While I don't agree with all of his business sales advice, Tom Hopkins had these words to say. Taken in the right context, they are very good to live by. Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority.I cannot serve others if I don't know the true me. I must dig deeper to find me. Let Him in me. I must lift the gates, open the doors, even break the windows that won't or that I have sealed never wanting to open.
The Salvation Army was created by ministers William and Catherine Booth. It was originally called the Christian Revival Association, then the East London Christian Mission, and once moved to beyond serving East London, The Christian Mission. It was finally named the Salvation Army in 1878, 13 years after its original founding.The organization was established, in their words, to win the world for Jesus by bringing the whole world under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Salvation Army was created with God's calling to care for his children. Come as you are - broken, tattered, lost, confused.
William Booth said,
The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender.The critical question are, "Why am I surrendering?" and "Who I am you surrendering to?"
I can surrender to myself to me or to someone else, but that will be me again thinking that I have the power to heal me. The only power is that which has been given to me. Surrendering is giving up yourself to God. Undoubtedly believing and knowing that He will care for me as one of his children. As much as it hurts and tears me in two, I must release the person in my life that I hold so tight, so that He can do His work as she needs, so that He can do His work in me.
Love is not about affection and compromise. Love is not about the worldly things this society teaches. The love we are seeking is His. It is everlasting and it is His love that we will find peace, comfort and be at One.
Dr. Laurence J. Peter is labeled as one of America's foremost hierarchiologists. Don't know what that is? No worries, neither does Webster's Dictionary.In any case, we turn to this Vancouver born educational doctor for his quote.
Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.How right he is. Its like the top being blown off the radiator with big bellowing steam shooting everywhere. I have never become uncontrollably angry. I have never been in a top of your lungs shouting match or angry enough that i thought of any type of physical harm. Instead, my anger turns to disappointment in the action. I can recall instances where anger become synonomous with confusion. I say that meaning that when confused, i can't think straight. Being thrown in a mouse-like maze with a countdown clock and only one escape route, but no ideas of how to reach it. I believe anger is a reaction in which a person fails to control their emotions. The mind is racing to regain control, or take control. Further, it reacts in defense shutting down all points of entry, closing the windows, gating the doors in self-preservation.
Where does anger come from? Is my state of confusion and neediness to understand, my comparable anger? I've spoken in anger/confusion, and regretted the conversations. Its no wonder how others can't understand when i've spoken without making sense in my own mind.
In closing for today, anger is as much about confusion or losing control, as it is about regret. I know that could have avoided angered circumstance by conscious thought, decision and action. Perhaps, the anger is only a reflection of the disappointment i feel for failing myself, and what i know to be true, of what i am truly capable of.
The Pressman, Statesman, Writer and Inventor 
Benjamin Franklin shaped much of America's early development with this persuasive, yet humbling arguements of unity and perserverance.
He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain.
And in much the same tone, we turn to the dedicated American scholar, pastor and professor Dr. William Arther Ward. Dr. Ward is considered to be one of America's most quoted writers of inspirational maxims.
We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.So quickly to judge, too often looking at the negative rather than the positive. It's a line that I find myself teetering on lately, but have now gotten to the point that I am fed-up with the teetering and the negativity. I enjoy optimism. Seeing the positive, seeing the beauty, seeing the blessings given.
Sometimes I forget the importance of friendship. A shoulder to cry on. An embracing smile. A trusted Counselor. A listening supporter. Its an unconditional love that accepts your faults without judgement. A friend sees the 'real' you, loves the 'real' you.Today we turn to my personal favorite story-time gang, Winnie the Pooh. Christopher Robbins says to Pooh Bear,
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.There's a Friend and Trusted Counselor already within us.
There is a conscious decision made by a person whether to do right or wrong. I wonder though, how often decisions are made when consideration is given to cause and effect. There is relative ease to see the short-term impact, but what about long-term? What are the emotional effects? What is the message being conveyed by taking action? Or not taking action as the case may be?
A friend shared with me these thoughts and I relay them to you.
Your actions are the truest indicator of who you are as a person. Words are just words. The greateast orator can speak volumes. It is the action which defines.
In tribute to all things Swiss, we turn to the Founder of Analytic Psychology, Dr. Carl Gustav. He is best known for his pioneering work of dream analysis. The unconscious mind of man sees correctly even when conscious reason is blind and impotent.Inside, I know what is right and what is wrong. Why does my mind try to always be right? It fights my heart and soul. I need to master my mind. It is only a tool that I've been given. If i can control my mind, I can control myself. My conscious tells me, listen.
He is considered to be the world's pre-eminent dramatist. With more than 38 plays penned and 154 sonnets, not including his poetry, William Shakespeare expressed his emotions, his beliefs, his convictions in his works. It is the reason Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.I took 'honesty' foregranted. I didn't give it a second-thought, and just considered myself to be it. I lived day to day thinking that I 'was' being honest. Its weird. I had thought I doing everything right. Making the right decisions. Saying the right things. There was tough decisions inside that i made, who really made though decisions? Was it the 'real' me? I would like to think so.
Looking back on it, I was performing on a stage. The applause from the cheap seats fueled the performance. Those just outside of 'eye' sight didn't know the difference. There was a stare from the front row. When sitting front row and middle, you see it all. What's real and what is not. You see the performance for what it is. You see the person for what they are. You also see a glimpse of the person they truly want and are meant to be. I still see the stare. I see the same stare in the mirror.
I am critic of life. I believe each of us are in some accord.Cesare Pavese was not only a critic of literaure, but a poet, novelist and translator. He lived during the fascism 1930's of Italy and was persecuted because of anti-fascism viewpoints. He led a difficult life which he ended at his own choice. This quote is taken from his diaries. We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.This is an pondering perspective that I'm not sure I grasp completely. Does he mean that we often overlook the richest memories of past? That we've forgranted them, merely as a way of everyday living?
There are moments of yesterday that I put into a storage chest, filed away, per say. As if I was a sponge soaking in the moments but not realizing that they occurred or of their signifigance. I am challenged to look into the storage chest. Sort through the files of yesteryear and learn from them. I sense that they are far 'richer' than I ever could have imagined.
God Disciplines His Sons.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.To all the readers of this blog, embark upon this day's journey with vigor and love. Fill your heart with compassion and be grateful you slept under a Moon and awoke to a rising Sun. Act with urgency. Live with Discipline. Add Value.
Today we have a simple quote from the famed folk artist, Grandma Moses. Born with the name of Anna Mary Robertson, Grandma Moses reminded American of its roots, its values and the fruits of living life to its fullest.Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.Sometimes we forget that we can take the reigns of life and make things happen. I can make it better.
William James may be more known for the company he kept than his writings. Godson to Ralph Waldo Emerson and a friend to the likes of Helen Keller, Mark Twain, G. K. Chesterton and Sigmund Freud, James wrote books on the young science of psychology. The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.Inside, I always knew this to be true. Someone once told me, all the answers are already inside. I just shut the door in my mind to hear only what I want to hear. Its time I open the door.
Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in India. She is most known for her work among the poverty-stricken of Kolkata (Calcutta) and is referred to as the Angel of Mercy. Her work has changed the life of millions and the way she lived continues to be a source of inspiration for even more around the world. She is remembered and she is loved, because she gave love.Few of us can do great things, but all of us can do small things with great love.It truly is amazing what a person can do when they allow love and gratefulness to fill their heart. Let us be reminded of that this day.
An English writer, Aldous Leonard Huxley is said to be a 'leader of modern thought' in distinguished circles. Others thought his perspective was ill-conceived and baseless, encroaching too harsh a critic. There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.I say to thee, all of us think we know what is best. Best for me, best for you, best for everyone. Father teaches that there is only One who knows. All else is merely a guess. All else is perception between fact and truth. Lost life will forever exist if under another's list. No one can live in self-freedom under markings of expectations. True life and love comes from chosen-disciplined living, unjudged acceptance and unconditioanal gratefulness.
Born and lived in the 1800's, Henry George was an early American economist. He was also looked upon with political influence as a philospher forming policies that helped shape the American economic infrastructure. He who sees the truth, let him proclaim it, without asking who is for it or who is against it.Living in a politically-correct world, we need to remain bold and stalwart to follow and live our convictions. Sometimes its not that easy though, right? I remind myself, dig a little deeper, and a little more, and a little more until all doubt has left.
CS Lewis helped changed the world's landscape, but he first started by changing himself. His faith, his strength, his courage is an inspiration. Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.There's something surreal about that phrase - How we can be loved unconditionally. Its unfathomable by the human mind, which is why you have to let mind go. Feel it with your heart. Feel it with your soul.
CS Lewis was an atheist in his youth. He described himself as being "very angry with God for not existing." He was later influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and Catholic friend J. R. R. Tolkien, and by G.K. Chesterton's book, The Everlasting Man. He slowly rediscovered Christianity. He came to believe in the existence of God although he fought greatly against it. He describes his last struggle in Surprised by Joy:You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.It sounds incredibly similar both in feeling and action. God wanted me to hit bottom. Not for him, but so I would see Him. I had been blind and deaf, stupid and ignorant.
My best friend told me of her similar experience and I relate her advice, and my 'awakening' with these words, 'I was trying to find myself by looking to the core of my humanity. I was looking in the wrong place. There is fault in being human. It is the Divinity within me that I must listen to, trust completely."
Born in Northern Ireland, CS Lewis was awarded many honorary doctorates for his accomplishments, but he found self- passion in Renaissance literature and Poetry. What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what kind of a person you are.Move. Change where you are standing. You are missing the world if you stay in the same spot. What's the saying about grass growing under your feet? You need to find yourself to know you need to move.
Clive Staples Lewis, or more commonly known to his friends as 'Jack', is most recognized for his literary work, The Chronicles of Narnia. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.Maybe its because we turn to Him the most during those times. We should always be listening...
This week we turn to the great author and story-teller CS Lewis... The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal.I wonder why the pain feels so much greater? Is it because we don't really appreciate the happy times? We coast through them without even thinking. We should all be a bit more grateful.
No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time to look inside yourself, view how you are living life, see your faults, surrender your ego and yourself to what is just.I have found myself living in ignorance far too long and its penalty far greater than ever imagined.
Nobel Prize Peace Awardee, the Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu said these words, Without forgiveness, there's no future.
American actress and sex symbol Mae West was the Diva of Vaudeville and a shining star in the hype of Hollywood birth.Love thy neighbor - and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.Ladies, this one's for you.
Born in 1854, the Irishman, Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and an opinionated Critic,I like men who have a future and women who have a past.I don't know exactly what that means,
Sixth American President and eldest son of the second US President, John Quincy Adams stated, Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.Why do we find it so difficult to have patience?
Known as one of America's Best Story-Tellers, a camp-fire dweller and a beloved troubador, Louis L'Amour was a writer of western fiction with over 100 novels and 30 motion pictures penned to his name."Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content."When we settle for being content, we let mediocrity prevail.
Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.Why don't we more carefull choose our words?
The famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison stated, There are no rules here--we're trying to accomplish something.
America's Presidential First LadyA woman is like a tea bag,Agreeably, the same can be said for men.
you can not tell how strong she is
until you put her in hot water.
The legendary showman and creator of the 'Greatest Show on Earth,' PT Barnum started his 'circus' career in 1834 just after an attempt in newspaper publishing. His circus was eventually sold to Ringling Brothers in 1907 for a price of US$400,000.If I shoot at the sun I may hit a star.Let us all aim high.
Writer of science fiction and short stories, William Rotsler gives us these words, You won't find a solution by saying there is no problem.So let us be mindful of problems and find solutions.
Once known as The Lady Diana Spencer with paternal honor of Earl, Diana Frances became Princess with wedlock to Prince Charles in 1981 - becoming Princess Diana of Wales. She soon became one of the world's most influential women in history. May we strive to act with such compassion and love as she did.Only do what your heart tells you.
American folk and blues singer, guitarist and song writer, Dave Van Ronk said, Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone - and hurt them to the bone - you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time.I agree with the man.
French pilot and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery remarks on love, Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.Antoine must not have found the right lady.
As i wait in the airport with a 5-hour delay, i am reminded of these words from Scottish Historian and notable essayist of the Victorian era Thomas Carlyle, Endurance is patience concentrated.
American writer, editor and publisher Elbert Hubbard said, He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.Silence is a wonderful form of communication rarely used.
British Conservative and once Aithest turned Anglican, the Right Honourable Enoch Powell said these words, For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea.It is amazing how politician's learn to ride the wave. Surf's up!
Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said, I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in fifty years what my father taught me by example in one week.We learn by example.
The United Kingdom's only jewish Prime Minister, Benjamin Disreali is credited with starting the Conservative Party and was most known in his day for wearing fancy clothes. I feel a very unusual sensation - if it's not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.There's no sensation quite like that of gratitude.
A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, Basil Rathbone is most worldly known for his role as Sherlock Holmes, although he was commonly also casted as the sauve villian for such movies as The Adventures of Robin Hood, A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield in the 1930's. It is even rumored that he was screen-tested and interviewed for the role of Rhett Butler. Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart.We must choose to live our passions and not look back.
Actress Uta Hagen was involved with over 22 Broadway Productions and is credited as one of the most important acting teachers in America. She wrote with wit and clarity about the technical craft of acting. We must overcome the notion that we must be regular...it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.Think. Stand. Jump. Be Creative and follow your dreams and passion. We must live the life we feel inside us, just waiting to be free.
Intrigued by Western and Eastern philosophies, 1946 Literature Nobel Laurerate Hermann Hesse was awarded with these words, "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style."His last work was The Glass Bead Game. Interesting to note, his popularity in America occurred during the late 1960's and into the out-spoken 1970's. Hesse died in August 1962.
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.All cut from the same cloth, should we mend our own imperfections, others would also be no longer visible.
Until the 1920's, this man was known chiefly in avant-garde and esoteric literary circles. The 1947 Nobel Prize of Literature went to French writer André Paul Guillaume Gide with this statement, "for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight."It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.I think we determine its an adventure when we're already on the roller coaster, or when the ride has come to its stop.
Once-time ambulance driver Ernest Hemingway was honored with the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature with these stated remarks, "...for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style."il faut d'abord durer
1978 Nobel Laureate of Literature, Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez wrote various novels, screenplays and most known for his journalistic writings traveling through Mexico and Europe. A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father.I don't know why, but i am shocked when told of the 'spitting-image' resemblance, mannerism and habits of his.
In his will, Alfred Bernhard Nobel established an Award to recognize and inspire those of genius, creativity and perserverance. If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.I wonder sometimes the unlimited potential I could have, if only I focused my energies.
2000 Nobel Prize Winner of Literature, Gao Xingjian is revered for his writings and story=telling. In time, he was banned by the Chinese government for his expressions of life, politics and society.I find the expression of thoughts in writing or in speech to cleanse my mind and clarity of spirit.
When you use words, you're able to keep your mind alive. Writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.
Britian's Margaret Thatcher is the only woman to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Her reign lasted 11 years and 2 US Presidents.Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.As a dear friend often tells, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." Whether right or wrong, we must make a decision, stand by it, learn and live.
God has his way of opening up our eyes to see reality.No matter of social status, it seems to me that we too often get caught up in our lives failing to see reality. If we were only to sit back, open our eyes and see what is around us, perhaps we would all be more grateful.
Business mogul and Richest Man in the World Andrew Carnegie said, As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do.Carnegie publicly stated his wealth was given to benefit the community, he called philanthropy a moral obligation. During his life, he donated over $350 Million and was directly responsible for establishing over 2500 public libraries believing every person had the right to self-educate themself.
The famous War-Time Prime Minister and British Leader Sir Winston Churchill said, Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.When I feel compelled to speak, it is sometimes tougher to stay silent than is to speak my mind, and other times, it is more righteous to speak than let be overshadowed in silence. For this reason, it is not in speaking or listening that courage is found, but in the decisive action of doing one lest the other.
Author and Pulitzer-Prize Columnist Anna Quindlen tell us, The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
