* Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities - always see them, for they are always there. - Norman Vincent Peale

* To be alive, to be able to see, to walk... it is all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle. - Arthur Rubinstein

* Life at its best is a series of challenges. A big enough challenge will bring out strengths and abilities you never knew you had. Take on your challenges and you will bring yourself to life. - Author unknown

* Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein

* The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds. - Albert Schweitzer

* Happiness isn't about what happens to us - it is about how we perceive what happens to us. It's the knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a setback as a challenge. If we can just stop wishing for what we don't have, and start enjoying what we do have, our lives can be richer, more fulfilled, and happier. - Lynn Peters

* Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. - Louisa May Alcott

* The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

* By friendship you mean the greatest love, the greatest usefulness, the most open communication, the noblest sufferings, the severest truth, the heartiest counsel, and the greatest union of minds of which brave men and women are capable. - Jeremy Taylor

* Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things and the God of Peace will be with you. - The Book of Philippians

* You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." - Eleanor Roosevelt

* Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace. - Jerry Bridges

* When you get into a tight place where you feel you can't go on, hold on, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. - Harriet Beecher Stowe

* When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. - Charles A. Beard

* Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees. - J. Willard Marriott

* We need time to dream, time to remember, and time to reach the infinite. Time to be. - Gladys Taber

* To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. - Bertrand Russell

* He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate. - Henry David Thoreau

* Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift - there is nothing small about it. - Florence Nightingale

* Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars. - Henry Van Dyke

* Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. - Charles Dickens

* Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. - George Bernard Shaw

* We get new ideas from God every hour of our day when we put our trust in Him, but we have to follow that inspiration with perspiration. - Albert E. Cliffe

* You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. - Henry Drummond

* Love is a great beautifier. - Louisa May Alcott

* If I planted a flower every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever. - Author unknown

* For a small child, there is no division between playing and learning; between the things he or she does just for fun and the things that are educational. The child learns while living and any part of living that is enjoyable is also play. - Penelope Leach

* To live exhilaratingly in and for the moment is deadly serious work, fun of the most exhausting sort. - Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

* It is a happy talent to know how to play. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

* We don't stop playing because we turn old, but turn old because we stop playing. - Author unknown

* We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way. - Gloria Gaither

* Keep on going and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down. - Charles F. Ketttering

* God doesn't send them because we deserve it. He sends them because we need help. Angels are literally messengers of God's mercy. - Mac Hammond

* I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. - Charlotte Bronte

* That's what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end. - Lisa Hand

* Don't go through life; grow through life. - Eric Butterworth

* What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other? - George Eliot

* Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. - Plato

* There is no better exercise for your heart than reaching down and helping to lift someone up. - Bernard Meltzer

* Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. - Mother Teresa

* How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank

* Scatter joy. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

* How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world. - William Shakespeare

* Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours. No one needs a smile so much as the one who has no more to give. - Unknown

* Follow through on all your generous impulses. - Epictetus

* Take the gentle path. - George Herbert

* You have the power to make someone's day. - Dan Zadra

* Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

* What comes from the heart, goes to the heart. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

* Have a heart that never hardens, a love that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. - Charles Dickens

* To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

* A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. - William Arthur Ward

* Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on. - Henry Burton

* The heart that gives -- gathers. - Hannah Moore

* How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it! - George Elliston

* A kind word is like a spring day. - Russian Proverb

* By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. - Winston Churchill

* Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses. - Confucius

* Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds. - Buddha

* Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. - Seneca

* Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution. - Kahlil Gibran

* A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses. - Chinese Proverb

* Let every dawn of the morning be to you as the beginning of life. And let every setting of the sun be to you as its close. Then let every one of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others; some good strength or knowledge gained for yourself.

* Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. - Goethe

* Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

* For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. - Alfred D. Souza

* It takes the same amount of time to think a positive thought as it does to think a negative thought. Think positive!

* Treasure every moment that you have and remember that time waits for no one. Stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until  your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or the fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

* When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. - Alexander Graham Bell

* A hug makes you feel good all day!

* To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world!

* What were you worried about today? Maybe you should be worried about why you were so worried. On average, only about 2 percent of the time people worry is spent worrying about something that can actually be helped by worrying. What about the other 98 percent? 40 percent is spent worrying about things that never happen, 35 percent on things that can't be changed, 15 percent on things that turn out better than expected, and 8 percent on useless, petty occurrences. - The Office Professional

* Miscommunication: the cause of many of the world's problems. - Rita

* Forgiveness: the answer to many of the world's problems. - Karen

* At one time or another, we will all need the forgiveness of others, but equally important is the forgiveness we owe ourselves. Love is not about keeping old wounds open, it is about healing them. It is about moving forward, and getting on with life. - Leo Buscaglia

* Give up your grudge.

* The word "listen" contains the same letters as the word "silent."

* Listening attentively is one of the greatest gifts you can give to a child.

* Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

* A man was driving to work one morning when he bumped fenders with another motorist. Both cars stopped, and the woman driving the other car got out to survey the damage. She was distraught. It was her fault she admitted, and hers was a new car, less than two days from the showroom. She dreaded facing her husband. The man was sympathetic, but he had to pursue the exchange of license and registration data. The woman reached into her glove compartment to retrieve the documents in an envelope. On the first paper to tumble out, written in her husband's distinctive hand, were these words: "In case of accident, remember: Honey, it's you I love, not the car." - Paul Harvey, Jr., For What It's Worth (1992).

* Try? There is no try. There is do or not do. - Yoda

* The way to get started is to stop talking and begin doing.

* It's easy enough to be a starter, but are you a sticker, too?

   It's easy enough to begin a job. It's harder to see it through. - Margaret Thatcher

*  The Best Remedy - by Anne Frank

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.

* When the power of love replaces the love of power, then our world will know the blessings of peace.

* Of all the illusions that beset mankind, none is quite so curious as the tendency to suppose that we are mentally and morally superior to those who differ from us in opinion. - Elbert Hubbard

* Remember that cruel words deeply hurt and that loving words quickly heal.

* Love people, not objects. Use objects, not people.

* Think for yourself; your friends may be wrong.

* Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. - Abraham Lincoln

* Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness. Happiness is a sort of atmosphere you can live in sometimes when you're lucky. Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love. - Adela Rogers St. Johns

* We are containers of God's light.

*  Winter Evening - by Hal Borland

Last night, after a day of winter's cold, still magnificence, I went out into the dark of early evening to bring an armload of fireplace wood from the woodshed. I looked to the north and there beneath the Pole Star, the Big Dipper lay close to the horizon, pointing the time of all time since stars were first patterned in night sky and man was here to wonder at them. The thin curl of a new moon was low in the west, almost down on the dark grove of pines on the mountain, a ridge of rock that was old when mankind was young. And somehow I knew that I was with the wind and the stars and the earth itself. Winter was all around me, simple as the glittering breath from my lungs. I was a part of the mystery, the wonder and the awe, part of the holiness and the wholeness of life and the reason beyond all my reasoning.

* If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. This statement, attributed to Buddha, allows one to think about the possibilities of transforming one's life simply by changing the way we see. Even the finest mirror cannot reflect our true magnificence. This will only be found in the reflection of our kindness, love, and inner beauty. Perhaps this inner beauty, our true essence, is most simply reflected by a flower. It may well be that if we could clearly see our beauty, our whole life would change. Another way to transform our lives is to see others as a reflection of ourselves. This act of looking beyond the surface reveals that there are more similarities than differences between us. Inside each of us there are the same hopes, dreams, and fears. Inside each of us is the same magnificence, perhaps unrealized. When you give of yourself to another, the real gift is yours to keep. - Wally Arnold

* The beauty of life lies in how you live it.

* Life is thick sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us. - Voltaire

* You can't let yourself be stopped when something bad happens, because you want to be around when something good happens.

* The more you read, the more you know.

   The more you know, the smarter you grow.

   The smarter you grow, the stronger your voice,

   when speaking your mind or making your choice.

* We are like trees: We must create new leaves, new directions, in order to grow.

* The children bring us laughter

   and the children bring us tears;

   They string our joys like jewels bright,

   upon the thread of years. - Edgar A. Guest

* Little friends may prove great friends. - Aesop

* Traditions often change with circumstances. But no matter how tall your children have grown, or how far friends have roamed, or how long a beloved parent has been gone, one thing remains constant: Love is the most enduring gift. - Mary Engelbreit

* Do not allow your fears to become the boundaries of your dreams.

* You must stretch to reach your dreams.

* I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me

   I'd like to be the help that you've been always glad to be;

   I'd like to mean as much to you each minute of the day

   As you have meant, old friend of mine, to me along the way. - Edgar A. Guest

* The beauty of spring lies not in that it comes but that it comes every year.

* A sunset is not an ending, but a pause before a fresh start.

* Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. - Psalm 30:5

* Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless. Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

* May this Christmas bring more wisdom to the way we look at the world, and more love to the way we live in it.

* Do not dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope; to be without hope is to be without purpose. Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been, but also where you are going.

* There's majesty in every star and every moonlit sky; take hold of every moment lest wonders pass you by.

* Some things need doing better than they've ever been done before. Some things just need doing. Other things don't need doing at all. Know which is which.

* Lord, we thank you for our food

   For rest and home and all things good

   For wind and rain and heaven above

   But most of all for those we love.

*  That's why they make tomorrow...so we don't have to do everything today.

*Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is odd with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up, though the pace seems slow,

You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man,

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor's cup

And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit!

* Cultivate gratitude. Carve out an hour a day for solitude. Begin and end the day with prayer, meditation, reflection. Keep it simple. Keep your house picked up. Don't overschedule. Strive for realistic deadlines. Never make a promise you can't keep. Allow an extra half hour for everything you do. Create quiet surroundings at home and at work. Go to bed at nine o'clock twice a week. Always carry something interesting to read. Breathe - deeply and often. Move - walk, dance, run, find a sport you enjoy. Drink pure spring water. Lots of it. Eat only when hungry. If it's not delicious, don't eat it. Be instead of do. Set aside one day a week for rest and renewal. Laugh more often. Luxuriate in your senses. Always opt for comfort. If you don't love it, live without it. Let Mother Nature nurture. Don't answer the telephone during dinner. Stop trying to please everybody. Start pleasing yourself. Stay away from negative people. Don't squander precious resources: time, creative energy, emotion. Nurture friendships. Don't be afraid of your passion. Approach problems as challenges. Honor your aspirations. Set achievable goals. Surrender expectations. Savor beauty. Create boundaries. For every yes, let there be a no. Don't worry; be happy. Remember, happiness is a living emotion. Exchange security for serenity. Care for your soul. Cherish your dreams. Express love.

* Thanks for... by Sandi Kimmel

In today's busy world, we rarely have the time to stop, think and be grateful. Here, some reminders of life's treasures to guide you in mindful moments....

A - abundance, air, ancestors, angels, animals, answers, autumn, awe

B - babies, balance, beauty, birds, breath, brothers

C - care, challenge, change, chance, children, clarity, comfort, compassion, creativity

D - day, delight, depth, details, determination, devotion, dew, dignity, divinity

E - Earth, ease, emotions, energy, enthusiasm, everything

F - faith, family, food, foresight, friends

G - gifts, God, goodness, grace, grandparents, grandchildren, guides

H - hands, happiness, healing, health, heart, hope, hugs, humor

I - ideas, imagination, insight, integrity, intelligence, intuition

J - journals, journey, joy, judgment, justice

K - karma, kin, kindness, kisses, knowledge

L - lakes, land, laughter, leaves, leisure, liberty, life, light, love

M - meditation, mercy, moment, Moon, music, mystery

N - nature, neighbors, night, nourishment, now, nurturing

O - oceans, oneness, optimism

P - passion, path, patience, peace, power, prayer

Q - quest, questions, quiet

R - radiance, rain, readiness, rest, rhythm, rituals, romance

S - seasons, sight, silence, sisters, smiles, song, soul, spirit, Sun

T - taste, teachers, thoughts, time, traditions, trees, trust

U - understanding, union, uniqueness, universe

V - vacations, validation, values, vegetables, voice, vision

W - walking, water, weather, wellness, wholeness, will, woods, work, world, wisdom

X - eXperience, refleXology, relaXation

Y - yearning, yes, yesterday, yin/yang, yoga, youth

Z - zeal, zest, zip, zodiac

* The best way to break a habit is to drop it.

* Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

* We are all prisoners of our self-imposed limitations; we don't realize we've been in prison until we've broken out.

* Very little is needed to make a happy life...it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. - Marcus Aurelius

* Do the thing you have to do when you have to do it whether you feel like it or not.

* Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

* If you can't flee and you can't fight, then flow. - Rita

*  Shake It Off and Step Up

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule braying. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow. shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up,' he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! While it seemed like it would bury him, it actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity. If we face our problems and respond to them positively and refuse to give in to panic and bitterness, the adversities that come along to bury us can have within them the potential to benefit and bless us. SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP out of the wells in which we find ourselves!

* The way in which we are wounded becomes the way in which we are most able to offer healing to the world.

* Help us to do the things we should, to be to others kind and good.

   In all we do, in all we say, to grow more loving every day.

* When I look back on my worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life - most of which never happened. - Winston Churchill

* Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. Do not set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

* Do not give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying. It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other.

* People spend a lot of time with anger, bitterness, and resentment. These things do not destroy your enemy, they destroy you.

* The journey has always been about laughing together, loving each other, seeking adventure, believing in our dreams and making a difference...but sometimes we forget.

* It's remarkable what can happen when people believe in you.

* Have faith.

* We cannot control what others do and say, but we can control what we do and say. To let bad people dictate our outlook on life is to hand them the victory. I really do believe that God is love, and love does conquer all. - Tom

* Little by little, one goes far.

* Desiderata

 Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

* A fish cannot drown in water. A bird does not fall in air. Each creature God made must live in its own true nature. - Mechthild of Magdeburg

* We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

* Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

* A traveler asked a sage, "How do you get to Mt. Olympus?" The sage answered, "Make sure every step you take is in that direction."

* Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

* Part of the blessing and challenge of being human is that we must discover our own true God-given nature. This is not some noble, abstract quest but an inner necessity. For only by living in our own element can we thrive without anxiety. Since human beings are the only life form that can drown and still go to work, the only species that can fall from the sky and still fold laundry, it is imperative that we find that vital element that brings us alive... the true vitality that waits beneath all occupations for us to tap into, if we can discover what we love. If you feel energy and excitement and a sense that life is happening for the first time, you are probably near your God-given nature. Joy in what we do is not an added feature; it is a sign of deep health. What I know for sure: There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It's why you were born. And it's how you become most truly alive. - Oprah

* Things You Can Learn From Your Dog

- Never pass up an opportunity to go for a joyride

- Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy

- When loved ones come home, always run to greet them

- When it's in your best interest, practice obedience

- Let others know when they've invaded your territory

- Take naps and stretch before rising

- Run, romp, and play daily

- Eat with gusto and enthusiasm

- Be loyal

- Never pretend to be something you're not

- If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it

- When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently

- Thrive on attention and let people touch you

- Avoid biting when a simple growl will do

- On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree

- When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body

- No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout

- Bond with your pack

- Delight in the simple joy of taking a walk.

* You can't change the wind; you can, however, adjust your sails.

* Love. Unleash your joy. Be yourself. Celebrate the abundance in your life. Embrace vulnerability. Tell your story. Ask for what you need. Listen to forgiveness. Trust your heart whispers. Believe in the power of kindness. Peace. - Kelly Rae Roberts

* A single kind word will keep one warm for years.

* The wound is the place where light enters you. - Rumi

* One of the most courageous decisions you will ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.

* Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. - Confucius

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