Inspiration, Poems & Lyrics

2008-2-17 - Quote for today

2008-02-17T01:57:00.000-08:00

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. ~Amy Carmichael

Quote for today

2008-02-01T01:20:00.000-08:00

Love is like a spice. It can sweeten your life - however, it can spoil it, too. ~Confucius

Quote for today

2008-01-12T01:32:00.000-08:00

My reading today:
"Both gods and men are angry with a man who lives idle, for in nature he is like the stingless drones who waste the labor of the bees, eating without working".
~ Hesiod, Works and Days

Labour is the universal lot of Man, but he who is willing to work will get by.
~ Hesiod (around 700 BC).

"Verily upon the earth are thrice ten thousand immortals of the host of Zeus, guardians of mortal man. They watch both justice and injustice, robed in mist, roaming abroad upon the earth".

2008 New year blessing

2008-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

May the New Year find you always with your beloved family and cherished friends.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them.

May we live in a world at peace and awareness.

May we find guidance ourselves and remember to be tolerant of those who are lost on their path.

May we always be a good example giving Love, Kindness, Joy, Understanding, Sympathy, tolerance and Forgiveness.

May we always keep a sense of humor and the ability to laugh.

May we keep our mind, spirit, emotion and physical self balanced.

May we be true to ourselves, make conscious decisions, and live in the Now.

Share your good fortune with others and participate in charity any way you can.

Peace, Love and Light
My friends,
Kiachu Shen Ku

Quote for today

2007-12-31T02:08:00.000-08:00

"No act of love is ever wasted". Geneen Roth

Seek

2007-12-04T03:49:00.000-08:00

Seek joy and you will find illusion. Seek truth, and you will find joy.

Forgive

2007-10-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

Accept each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Simplicity

2007-10-13T01:43:00.000-07:00

All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one!

What It Means To Be Lucky:

2007-10-04T01:44:00.000-07:00

The Excellent Path Laid With Precious Gems

E ma ho!

Now you have got what's so hard to get
The precious freedoms and advantages
This one life alone means so little
So why be so obsessed with it?
If to do some good for yourself and others too
You listen to Dharma, and then reflect
Then you are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.

This life is quite impermanent
It will definitely disappear
You think everything will stay just as it is–
How to come out from this confusion into the clear?
Cut the root of samsara's confused appearances
By meditating on the meaning of what you've heard
If you do this, you are so fortunate--
This is what it means to be lucky.

If you do good, you'll be happy
If you do bad, you'll suffer pain.
Think well about how karma works
And you'll gain certainty that it's an unfailing law.
If then you act in a rightful way
Doing what you should do and giving up the rest
Then you are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.

The nature of samsara is the three sufferings
When you know this in your heart, and it's not just something you say
And so you can free yourself and others from samsara's ocean
You cut off suffering right at the root
If you can do that, then you are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.

Meditating on impermanence
Cuts off attachment to this life
Thinking over and over of samsara's suffering
Makes you realize how worthless samsara is
This gives you the determination
To strive for nirvana's liberation
If you do that, you are so fortunate--
This is what it means to be lucky.

Knowing samsara's cause is belief in 'I'
You know its remedy to be selflessness
So if you apply scripture and reasoning
To gain certainty that there is no self
And if you meditate on selflessness, you're so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.

All beings have been your father and mother
Knowing this you train your mind in love and compassion
This makes you stop worrying so much
About your own comfort and happiness
When you give rise to supreme bodhicitta–
This is what it means to be lucky.

Everything in samsara and nirvana,
Without exception, is neither one nor many
So all phenomena are empty of essence
And knowing that, if you meditate on profound emptiness
Then you are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.

Meditating on emptiness cuts the root of existence
Love and compassion free you from the extreme of peace
When you bring together wisdom and means
That are stuck in neither existence nor peace's extremes
Then you are so fortunate–
This is what it means to be lucky.

When you've made the Mahayana path your sturdy base
And you know so excellently
The way that the totality of appearance
Is an infinite expanse of purity
Then the four empowerments
Will ripen your continuum
When you practice profound creation and completion–
This is what it means to be lucky.

The fruit of this creation and completion
Must ripen at the appropriate time
This depends on your pure vision
Of your vajra brothers and sisters--it must increase!
So if pure vision dawns in your mind–
This is what it means to be lucky.

Another reason you might be lucky–
The freedoms and resources, this excellent base
Is hard to find, and what's harder than that
Is using it to practice Dharma correctly
So if you are on the path of correct practice–
This is what it means to be lucky.

Knowing what it means to be lucky
Day and night, without distraction
In order to accomplish great benefit
For the teachings and for all beings
May all of us practice
The Dharma of the lucky ones.

On December 27, 1997, in the Garden of Translation near the Great Stupa of Boudhanath, Nepal, this was spoken extemporaneously by the one only called "Khenpo," Tsultrim Gyamtso. Translated by Ari Goldfield.

Be humble, and never hesitate to ask

2007-07-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

ZiGong asked, saying, "On what ground did KungYu get that title of Wen?"
The Master said, "He was of an active nature and yet fond of learning, and he was not ashamed to ask and learn of his inferiors! -On these grounds he has been styled Wen."

During the time known in the Chinese history as 'Spring and Autumn' , there lived an aristocrat by the name of Kung Yu (Kung was his last name, and Yu first name). He as a learned and humble man. After his death, the Duke of Wei awarded him the honorific title of 'Wen'. Thus he became known as Kung WenZi.
ZiGong, a student of Confucius who also came from Wei, didn't think Kung Yu was worthy of such high honor. One day, he asked Confucius, "Why was he given the title of 'Wen'?"
Confucius replied, "Kung Yu was diligent in learning and very smart. Yet he was humble and not afraid to ask questions of people who are not as smart or learned as he was. That is why he deserved the title of 'Wen'."
The story is told in Analect, Chapter 5, Section 15. Ever since, the phrase, "Be humble and not hesitate to ask those who may be lesser than you are." [bu chi xia wen] has been a motto to one and all.

http://www.confucius.org/

Temporary Meditation

2007-07-02T02:06:00.001-07:00

Every time you get a strong feeling of the changing nature of things; hold it as long as you can!

- Think of landscape outside, the trees, birds, and clouds.

All are made up of moving atoms; try to imagine this and concentrate on the feeling.

- Think of this room and everything in it; is it all permanent?
- Think of your body, is it the same as yesterday, last month, 10 years ago?
- Think of the mind, is it static or changing every moment?

Concentrate on the experience.

- Is it realistic to value things so high if they do not last forever?
- Is it realistic to expect friends not to change?
- Is it realistic to expect my friends will live forever?
- Will I live forever?
- What will last longer, my possessions and friends or I myself?

Questons and answers

2007-07-02T02:04:00.000-07:00

There is no logical answer.
The only true answer is who you become as you confront the question.

Beauty/Uglines

2007-05-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Where beauty is, then there is ugliness;
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.
Since olden times it has been so.
How could it be otherwise now?
Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other
is merely realizing a scene of stupidity.
Even if you speak of the wonder of it all,
how do you deal with each thing changing?
-Ryokan-

To Be Free

2007-05-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.
- Linji

YogaJournal.com: Karma: Facing our Destiny with Free Will

2007-04-07T17:41:00.001-07:00

kiachu has sent you this article from YogaJournal.com courtesy of Yoga Journal Magazine.

Article:
Karma: Facing our Destiny with Free Will, By Dr. Swami Shankardev Saraswati and Jayne Stevenson

Summary:
Karma is one of the most basic concepts at the heart of Indian philosophy. When we combine an understanding of karma with yogic practice, we can consciously and quickly journey toward enlightened living and higher consciousness.

URL:

http://www.yogajournal.com/teacher/1562_1.cfm

Spring arrives in my Life today

2007-03-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Wisps of clouds like wings of birds are streaming across my sky.
The earth is coming alive with vibrations of growth all around me.
The feel of the branches in my hands is warm and soft.
It has been a long time waiting for these energies to return.
Waiting for winter to end.
by: Kiachu shen Ku

3-16-2007 Quote for today

2007-03-16T03:12:00.000-07:00

There simply is nothing, to which we can attach ourselves, no matter how hard we try.

In time, things will change and the conditions that produced the desires will be gone.
Why then cling to them now?

Ven. Hsing Yun

Quote for today 2-27-2007

2007-02-26T03:17:00.000-08:00

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear...but around in awareness.
- James Thurber

Quote of today - Feb 18, 2007

2007-02-18T03:37:00.000-08:00

The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.
~William Shakespeare

The Art of Peace

2007-01-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

The real way of the warrior is based on compassion, wisdom, fearlessness, and love of nature.

Quote for today - 10-29-2006

2006-10-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

Style or posture does not matter, its Energetics and Intent that is Tai Chi.
If were not careful, all the rest is either a nice therapeutic dance, or just fists and feet.

~Kiachu

10-15-2006 Quote for today

2006-10-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

Learning to interpret and use what you receive is something most us need to learn how to do. ~Kiachu

Quote for today - 9-21-2006

2006-09-21T01:09:00.000-07:00

TO PENETRATE THE MYSTERIES, to bless with a good conscious, to be great and yet empty, to return to stillness and be forgiving, to be compassionate and to deliver all people, to do good deeds and help people reach the other shore - these are the great benefits of our Path of cultivation. To calm people in stormy times, to help them understand the nature of things, to maintain purity, to nourish all things, to respect all life, and to answer the needs of those whose beliefs come from the heart - these are the services the Order can offer.
- from a Chinese Stelae, 781 A.D.

Quote for today - September 12, 2006

2006-09-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe.
~Peter De Vries

The Man and the Sandpiper

2006-06-22T03:21:00.000-07:00

Once there was a man who wished to find the way to attain his goals. So he prayed to the Almighty for help.
That night the man had a dream in which he was a little sandpiper on a wave-swept shore. As he stepped nimbly in and out with the wave tips, his sandpiper heart beat with a happy wisdom that his human mind had never known.
When the man awoke, he sought out the seashore to study the sandpiper. Returning to his life, he experienced increasing happiness and success.
On occasion the man would return to the seashore to study under the inspiration of the long-legged little sandpiper. Eventually his quest touched upon inner aspects of being.
Gradually the man was imbued with spiritual presence. Compassion flowed from him. Things he touched flourished. And when he laid himself down for his final earthly sleep, his spirit, resembling a little, long-legged bird of purest light, rose in glory into the heavenly shining.

The obstacle is the path

2006-06-16T03:36:00.000-07:00

Obstacles do not obstruct the path.
To cross them is to advance on the path.

Meditation

2006-06-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom.
By defending our faults, we betray an unsound mind.

Meditation

2006-06-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

He who treads the Path in earnest
Sees not the mistakes of the world;
If we find fault with others
We ourselves are also in the wrong.

-Dhammapada, 188-192

2006-06-04T04:11:00.000-07:00

They go to many a refuge,
to mountains, forests,
parks, trees, and shrines:

people threatened with danger.
That's not the secure refuge,
that's not the highest refuge,
that's not the refuge,

having gone to which,
you gain release
from all suffering and stress.

But when, having gone for refuge
to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha,
you see with right discernment
the four Noble Truths —

stress,
the cause of stress,
the transcending of stress,
and the Noble Eightfold Path,

the way to the stilling of stress:
That's the secure refuge,
that, the highest refuge,
that is the refuge,

having gone to which,
you gain release
from all suffering and stress.

Poem - Mind

2006-05-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

Mind is the master planner that molds and makes
And man is mind and forever more he takes,

The tools of thought and shaping what he wills
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills

He thinks in secret and it comes to pass
His environment is but his looking glass!!!

James Allen

The Genesis of Butterflies

2006-05-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

Victor Hugo

The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers
The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers
That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings
In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings,
That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide,
With muffled music, murmured far and wide!
Ah, Spring time, when we think of all the lays
That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays,
Of the fond hearts within a billet bound,
Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound,
The messages of love that mortals write
Filled with intoxication of delight,
Written in April, and before the May time
Shredded and flown, play things for the wind's play-time,
We dream that all white butterflies above,
Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love,
And leave their lady mistress in despair,
To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair,
Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies
Flutter, and float, and change to Butterflies.

5-17-2006 Quote for today

2006-05-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

Is a man's real possession his memory or his dreams?
Both can make him rich, both can make him poor.
-Kiachu Shen Ku

Poem - Letting Go

2006-05-08T03:47:00.000-07:00

Author Unknown

To let go doesn't mean to stop caring;
It means I can't do it for someone else.
To let go is not to cut myself off...
It's the realization that I can't control another...
To let go is not to enable,
but to allow learning from natural consequences.
To let go is to admit powerlessness,
which means the outcome is not in my hands.
To let go is not to try and change or blame another,
I can only change myself.
To let go is not to care for, but to care about.
To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.
To let go is not to judge,
but to allow another to be a human being.
To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes,
but to allow others to affect their own outcomes.
To let go is not to be protective,
It is to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to deny, but to accept.
To let go is not to nag, scold, or argue,
but to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.
To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each day as it comes and cherish the moment.
To let go is not to criticize and regulate anyone,
but to try to become what I dream I can be.
To let go is not to regret the past,
but to grow and live for the future.
To let go is to fear less and love more.

5-2-2006 Quote for today

2006-05-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

A pebble tossed into the pond of life, provides ripples that come and go. Tossing in a pebble occasionally will provide a shimmer or two of enlightenment that may otherwise have been overlooked. As the ripples move outward, the influences of that pebble and our reaction and interpretations to them can expand our experiences and move energy to other areas of our experience.

Just as with the pond, each of us affect and can be affected by the energies of those around us, both those on the earth plane, and those in other dimensions.

Peace,
Kiachu Shen Ku

Poem

2006-04-27T03:19:00.000-07:00

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves
of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

There is a symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds,
the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring.

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature, the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea and sky and their amazing life.

-Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast of Light

2006-04-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

Even trees awake to a breakfast of light.
In hungry excitement they elevate their leaves,
Great green choirs with ten thousand open mouths,
Hosanna-ing the sun from silent boughs.
Trees know glory with neither sound nor sight,
Yet spread their limbs with phototropic ease.

No one knows the inwardness of trees;
Imagination, though, rapport allows:
Nor sickness, fire, drought, nor age, nor blight
Erodes their silent worship of delight.

4-19-2006 Quote for today

2006-04-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.
-E. E. Cummings

Poem

2006-04-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you,
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the door sill,
Don’t go back to sleep.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
-Rumi

4-4-2006 Quote for today

2006-04-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.
-Hal Borland

4-2-2006 Quote for today

2006-04-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
-Gerard De Nerval

Trees - Joyce Kilmer

2006-04-01T05:01:00.000-08:00

(For Mrs. Henry Mills Alden)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

3-20-2006 Quote for today

2006-03-20T19:32:00.000-08:00

Enlightenment is like the
moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet,
nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
the moon is reflected even
in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
are reflected in dewdrops on the grass,
or even in one drop of water.
- Dogen (1200-1253)

3-15-2006 Quote for today

2006-03-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

All things must change to something new, to something strange.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poem - Forgiveness

2006-03-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

do we ever truly forgive
and allow ourselves
some measure of reprieve
open ourselves
to the unconditional love
that surrounds us
the universe knows no bounds
yet will never
hinder
our attempts to bind ourselves
forgetting the space
in love
where we are meant to reside

from: Mar marciful

3-1-2006 Quote for today

2006-03-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

We are all made up of all the influences that came before; our reactions to them, and to our interpretations of right or wrong. It’s all a matter of what ones base line intent and level of mindfulness is.
Kiachu Shen Ku

2-13-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-13T03:52:00.000-08:00

A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled.
-James A. Baldwin

2-12-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-12T03:43:00.000-08:00

Two things a man should never be angry at: what he can help, and what he cannot help. -Thomas Fuller

2-11-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
-Albert Einstein

2-10-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

Wisdom is the power that enables us to use knowledge for the benefit of ourselves and others.
-Thomas J. Watson

2-9-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
-William James

2-8-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

A person hears only what they understand.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

2-7-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-08T03:28:00.000-08:00

To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth which constitutes self-respect is potentially to have everything.
– Joan Didion

2-7-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-07T04:02:00.000-08:00

Love, cough, and smoke can not be well hid.

2-6-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

The heart is never neutral.

2-5-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-05T04:55:00.000-08:00

One today is worth two tomorrows.

Zen Story - Something Missing

2006-02-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

A priest was in charge of the garden within a famous Zen temple. He had been given the job because he loved the flowers, shrubs, and trees. Next to the temple there was another, smaller temple where there lived a very old Zen master. One day, when the priest was expecting some special guests, he took extra care in tending to the garden. He pulled the weeds, trimmed the shrubs, combed the moss, and spent a long time meticulously raking up and carefully arranging all the dry autumn leaves. As he worked, the old master watched him with interest from across the wall that separated the temples.

When he had finished, the priest stood back to admire his work. "Isn't it beautiful," he called out to the old master. "Yes," replied the old man, "but there is something missing. Help me over this wall and I'll put it right for you."

After hesitating, the priest lifted the old fellow over and set him down. Slowly, the master walked to the tree near the center of the garden, grabbed it by the trunk, and shook it. Leaves showered down all over the garden. "There," said the old man, "you can put me back now."

2-4-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

The failures and successes are necessary for learning.

2-3-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves.
-John Dryden

2-2-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.
-Dylan Thomas

2-1-2006 Quote for today

2006-02-01T03:43:00.000-08:00

Everything - mountains, rivers, plants, trees - should be your teacher.
— Morihei Ueshiba

1-31-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-31T03:05:00.000-08:00

Night's deepest gloom is but a calm; that soothes the weary mind: The labored days restoring balm; the comfort of mankind.
-Leigh Hunt

Chinese proverb

2006-01-31T01:38:00.000-08:00

The palest ink is better than the best memory.

1-30-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-30T03:31:00.000-08:00

Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.
-Barbara De Angelis

Zen Story - Ritual

2006-01-30T03:28:00.000-08:00

When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, a cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. One day the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice.

1-29-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-29T03:27:00.000-08:00

The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.
-Og Mandino

1-28-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-28T03:16:00.000-08:00

In your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information.
-Anthony J. D'Angelo

1-27-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-27T02:23:00.000-08:00

A mind grows by what it feeds on.
-J. G. Holland

Zen Story - Rehearsal

2006-01-26T04:26:00.000-08:00

A dramatic ballad singer studied under a strict teacher who insisted that he rehearse day after day, month after month the same passage from the same song, without being permitted to go any further. Finally, overwhelmed by frustration and despair, the young man ran off to find another profession. One night, stopping at an inn, he stumbled upon a recitation contest. Having nothing to lose, he entered the competition and, of course, sang the one passage that he knew so well. When he had finished, the sponsor of the contest highly praised his performance. Despite the student's embarrassed objections, the sponsor refused to believe that he had just heard a beginner perform. "Tell me," the sponsor said, "who is your instructor? He must be a great master." The student later became known as the great performer Koshiji.

1-26-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-26T02:19:00.000-08:00

Experience is a good school. But the fees are high.
-Heinrich Heine

1-25-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

The life so short, the craft so long to learn.
-Hippocrates

1-24-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-24T01:40:00.000-08:00

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
-Henry Van Dyke

1-23-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-23T03:19:00.000-08:00

Living in dreams of yesterday, we find ourselves still dreaming of impossible future conquests.
-Charles Lindbergh

1-22-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-22T04:15:00.000-08:00

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
-John Lubbock

1-21-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-21T03:51:00.000-08:00

You may not always be able to avoid difficult situations, you can modify the extent to which you suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.
-The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living (HH Dalai Lama)

1-20-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-20T01:24:00.000-08:00

Only the dreamer shall understand realities, though in truth his dreaming must be not out of proportion to his waking.
-Margaret Fuller

1-19-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price.
-Juvenal

Zen story - Reality Is Now

2006-01-18T04:26:00.000-08:00

A Japanese warrior was captured by his enemies and thrown into prison. That night he was unable to sleep because he feared that the next day he would be interrogated, tortured, and executed. Then the words of his Zen master came to him, "Tomorrow is not real. It is an illusion. The only reality is now." Heeding these words, the warrior became peaceful and fell asleep.

1-19-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-18T03:18:00.000-08:00

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
-Annie Dillard

1-18-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-18T02:28:00.000-08:00

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.
-Henri Matisse

1-17-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-17T03:33:00.000-08:00

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.
-Marcel Proust

1-16-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-16T03:30:00.000-08:00

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
-George Sand

1-15-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-15T02:02:00.000-08:00

Love is the emplem of eternity; it confounds all notions of time; effaces all memory of begining, all fear of an end.
-Madame de Stael

1-14-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-14T03:14:00.000-08:00

Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.
-Ben Hecht

1-13-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-13T03:38:00.000-08:00

No man may make another free.
-Zora Neale Hurston

1-12-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-12T02:47:00.000-08:00

The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.
-Hippocrates

A Winter Night - Sara Teasdale

2006-01-12T01:19:00.000-08:00

My window-pane is starred with frost,
The world is bitter cold to-night,
The moon is cruel and the wind
Is like a two-edged sword to smite.

God pity all the homeless ones,
The beggars pacing to and fro.
God pity all the poor to-night
Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.

My room is like a bit of June,
Warm and close-curtained fold on fold,
But somewhere, like a homeless child,
My heart is crying in the cold.

1-11-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-11T02:15:00.000-08:00

Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.
-Gil Stern

1-10-2005 Quote for today

2006-01-10T01:13:00.000-08:00

In accomplishing one's goals, one should be like a starving or parched person craving for food and drink. If one has talent but lacks the desire to improve oneself, this means one has no goals.

1-9-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-09T02:06:00.000-08:00

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but only one view.
-Harry Millner

1-8-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

The bravest are the most tender; the loving are the daring.
-Bayard Taylor

1-7-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-07T02:55:00.000-08:00

A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education.
-Smiley Blanton

1-6-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-06T02:32:00.000-08:00

Be careful what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours.
-James A. Baldwin

1-5-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
-Lao Tzu

Guided Imagery

2006-01-04T02:53:00.000-08:00

Guided imagery is a well recognized, mind-body intervention aimed at easing stress, and promoting a sense of peace and tranquility at a stressful or difficult time in someone's life. It is a simple process of incorporating the "power of the mind" to assist the body to heal, maintain health or relax by way of an inner communication involving all senses, (i.e. visual, touch, smell, sight, sound). It forms a balance between the mind, body and spirit.

Relaxation is essential for imagery to be successful as it allows the mind to be open and receptive to new information. Not only does it reduce muscle tension, but also enhances the production of images and triggers the unconscious, which stimulates the emotions.

Research suggests that the physiological impact of relaxation may be the result of its effects on cortisol, a hormone released by the body in response to stress. Although the release of cortisol is helpful during the "fight or flight" response, its continual, prolonged release in response to daily stresses can inhibit the immune system and slow tissue repair.

It has been shown that when the mind is still, it is clear and more open to suggestions. It is then able to cooperate in positive images and suggestions that may enhance physical and emotional healing. Therefore, imagery is most successful when the mind and body are quiet and still. Imagery induces an "altered state" that enables messages to travel more easily from our minds to our bodies.

1-4-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-04T01:06:00.000-08:00

A great thing can only be done by a great person; and they do it without effort.
-John Ruskin

Stress in our lives

2006-01-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

Life will always have its series of ups and downs. Being busy, always on the go, rushing, feeling that we are burning the candle at both ends.

We ask ourselves, can we ever slow down? How can we really get the point of appreciating the everyday blessings?

Stress is an inevitable part of life . It is the way a person physically and emotionally responds to changes. It can be the motivating and productive force of a person. Burning the candle at both ends, or continual stress, however, can be detrimental and destructive to one's health.

A common complaint by many is that they feel consumed with rushing and being hurried all the time.

We forget what it is to relax, slow down and truly enjoy the beautty and simplicity of the present moment.

Often, we are preparing so much for tomorrow, we realize, that the most important part of life, today, is often missed!

So much of our own stress is self induced.

1-03-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-03T04:37:00.000-08:00

Only the educated are free.
-Epictetus

1-2-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-02T01:02:00.000-08:00

Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do the best.
– Marva Collins

1-1-2006 Quote for today

2006-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
-Benjamin Franklin

Story - A Life Lesson from Frogs

2005-12-31T03:33:00.000-08:00

There once was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition. The
goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants... The race began...

Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!" "They will NEVER make it to the top" or:
"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one... Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher.

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up... But ONE continued higher and higher and higher... This one wouldn't give up!

At the end, everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it.

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.

It turned out... That the winner was DEAF!!!!

The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic...

Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore: ALWAYS be... POSITIVE!

And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you can not fulfill your dreams!

Always think: God and I can do this!