Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived:
Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love.
One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink so all repaired their boats and left.
Love was the only one who stayed -- Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment.
When the island was almost sinking, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat.
Love said,� Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, "Vanity, please help me!".
"I can't help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.
Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me go with you."
"Oh...Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"
Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her!
Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder.
Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder her name.
When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Love realized how much he owed the elder and asked Knowledge (another elder):
"Who helped me?"
"It was Time," Knowledge answered.
"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"
Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is.

"Clear mind is before thinking. If you experience this mind, you have already attained enlightenment. Even for one moment. All the rest of the time you may be thinking, but you shouldn't worry about this thinking. It is just your karma. You must not be attached to this thinking. You must not force it to stop or force clear mind to grow. It will grow by itself, as your karma gradually disappears." - Seung Sahn Soen-sa

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
we will grieve not, rather find strength
in what remains behind...
(William Wordsworth
"Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollection of Early Childhood")

Worthiness, in very simple terms, means I have found a way to let the Energy reach me, the Energy that is natural, reach me. Worthiness, or unworthiness, is something that is pronounced upon you by you. You are the only one that can deem yourself worthy or unworthy. You are the only one who can love yourself into a state of allowing, or hate yourself in a state of disallowing. There is not something wrong with you, nor is there something wrong with one who is not loving you. You are all just, in the moment, practicing the art of not allowing, or the art of resisting. (Abraham)

Overcoming attachment does not mean becoming cold and indifferent.On the contrary, it means learning to have relaxed control over our mind through understanding the real causes of happiness and fulfillment,and this enables us to enjoy life more and suffer less. (Kathleen McDonald)

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. (Nietzche)

You cannot be truthful if you are not courageous.
You cannot be loving if you are not courageous.
You cannot be trusting if you are not courageous.
You cannot enter into reality if you are not courageous.
Hence courage comes first... and everything else follows.

(Osho)

Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either" (Golda Meir)

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything (Mark Twain)

There is a secret medicine given only to those who hurt so hard they can't hope. The hopers would feel slighted if they knew. (Molana Rumi)

Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place." (Eckhart Tolle)

Nosce te ipsum. Tuam sequere naturam. (Know thyself. Be thyself.)

In vino veritas.

Love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Character is stronger than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. (James D. Miles)

Apologizing does not mean that you're wrong and the other person is right. It just means that you value your relationship more than your ego. (Melissa Stonehill - Publicity)

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. (James Openheim)

If the roof of our house is leaking and water is dripping through the ceiling, we do not sit back and do nothing - we try to find the hole and mend it. Similarly, when we experience suffering, we should consider its cause, non-virtuous actions, and apply the remedy, purification rather than being preoccupied with the suffering itself we should apply the solution... (Life Laugh Love: Facebook)

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep.
The more I give to thee The more I have,
for both are infinite."
- Romeo and Juliet

Seeking security comes from insecurity, which is based in fear. If your motivation for acquiring money or success comes from a non-supportive root such as fear, anger, or the need to "prove" yourself, your money will never bring you happiness. (T. Harv Eker)

Every time you mistreat a woman, you are mistreating the planet. (Born Bi-Kim)

Certain things can be forgiven and worked out, but in the end, you need to have self-respect. One time can be a mistake, but more than that, then it is a pattern. But, hey, if you choose to stick around to be a doormat, that's your choice and you alone will have to live with it. (A "mom")

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. (Mohandas Gandhi)

"Women know how to fake orgasm. Men know how to fake an entire relationship." (Sharon Stone)

All's well that ends well. (John Heywood)

Love another for who they are, not what they do for you. "I love what you do for me" is about individual, not about the other or both of us. (T. Harv Eker)

What good do you do for poor people by being one of them? Whom do you help by being broke? Aren't you just another mouth to feed? Wouldn't it be more effective for you to create wealth for yourself and then be able to really help others from a place of strength instead of weakness?" (T. Harv Eker)

Nothing has meaning except for the meaning we give it. (T. Harv Eker)

Let it be. (John Lennon)

Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes. You must not be attached to the coming and going." (Zen Master Seung Sahn Soen-sa)

Spring comes, the grass grows by itself. (Zen Master Seung Sahn Soen-sa)

Without truth, there is no love. (Gilda-Gram)

Everyone who touches you, teaches you (Gilda-Gram)

Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds. (Buddha via Drea Couture)

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future. (Lewis B. Smedes)

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

Seize this day, this moment. And if you choose to do the right thing now, if you just make a decision to try, then change begins. When the next moment comes, all you have to do is repeat that decision, maintain the course and perseverance will take root and grow." (Patrice Gaines)

Practice following your intuition in everyday things, trusting your gut feelings moment by moment and acting on them as best you can. As you learn to trust yourself in smaller matters, you will build power and confidence to take bigger risks and deal with the larger issues in your life successfully. (Shakti Gawain)

There's nothing sadder in the world than to wake up on Christmas morning and not be a child. (Erma Bombeck, columnist)

Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering. (Dalai lama)

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

No Crime is unpeopled, and all crimes are imperfect. (Charles P. Pierce, Boston Globe)

Marriage happens due to illusion and impulse. (Dad)

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.(C.S. Lewis)

Letting go of attachment means receiving what is happening, without resisting (Gail Brenner)

True love is not an attachment. It is free. It is devoid of need. It is about celebration. (Gail Brenner)

Mindfulness is present moment awareness. Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience. (Mindfulness)

Life has knots (phases). That's how bamboo trees grow. (Dad)

Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it. (Sylvia Boorstein)

If you are stronger after hardship, it is probably despite, not because of the hardship. We are not stronger in the broken places. what doesn't kill us in fact makes us weaker. When trauma and hardship do leave a mark, it is usually a bruise under the skin, not a notch on the belt. (Noam Shpancer, Ph.D.) on Nitzche's famous quote "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger"

Only contentment can make you happy --- desires fulfilled breed more desires. Believe me, it's the satisfaction of desires that breeds misery. Freedom from desires is bliss. (Sri Nisargadatta)

"People desire money, fame, sex, food and rest. All this desire is thinking. Thinking is suffering. Suffering means no world peace. Not thinking is not suffering. Not suffering means world peace. World peace is the Absolute. The Absolute is I." "Spring comes, the grass grows by itself." --- Seung Sahn Soen-Sa

The Simple Things

Poet: Edgar A. Guest

I would not be too wise-so very wise

That I must sneer at simple songs and creeds,

And let the glare of wisdom blind my eyes

To humble people and their humble needs.

I would not care to climb so high that I

Could never hear the children at their play,

Could only see the people passing by,

And never hear the cheering words they say.

I would not know too much-too much to smile

At trivial errors of the heart and hand,

Nor be too proud to play the friend the while

Nor cease to help and know and understand.

I would not care to sit upon a throne,

Or build my house upon a mountain-top,

Where I must dwell in glory all alone

And never friend come in or poor man stop.

God grant that I may live upon this earth

And face the tasks which every morning brings

And never lose the glory and the worth

Of humble service and the simple things.

This famous poet, Edgar A. Guest was born on August 20, 1881, in Birmingham, England. When Edgar's father lost his job in 1893, Edgar was eleven-year-old. He started working odd jobs after school. The Detroit Free Press hired him in 1895 as a copy boy. Due to the death of his father, he dropped out of high school and started working full time at the newspaper when he was 17. He would work for almost sixty-five years. His father died when the poet was seventeen, and Guest was forced to drop out of high school and work full time at the newspaper. Edgar A Guest has been called "the poet of the people." - his poems were inspirational, often contained the humor of life, and they contained reflections of everyday life. Inspiring words by Edgar Guest, "I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them." Edgar Guest passed away on August 5, 1959.