All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter

My Last Blog Post

2007-05-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

~© Errol Flynn~

(If you're interested in looking at my new photographs, I'll be continuing posting them here.)

The Sweet, Simple Things

2007-05-01T21:40:00.000-04:00

I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

~© Laura Ingalls Wilder~

Poetry

2007-04-30T10:40:00.000-04:00

There is only beauty and it has only one perfect expression- poetry. All the rest is a lie, except for those who live by the body, love, and, that love of the mind- friendship. For me, Poetry takes the place of love because it is enamored of itself and because its sensual delight falls back deliciously in my soul.

~© Stephane Mallarm~

My Home

2007-04-29T19:31:00.000-04:00

This is the place that I love the best,
A little brown house, like a ground-bird's nest,
Hid among grasses, and vines, and trees,
Summer retreat of the birds and bees.

The tenderest light that ever was seen
Sifts through the vine-made window screen--
Sifts and quivers, and flits and falls
On home-made carpets and gray-hung walls.

All through June the west wind free
The breath of clover brings to me.
All through the languid July day
I catch the scent of new-mown hay.

The morning-glories and scarlet vine
Over the doorway twist and twine;
And every day, when the house is still,
The humming-bird comes to the window-sill.

In the cunningest chamber under the sun
I sink to sleep when the day is done;
And am waked at morn, in my snow-white bed,
By a singing bird on the roof o'erhead.

Better than treasures brought from Rome,
Are the living pictures I see at home--
My aged father, with frosted hair,
And mother's face, like a painting rare.

Far from the city's dust and heat,
I get but sounds and odors sweet.
Who can wonder I love to stay,
Week after week, here hidden away,
In this sly nook that I love the best--
This little brown house like a ground-bird's nest?

~© Edna Wheeler Wilcox~

Just Let The Sun

2007-04-28T20:47:00.000-04:00

Just let the sun
Shine on your face
Only the darkness blinds your way

You take it easy
You walk on your own
Look for the sunshine
You'll find your way home

Just let the sun
Find your way home

~© Skin, excerpted lyrics~

In The Light

2007-04-27T11:13:00.000-04:00

Dwelling in the light, there is no occasion at all for stumbling, for all things are discovered in the light.

~© George Fox~

The Sensitive Plant

2007-04-26T12:17:00.000-04:00

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

~© Percy Bysshe Shelley~

Reverie

2007-04-25T17:48:00.000-04:00

To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

~© Antoine Rivarol~

A Teachable Moment Of Clarity

2007-04-24T20:09:00.000-04:00

Having long striven, having been driven
To amount to something- now I stand at
The crossroads of a teachable moment

This is a time in which fate would foment
Change to rearrange my reality
And now fate is doing precisely that

It is in the darkness I learn to see
At dusk I learn to hope for coming dawn
In winter I appreciate the spring
And see the light brightest when it is gone

Now fate offers me a challenge to grow
To seek and find the all in everything
And learn the more I know the less I know

To taste of the joy of simply being
And experience the peace of seeing
Not through rose-colored glasses nor through black
Embracing what I have not what I lack

A teachable moment of clarity
It is not too late for this gift of fate:
I rise now to my higher destiny

~© Steven Curtis Lance~

Following The Sun

2007-04-23T21:20:00.000-04:00

Following the sun, to find the one
Who's giving you the wings to fly
Following the sun, the golden one
Losing sense for space and time

Can you feel the waves of life
Can you hear the sigh of love
Do you believe in it

Following the sun, just for the one
Till you'll find the door you thought
Following the sun, like everyone
Searching for a sign of hope

~© Enigma, excerpted lyrics~

Don't Fade Away

2007-04-23T00:35:00.000-04:00

And so I stand at the crossroad,
Watching the sun sinking low...
With my cross of indecision,
Trying to find the way to go...

All in all its been a rocky road,
Twists and turns along the way...
But I still pray for tomorrow,
All my hopes, my dreams
Don't fade away

~© Whitesnake, excerpted lyrics~

Augeries Of Innocence

2007-04-19T08:22:00.000-04:00

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

~© William Blake~

Wash

2007-04-18T18:44:00.000-04:00

everything in the world was falling through
all I knew was to look to you
my sunshine

all my life never found my place
until I felt the sunlight on my face
my sunshine

never meant to waste your time
never meant to fall out of line
I always tried to get closer to you
now it seems with every step
feels like I'm losing my breath
I don't know what else I can do

but you wash over me
you wash over me like rain
and you wash over me
you wash over me like sunshine
and you wash over me
you wash over me like rain
and you fall into me
you crawl into me like sunshine
like sunshine
like sunshine
like sunshine

~© Lifehouse, Excerpted lyrics~

The Setting Sun

2007-04-17T12:14:00.000-04:00

After a day of cloud and wind and rain
Sometimes the setting sun breaks out again,
And touching all the darksome woods with light,
Smiles on the fields until they laugh and sing,
Then like a ruby from the horizon's ring,
Drops down into the night.

~© Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

Life

2007-04-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

~© John W. Gardner~

Bridge To Cross

2007-04-15T01:06:00.000-04:00

All is black and white
Wouldn't change even if I could
I'll take what I'm handed
Whether it's damned or if it's good
If it's good
If it's good

~© Black Label Society~

Every Day Miracles

2007-04-13T16:51:00.000-04:00

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

~© Thich Nhat Hanh~

Spring

2007-04-12T11:22:00.000-04:00

The air and the earth interpenetrated in the warm gusts
of spring; the soil was full of sunlight, and the sunlight full
of red dust. The air one breathed was saturated with
earthy smells, and the grass under foot
had a reflection of the blue sky in it.

~© Willa Cather~

The Violet

2007-04-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of it’s scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, Spring would lose its loveliness.

~© Therese of Lisieux~

When My Heart Is Heavy...

2007-04-09T16:44:00.000-04:00

When my heart is heavy, the sun helps make it light.

~© Astrid Alauda~

Meeting The Easter Bunny

2007-04-08T13:04:00.000-04:00

On Easter morn at early dawn
before the cocks were crowing
I met a bob-tail bunnykin
and asked where he was going.
"Tis in the house and out the house
a-tipsy, tipsy-toeing,
Tis round the house and 'bout the house
a-lightly I am going."
"But what is that of every hue
you carry in your basket?"
"Tis eggs of gold and eggs of blue;
I wonder that you ask it.

"Tis chocolate eggs and bonbon eggs
and eggs of red and gray,
For every child in every house
on bonny Easter day."
He perked his ears and winked his eye
and twitched his little nose;
He shook his tail -- what tail he had --
and stood up on his toes.
"I must be gone before the sun;
the east is growing gray;
Tis almost time for bells to chime." --
So he hippety-hopped away.

~© Author Unknown~

A Lesson

2007-04-06T13:19:00.000-04:00

Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it, so it goes on flying anyway.

~© Mary Kay Ash~

The Dandelion

2007-04-05T15:42:00.000-04:00

It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stony street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun.

~© Henry Ward Beecher~

The Sky

2007-04-04T09:18:00.000-04:00

I have scarcely touched the sky and I am made of it.

~© Antonio Porchia~

Violets

2007-04-03T22:16:00.000-04:00

Again the violet of our early days
Drinks beauteous azure from the golden sun,
And kindles into fragrance at his blaze.

~© Ebenezer Elliott~

Dewdrops

2007-04-02T08:43:00.000-04:00

The dew-drop in the breeze of morn,
Trembling and sparkling on the thorn,
Falls to the ground, escapes the eye,
Yet mounts on sunbeams to the sky.

~© James Montgomery ~

I Will Be

2007-04-01T12:58:00.000-04:00

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.

~© Edna St. Vincent Millay~

The Cloud

2007-03-31T14:02:00.000-04:00

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

~© Percy Bysshe Shelley~

'Tis True

2007-03-30T16:32:00.000-04:00

As the flowers are all made sweeter by the sunshine and the dew, so this old world is made brighter by the lives of folks like you.

~© Bonnie Parker~

In Bloom

2007-03-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

~© Rainer Maria Rilke~

Do Not Let Your Fire Go Out

2007-03-27T15:07:00.000-04:00

In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.

~© Ayn Rand~

Keep In The Sunlight

2007-03-25T15:48:00.000-04:00

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.

~© Ben Franklin~

A Light Unto My Path

2007-03-24T11:15:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure where I'm going
only where I've been
It's been sunny and it's been raining
there's been heat and there's been wind.

This path is so uncertain.
with each twist & curve & turn.
I don't know where I'm going.
But each new day, I learn.

~© forgtnrose (AKA Stephanie, a very good friend)~

Walking In The Clouds

2007-03-24T04:13:00.000-04:00

When I do not walk in the clouds I walk as though I were lost.

~© Antonio Porchia~

No More Walls

2007-03-23T08:45:00.000-04:00

I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.

~© Anais Nin~

Clouds And The Sunset Sky

2007-03-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

~© Rabindranath Tagore~

Happy Spring!

2007-03-21T16:25:00.000-04:00

In springtime, love is carried on the breeze. Watch out for flying passion or kisses whizzing by your head.

~© Emma Racine deFleur~

Extraordinary

2007-03-18T11:34:00.000-04:00

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.

~© Aaron Rose~

Through The Rain

2007-03-17T15:43:00.000-04:00

I know its hard
In a world gone mad
To find the truth
To understand
And I know its hard
To turn the page
To walk the line
To have the faith

But sometimes when its light
And you can see
Sometimes when this world
Just seems to be so cold
Sometimes when youre lost at sea
Drowning in your pain
Sometimes the sun shines through the rain

I know its hard
In a world so cold
To feel the love
I know its hard
And I know its true
That in the end
We all find our way
And thats life my friend

But sometimes when its light
And you can see
Sometimes when this world
Just seems to be so cold
Sometimes when youre lost at sea
Drowning in your pain
Sometimes the sun shines through the rain

World keeps turning
Nothing changes
Hope this time
We can rearrange the stars
It cant be that hard, no

Sometimes when its light
And you can see
Sometimes when this world
Just seems to be so cold
Sometimes when youre lost at sea
Drowning in your pain
Sometimes the sun shines through the rain

~© Cinderella lyrics~

Faith

2007-03-15T23:04:00.000-04:00

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.

~© Rabindranath Tagore~

The Perfect Communion

2007-03-14T14:44:00.000-04:00

The one who bows and pays respect,
And the one who receives the bow and the respect,
Both of us are empty.
That is why the communion is perfect.

~© Thich Nhat Hanh~

Secrets

2007-03-11T15:22:00.000-04:00

She ain't waiting 'til she gets older
Her feet are makin' tracks in the winter snows
She got a rainbow that touches her shoulder
She be headed where the thunder rolls

She comes like the secret wind
She's as strong as the mountains, walks tall as the trees
She been there before, she'll never give in
She'll be gone tomorrow like the silent breeze

The question is not, "Does love exist?"
But when she leaves, where she goes?
I got the feelin' she don't know either
Wait like the wind, watch where she blows

~© Van Halen, excerpted lyrics~

Sunshine

2007-03-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

Sunshine is my quest.

~© Winston Churchill~

In This Twilight

2007-03-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

Watch the sun,
as it crawls across a final time
and it feels like,
like it was a friend.
It is watching us,
and the world we set on fire.
Do you wonder,
if it feels the same?

~© NIN, excerpted lyrics~

The Silent River

2007-03-06T08:44:00.000-05:00

You and I can turn and look

at the silent river and wait. We know

the current is there, hidden; and there

are comings and goings from miles away

that hold the stillness exactly before us.

What the river says, that is what I say.

~© William Stafford~

Live Forever

2007-03-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Maybe I will never be
All the things that I'd like to be
Now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why
I think you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever

~© Oasis, excerpted lyrics~

In My Wildest Dreams

2007-03-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

In my wildest dreams, you always play the hero. In my darkest hour of night, you rescue me, you save my life.

~© Bliss and Cerney~

Sugar Magnolia

2007-03-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

Sugar magnolia
Ringin' that blue bell
Caught up in sunlight
Come on out singing
I'll walk you in the sunshine
Come on honey, come along with me

Sometimes when the cuckoo's crying
When the moon is halfway down
Sometimes when the night is dying
I take me out and I wander round
I wander round

Sunshine daydream
Walkin through the tall trees
Going where the wind goes
Blooming like a red rose
Breathing more freely
Light out, singing
I'll walk you in the morning sunshine
Sunshine daydream
Walk you in the sunshine

~© Grateful Dead, excerpted lyrics~

From "Song Of Myself"

2007-02-27T17:17:00.000-05:00

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with
perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation,
it is odorless,
It is for my mouth forever....I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and
naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
The smoke of my own breath,
Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and
vine,
My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing
of blood and air through my lungs,
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore
and dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies of
the wind,
A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields
and hillsides,
The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from
bed and meeting the sun.

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the
earth much?
Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin
of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions
of suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look
through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in
books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.

I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning
and the end,
But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

~© Walt Whitman~

Sunlight

2007-02-26T18:32:00.000-05:00

a ball
of pure heavenly fire
pours out unceasing light
like a celestial alchemy
the sun descends to earth.
a free
and liberating energy.
bombarded
captured
and drained
But have no fear
sun will rise up
bright in our heavens
and tread blue skies
in the green world
it wheels silent
in the vast wasting space.

~© Author Unknown~

I Dream Of You

2007-02-25T15:03:00.000-05:00

Have I replaced you? Replacing you would be
like trying to replace the sun...moon...stars and
replacing everything in life that brings a smile
to ones face.

Replacing you would remove all that is soft...
warm and that which represents love and all
that is worthwhile in life.

Replacing you would be akin to replacing the
energy that fuels another day. In the darkest of
hours, replacing you would remove the light of
hope that spurs one on.

Have I replaced you?
Never...not for all time to come and one day
thereafter... if there be such time.

~© Joe Fazio~

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2007-02-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts.

~© Mary Baker Eddy~

Lonely Days

2007-02-12T09:14:00.001-05:00

Good morning mister sunshine.
You brighten up my day.
Come sit beside me in your way.

~© lyrics of The Bee Gees~

In Nature...

2007-02-10T20:23:00.000-05:00

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.

~© Alice Walker~

Balloon

2007-02-08T21:49:00.000-05:00

I think that I might fly away, in my hot air balloon,
And hide from worldly worries on the dark side of the moon;
There’s but one thing I need before I float into the blue:
I need a sky companion and I want it to be you.

We’ll fly beyond the storm clouds and we’ll watch from up above,
I’ll cover you in rainbows as we feel each others’ love;
You’ll shower in the stars at midnight in our special place,
I’ll dry you with a comet’s tail and kiss your beaming face.

Dreamy drifting panorama, changing every day,
Every night your loving smile will be my milky way,
The moon will wane before us, sailing there in heaven’s height,
For nothing else can challenge our love’s everlasting light.

Venus shining on us, glowing soft at our devotion,
Our daily drifting dalliance in love’s celestial ocean,
I’ll write you lovers’ poetry, and you will be my muse,
Orion and Andromeda will oversee our cruise.

We’ll sleep with clouds as pillows, maybe steal an angel’s wings,
Then fly as magic lovebirds, or slide round Saturn’s rings,
And should we tire of drifting and the stars all floating by,
We’ll hook onto a meteor and soar across the sky.

Will you consent to be my mate on our celestial ship?
I’m ready, heart all packed with love, to last us for the trip,
Take my hand and step aboard, we’re heading for the sun,
We’re flying till we find the place where our two souls are one.

~© Graeme King~

Friendship

2007-02-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

What sweetness is left in life, if you take away friendship? Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. A true friend is more to be esteemed than kinsfolk.

~© Marcus Tullius Cicero~

A Squirrel

2007-02-04T00:11:00.000-05:00

A squirrel leaping from bough to bough, and making the wood but one wide tree for his pleasure, fills the eye not less than a lion,—is beautiful, self-sufficing, and stands then and there for nature.

~© Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Love

2007-02-02T00:29:00.000-05:00

Perhaps it will seem to you that the sunshine is brighter and that everything has a new charm. At least, I believe this is always the result of a deep love, and it is a beautiful thing. And I believe people who think love prevents one from thinking clearly are wrong; for then one thinks very clearly and is more active than before. And love is something eternal--the aspect may change, but not the essence. There is the same difference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp and one that is burning. The lamp was there and it was a good lamp, but now it is shedding light too, and that is its real function. And love makes one calmer about many things, and in that way, one is more fit for one's work.

~© Vincent van Gogh~

Determination

2007-02-01T07:42:00.000-05:00

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.

~© Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

Deepest Thanks

2007-01-30T07:55:00.000-05:00

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

~© Albert Schweitzer~

Rain, Sun or Snow

2007-01-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

Rain, sun or snow, it makes no difference. I take what comes. You can't be a quitter - although I prefer the sun.

~© Richard Cooper~

What Love Can Be

2007-01-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

Come to me now
I want to be your best friend for all the time
I want to be the tissue for your tears
I never want to be alone

I never, never, never really thought that I could feel
A feeling that awakened me so
I was astray, not knowing where I belonged
Living out of time, living out of time

Now that you've come and set me free
Now that I know, what love can be
All that I want is you with me
That's all I want

You allow me to be what I wanna be
Thanks for helping me
I'm gonna be, I feel like a brightly shining star
For only you to see

Hold me tight, hold me tight
I won't let you go
Hold me now, hold me now
Give me all your love

All that I want
Is for you to be with me...

~© Kingdom Come, lyrics~

You Never Know

2007-01-27T14:23:00.000-05:00

You never know when someone
May catch a dream from you.
You never know when a little word,
Or something you may do
May open up a window
Of the mind that seeks the light
The way you live may not matter at all...
But you never know - it might.

And just in case it could be
That another's life, through you,
Might possibly change for the better
With a broader brighter view.
It seems it might be worth a try
At pointing the way to the right.
Of course, it may not matter at all,
But then again it might.

~© Author Unknown~

The Sun

2007-01-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

The sun is nature's Prozac.

~© Astrid Alauda~

Sacredness

2007-01-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

Something opens our wings.
Something makes boredom and hurt disappear.
Someone fills the cup in front of us:
We taste only sacredness.

~© Rumi~

In Your Light

2007-01-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you.

~© Jalal ad-Din Rumi~

Expect To Have...

2007-01-22T09:41:00.000-05:00

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.

~© Sarah Ban Breathnach~

Precious Things

2007-01-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

Ordinary riches can be stolen: real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

~© Oscar Wilde~

Keep Your Faith

2007-01-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

Keep your faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone.

~© Roy R. Gilson~

Thank You, Friend

2007-01-17T16:50:00.000-05:00

I never came to you, my friend,
and went away without
some new enrichment of the heart;
More faith and less of doubt,
more courage in the days ahead.
And often in great need coming to you,
I went away comforted indeed.
How can I find the shining word,
the glowing phrase that tells all that
your love has meant to me,
all that your friendship spells?
There is no word, no phrase for
you on whom I so depend.
All I can say to you is this,
God bless you precious friend.

~© Grace Noll Crowell~

My Destiny

2007-01-16T01:24:00.000-05:00

I can't control my destiny,
I trust my soul, My only goal is just to be.

There's only now, there's only here.
Give in to love or live in fear.

No other path, no other way.
No day but today.

~© Johnathan Larson~

Rest In Peace

2007-01-14T18:08:00.000-05:00

In Memory of Noah David Sears

Happiness Comes...

2007-01-13T02:06:00.000-05:00

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.

~© Storm Jameson~

I've Learned

2007-01-12T15:40:00.000-05:00

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

~© Maya Angelou~

12 Years Ago Today...

2007-01-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

The Most Important Things

2007-01-11T07:17:00.000-05:00

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever you're secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst I think. When the secret stays locked within not for a want of a teller but for an ear.

~© Stephen King~

Somewhere...

2007-01-10T10:27:00.000-05:00

Somewhere there waiteth in this world of ours
For one lone soul another lonely soul,
Each choosing each through all the weary hours,
And meeting strangely at one sudden goal,
Then blend they, like green leaves with golden flowers.
Into one beautiful perfect whole;
And life's long night is ended, and the way
Lies open onward to eternal day.

~© Edwin Arnold~

Friendship

2007-01-09T07:36:00.000-05:00

And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.
And he answered, saying:
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 unclaimed.
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 the 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.

~© Kahlil Gibran, excerpted from "The Prophet"~

I Don't Wish To Be...

2007-01-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

Live Life Fully

2007-01-07T14:21:00.000-05:00

Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.

~© Anthony Robbins~

From "The Hidden Power of the Heart"

2007-01-05T14:28:00.000-05:00

When the heart is enlivened again, it feels like the sun coming out after a week of rainy days. There is hope in the heart that chases the clouds away. Hope is a higher heart frequency and as you begin to reconnect with your heart, hope is waiting to show you new possibilities and arrest the downward spiral of grief and loneliness. It becomes a matter of how soon you want the sun to shine. Listening to the still, small voice in your heart will make hope into a reality.

~© Sara Paddison~

The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas

2007-01-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

All The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' In The Sun,
Talkin' 'Bout The Things
They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done...
But All Those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All Ran Away And Hid
From One Little Did.

~© Shel Silverstein~

One Must Have...

2007-01-03T08:58:00.000-05:00

Choose Gratitude

2007-01-02T09:55:00.000-05:00

If we become uncomfortable in any given moment, we can look at a flower, a pebble in the street or the tire on our car and be grateful. We can gaze at a person in the distance or at a cloud in the sky and be appreciative. We can smile at a stranger, hug someone we know or tidy a disorganized shelf and be thankful for the opportunity. If we choose gratitude, we will be happy!

~© Barry Neil Kaufman~

I Am The Decisive Element

2007-01-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

~© Goethe~

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T18:06:00.000-05:00

If

2006-12-30T01:23:00.000-05:00

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

~© Rudyard Kipling~

Certainty

2006-12-29T12:03:00.000-05:00

I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, but if I can't figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don't have to know an answer.... I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me.

~© Richard Phillips Feynman~

Everyone Needs Someone

2006-12-27T22:08:00.000-05:00

People need people and friends need friends
And we all need love for a full life depends
Not on vast riches or great acclaim,
Not on success or on worldly fame,
But just in knowing that someone cares
And holds us close in their thoughts and prayers-
For only the knowledge that we're understood
Makes everyday living feel wonderfully good,
And we rob ourselves of life's greatest need
When we "lock up our hearts" and fail to heed
The outstretched hand reaching to find
A kindred spirit whose heart and mind
Are lonely and longing to somehow share
Our joys and sorrows and to make us aware
That life's completeness and richness depends
On the things we share with our loved ones and friends.

~© Helen Steiner Rice~

Remember

2006-12-27T01:51:00.000-05:00

Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot... goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life's treasures are people... together.
Realize that it's never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have health and hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a star.
And don't ever forget... for even a day...
How very special you are.

~© Douglas Pagels~

The Heart Prefers...

2006-12-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

A Sense Of Humor

2006-12-25T12:20:00.000-05:00

Nobody says you must laugh, but a sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the day.

~© Ann Landers~

The Gift Of Christmas

2006-12-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

Christmas is the one day of the year
that carries real hope and promise for all mankind.

It carries the torch of brotherhood.

It is the one day in the year when most of us
grow big of heart and broad of mind.

It is the single day when most of us
are as kind and as thoughtful of others
as we know how to be;

When most of us are as gracious and generous
as we would like always to be;

When the joy of home is more important
than the profits of the office;

When peoples of all races speak cheerfully
to each other when they meet;

When high and low wish each other well;

And the one day when even enemies forgive and forget.

~© Edgar Guest~

Let Every Day Be Christmas

2006-12-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

~© Norman W. Brooks~

I Am Sure

2006-12-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round... as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.

~© Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol~

Challenge to Winter

2006-12-22T08:33:00.000-05:00

Come, Winter! Blow!
Your winds, with all their chill,
Do not scare me.
The power in your frost
Burns hot, impossibly, in my flesh.
I do not fear you, Winter,
For your might may thaw
Under the glow of the sun.

~© James Grengs~

Those Moments...

2006-12-21T00:51:00.000-05:00

There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion
That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble
Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret,
Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.

~© Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

Nostalgia

2006-12-20T08:23:00.000-05:00

Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.

~© Augusta E. Rundel~

Isn't It Funny...

2006-12-18T20:15:00.000-05:00

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.

~© Kate L. Bosher~

Our Hearts Grow Tender...

2006-12-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.

~© Laura Ingalls Wilder~