Do you remember when....

.....every stage magician could pull out a rabbit from a hat. These days, though, as well as the rabbit, the magician is also obliged to produce a vet and an animal welfare inspector, both of whom can testify to the fact that the creature has not been harmed. No matter how good you are at sleight of hand, you can't pull a rabbit (with or without the appropriate documentation) out of a hat - unless you have got one to put in the hat in the first place.

We can work some wonderful magic just with what we have to hand.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.   (Mother Teresa)

Physical strength has its limits

....No matter how many weights you lift, there will always come a point past which you cannot go. Mental strength is similarly restricted. Even rocket scientists find there are some topics they simply cannot wrap their minds around. Emotional strength works differently. It requires fluidity and flexibility. Only the weak are rigid.

The stronger you are deep within, the less concerned you have to be about strength and thus the more strength you can manifest.

True strength is delicate  (Louise Berliawsky Nevelson)

If you love someone you can feel....

....hurt by the things they say or do. If you care about something, then, should it come under threat, you will feel threatened as well. Wherever there is a passion, there's a potential problem. Instinctively, we all know this. That's why we try to limit the extent to which we get involved. 

But a life without empathy and enthusiasm is no life at all. Whatever price we pay by allowing our heart off the leash, it's still a fair exchange.

Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.  (Maya Angelou)

Great goals make....

When you encourage others....

Humour me. Let's play a game...

....Simon says - Right, off we go. 


Simon says, put your hands in the air.' 'Simon says, put them down.' Now, put them up again. Hey! What are you doing? You are supposed to keep them down. Simon did not say put them up.

That's the way of the world. Everything is okay, as long as you have got the appropriate documentation from the relevant authority. If not, it's not okay. There are times when we should never mind the whys or wherefores, the rights or the wrongs. Instead, trust to common sense, regardless of what Simon (or anyone else) says.

The more you care, the stronger you can be  (Jim Rohn)

We don't grow....

The great soap opera of life....

....trundles endlessly on. Drama follows drama. No sooner does one problematic episode draw to a close than trouble arises in some other area. Always, there's a cliffhanger. Invariably, there's a tense, uncertain situation. Even when it's quiet, it so often seems quiet in the wrong way for the wrong reasons 

But any one of us could very well be at a turning point. Old, tired situations can change, quickly for the better. Will this bring more soap opera or the start of a chance to finally fulfil a dream? That's purely down to your choice.

The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of 

kindness and of love.   (Wordsworth)

Do what makes you.....

Don't hold on to anger....

Mistakes - they always seem to tempt us....

....to review them and then to analyse those reviews.  We do this sometimes because we feel we may be able to learn something - and sometimes, through some perverse desire to punish ourselves. Often though, our biggest mistakes are the ones we know nothing about. They may involve opportunities we do not realise we have missed or decisions that have led to a worse outcome than we yet realise.

And then, there are the moves we made which we thought were wrong, yet turned out not to be mistakes at all.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.      (Leo Buscaglia)

Don't look back....

Life is short....

Today will never....

Accept.....

Roll up, roll up for your....

.....treat of the day - A 'they say.....' moment.  I'll let you savour it................They say, 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.' But what kind of people say this? And what's their problem? Do they genuinely believe that every contingency can be anticipated and there is no such thing as a spontaneous event that requires a sudden, instinctive response? 

Those who fail to plan are presumably planning instead - on their hearts rightly leading them where their heads could never go in a million years of strategic meetings and consultations.  Trust what seems like a whim.

Do or do not. There is no try.

We don't meet people....

The two most important days....

Grow through whatever comes....

Kind souls think....

People may not....

Don't doubt yourself...

The best....

The world becomes....

Risking is....

Empty pockets....

If you always do....

Hardships....

Happiness is....

Never underestimate....

Do not judge.....

Enjoy the little things....

Many children learn....

....'knock knock' jokes as one of their earliest forms of spoken humour.  Subconsciously, we come to associate a caller at our door with a bizarre comedic development. Perhaps this is why, when opportunity knocks, we do not always take it very seriously. When this possibility arises for any of us, though, it's no laughing matter.

Once you have taken advantage of it, you may well feel inclined to smile. But first, you must see it and seize it.

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.

Let's do something different....

......And I do like different.......So, let's have a quiz. The answers could prove very helpful. Q1: When is the darkest hour? Q2: What do you have to recognise that you've got, before you can find a solution? Q3: What never lets you down if you never let it go?  I suppose I should write the answers upside down, but even I'm not that clever! So, instead, just stand on your head please!

A1. Just before the dawn. A2. A problem. Did you get those right? How did you do with Q3?          A3 is 'faith'.

Often, that's all any of us need to remember.

Sometimes opportunity knocks, but most of the time it sneaks up and quietly steals away.   (Larson)

As if we do not...

...have enough to test and try in our daily lives, we have our own imaginations to contend with. These ensure that we can never fully relax. Always, there is something to be nervous of. No matter what the scenario, we are capable of conjuring up negative associations. Or of seeing within it a pessimistic possibility.

Worse, our imagination will often insist that it is not even talking to us - that it is, in fact, the voice of common sense.

Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.   (Epicetus)

I've absolutely no idea...

....how many adults there are in the world, but you can be sure that for every adult there is a closet. Those closets all have skeletons in them. Those skeletons, though, have long since lost most of their identifying features. They are not very interesting. The only power they possess is the ability to seem slightly shocking when you first open the cupboard door and they leap out at you from the dark. 

Shine any kind of a light on them for any length of time and they soon become a pile of boring old bones, relics fit for nothing.

Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits