is the sum of all your choices."  --Albert Camus

Life is about "CHOICE"    What do you "CHOOSE?"

"Choose wisely." --Knight (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

"We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice." --Stephen Covey

"You always do what you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say that you had to do something, or that you were forced to, but actually, whatever you do, you do by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself." --W. Clement Stone

 

"We need to teach the next generation of children from day one that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear." --Elizabeth Kubler Ross 


"Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself." --Robert F. Bennett


"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." --Viktor E. Frankl


In the end HOW your life manifests is your responsibility.  Your life is a direct result of the "choices" you make.  You choose your THOUGHTS, you choose your BELIEFS, and you choose your ACTIONS.


Given that it is YOUR life...What will you choose?  What are YOUR dreams? YOUR aspirations? YOUR passions? YOUR interests?   Choose to Create YOUR best life!

FEAR

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." --Eleanor Roosevelt

"Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway." --Susan Jeffers

"The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because insignficant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt." --Thomas Merton

WISHES

Why the heck do I want to be CAREFUL of what I wish for? Dang straight...I want to WISH ON PURPOSE CAUSE I KNOW I WILL GET IT!!

GRATITUDE

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul." -- Rabbi Harold Kushner

JUST DO IT!

"You want me to do something... tell me I can't do it." --Maya Angelou

BE PASSIONATE

"Those who dance were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music." --Angela Monet 

"If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived?  Find your passion, whatever it may be.  Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you." --T. Alan Armstrong

"Passion is the genesis of genius."  --Anthony Robbins

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." --Harriet Tubman 

Find your passions, hold on to them. Live them!

PROBLEM SOLVING

"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."
-–Albert Einstein

HUMILITY

"Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts.  It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all." --William Temple

"Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are." --Malcolm S. Forbes

"It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help." --Author Unknown

"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right." --Ezra Taft Benson

"I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men."
--Lao-Tzu

"Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation." --Saint Augustine 

"I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps." --Gandhi

WINNERS

DETERMINATION

"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done." --Vince Lombardi

"The difference between the unattainable and the attainable lies in a person's determination." --Unknown.

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. " --Og Mandino

I AM...

“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” --Lao Tzu

RESPONSIBILITY

"The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs." --Joan Didion

"Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." --Erica Jong

 "When you blame others, you give up your power to change." --Author Unknown

"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him.  Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be.  Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate.  Everyone has it within his power to say, "This I am today; that I will be tomorrow."  --Louis L'Amour

At the end of the day, it's still MY responsibility to pick myself up, dust myself off, and DO

PEACE

STRENGTH

"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. " --Eleanor Roosevelt

"When your desires are strong enough you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve." --Napolean Hill

"Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will." --Mahatma Gandhi

"Pain is temporary, quitting is forever."  --Lance Armstrong

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.”  --Lao Tzu

HAPPINESS

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.” --Dalai Lama

"Look, I'm going to find a way to be happy, and I'd really love to be happy with you, but if I can't be happy with you, then I'll find a way to be happy without you."  --Randy Pausch

LIFE LESSONS

The following is from Regina Brett's "G-d Never Blinks."

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over-prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

OPEN MINDEDNESS

"Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly.  Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.  What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind.  Every moment is a golden one for those who have the vision to recognize it as such." --Henry Miller

"The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation -- or a relationship." --Deborah Tannen

More often than not, one has to let go of preconceived notions, consider the possibilities and alternatives and perhaps experience things from a different perspective. In this way our minds, bodies and spirits are truly open to all things.  With that openness we have the best chance for success in all that life offers.

LOVE

"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

"The demand to be loved is the greatest of all arrogant presumptions."
--Friedrich Nietzsche

"One day you will ask me which is more important? my life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life." --Khalil Gibran

LAUGHTER

"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh." --Friedrich Nietzche

"You feel completely in control when you hear a wave of laughter coming back at you that you have caused." --Gilda Radner

UNDERSTANDING

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." --Carl Jung

 How much of what we find problematic in another is really a projection of a problem we have with ourselves?

"The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather what he does not say." --Kahlil Gibran

"To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others." -- Tony Robbins

TRUST

AUTHENTICITY

"Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever." --Nancy Lopez

"What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others." --Confucius

If we truly believe in our "authentic" self, then we have no "need" to seek validation from others.  We have known, all along, what is true and good within us.

Authentic: true to one's own personality, spirit, or character; genuine.

Am I leading an "Authentic" life? Being true to my OWN personality? spirit? character? Am I being "genuine?"