dubsea

2011-07-14T12:28:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

- Albert Einstein

Where You Lead

2011-05-16T01:04:00.000-04:00

If you don’t notice and appreciate life’s beauty today, why will anyone else? If you don’t make the effort to make a difference, why should anyone else?

It’s easy to assume that someone else will take up the slack. But when everyone makes that assumption, nothing much gets done.

Choose instead to act as if all of life is seeing itself through your eyes. Live as if all of life is depending on you to express its highest, most beautiful purpose through what you do.

Live as though your world depends on you. Because it does, even when no one appears to be watching, and even when no one seems to care.

All that you think, all that you do, and all that you are, truly matters. It goes far beyond you and makes the world what it is.

Lead with care, lead with positive purpose, lead with love. And your world becomes a little bit brighter as it follows where you lead.

Ralph Marston

Change

2011-03-21T20:47:00.002-04:00

A bend in the road is not the end of the road...
Unless you fail to make the turn.

Downright Fortunate!

2011-03-11T15:10:00.001-05:00

Sometimes your efforts can seem tiresome and downright exhausting. Consider, though, how truly fortunate you are to be in a position to make them, and even more so, to make them meaningful.

2010-10-28T18:53:00.001-04:00

Keep your faith higher than your fear and you'll be fine.

Lewis Rudd

What It's All About

2010-07-24T19:22:00.000-04:00

Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself.

Edgar Allan Poe

Business Conception

2010-03-10T23:19:00.004-05:00

Such a conception excluded, for instance, the competitive urge to growth inherent in the idea of business for business' sake. The overriding concern was family independence, and in tenaciously holding to this purpose the French businessman was often prepared to sacrifice chances of growth and increased profits where this might mean dependence on outside capital. Not profit, but social function justified commercial survival and a modest degree of success.

Krishan Kumar
Prophecy and Progress:
The Sociology of Industrial and Post-Industrial Society

Love is Becoming

2010-01-25T01:01:00.002-05:00

What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply, becomes part of us.

Posted by: Simran

Becoming

2010-01-15T23:07:00.000-05:00

Because this path you're now on, this entrepreneurial path, winds around corners that will amaze you at times, and even shock you at others. To be sure, it will be anything but certain, but that's why it is so exciting! It's the path of surprise. It's the path of constant engagement. And because it's all those things, it is truly the path of life, or, as Rollo May might have called it, "the path of freedom." He said: "Thus freedom is not just the matter of saying 'Yes' or 'No' to a specific decision: it is the power to mold and create ourselves. Freedom is the capacity, to use Nietzsche's phrase, 'to become what we truly are.'"

Michael Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited

shared by: Sean

Define the Future

2009-12-14T21:52:00.000-05:00

Remember, Sarah, any plan is better than no plan. Because in the process of defining the future, the plan begins to shape itself into reality, both the reality of the world out there and the reality you are able to create in here.

And as those two realities merge, they form a new reality - call it your reality, call it the unique invention that is uniquely yours, the reality of your mind and your heart uniting with all the elements of your business, and your business with the world, shaping, designing, collaborating, to form something that never existed before in exactly that way.

Michael Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited

shared by: Sean Scott

For You

2009-12-14T16:11:00.003-05:00

Life's best dreams are for you because you can follow them. Great and fulfilling success is for you because you can achieve it.

Magnificent beauty is for you because you can appreciate and enjoy it. Love is for you because you can lose yourself in it.

This moment is for you because you can make good and valuable use of it. The challenges are for you because you can transform them into achievements, and grow stronger in the process.

The ups and downs, the joys, distractions, setbacks, opportunities, pleasures, pains and delights are all yours. Because you can experience them and give your own special meaning to them.

This day, this moment, this world, this life is for you to see and to live and to express in your very own special way. Feel the magnificent opportunity of it all.

The possibilities are astounding. And there's a big, uplifting, fulfilling possibility that's just perfect for you right now.

Ralph Marston

Limited Activity

2009-12-08T18:48:00.000-05:00

With the image as a model, the sage learns how to best develop himself so that his influence might endure. He must make himself strong in every way, by consciously casting out all that is inferior and degrading. Thus he attains that tirelessness which depends upon consciously limiting the fields of his activity.

Road Trips

2009-11-23T12:11:00.005-05:00

Para mi solo recorrer los caminos que tienen corazon, cualquier camino que tenga corazon. Por ahi you recorro, y la unica prueba que vale es atravesar todo su largo. Y por ahi yo recorro mirando, mirando, sin aliento.

(For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worth-while challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly.)

Don Juan

...nothing more can be attempted than to establish the beginning and the direction of an infinitely long road. The pretension of any systematic and definitive completeness would be, at least, a self-illusion. Perfection can here be obtained by the individual student only in the subjective sense that he communicates everything he has been able to see.

Georg Simmel

shared by: Joerael Elliott :) (:

2009-10-26T18:33:00.003-04:00

The power
of love
is infinite.

Yogi Tea

Don't Be Fooled

2009-10-08T18:00:00.001-04:00

Your fears make you foolish.

Jewel of the Nile

Remain True

2009-08-12T13:12:00.004-04:00

Cherish your visions.
Cherish your ideals.
Cherish the music that stirs in your heart,
the beauty that forms in your mind,
the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts,
for out of them will grow all delightful conditions,
all heavenly environment;
of these,
if you but remain true to them,
your world will at last be built.

James Allen, As A Man Thinketh

2009-07-15T17:22:00.001-04:00

Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.

You've got to find your treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Being

2009-07-13T18:54:00.000-04:00

Be who you are and say what you feel...
Because those that matter... Don't mind...
And those that mind... Don't matter.

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

from Rich

Priceless

2009-06-08T23:21:00.001-04:00

There’s been a lot of glamorous financial news in the papers lately… multi-media conglomerates, billions of billions of dollars in assets… and much more such mergers are to come, or so we are told. I would like to hear some glamorous talk about elevating the quality of films and television. Entertainment that in the words of T.S Eliot: “Enlarges the Sympathies that stimulate the mind and the spirit, that warms the heart, punctures the balloons of hypocrisy, greed, and sham. Tickles the funny bone and leaves us with a glow that comes when we have been well entertained.”

Making millions is not the whole ballgame. Fellows, pride of workmanship is worth more. Artistry is worth more. The human imagination is a priceless resource. The public is ready for the best you can give them. It just may be that you can make a buck and at the same time encourage, foster, and commission work of quality and originality.

Gregory Peck

Devotion & Energy

2009-05-31T13:00:00.001-04:00

In life, what more can you ask for than to be real? To fulfill one’s potential instead of wasting energy on [attempting to] actualize one’s dissipating image, which is not real and an expenditure of one’s vital energy. We have great work ahead of us, and it needs devotion and much, much energy. To grow, to discover, we need involvement, which is something I experience every day — sometimes good, sometimes frustrating. No matter what, you must let your inner light guide you out of the darkness.

Bruce Lee

No Ordinary Moments

2009-05-18T23:07:00.002-04:00

Peaceful warriors have the patience to wait
until the mud settles and the waters clear.
They remain unmoving until the right time,
so the right action arises by itself.
They do not seek fulfillment, but wait with open arms
to welcome all things.
Ready to use all situation, wasting nothing,
they embody the Light.

Peaceful warriors have three great treasures:
simplicity, patience, and compassion.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
they return to the source of Being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
they live in harmony with the way things are.
Compassionate towards themselves,
they make peace with the world.

Some may call this teaching nonsense;
others may call it lofty and impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And for those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has deep roots.

Lao-Tzu (adapted from a poem by)

Dan Millman, No Ordinary Moments

thank you for sending my Redneck Philosopher friend

The Path Between

2009-05-16T19:21:00.000-04:00

Welding Rodeo 2009, Bellingham Technical College

incited by Bob H.E. double hockey sticks

Enchanting

2009-05-09T18:17:00.000-04:00

The human brain is an enchanted loom whose millions of flashing shuttles weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful pattern, though never an abiding one, a shifting harmony of sub-patterns. It is as if the milky way entered upon some cosmic dance.

Charles Sherrington

Ride & Smile

2009-04-21T13:15:00.002-04:00

Life is like a riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Albert Einstein

Sincere thanks to the team at Counterbalance Bicycles

The Point of the Heart

2009-03-28T16:05:00.000-04:00

The point is what's so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There's a certain orchid that looks exactly like a certain insect so the insect is drawn to this flower, its double, its soulmate. It wants nothing more than to make love to it. And after the insect flies off, spots another soulmate flower and makes love to it, thus pollinating it. And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their love making. And how could they know that because of their little dance, the world lives. It does by simply doing what they're designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense they show us how to live, how the only barometer you have is your heart. How when you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way.

Charlie Kaufmann & Donald Kaufmann, Adaptation

Heavenly Sweet

2009-03-08T18:58:00.002-04:00

Design is always a tortuous, grueling, almost maddening, though heavenly sweet, task.

Charles Haertling

from Dwell magazine, thank you Heff

A Thrilling Experience

2009-02-25T23:38:00.001-05:00

There will never be an end to any of the eternal verities like Truth, Love, Beauty. There will never be an end to God, nor to any of the attributes which are co-eternal and co-existent with God. If we are wise, we shall cultivate a faith in these realities. This is not a difficult task, but a thrilling experience.

Ernest Holmes, Science of the Mind

recommended by: Melinda

Everything is Connected

2009-02-09T09:45:00.002-05:00

Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects, etc. ... the quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.

Charles Eames

On the Road Again

2008-11-07T12:03:00.003-05:00

If he is irresistibly driven toward his goal, he must set out on his way again, take the road to the artless art. He must dare to leap into the Origin, so as to live by the Truth and in the Truth, like one who has become one with it. He must become a pupil again, a beginner; conquer the last and steepest stretch of the way, undergo new transformations. If he survives its perils, then is his destiny fulfilled; face to face he beholds the unbroken Truth, the Truth beyond all truths, the formless Origin of origins, the Void which is the All; is absorbed into it and from it emerges reborn.

Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery

2008-10-29T23:32:00.002-04:00

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.

forwarded by: Gwynn

Change Constantly

2008-10-22T21:17:00.002-04:00

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

Confucius

So True

2008-10-08T09:51:00.001-04:00

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a
thousandfold.

Aristotle

A Full Life

2008-09-16T00:05:00.002-04:00

A good way to rid oneself of the frustrations and anxieties that build up in this overly-civilized world of ours - to bend, to sweat, to feel your muscles tighten in honest labor, to watch things grow as a result of that labor - that, to me, is a fulfillment I could never find in any other way of life.
- Jim McPherson

Hugo Freed, Orchids and Serendipity

from: Dad's Library

2008-05-27T02:15:00.001-04:00

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

Tacitus

2008-05-24T11:19:00.002-04:00

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

Albert Einstein

Lemons & Sugar

2008-04-15T15:43:00.003-04:00

There are at least two people in this world
that you would die for.

At least 15 people in this world
love you in some way.

The only reason anyone would ever hate you
is because they want to be just like you.

A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone,
even if they don't like you.

Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you
before they go to sleep.

You mean the world to someone.

You are special and unique.

Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

When you make the biggest mistake ever,
something good comes from it.

When you think the world has turned its back on you
take another look.

Always remember the compliments you received.
Forget about the rude remarks.

And always remember....
when life hands you Lemons,
ask for Sugar and call me !

I would rather have one rose and a kind word
from a friend while I'm here
than a whole truckload when I'm gone.

Happiness keeps You Sweet,
Trials keep You Strong,
Sorrows keep You Human,
Life keeps You Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only Love keeps You Going

forwarded by: Mom

Heaven on Earth

2008-04-02T16:58:00.000-04:00

Poetry of Pictures

2008-03-27T09:47:00.003-04:00

ONCE, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fashioned an image of snow.
Fashioned the form of a tribesman—gaily he whistled and sung,
Working the snow with his fingers. Read ye the Story of Ung!

Pleased was his tribe with that image—came in their hundreds to scan—
Handled it, smelt it, and grunted: “Verily, this is a man!
“Thus do we carry our lances—thus is a war-belt slung.
“Lo! it is even as we are. Glory and honour to Ung!”

Later he pictured an aurochs—later he pictured a bear—
Pictured the sabre-tooth tiger dragging a man to his lair—
Pictured the mountainous mammoth, hairy, abhorrent, alone—
Out of the love that he bore them, scribing them clearly on bone.

Swift came the tribe to behold them, peering and pushing and still—
Men of the berg-battered beaches, men of the boulder-hatched hill—
Hunters and fishers and trappers, presently whispering low:
“Yea, they are like—and it may be— But how does the Picture-man know?”

“Ung—hath he slept with the Aurochs—watched where the Mastodon roam?
“Spoke on the ice with the Bow-head—followed the Sabre-tooth home?
“Nay! These are toys of his fancy! If he have cheated us so,
“How is there truth in his image—the man that he fashioned of snow?”

Wroth was that maker of pictures—hotly he answered the call:
“Hunters and fishers and trappers, children and fools are ye all!
“Look at the beasts when ye hunt them!” Swift from the tumult he broke,
Ran to the cave of his father and told him the shame that they spoke.

And the father of Ung gave answer, that was old and wise in the craft,
Maker of pictures aforetime, he leaned on his lance and laughed:
“If they could see as thou seest they would do what thou hast done,
“And each man would make him a picture, and—what would become of my son?

“There would be no pelts of the reindeer, flung down at thy cave for a gift,
“Nor dole of the oily timber that comes on the Baltic drift;
No store of well-drilled needles, nor ouches of amber pale;
“No new-cut tongues of the bison, nor meat of the stranded whale.

“Thou hast not toiled at the fishing when the sodden trammels freeze,
“Nor worked the war-boats outward through the rush of the rock-staked seas,
“Yet they bring thee fish and plunder—full meal and an easy bed—
“And all for the sake of thy pictures.” And Ung held down his head.

“Thou hast not stood to the Aurochs when the red snow reeks of the fight;
“Men have no time at the houghing to count his curls aright.
“And the heart of the hairy Mammoth, thou sayest, they do not see,
“Yet they save it whole from the beaches and broil the best for thee.

“And now do they press to thy pictures, with opened mouth and eye,
“And a little gift in the doorway, and the praise no gift can buy:
“But—sure they have doubted thy pictures, and that is a grievous stain—
“Son that can see so clearly, return them their gifts again!”

And Ung looked down at his deerskins—their broad shell-tasselled bands—
And Ung drew downward his mitten and looked at his naked hands;
And he gloved himself and departed, and he heard his father, behind:
“Son that can see so clearly, rejoice that thy tribe is blind!”

Straight on the glittering ice-field, by the caves of the lost Dordogne,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fell to his scribing on bone
Even to mammoth editions. Gaily he whistled and sung,
Blessing his tribe for their blindness. Heed ye the Story of Ung!

Rudyard Kipling, The Story of Ung (1894)

recommended by: John, Redneck Philosopher

Smiled Upon

2008-03-25T22:54:00.002-04:00

2008-02-22T13:07:00.002-05:00

Don't just live the life you've been given...
Make the life you want.

card from: lil Monkey

New World

2008-01-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

I am going from the Old world to the New; and I fancy I feel like those who are leaving this world for the next: grief at the parting; fear of the passage; hope of the future.

Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the Life & Writings of Benjamin Franklin

2007-12-29T15:55:00.000-05:00

We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going day in and out. Concentrate on something useful. Having decided to achieve a task, achieve it at all costs.

Arnold Bennett

Take it Easy

2007-12-12T20:31:00.000-05:00

They must find it difficult...
Those who have taken authority as the truth,
Rather than truth as the authority.

ZEITGEIST, The Movie - Official Release

Dutiful

2007-12-09T00:45:00.000-05:00

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world, which remain unknown even to ourselves, or when they are disclosed, surprise nobody so much as the benefactor.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Category 3

2007-11-28T15:55:00.001-05:00

There are those who work all day, and there are those who dream all day, and those who spend an hour daydreaming before setting to work to fulfill those dreams. Go into the third category because there's virtually no competition.

Father of Steven Ross (builder of Time Warner)

from: Tom Gilmore, Organzitional Learning and the Leadership Skill of Time Travel

B-more

2007-11-11T15:39:00.000-05:00

2007-11-10T19:49:00.000-05:00

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.

Bruce Barton

Powerful

2007-10-26T19:40:00.000-04:00

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

forwarded by: Judy

2007-10-20T19:08:00.000-04:00

Wishing you Peace. With Sympathy

2007-10-17T11:32:00.000-04:00

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

from: Simran

On the Road of Life

2007-08-30T20:30:00.000-04:00

When you get there, remember where you came from.

with Cameron @ North Woods Coffee Co., Coldwater, MI

Work It

2007-08-25T15:54:00.000-04:00

The object of living is work, experience, happiness. There is joy in work. All that money can do is buy us someone else’s work in exchange for our own. There is no happiness except in realization that we have accomplished something.

Henry Ford

Always Room for Coffee

2007-07-21T18:46:00.000-04:00

This is so true and how we forget

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions--and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else--the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first--the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. "It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

forwarded by: Anna

Courage & Honest Tea

2007-07-17T17:50:00.000-04:00

Honest Tea, Peach ooh-la-la

The Perfect Grind

2007-07-10T22:21:00.000-04:00

If you can't be yourself, you chose the wrong grind.

Taybot

The Greatest Knowledge

2007-07-08T18:52:00.000-04:00

With a single last bang of the bronze drum, all the souls in No Name Place were jolted out of their bodies, my friends' souls, too. Were they dead? Had they been shot? They did not feel wounded. They felt bigger and lighter. They seemed to see themselves, not their physical bodies, but their own thoughts and truths, as if there were a mind mirror that could reflect such things. They all had those mirrors. Now that they were outside their bodies, they could hear without the distortions of ears, speak without the tangle of tongues, see without the blinders of experience. They were open portals to many minds, and the minds flew into the soul, and the soul was contained in the minds of everyone. They knew this was not normal, and yet it was natural. They struggled for words to describe what they felt, that they were every thought they had ever had and those of others, an open repository containing bright particles and endless strands, microscopic stars and infinite trajectories, endless constellations that were holograms within holograms within themselves, the invisible as visible, the impossible as obvious, the greatest knowledge now effortlessly known, and the greatest knowledge was love. Just love. And I knew this too.

Amy Tan, Saving Fish From Drowning

Think Hard

2007-07-04T02:28:00.001-04:00

Great thoughts come from the heart.

Fortune Cookie

So Fortunate

2007-07-01T16:35:00.000-04:00

A career is great, but you can't run your fingers through its hair.

Fortune Cookie

A Great Spirit of This Time

2007-06-30T00:25:00.000-04:00

copyright 2007 Sibelle Nguyen

It is rare to find someone who you have the utmost respect for, let alone whom you have had the honor to work under. I have been so blessed with that honor, and to have been part of this highly functional family.

Thank you Bryan.

Follow Your Destiny, Wherever It Leads You

2007-06-04T19:06:00.000-04:00

There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by.

Life’s circumstances are not always what you might wish them to be. The pattern of life does not necessarily go as you plan. Beyond any understanding, you may at times be led in different directions that you never imagined, dreamed, or designed. Yet if you had never put any effort into choosing a path, or tried to carry out your dream, then perhaps you would have no direction at all.

Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the “whys” and “what ifs,” and rid yourself of confusion. Whatever was — is in the past. Whatever is — is what’s important. The past is a brief reflection. The future is yet to be realized. Today is here.

Walk your path one step at a time — with courage, faith, and determination. Keep your head up, and cast your dreams to the stars. Soon your steps will become firm and your footing will be solid again. A path that you never imagined will become the most comfortable direction you could have ever hoped to follow.

Keep your belief in yourself and walk into your new journey. You will find it magnificent. spectacular, and beyond your wildest imaginings.

Vicki Silvers

Leave Your Mark

2007-05-03T02:19:00.000-04:00

No love or friendship crosses our path, without leaving some mark on it forever.

Lighten Up

2007-04-19T03:10:00.000-04:00

If the shadows appear to be growing darker,
it is because the light that casts them is getting brighter.

Daniel Pinchbeck, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

Resonate

2007-04-15T15:52:00.000-04:00

The essence of information... is not its content but its resonance.

Jose Arguelles

Seeing Stars

2007-03-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

Good friends are like stars.
You don't always see them,
but you always know they're there.

forwarded by: Mom

Man's Character

2007-02-06T15:31:00.000-05:00

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

recommended by: Tuyen

The Art of Virtue

2007-02-01T02:32:00.000-05:00

1. TEMPERANCE.

Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE.

Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversations.

3. ORDER.

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION.

Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY.

Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e. waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY.

Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY.

Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE.

Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION.

Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS.

Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

11. TRANQUILITY.

Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY.

Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY.

Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin

Beautifully Stated

2007-01-28T19:01:00.000-05:00

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

forwarded by: Big Shane

Excerpts from An Old Farmer's Advice

2007-01-26T00:38:00.000-05:00

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You cannot unsay a cruel word.
Every path has a few puddles.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
Don't judge folks by their relatives.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

forwarded by: Big Shane

Powerful Education

2007-01-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

School and other education constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple, and the mark a true one... your discovery that the thing is in many a man's private power, will be invaluable.

Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin

Felicity of Life

2007-01-14T04:25:00.000-05:00

I grew convinc'd that both, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of utmost importance to the felicity of life; and I form'd written resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived.

Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin

Meditation and Water

2007-01-02T03:46:00.000-05:00

Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded forever.

Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Time for the New Year

2006-12-31T16:26:00.000-05:00

May your new year bring
Time for renewal and reflection.
Time for little celebrations.
Time for wonder.
Time for discovery.
Time for dreams.
Happy New Year!

sent by: Rich

Brilliance

2006-12-29T18:50:00.000-05:00

Gems are polished by rubbing, just as men are made brilliant by trials.

Chinese Proverb

Before

2006-11-25T17:34:00.000-05:00

Before you struggle to get what you don't really want, stop. And consider what an exquisite miracle you already are.

Before you spend time complaining that things are not going your way, think for a moment. And see that everything that is, can be put to positive purpose.

Before you waste your life worrying that you might lose it all, gently and lovingly calm your thoughts. Realize that what truly has value can never be taken away.

Before you blame others for all of your troubles, take a step back. And understand that the way to control your own destiny is to take full responsibility for your life.

Before you allow fear to hold you prisoner, remember this. You can learn from the fear, you can use it to more fully prepare, and you can then move confidently ahead.

Before you allow any person, thought, feeling, event or situation to get you down, take a deep breath and consider. This moment is still unfolding, and you can choose right now to make life better than it has ever been.

Ralph Marston

Bulletin posted by: Art

Perfection

2006-11-21T13:40:00.000-05:00

Love is not about
finding the perfect person,
it's about learning to love
an imperfect person... perfectly.

Beatitude

2006-11-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

Definition:	(noun) Supreme blessedness or happiness.
Synonyms:	blessedness, beatification
Usage:	You have it in your power to raise two human beings from a state of actual suffering to such unspeakable beatitude as only generous, noble, self-forgetting love can give.

Free Dictionary.com, Word of the Day

The Beauty Within

2006-10-09T23:10:00.000-04:00

If the beautiful were not in us, how would we ever recognize it?

Ernst Haas

Seeing Secrets

2006-10-09T23:02:00.000-04:00

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.

Diane Arbus

Chocolate Fortunes

2006-09-20T16:11:00.000-04:00

In dreams, as in love, all is possible.

Perugina, Baci

from: Carla

Lean on Me

2006-09-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

Beautiful Rocky Roads

2006-09-10T17:52:00.000-04:00

Live Beautifully

2006-09-07T20:24:00.000-04:00

Give life to beauty

Think a beautiful thought. Feel a beautiful feeling.
Beauty feels good for a reason. It connects you to life's best possibilities.

Beauty is truth expressed in a way that cannot be doubted or denied. Beauty can comfort, heal, calm and inspire.

Beauty is a precious gift. Beauty is always there when you choose to experience it.

Take time to enjoy the beauty that is present in every detail. Savor the beauty in ordinary moments, and you'll keep discovering even more.

Allow the beauty that is, to touch you and transform you. Give life to beauty, and you give much beauty to life.

Ralph Marston

bulletin posted by: Art

Shake it Off

2006-09-07T17:01:00.000-04:00

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a
well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the
well needed to be covered up anyway;
it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and
help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began
to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried
horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he
quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally
looked down the well. He was astonished at what
he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his
back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel
dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it
off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and
happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds
of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well
is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of
our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out
of the deepest wells just by not stopping,
never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.
Expect less.

NOW ............
Enough of that crap . . . The donkey later came back,
and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him.
The gash from the bite got infected and
the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:

When you do something wrong, and try to cover
your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

forwarded by: Lounny

Bittersweet Artwork No.5b

2006-08-31T21:25:00.000-04:00

Bittersweet Artwork No.5a

2006-08-31T09:21:00.000-04:00

Happiness

2006-08-30T16:28:00.000-04:00

Whatever you decide

If you allow others to define happiness for you, then you're not going to truly experience it. If you allow others to dictate what your dreams should be, you will never reach them.

The way to surely and reliably realize your dreams is to choose the ones that have real meaning for you. The way to know happiness is by allowing it to be what you want it to be.

Happiness is whatever you decide it is. And as such, it is always well within your reach.

In any circumstance, happiness is yours to define and to know. No outside factor, no other person, no twist of fate can keep happiness away from you when you allow it to flow out from you.

Putting conditions and restrictions on happiness keeps it at a distance away from you. Let go of the restrictions, and happiness is free to fill your awareness.

The smallest, plainest, simplest moment can be fertile ground for the most extraordinary happiness. Let happiness be from you, and it will absolutely be with you.

bulletin posted by: Art

Secure

2006-08-29T03:26:00.000-04:00

Your economic security does not lie in your job, it lies in your own power to produce - to think, to learn, to create, to adapt. That's true financial independence.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Running in the Rain

2006-08-27T16:42:00.000-04:00

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, Mom, let's run through the rain," she said."What?" Mom asked.

"Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.

"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated, "Mom, let's run through the rain."

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. She paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories... So, don't forget to make time and take opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this to the people you'll never forget and remember to also send it to the person who sent it to you. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.

If you don't send it to anyone, it means you're in a hurry.

Take the time to live!!!

Keep in touch with your friends, you never know when you'll need each other -- and don't forget to run in the rain!

forwarded by: Jen

2006-08-11T21:20:00.000-04:00

http://theoneistheall.wordpress.com/

Risking it All

2006-08-07T19:18:00.000-04:00

...forgiveness is a 'venture in trust' - a venture not always equal in its risks.

Unknown

A Place in Life

2006-07-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

Isn't there some place in your life that you find mysterious, romantic, maybe even painful, and area where you sense a great and important truth is waiting for you?

Arthur Nersesian, Chinese Takeout

A New Way

2006-07-18T18:08:00.001-04:00

One's destination in never a place,
but a new way of seeing things.

upagainstthewall.com, Locations

Another Bittersweet Brand

2006-07-18T18:03:00.000-04:00

... young as she is the stuff
of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy
wish her a lucky passage ...

BB Dakota, Fall 06 _Style BDF42681HV

Lovingly Named

2006-07-13T02:32:00.000-04:00

...yet we are left to make magic of our own names given to us through the love of our parents... our parents were wiser than they knew.

Saul Williams, S√HE

recommended by: Kotchy

If You Love Someone, Tell Them.

2006-07-07T18:47:00.000-04:00

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name
"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim
Just to show that I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in  the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
Remember to always say what you mean.
If you love someone, tell them.
Don't be afraid to express yourself.
Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you.
Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late.
Seize the day.
Never have regrets.
And most importantly, stay close to your friends
and family, for they have helped
make you the person that you are today.

forwarded by: Anna

Cups of Coffee

2006-06-29T00:49:00.000-04:00

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as, one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boi l, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulli ng off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but a fter sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

forwarded by: Mom

Bittersweet Artwork No. 4 . . . Latte Love

2006-05-29T17:41:00.000-04:00

All's Well

2006-05-22T18:53:00.000-04:00

But don't you worry, because everything ends well.
When its not well, its because its not the end yet.

Carlos Diegues, God is Brazilian

Love's Divine

2006-05-18T19:17:00.000-04:00

Give Your Secrets to Someone

2006-05-14T23:21:00.000-04:00

Anything will give up its secrets, if you love it enough.

George Washington Carver