Rewards and incentives don't....

....have to be dramatic to be effective. Would you rather see one slight smile flit across the face of someone you feel fond of or watch an entire crowd adopting an expression of false amazement and feigned rapture? Would you rather be given the one thing you most need to complete a collection or just accept a whole stack of relatively random but expensive prizes? 

A small but significant development can be worth more than its weight in platinum.

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.   (Albert Einstein) 

None of us can....

....turn back the clock. Why then, do we all spend so much time living in the past? We can't return to it. We can't even trust that our memory of it is accurate. 

We can't live in the here-and-now when we bind ourselves by our ties to the there-and-then. Yet still, we somehow find it easier to look back than to cast our thoughts too far forward. 

Be motivated by what you can change, not frustrated by what you can't.

The dew of compassion is a tear   (Lord Byron)

Mix equal quantities of....

....flour, sugar and butter. Roll out carefully to line a pie dish. Now take an equal mixture of hopes and dreams. Scatter them across the top, then cover quickly with more pastry before they have a chance to fly away. Bake in the oven of faith and serve hot with the custard of imagination. 

Warning. Be careful who you share this with - it is very potent.  Combine those ingredients in the right way and you should end up with something very sweet and satisfying.

When one teaches, two learn.   (Robert Half)

Many people consider themselves....

....to belong to a particular religion, but very few are religious. For most of us, it is a cultural thing. We were brought up observing practices and absorbing doctrines. In times of need, we fall back on the comfort of those traditional beliefs. The rest of the time, we just get on with our lives. 

Heartfelt faith, though, is an extremely powerful thing. It really can move mountains. If you now go beyond what you think you believe and pursue a vision with passion, you will really create a big change.

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions   (Sophocles)

Move in any direction you care to.....

....but go there gently. Lose that angry edge. Ignore that sense of urgency. We inhabitants of earth in the 21st Century face more social, material and mental pressure than any other humans who have ever dwelt on this planet. 

We encounter sources of potential stress from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. There's only one way to cope with it all. By refusing to let it get to us. 

What you don't do can be a destructive force.   (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Most people do things....

....the way they have always been done because to do anything else requires courage and concentration. In theory, these qualities are free and abundant. We all have them in our hearts. We can all access them when we need to. 

In practice, well...  Set an example.  Be brave and focused. You may yet prove surprisingly influential. 

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing 

light of your own being.   (Hafiz of Persia)

It is not just the Christian Bible....

....that contains some strong remarks about the wisdom (or otherwise) of judging people. Many ancient tomes and texts express a similar note of caution against this very natural, very human tendency. Of course we all pass judgement on one another. 

Worse still, we do it in an instant, in a heartbeat, in the blink of an eye. What can possibly give us that right? How can such snap conclusions possibly be right? Do as the good book says today. 'Judge not, lest ye be judged.'

Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression 

of an unmet need.    (Marshall Rosenberg)

It's amazing.....

....(maybe that should be 'alarming') how long a precarious balance can be maintained. We look at a situation and think, 'This is unsustainable.' Then discover that it keeps going for a long time. People are inclined, wherever possible, to continue the status quo, rather than to overturn it. So they come up with new ways to make do and mend. They patch up problems and paper over the cracks in unsatisfactory structures. 

That's how a set of undesirable circumstances has manages to remain in existence for so long.

Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence.  

(Henri-Frederic Amiel)

Is the grass always greener....

....on the other side of the fence? Of course not. It entirely depends on which side of the fence you happen to be sitting on! We all have a terrible tendency to believe what we want to believe. We don't so much kid ourselves as con ourselves. We stare into the mirror until, by some process of wishful thinking, we have distorted the reflection. 

We embellish our identities - and when the cold light of reason threatens to burst the bubble, we rapidly look the other way.

Let my enemies devour each other  (Salvador Dali)

In the old days....

....writers would talk about the need to 'screw up some courage'. Perhaps they knew what we have now forgotten. You don't ever get real courage - or real wisdom - until you first screw things up. Success means nothing without failure. 

A person who has not properly tasted difficulty will never have any real appreciation of ease. The person who never gets anything wrong is a disaster waiting to happen - a dangerously deluded dreamer.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.  (Indira Gandhi)

If at first you don't succeed.....

....give up in disgust. Punch the wall. Kick the door. Sulk. Scowl. Give yourself a hard time. Find someone to blame. Complain to all your friends. Curse your own bad luck. Tell yourself that you didn't want whatever it is that you didn't manage to get. Shrug your shoulders. Let a little time pass by. Focus on something else for a while and then... 

try, try and try again. 

Most people only know the edited version of this old saying. Now you know all the story.

Beauty awakens the soul to act.   (Dante Alighieri)

Every picture tells a story....

... Every story has two sides. Every side to every story has two more sides - an upside and a downside. To every downside, there's an upside. Plus, of course, vice versa. Every single one of each of those different sides is a story in itself. And, as we have already established, every story has two sides. 

So where does that take us? Nowhere, really.  At times it can be wiser to cut out any complication, and rely on simplicity. 

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.   (Charles Mingus)

-

Deconstruction is always easier....

.....than reconstruction. If you want to take something apart, all you need is a screwdriver or a critical frame of mind. Now, in much the same way that we can take apart a machine, we can find fault with anyone or anything. And some actually feed on doing just that.   

Creativity, though, calls for a different kind of energy. A power of belief. A strength to resist the forces of doubt and scepticism.

Take away love and our earth is a tomb  (Robert Browning)

Doctor, doctor, I think....

....I'm becoming hard of hearing.' 'Oh really! Tell me what are the symptoms?' 'They're cartoon characters with yellow faces and names like Homer and Bart. Why do you ask?' 

As so many of us speak the same language, you might think that there would be a lot of clear communication leading to profound understanding. 

Ah, but some of us really do not listen. Others listen but they still do not hear.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.  (Ralph Nader)

A funny thing happens to people....

....who have realised that they love one another. They find their capacity to care is seemingly limitless. Even if, prior to this realisation, a person or situation hardly mattered, now things are different. Love and concern are not the only emotions that can be 'self-replenishing'. 

Our reserves of compassion, patience, tolerance and kindness are inexhaustible if we only allow them to be.

Words of love are works of love.  (William R Alger)

Alchemists, according to myth....

....and legend, can turn lead into gold. Magicians can shift their shape and cause others to believe that the unreal is real. But we live now in cynical, sceptical, times where all who lay claim, even to some faith in the possible existence of such powers, are shouted down in the name of science, reason and empirical proof. 

So, does that mean that amazing transformations are no longer feasible? 

Indeed, it does not.

If you want to be happy, be.   (Leo Tolstoy)

At an early age....

....we are sent to school. (You can blame Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi for that one.)  There, facts and figures are drummed into our heads. No wonder we all feel that we know so much. Yet, though we may be mines of trivial information, there are still many things we do not understand. 

It's just that, because none of us wishes to appear ignorant, we try to deny this - and some try extremely hard. We act as if we have all the answers, even when it is patently clear that it can't be so. 

No wonder we sometimes make the wrong choices.

Wisdom is found only in truth.  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

There are the stories....

....we tell ourselves, the versions of those stories that we tell others and the interpretations that those people then place on the stories that they have been told. Where, in all those different narratives and explanations, should we look if we want to find the truth? 

It is important to remember that no statement is ever definitive, no rule is without its exceptions and no assessment of any situation is entirely free of subjectivity.

Very few of us are what we seem.   (Agatha Christie)

There are many things....

....we just don't understand. Too often, though, we feel unable to confess our confusion. Others, we suspect, will take advantage of our vulnerability so we strut around trying to look as confident as we can. We soon notice that we are surrounded by other people doing the same, which makes us all the more determined to act arrogantly. A vicious cycle of swagger and supposition thus keeps us all in far from blissful ignorance. 

If today offers a real revelation. Don't be too blind to see it.

Time makes more converts than reason.   (Thomas Paine)

Two taxidermists stopped....

 ....in front of a window where an owl was on display. They immediately began to criticize the way it was mounted. Its eyes were not natural; its wings were not in proportion with its head; its feathers were not neatly arranged; and its feet could be improved.  

Just when they had finished with their criticism, the owl turned its head, and blinked. 

It’s easier to be critical than correct. 

There are two ways....

.... to make people behave differently. One involves legislation, the other inspiration. Or, if you prefer to think in such terms, one involves a stick and the other a carrot. People argue about which method is most effective. But, of course, much depends on the situation. And some sticks (and carrots) make much more of an impact than others. 

If you so badly want to alter something in your life, you will accomplish far more if you focus on a bright goal and not on a dark fear.

The reward of suffering is experience.  (Harry S Truman)

We may not....

....all be superstars, but we are all born with the potential to become the great and the good. We can help people around us to lead better lives. We can set shining examples and buck miserable trends. 

All that's required is a little faith, a little effort, and a little willingness to resist the standards that others accept as 'normal'.

Problems are not stop signs, they're guidelines.  (Robert H Schuller)

We see ourselves....

....as citizens of countries. Yet we are inhabitants of one simple, single, world. That's what this planet is. A tiny blue ball spinning in space. By comparison, the slight matter of a geographical border here or a political boundary there, is surely of little consequence. Indeed, whenever our problems seem daunting, it is always helpful to stop and remember how small we are in the vastness of everything. 

Yet though you may be small, you are big too. You matter.

To think of shadows is a very serious thing.  (Victor Hugo)

Those of us with depth....

....and breadth of vision will be eternally grateful to caterpillars. They provide us with a wonderful example of how powerful the process of personal transformation can be. These are not the only living metaphors for metamorphosis. We can all undergo amazing, permanent, positive change. 

But to do this, we sometimes have to, first, go through processes that seem hard or strange or silly.

Lessons are not given, they are taken   (Cesare Pavese)

We kid ourselves....

....in a hundred different ways every day. We kid ourselves that things are fine when they are clearly not. Sometimes, we kid ourselves to a constructive end, and sometimes the process is entirely counterproductive. 

Still, though, we keep on doing it, the more so when we try to kid ourselves that we are not kidding ourselves! 

Love is a friendship set to music  (Joseph Campbell)  

We place a high value....

....on the strangest things for the silliest reasons. Brand names. Designer labels. Products and services that somehow seem to confer an air of status with their purchase. And some even think we're impressed when they name the label attached to the purchase!  

Imagine if people came in makes and models. Well, actually, some people seem to imagine that they do! We none of us value ourselves enough, nor do we recognise the true merit and worth of those around us.

All adventure is now reactionary   (William F Buckley Jr)

We should always try....

....to learn from the past. But the past isn't necessarily geared up to provide any of us with an education. It contains no classrooms or desks. It may appear to offer lecturers but these are often self-appointed, with axes to grind and biased points to make. 

We may discover, if we listen too carefully to those tutors, that we have studied the wrong curriculum and have gained no useful admission to any further course. Be wary today, about the conclusions you draw from yesterday.

Half a truth is often a great lie.   (Benjamin Franklin)

We are all....

.....to some extent, like gardeners. We plant seeds. We nurture aspirations. We tend our hopes and dreams. Feeding them here, pruning them there and gently encouraging them towards a perfect state of fruition. 

Always, though, there will be little patches of land that we have overlooked - areas where the wild things grow, places that we have all but forgotten the existence of. 

Sometimes, in among the so-called weeds, rare and wonderful flowers bloom.

Change in all things is sweet   (Aristotle)

We live in a world of abundance....

....There are, or at least we think there are, endless resources with which to replenish used facilities. Just think about criticism, complaint, fear, exasperation and worry. Do you imagine there is some limit to the amount of this you can have in your life? 

Not unless you want to put that limitation in place. Otherwise you can have as much of it as you like.

The highest result of education is tolerance  (Helen Keller)

What are we supposed to do....

....about the things that we don't approve of? Or the things we dislike? We may wish that they were different but how much power do we have to change them? If we feel we have no power, we can either grow resentful or become philosophical. Of those two less-than-ideal options, the latter is surely, by far, the healthier. 

But better yet is to make a concerted, sincere, effort to set the world to rights. Until or unless you try, how can you say for certain that such an enterprise is beyond your ability?

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, 

practice compassion.  (Tenzin Gyatso)

Who wrote the history books?....

....And what works did they refer to? And the authors of those earlier, older, books, where did they get their facts from? How far can we ever really trust anyone who says 'this is how things used to be and this, therefore, is why they have become the way they are today?' 

In order to bring about the change it'll probably be necessary to challenge a long chain of assumptions. Be wary of what seems to be set in stone. But be gentle when dissolving the concrete!

Live dangerously and you live right.  (Johann Wolfgang von Gothe)

Why were you....

....placed on this planet? Was there a function that only you could fulfil? A role that only you could play? Or perhaps, more modestly, a contribution that only you could make? You think you are not that special? Think again! You are one of a kind. 

There really never has been anyone quite like you before and nor will there ever be again. There may be similarities between you and various other people but that doesn't make you identical.

God does not play dice   (Albert Einstein)