Stress/Discomfort

“Most human beings need tension: a certain, healthy, measured tension. Such tension promotes mental health and constitutes everything that is being human.”
- Viktor Frankl, "Will to Meaning"

Steadfastness

"It's obviously flattering when people say pleasant things about you, but you must never let it affect you fundamentally. In the same manner, you must never let it bother you when people say nasty things about you. I look at it and turn the page."
Helen Zille Democratic Alliance Leader; Mayor of Cape Town

Despair

"There is no reason for despair. For every problem, you hold countless solutions."
Hajjar Gibran

Birth

"We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first and the spirit later. Our mothers are wracked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the pains of our spiritual growth."
- Mary Antin "The Promised Land"

Take the Plunge

"Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have."
- Doris Mortman

Spit It Out

"If there is a bad taste in your mouth you spit it out, you don't constantly swallow it back".
- Movie "Amazing Grace"

Serenity

"Serene women do not become sidetracked. Sidetracked women, who scatter their energy to the four winds, never achieve serenity."
- Sarah Ban Breathnach "Simple Abundance" March 1st

Guilt, Shame and Fear

"Guilt shame and fear do a war dance together that leaves us with anxiety and feelings of emptiness, incompleteness and hopelessness... Because of fear we run from looking within ourselves, and we begin to look to people, places, activities and possessions for our happiness. It is... this extreme search for peace of mind... that pushes us towards our first steps in addiction."
- Lee Jampolsky "Healing the Addictive Mind" p9

We Are All Actually Attached

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
John Muir, Botanist

Stress

"When a person falls apart at the mention of a difficult situation, it usually means bubbling just below the surface is a cauldron of emotions, and suppressing those feelings can drain you... you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others."
Dr Phil
O Magazine South Africa February 2009 p 120

Change

"There are two ways of change: Change through Desparation, and Change through Inspiration."
Dr John Tibane

Actions

"Our actions today should not constrain our development tomorrow."
Trevor Manual

Always Miserable

"What good are you to your children if you are always miserable?"
Monica Jorge
(Arms and legs amputated after an infection turned them black)

Gifts

"Nobody was born short of the gifts they were meant to have"
Sindiwe Magona

Things...

"...things, no matter how beautiful, are only things... "
Sarah Ban Breathnach "Simple Abundance" December 25th

How Good Life Is

How good life is when you are doing what thrills you.
Martha Beck

Strong and Immovable

January 2009 Visiting Teaching Message:

“Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life.” Mosiah 5:15

How Can I Stand Strong and Immovable in Faith?

3 Nephi 6:14: “The church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.”

Nearer my God to Thee

Sung by faithful Saints through many years of living since the 1800's:

Nearer my God to thee,
Nearer to thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me.
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

There let the way appear
Steps unto heav’n;
All that thou sendest me,
In mercy given;
Angels to beckon me
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Then with my waking thoughts
Bright with thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs
Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Correction/Encouragement

"Correction does much; but encouragement does more."
Johann Wolfgang van Goethe

Stormy Human Weather

"Imagine a businessman who has to travel to a stormy country for a lengthy visit.

Upon arriving he finds himself surrounded by blasting winds and flooding rains. Although baffled at first, he soon sees what he must do. He must study and understand the cruel weather, which he does.

With great satisfaction he discovers that the storms have no personal effect on him, for he has learned how to keep himself safe.

You can achieve the same kind of success when surrounded by stormy human weather. You can command it completely by understanding it thoroughly."

- Vernon Howard - 50 Ways to Escape Cruel People.