Try Again Next Time

              A married couple had been trying to have a third child for a while. Unfortunately, the day she was to take a home pregnancy test, he was called out of town on business. 

              Mommy told her young daughters about the test, and they were excited. It was decided if it was positive, she would buy a baby outfit to surprise their father when he got home. 

              The three of them stood in the bathroom eagerly waiting for the telltale line to appear. When it did not, her thoughtful seven-year-old gave Mommy a hug. “It’s okay, Mom,” she said. “The next time Daddy goes out of town, you can try and get pregnant again.”

And Thus The Days Go By

I love this poem. Short, simple and concise. It describes life in a few words. Simply brilliant and beautiful.

We live and work and dream,

Each has his little scheme,

Sometimes we laugh;

Sometimes we cry.

And thus the days go by.

- Unknown

Life is …

More thoughts and views on life … 

… made up of small pleasures, and tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything. - Norman Lear

… a dynamic process. It welcomes anyone who takes up the invitation to be an active part of it. What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to live life. - Leo Buscaglia

… an error-making and an error-correcting process, and nature in marking man’s papers will grade him for wisdom as measured both by survival and by the quality of life of those who survive. - Jonas Salk

… divided into three terms – that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in the future. - William Wordsworth

… the only art that we are required to practice without preparation, and without being allowed the preliminary trials, the failures and botches, that are essential for training. - Lewis Mumford

… without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning. - Joseph Campbell 

… ambiguous; there are many right answers – all depending on what you are looking for. But if you think there is only one right answer, then you’ll stop looking as soon as you find one. - Roger von Oech

… short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind. - Henri Frederic Amiel

… made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort. - Humphrey Davy 

… a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death. - Anais Nin 

… a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it. - Sai Baba

… all about timing … the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable becomes available, the unattainable becomes attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. - Stacey Charter

… a just and impartial employer that will give you what you ask for – just as long as you are willing to bear the labour for the fortune you are receiving. 

… full of pain, but without it you will never be motivated enough to change for the better. Take pain as your guiding light to move towards perfection. 

Secrets of Creation

This world is nothing but a dance of shadows, 

A line drawn between darkness and light, 

Joy and oppression, 

Time and eternity.

Learn to read this subtle line

For it tells all the secrets of creation. 

- Fakhruddin Araqi

Friends

Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay”. And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught. And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. - Gibran Khalil Gibran

Quote Worthy

This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men. - Captain J. A. Hadfield

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life. - Marcus Aurelius

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

I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. - Ulysses S. Grant

It may be more important to have at least one person with whom we can share open and honest thoughts and feeling than it is to have a whole network of more superficial relationships. - Dr Blair Justice

Mind and spirit together make up that which separates us from the rest of the animal world, that which enables a man to know the truth and that which enables him to die for the truth. - Edith Hamilton

I always seek the good that is in people and leave the bad to Him who made mankind and knows how to round off the corners. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There is harmony and inner peace to be found in following a moral compass that points in the same direction regardless of fashion or trend. - Ted Koppel

The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one. - George Bernard Shaw

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible. - Richard M. Devos

Elderly people and those in authority cannot always be relied upon to take enlightened and comprehending views of what they call the indiscretions of youth. - Winston Churchill

The Hoarse Whisperer

The claim: Whispering can harm your voice.

The facts: Ever have a bad case of laryngitis?

To protect your voice, you may have felt the urge to whisper. But many otolaryngologists advise against this, warning that whispering actually causes more trauma to the larynx than normal speech.

Singers in need of vocal rest are often given the same advice: Avoid whispering. It will damage your pipes.

However, Dr Robert Sataloff, chairman of the otolaryngology department at Drexel University College of Medicine, said this recommendation was based on “years of pronouncement and almost no research, like so much in medicine.”

So in 2006, Dr Sataloff, who is also a professional opera baritone, sought out an answer in a large study, Laryngeal Hyperfunction During Whispering: Reality or Myth?

With a team of colleagues, he recruited 100 subjects and examined their vocal cords with fibre-optic scopes as they counted from one to 10, first in a normal voice, then in a whisper.

Dr Adam Rubin, a co-author, said that in 69 of the subjects, whispering put more strain on the vocal cords.

“They were squeezing their vocal cords together more tightly to produce the whisper, which is more traumatic,” said Dr Rubin, director of the Lakeshore Professional Voice Centre in Michigan. Eighteen subjects showed no change. In 13, whispering was easier on the vocal cords.

For people concerned about their voices, Dr. Sataloff recommends that they avoid whispering and simply talk softly - in “the voice you would use if you wanted to talk to somebody next to you without having other people in the room hear.”

The bottom line: For some people, whispering can cause more trauma to the larynx than normal speech.

- The New York Times 

Let Us Work It Out

              My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned because could not concentrate. 

              Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just could not hack it, so they gave me the axe. 

              After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just was not suited for it. 

              Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting. 

              Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just did not fit in. 

              I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I could not live on my net income. 

              I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining. 

              So then I got a job in a gymnasium, but they said I was not fit for the job. 

              I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it. 

              SO I RETIRED, AND I FOUND I AM A PERFECT FIT FOR THE JOB!

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the Spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The following are excerpts from his speeches/books 

          Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others' happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace - anxiety, doubt, disappointment - these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.

          What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others' happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

          I believe the ultimate aim of all human beings is to obtain happiness and a sense of fulfillment. These objectives can be achieved through physical amenities and proper mental development, but the dominant and ultimate factor is the mental aspect. In order to achieve these objectives one must have knowledge about both mind and matter.

          Scientists may study mainly matter but they cannot ignore the human mind, or consciousness: spiritual practitioners may be engaging mainly in developing the mind but they cannot completely ignore their physical needs.

        It is for this reason that I have always stressed the importance of combining both mental and the material approach to achieving happiness for humankind. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

          As long as there is a lack of the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, no matter what external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the feeling of joy and happiness that you are seeking.

          On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality of calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, then even if you lack various external facilities that you would normally consider necessary for happiness, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful life. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The work of a person laboring in some humble occupation is no less relevant to the well-being of society than that of, for example, a doctor, a teacher, a monk, or a nun. All human endeavor is potentially great and noble. So long as we carry out our work with good motivation, thinking, “My work is for others,” it will be of benefit to the wider community. But when concern for others’ feelings and welfare is missing, our activities tend to become spoiled. Through lack of basic human feeling, religion, politics, economics, and so on can be rendered dirty. Instead of serving humanity, they become agents of destruction. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We can spend our life trying to ‘tame’ the world, a task that would never end; or we can take the more practical path of ‘taming’ our own minds. The latter is by far the more effective approach, and brings the most immediate, stable and lasting solution. It contributes to our own inner happiness, and also contributes to establishing an atmosphere of peace and harmony in the world around us. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I have come to the conclusion that whether or not a person is a religious believer does not matter. Far more important is that they be a good human being. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you can cultivate wholesome mental states prior to sleep and allow them to continue right into sleep without getting distracted, then sleep itself becomes wholesome. 

Proverbs

A wild goose never lay a tame egg. - Unknown

Different strokes for different folks. - Unknown

Do not judge a book by its cover. - Unknown

It is impossible to overdo luxury. - Unknown

Love is a kind of military service. - Unknown

Speak of a man as you find him. - Unknown

Be just before you are generous. - Unknown

Make hay while the sun shines. - Unknown

Slow and steady wins the race. - Unknown

Fall seven times, stand up eight. - Unknown

Praise youth and it will prosper. - Unknown

A man surprised is half beaten. - Unknown

Prevention is better than cure. - Unknown

Poverty is the root of all evils. - Unknown

Never cut what you can untie. - Unknown

Glory is the shadow of virtue. - Unknown

A lion’s skin is never cheap. - Unknown

Skill to do comes by doing. - Unknown

Fine feathers make fine birds. - Unknown

Beware the man of one book. - Unknown

One is never too old to yearn. - Unknown

Love

When you love someone, you do not love him or her all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet, this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom. The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what it was, nor forward to what it might be, but living in the present and accepting it as it is now. - Anne Lindbergh

Success

No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and prepared to assume responsibilities. - Unknown

If you want to succeed in the world, you must make your own opportunities. - Unknown

A strong desire for success can numb your pain during defeat which helps you endure until you finally reach victory. - Unknown

The difference between a successful person and a very successful person is the size of his or her dreams. - Unknown

Ride ahead with spirit and enthusiasm, where a smooth and speedy success awaits. - Unknown

The only reliable short-cut to success is modelling after those who are successful. - Unknown

The measure of success does not end once it is attained, for greater success goes a long way, waiting to be claimed. - Unknown

Will the success of others around you encourage and raise you or bring out the jealousy that destroys you? - Unknown

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. - Unknown

The secret of success is this: there is no secret of success. - Elbert Hubbard

No other success can compensate for failure in the home. - David McKay

The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen. - Sarah Brown

Sometimes success is due less to ability than to zeal. - Charles Buxton

Successful people are simply those with success habits. - Brian Tracy

Successful people have a definite plan and a burning desire to match.

To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work. 

A minute's success pays the failure of years. - Robert Browning

If you are thirsty, drink deep; if you want success – commit! - Unknown 

Be A Friend

Be a friend. 

You don't need money: 

Just a disposition sunny; 

Just the wish to help another 

Get along some way or other; 

Just a kindly hand extended 

Out to one who's unbefriended; 

Just the will to give or lend, 

This will make you someone's friend. 

Be a friend. 

You don't need glory. 

Friendship is a simple story. 

Pass by trifling errors blindly, 

Gaze on honest effort kindly, 

Cheer the youth who's bravely trying, 

Pity him who's sadly sighing; 

Just a little labor spend 

On the duties of a friend. 

Be a friend. 

The pay is bigger (Though not written by a figure) 

Than is earned by people clever 

In what's merely self-endeavor. 

You'll have friends instead of neighbors 

For the profits of your labors; 

You'll be richer in the end 

Than a prince, 

If you're a friend. 

- Edgar Albert Guest

Life is ...

Different thoughts and views on life ...

… a creative process, not a journey of discovery or a school of learning. You’re not discovering yourself, but recreating yourself. So don’t try and figure out who you are, but establish who you want to be. You create your reality every minute, probably without realizing it. You can be, do, and have whatever you can imagine. - Neale Donald Walsch

… not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. - Marie Curie

… like a game of cards. Reliability is the ace, industry the king, politeness the queen, thrift the jack. Common sense is playing to best advantage the cards you draw. And every day, as the game proceeds, you will find the ace, king, queen, jack in your hand and opportunity to use them. - Ed Howe

… a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which we endure help us in our marching onward. - Henry Ford

… a competition not with others, but with ourselves. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to surpass ourselves. - David B. Haight

… so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power. - Giovanni Giocondo

… a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few win, that so many lose. - Joseph Brodsky

… either a daring adventure, or nothing. Security does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. - Helen Keller

… too short for us to spend great chunks of our time doing things we’d rather not be doing. We should be less fearful of saying no. - Leo Buscaglia

… easier to take than you think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable and bear the intolerable. - Kathleen Norris

… about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. - Gilda Radner

… like walking across a suspended tightrope. If one does not concentrate on looking ahead, but keeps looking back instead, one will surely fall. - Unknown

Hearing Aid

              An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear one hundred percent. 

              The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.” 

              The gentleman replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”

Sound Therapy

              Disease is simply part of our bodies vibrating out of tune, says pioneering sound therapist Jonathan Goldman. ‘Every organ, bone, tissue and other part of the body has a healthy resonant frequency. When that frequency alters, that part of the body vibrates out of harmony and that is what is termed disease. If it were possible to determine the correct resonant frequency for a healthy organ and then project it into that part which is diseased, the organ should return to its normal frequency and a healing should occur.

              Goldman firmly believes that, by creating sounds that are harmonious with the correct frequency of the healthy organ, we could all learn how to heal ourselves, bringing our bodies back into balance. He, along with other sound researchers, have been focusing most of their attention on the sacred chants of varying traditions, believing that the high-frequency harmonics that most of them share, could be having profound effects on both the mind and body.

Happiness

Where, then, does happiness lie? In forgetfulness, not indulgence, of the self. In escape from sensual appetites, not in their satisfaction. We live in a dark, self-enclosed prison, which is all we see or know if our glance is fixed ever downward. To lift it upward, becoming aware of the wide, luminous universe outside – this alone is happiness. At its highest level, such happiness is the ecstasy that mystics have inadequately described. At more humdrum levels, it is human love; the delights and beauties of our dear earth, its colours and shapes and sounds; the enchantment of understanding and laughing, and all other exercise of such faculties as we possess; the marvel of the meaning of everything, fitfully glimpsed, inadequately expounded, but ever present. - Malcolm Muggeridge

Art Of Peace

In your training, do not be in a hurry. Never think of yourself as an all-knowing, perfected master; you must continue to train daily with your friends and students and progress together in the Art of Peace. 

The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter. 

- Morihei Ueshiba

 

Proverbs

You cannot get blood out of a stone. - Unknown

An idle man is the devil’s playfellow. - Unknown

Two wrongs do not make a right. - Unknown

Little boats must keep to the shore. - Unknown

He laughs best who laughs last. - Unknown

Spare the rod and spoil the child. - Unknown

A bad penny always comes back. - Unknown

It is better to be safe than sorry. - Unknown

A closed mouth gathers no feet. - Unknown

That suit is best that best suits me. - Unknown

He who knows most, speaks least. - Unknown

A beggar can never be bankrupt. - Unknown

Self-praise is no recommendation. - Unknown

The higher up, the greater the fall. - Unknown

Better an enemy than a false friend. - Unknown

The sleepy fox catches no chickens. - Unknown

Use soft words and hard arguments. - Unknown

Do not employ handsome servants. - Unknown

Dig the well before you are thirsty. - Unknown

Hold a true friend with both hands. - Unknown

Mixed Up At The Doctor’s

              Mr. Smith went to the Doctor's office to collect his wife’s test results. 

              Receptionist: I’m sorry, sir, but there has been a bit of a mix-up and we have a problem. When we sent the samples from your wife to the lab, the samples from another Mrs. Smith were sent as well and we are now uncertain which one is your wife’s. Frankly, that's either bad or terrible.

              Mr. Smith: What do you mean? 

              Receptionist: Well, one Mrs. Smith has tested positive for Alzheimer disease and the other for AIDS. We cannot tell which is your wife.

              Mr. Smith: That’s terrible! What am I supposed to do now? 

              Receptionist: The doctor recommends that you drop your wife off in the middle of town and if she finds her way home, don’t have sex with her.”

Four Ways Of Letting Go

A rather long talk. But I guess if you are speaking to devotees from all walks of life, you have to be more elaborate. Still, I find the talk enlightening.

People Are Awesome

The stunts are simply … stunning. Some of them are extreme-ly dangerous. 

Lunar New Year

For those celebrating the occasion - a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you! Xin Nien Kuai Le!

Food For Thought

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