Gratitude

Nay-sayers

"There will always be nay-sayers who warn us that we are bound to fail at this or that.  The important question to ask is not "Will I fail?" but "What do I stand to achieve?""
Barbara Bartocci

Problem

"A problem is a chance for you to do your best."
Duke Ellington

When there is a loadshedding or blackout - enjoy the quiet and reach for your candles and lamps.

When you are planted in a a place that it is difficult to be who you are,
do your best to be who you are anyway!

I was in the parking lot outside Pick 'n Pay Princess crossing where a whole row of neighbouring shops was burnt recently. 
The car-guard was singing quietly
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine;
this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. 
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine;
let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!"

Yeah man!

Hope...

"We hope for a people and a nation in which democracy is made a wonderfully realizable possibility in a pluralistic culture where people bring together a whole variety of life experiences. We hope for a society which is just and free."
Church of the Province of South Africa Minister

Playfulness

"Playfulness it at the core of creativity."
"I'm a lot more uncomfortable around people than people know."
"Go back to the past - even with fear... Come back from the past with pride."
Source unrecorded.

Said of Early Settlars

"They learnt to rely on the wealth and respect the limitations of the land around them."
Road to Zion - Hawaii

Problems

"Problems are not as big and hopeless as they first appear to be."
Zureda Jerdyn

Jane Fonda

I watched Oprah interview Jane Fonda, now 71 years old.
I liked these quotes from Jane:

"To do life right you have to feel like you're growing up 'till the day you die."
"Little by little we break the cycle."

She was talking of the cycle of ignorance and disrespect - abuse.

Jane Fonda is still beautiful outside! I see she is growing her inner beauty too - good for her - and all the rest of us who keep learning and do better as we learn better. Noble and worthwhile work.

The "Happy" Test

* Do you find it hard to set goals for yourself?
* Does the future seem bleak?
* Do you prefer being alone?
* Do you have few hobbies?
* Do you dwell on the past?
* Do you rely on alcohol, caffeine and sugary snacks for a "lift"?
* Are you a pessimist?
* Would you like to change your looks or personality?
* Do you dislike your job?
* Are you in a bad relationship?

Count up your "yes" answers.

Score: 0
You are fortunate - you love life.

Score 1 - 3
Your life looks pretty good. You still need to make a little extra effort.

Score 4 - 7
Good start. You also need to do more to fulfil your happiness potential.

Score 8 - 10
You are generally unhappy. Reassess your life and lifestyle. Consider visiting with a counsellor. Gradually reverse your negative thinking processes.

Some things you might like to work with every day:

Accept yourself as you are.
Celebrate the good things about yourself.
Share some good news every day.
Look for good things in others around you.
Convert negative thoughts - reword them into positive sentiments.
Surround yourself with the colours: orange, turquoise, green, violet - these colours enhance your mood when you need an attitude -lift.
Exercise aerobically for at least 30 minutes every other day - trigger the release of your body's feel-good chemicals and endorphins.
Set yourself attainable goals. Reach them. Keep your aims small to begin with.
Dance more. Move your body more - to music!
Avoid eating sugary snacks - they give you an instant boost and then your body plummets lower than you were to begin with.
Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole foods.
Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
Sleep enough most nights.

Emotionally-skillful people thrive and have better relationships.
Contented people have a more fulfilling life.
Happy people enjoy their work more.
Cheerful people find more joy in their every-day life.

Become more optimistic and positive.
Apply more of these success-disciplines in your life.
Improve your general outlook on life - your life.

"Out of small persistent daily efforts proceeds great annual progress..."

Western Times - April 1999

Enjoy the Little Things...

"Enjoy the little things of today and you will look back and realize they were the big things."
Seen at Anna Paula Gift Shop

An Adventure

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is is only an adventure wrongly considered."
GK Chesterton

Stinking Thinking

"No one is going to have a great life with lousy thinking."
Joyce Meyer

Bored...

"I have never been bored. I get up every morning wondering what strange new glamerous thing is going to happen - and it happens at fairly regular intervals. Lady Luck has been good to me and I fancy she has been good to everyone. Only some people are dour, and when she serves them the come hither with her eyes, they look down or turn away and lift an eyebrow. But me, I give her the wink and away we go."
William A White

Too Perfect

"If it's too perfect, it's static.
It has to have some inconsistencies to give it some feeling."
Stained Glass Artist talking about his wonderful stained glass creations.
(interviewed on BYU Television.)
Reminds me of a training session I was in where a bowl of tumbled semi-precious stones was passed around. We were each invited to take one and look at it, hold it, and feel it - keep it in our hands - during the training session.
At the end we were instructed to put our stones in the bowl again.
The bowl was then passed around again and we each, with closed eyes, were invited to feel in the bowl and recognise and retrieve our own stone.
We then discussed the experience.
I was surprised.
I knew my stone immediately - I could recognise it BY IT'S IMPERFECTIONS!
(I instantly realised, as well, that if all the stones in the bowl were perfect, I would not be able to recognise my stone with my eyes closed... and maybe... if they all looked the same in their perfect state - I might not even easily recognise my own...)
As well as those "inadequacies" thankfully and familiarly identified, I could open my eyes and see why I chose my stone in the first place - for it's colour and interesting other characteristics...
Life is Good!
I am blessed with what I have been able to learn!

Optimists Have It

"In this world, the optimists have it, not because they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when they are wrong they are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement and success.
Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer the empty consolation of being right."
David Landes - American economic historian and author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations