The Inspiration Pool
When Your Head Spins
From The SOSAD Initiative (Save our sons and daughters)

Dip into a refreshing pool of inspiration 

Quotes to lift your spirit and feed your soul

Poems & prose section   
Short and sharp
Faith and religion 
Life and death
Visions and dreams Friends & relationships
The power of thoughts and thinking
Facing life's challenges Love & wisdom 
Being different, being yourself
Simple steps to inner peace
Right action, right reaction
Mastering our minds / Thoughtlife
Inspiration from the animal kingdom
Forgiveness Happy, happy, joy, joy
Problem-solving   Testing   Worry
Patience
Inspirational links

When Your Head Spins: Editorial & links   (latest news & stats)
What can I do? 
Back to Front
EMERGENCY BUTTON ( Numbers to call )

Hope for the lonely.
The late Mother Teresa of Calcutta described it as the "heart hunger" and claims it is easier to relieve material poverty than this "poverty of the soul".
Only the Lonely
Remember The Desiderata?
The Lord is my Shepherd (in English & Maori)
The Beatitudes (The "be" attitudes?)
(in English & Maori)

FAITH & RELIGION

"Among all my patients in the second half of life, that is to say over 35, there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost that which the living religions of every age have given to their followers, and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook," - Carl Gustav Jung.

"The path of righteousness like the first gleam of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full light of day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble," - Proverbs 4: 18 19.

“There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us,” Philip Yancey, The Amazing Thing About Grace.
"Do not be conformed to this world (this age) and its superficial customs, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God," - Romans 12:2 

“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see,” – Benjamin Franklin.

"Alexander, Caesar and myself have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force! Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. I have inspired multitudes that they would die for me - but, after all, my presence was necessary - the lightning of my eye, my voice, a word from me - then the sacred fire was kindled in their hearts. Now that I am at St Helena, alone, chained upon this rock, who fights and wins empires for me? What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal reign of Christ, who is proclaimed, loved and adored, and whose reign is extended over all the earth! - Napoleon.

LIFE AND DEATH

Be set apart, abstain from fornication, possess your vessel in separation and honour not in the lust of concupiscence (to communicate sexual desire) Don’t defraud your brother in any matter, the Lord is the avenger. God has not called us to uncleanness but to holiness. If anyone despises you he despises God who has given us his Holy Spirit. Love one another, study to be quiet and to do your business, to work with your own hands that you may walk honestly and you may lack nothing. Don’t be ignorant concerning them which are asleep. Don’t be sorrowful like those who have no hope, for if you believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him,” I Thessalonians 4.


Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.--Gordon B. Hinckley

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which one is true.--Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter)

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.--Abraham Lincoln  

 

VISIONS & DREAMS
"Build a dream and the dream will build you." - Robert Schuller

"Dreams are the building blocks of the future." - Unknown

Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true
Cinderella
(A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes)

Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die today.
James Dean


Dream Big

" If there were ever a time to dare,
to make a difference,
to embark on something worth doing,
it is now.
Not for any grand cause, necessarily-
but for something that tugs at your heart,
something that's your aspiration,
something that's your dream.

You owe it to yourself
to make your days here count.
Have fun.
Dig Deep.
Stretch.

Dream big.

Know, though, that things worth doing
seldom come easy.
There will be good days.
There will be times when you want to turn around,
pack it up,
and call it quits.
those times tell you
that you are pushing yourself,
that you are not afraid to learn by trying.

Persist.

Because with an idea,
determination,
and the right tools,
you can do great things.
Let your instincts,
your intellect,
and your heart
guide you.

Trust.

Believe in the incredible power of the human mind.
Of doing something that makes a difference.
Of working hard.
Of laughing and hoping.
Of lazy afternoons.
Of lasting friends.
Of all the things that will cross your path this year.

The start of something new
brings the hope of something great.
Anything is possible.
There is only one you.
And you will pass this way only once.
Do it right."
Apple Macintosh advert from 1991

FRIENDS & RELATIONSHIPS
Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend - Proverb 27:17

"It is only the great hearted who can be true friends. The mean and cowardly,
Can never know what true friendship means." - Charles Kingsley

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.” – George Washington.

"We are not put on this earth for ourselves,
But are placed here for each other.
If you are there always for others,
Then in time of need, someone will be there for you."
Jeff Warner

The more I traveled the more I realised that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends - Shirley MacLaine

Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved,
I did not say so - David Grayson

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make,
who would you call and what would you say?
And why are you waiting? - Stephen Levine

Ten Commandments of Human Relationships

1. SPEAK to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word or greeting
2. SMILE at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile.
3. CALL people by name. The sweetest music to anyone's ears is the sound of   his own name.
4. BE friendly and helpful. If you would have friends, be friendly.
5. BE cordial. Speak and act as if everything you do was a genuine pleasure.
6. BE genuinely interested in people. You can like everybody if you try.
7. BE genuine with praise - cautious with criticism.
8. BE considerate of the feelings of others. It will be appreciated.
9. BE thoughtful of the opinions of others. There are three sides to most stories-yours, the other fellows, and the right one.
10.BE alert to give service. What counts most in life is what we do for  others.

(From "Hospice Volce' Newsletter of the Hospice Association of Witwatersrand, South Africa.)



THE POWER OF THOUGHTS & THINKING
"We are so powerful that we can convince ourselves that we are not. Then make it come true."- Anthony S. Dallmann-Jones, Ph.D. from Primary Domino Thinking ~ Creating the Life You Want

" Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul
None is more gladdening or fruitful than to know
You can regenerate and make yourself what you will."
--- William James

"I think we're all heroes, if you catch us at the right time."
--- Andy Garcia in the movie "Hero."


FACING LIFE'S CHALLENGES
"Every adversity contains within itself the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit."
-  W. Clement Stone

"Learning is finding out what you already know,
Doing is demonstrating that you know it,
Teaching is reminding others that they know it as well as you do.
We are all learners, doers, and teachers." - Richard Bach.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in men - Psalm 118:8

  “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."...You must do the thing you think you cannot do”-Eleanor Roosevelt 


LOVE & WISDOM
"Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished." - Og Mandino

"Where the determination is, the way can be found."- George S. Clason

"True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable." - David T. Gentry

 

BEING DIFFERENT, BEING YOURSELF

"Never follow anyone's path. Go your own way and leave a trail." -  Damien Heath

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened -Tao Te Ching

"The greatest wastes are unused talents and untried ideas." --- Anonymous

  "It is never too late to be what you might have been."
George Eliot

  He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything."
Arabian Proverb

    " We cannot become who we need to be,
By remaining who we are.
Invent yourself everyday."
- Unknown

" A person's face may change over a lifetime,
But their heart can stay true forever."
- Author unknown

SIMPLE STEPS TO INNER PEACE

  Out of clutter, find Simplicity.
From discord, find Harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity.
 - Albert Einstein,
Three Rules of Work

  "Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." - Fortune cookie

  "Take time to work, it is the price of success.
Take time to think, it is the source of power.
Take time to play, it is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to read, it is the foundation of wisdom.
Take time to be friendly, it is the road to happiness.
Take time to dream, it is hitching your wagon to a star.
Take time to love & be loved, it is the privilege of the gods.
Take time to look around, it is too short a day to be selfish.
Take time to laugh, it is the music of the soul."
--- Old English Prayer


  "Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself,
And know that everything in this life has purpose.
There are no mistakes,
No coincidences,
All events are blessings given to us to learn from."
- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross


RIGHT ACTION, RIGHT REACTION

  "When in doubt, do right and let God take care of the rest." - Unknown

  "Always do right. This will amaze most people, and astonish the rest."
- Mark Twain

“ When someone is wronged,
He must put aside all resentment and say
My mind shall not be disturbed
No angry words shall escape my lips
I will remain kind and friendly
With loving thoughts and no secret spite."
--- From a Buddhist Prayer

MASTERING OUR MINDS / THOUGHTLIFE

" All truly wise thoughts have been thought thousands of times;
But to make them truly ours we must think them over again honestly,
Until they take root in our personal experience." - Goethe


" I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge
That myth is more potent than history
That dreams are more powerful than facts
That hope always triumphs over experience
That laughter is the only cure for grief
And I believe that love is stronger than death."
--- Robert Fulgham

INSPIRATION FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

"What are we without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, we would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to us. All things are connected," - Chief Seattle of the Suquamish.

  "Live so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip" - Will Rogers.

 “Everyone may confirm his belief in the Divine when he considers those insects which, when impelled by the craving of a sort of love, ardently seek for a change from their earth-bound state to one like that of heaven. For this purpose they creep into suitable places, weave round themselves a cocoon and thus, as it were, return into the womb to be born again, becoming pupae and finally butterflies. When they have  passed through these changes, and put on their beautiful wings after  their kind, they fly into the air as into a heaven of their own, where they sport in happy mood, choose mates, lay eggs, and provide for  themselves a prosperity. In this state they feed upon a sweet and pleasant nectar drawn from the flowers. Anyone who confirms his belief in the Divine from the visible things of nature sees an image of man's earthly state in them as insects, and of his heavenly state in them as  butterflies.”  -          Immanuel Swedenborg, The True Christian Religion

  "There is more to life than simply increasing its speed." - Mahatma Gandhi

Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while
A great wind is bearing me across the sky - Ojibwa Saying

  Our life is frittered away by detail...Simplify, simplify - Henry David Thoreau

Links to make you think
  Motivateus:  
http://www.motivateus.com/cibt.htm
  Inspirational messages dedicated to promoting a sense of courage, compassion, and positive regard for the human spirit, regardless of philosophy or religion.
http://www.agelessinitiatives.com/inspire/dailymes.htm
  Inspirational quotes, prayers, and positive affirmations to promote positive thinking, personal growth, success, and achievement in your career, relationships, and life.
http://www.motivationalquotes.com/
  The Quote Lady has over 2800 selected scraps of wisdom on her site in a range of categories and you can subscribe to her quote of the day service.
http://www.quotelady.com/
Meat in Due Season
(food for serious spiritual contemplation)

http://www.meatindueseason.org
New Zealand Revival Bulletin
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~revival/index.html
The names and titles of God
http://www.shema.com/names.htm

Another view of the names of God
http://www.ldolphin.org/Names.html

Spirit & Meaning
Inspirational articles from the Clemmer Group

http://www.clemmer.net/excerpts/spirit.shtml

Morning Star Ministries
Rick Joyner’s unique prophetic view

http://www.morningstarministries.org/

" Miracles rest not so much upon faces or voices
Or great healing powers coming to us from afar off,
But upon our perceptions being made finer so that, for a moment,
Our eyes can see and our ears can hear what there is about us always."
--- Willa Cather

" Don't be afraid, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, I will help you.
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."
--- Isaiah 41:10
One of the most basic truths of the Bible is that faith in Christ is not just an intellectual idea, to be accepted and then stored in the back of our minds.  True faith affects every aspect of our lives, for Jesus Christ is to be not only our Savior but our Lord and Master.  "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?...As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead" (James 2:14,26).,” Billy Graham’s book, "The Courage of Conviction"
FORGIVENESS & ATTITUDE


" Make your own destiny,
Don't wait for it to come to you,
Life is not a rehearsal!"
--- Source Unknown

" Life is like a piano --- what you get out of it,
Depends on how you play it."
--- Unknown

 

See clearly

" Focusing on the positive does not mean ignoring the negative. It is unrealistic and detrimental to deny that negative things exist.

Positive focus is determined more by how you respond than by how you perceive. There is no positive value in refusing to see or acknowledge your problems. In fact, that could be very harmful.

A positive attitude is not achieved by turning a blind eye to the negative, but rather by responding to every situation in the most positive way possible.

See negative things for what they are, and then respond with positive action. Acknowledge and accept the problems, the difficulties, the shortcomings, the abuses, and then do something positive about them. Denial and evasion will do nothing to address your problems. Positive action will."
--- Major Michael Q. Wade

" It is easy to bring others down to your level,
Instead of bringing yourself up to their level,
But it is never ever right."
--- Chen Fawn Meng

 

At Day's End

" Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
The day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?
Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that's slipping fast,
That you helped a single brother of the many that you passed?
Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said;
Does the man whose hopes were fading,
Now with courage look ahead?
Did you waste the day, or lose it? Was it well or sorely spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness, or a scar of discontent?
As you close your eyes in slumber, do you think that God will say,
You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?"
--- John Hall

" It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."
--- Confucius

" I'd rather believe time is a companion
that goes with us on a journey,
and reminds us to cherish every moment.
Because, it will never come again."
--- Jean Luc Picard - Capt. USS Enterprise

RISK IT

"To laugh is to risk being a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To express feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd
Is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.

The person who risks nothing,
Does nothing,
Has nothing and is nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But they simply cannot learn,
Feel, change, grow, love or live.

Risks must be taken because,
The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
Only a person who risks is free."
--- Leo Buscalia

" Look to this day,
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a,
Dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a,
Vision of hope.
Look well,
Therefore to this day."
- English translation of a Sanskrit Proverb

" Faith gives us real eyes ,
To realize where the real lies."
--- Author unknown

FORGIVENESS
  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.- Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

  Forgiveness is the fragrance that the flower leaves on the heel of the one that crushed it.- Anonymous

  Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.- Hannah Arendt

  Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge.- Isaac Friedmann

  Forgiveness means letting go of the past.- Gerald Jampolsky

  The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good.- Catherine Ponder

  He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven, for everyone has need to be forgiven.- George Herbert

  "I can forgive, but I cannot forget" is only another way of saying, "I will not forgive." Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note--torn in two and burned up so that it never can be shown against one.- Henry Ward Beecher

  It is easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit to forgive them for having witnessed your own.- Jessamyn West

  It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.- Saint Francis of Assisi

  Life is an adventure in forgiveness- Norman Cousins

  Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties come prepared to forgive, neither party come prepared to be forgiven.- Charles Williams

  One forgives to the degree that one loves.- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.- Malachy McCourt

  Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success. Always be the first to forgive; and forgive yourself first always.- Dan Zadra

  There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.- Josh Billings

  There's no point in burying the hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site.- Sydney Harris

  To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.- William H. Walton

  To err is human, to forgive, divine.- Alexander Pope

  To understand is to forgive, even oneself.- Alexander Chase

  We achieve inner health only through forgiveness--the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves.- Joshua Loth Leibman

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

 HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY

  The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mood of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; for happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up.- Charles Langbridge Morgan

  Being happy is something you have to learn. I often surprise myself by saying "Wow, this is it. I guess I'm happy. I got a home I love. A career that I love. I'm even feeling more and more at peace with myself." If there's something else to happiness, let me know. I'm ambitious for that, too.- Harrison Ford

  But few have spoken of the actual pleasure derived from giving to someone, from creating something, from finishing a task, form offering unexpected help almost invisibly and anonymously.--Paul Wiener

  The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.- James Oppenheim

  Grief can take care if itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.- Mark Twain

  Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.-Pearl S. Buck

  Happiness: a way station between too little and too much.-Channing Pollock

  Happiness consists in activity. It is a running steam, not a stagnant pool.-John Mason Good

  Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.--Theodore I. Rubin

  Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it.- Nathaniel Hawthorne

  Happiness includes chiefly the idea of satisfaction after full honest effort. No one can possibly be satisfied and no one can be happy who feels that in some paramount affairs he failed to take up the challenge of life.- Arnold Bennett

  Happiness is a butterfly which when pursued is just out of grasp... But if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.- Nathaniel Hawthorne

  Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.- Samuel Levenson

  Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.- William Butler Yeats

  Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.- Eleanor Roosevelt

  Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open.- Rose Lane

  Happiness is the realization of God in the heart. Happiness is the result of praise and thanksgiving, of faith, of acceptance; a quiet tranquil realization of the love of God.- White Eagle

  The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.- Marcus Aurelius

  I can but think that the world would be better and brighter if our teachers would dwell on the duty of happiness as well as the happiness of duty; for we ought to be as bright and genial as we can, if only because to be cheerful ourselves is a most effectual contribution to the happiness of others.- John Lubbock, Sir

  If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.- Thich Nhat Hanh

  If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.- Chinese proverb

  It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.--Charles Spurgeon

  It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.- Margaret Bonnano

  Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing--sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death--can take that love away.--Henri Nouwen

  Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.--Helen Keller

  The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.- Bertrand Russell

  There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.- Henry David Thoreau

  There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.--Epictetus This is the true joy in life--being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you consistent.-George Bernard Shaw

  To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.-Samuel Johnson

  Too many wish to be happy before becoming wise.--Susanne Curchod Necker

  True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.--Antoine De Saint-Exupery

  True happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents.--John W. Gardner

  True happiness is...to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.-Seneca

  The truth is that all of us attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to their greatest extent.--Smiley Blanton

  We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have--and not worrying about what we don't have.--Ken Keyes, Jr.

  We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.--Kahlil Gibran

  We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are...Men do not really live for honors or for pay; their gladness is not the taking and holding, but in doing, the striving, the building, the living. It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught. It is good to get justice, but better to do it; fun to have things but more to make them. The happy man is he who lives the life of love, not for the honors it may bring, but for the life itself.- R.J. Baughan

  We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.- Frederick Koenig

 

PATIENCE
Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious.--Phillips Brooks

  • Patience is the companion of wisdom.--Saint Augustine
  • Patience is the key to contentment.--Mohammed
  • There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.--Jean De La Bruyere
  • There is no royal road to anything, one thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.--Josiah Gilbert Holland
  • To him that waits all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness, what he has seen in the light.--Coventry Patmore
  • The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.--Leo Tolstoy

WORRY
As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.-- Julius Caesar

  • A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.--John Lubbock
  • Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever...--Isak Dinesen
  • Don't take tomorrow to bed with you.--Norman Vincent Peale
  • If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.--William James
  • Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.--James Russell Lowell
  • One cannot change the past, but one can ruin the present by worrying over the future.--Anonymous
  • The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.--Robert Frost
  • There are two kinds of worries -- those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter.-- Duke Ellington
  • There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.--Harold Stephens
  • There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.--Epictetus
  • True happiness is…to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.--Seneca
  • We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have--and not worrying about what we don't have.--Ken Keyes, Jr.
  • We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still.--Lewis Thomas (The Medusa and the Snail)
  • While most of the things you've worried about have never happened, it's a different story with the things you haven't worried about. They are the ones that happen.--Ruth Rendell (Talking to Strange Men)
  • Worry is like a rocking chair--it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere.--Dorothy Galyean
  • Worry a little every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.--Mary Hemingway
  • Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.--Corrie Ten Boom
  • Worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due.--William Inge
  • Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.--Helen Keller
  • Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.--Seneca
  • A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials--Cicero
  • It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while is the one who can smile, When everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is troubled, And it always comes with the years. And the smiles that is worth the praises of earth Is the smile that shines through tears.--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
  • The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life--the children; those who are in the twilight of life--the aged; and those who are in the shadows of life--the sick, the needy and the handicapped.--Hubert Humphrey (speech, 1977)
  • Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary. Time is tonic. Tribulation is a test tube.--William Arthur Ward
  • Again and again, the impossible problem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made.--Robert Schuller
  • Ah, mastery ... what a profoundly satisfying feeling when one finally gets on top of a new set of skills ... and then sees the light under the new door those skills can open, even as another door is closing.--Gail Sheehy
  • The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it.--Brendan Francis
  • Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.--Denis Waitley
  • Don't find fault, find a remedy.--Henry Ford
  • For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong,--H.L. Mencken
  • If you can't solve it, it's not a problem--it's reality.--Barbara Colorose
  • If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.--Stanley Kubrick
  • If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.--Abraham Harold Maslow
  • If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.--Gen. George Patton
  • In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.--Harold S. Kushner
  • It is wise to direct your anger towards problems--not people; to focus your energies on answers--not excuses.--William Arthur Ward
  • It isn't that they can't see the solution. It's that they can't see the problem.--G.K. Chesterton
  • It may seem to your conceited to suppose that you can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a presidential election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.--Bertrand Russell
  • It's not a problem that we have a problem. It's a problem if we don't deal with the problem.--Mary Kay Utech
  • The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.--Albert Einstein
  • The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people understand the solution.--Charles Kettering
  • Our task is not to fix the blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future.--John F. Kennedy
  • Our tendency to create heroes rarely jibes with the reality that most nontrivial problems require collective solutions.--Warren Bennis
  • Plurality should not be assumed without necessity.--William of Ockham (also known as Ockham's Razor)
  • A problem is a chance for you to do your best.--Duke Ellington
  • The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.--Theodore Ruskin
  • Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.--Henry J. Kaiser
  • Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.--Theodore N. Vail  
    Some people approach every problem with an open mouth.--Adlai Stevenson
  • Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.--Edward de Bono
  • Success is relevant to coping with obstacles... But no problem is ever solved by those, who, when they fail, look for someone to blame instead of something to do.--Fred Waggoner
  • There are three ways you can get to the top of a tree: 1) sit on an acorn 2) make friends with a bird 3) climb it.--Anonymous
  • There are two ways of meeting difficulties: You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them.--Phyllis Bottome
  • There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.--Harold Stephens
  • There's two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.--Enrico Fermi
  • To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?--Jim Rohn
  • We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.--Albert Einstein
  • When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.--R. Buckminster Fuller
  • You must live with people to know their problems, and live with God in order to solve them.--P.T. Forsyth

For the soul
by Solomon

Each heart knows its bitterness,
but no one else can share its joy. Proverbs 14:10.

I applied my heart to what I
observed and learned a lesson from what I saw. Proverbs 24:32

He who gets wisdom loves his own soul, he who cherishes understanding prospers.   
Proverbs 19:8


Oh what a bitter thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes

William Shakespeare 1564-1616


Do not the most moving moments
of our lives find us without words?
Marcel Marceau



Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Source Unknown

The greater the obstacle,
the more glory in overcoming it.
Moliere

And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow,
let it be.
John Lennon/Paul McCartney

It is good to have an end to journey toward;
but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le Guin

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
William Blake

Speak when you're angry,
and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.
Lawrence J. Peter

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children - Haida Indian Saying

The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.
Lily Tomlin

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.
George Bernard Shaw

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