Small steps in the right....

....direction count for far more than giant strides around the side of the circle. A few well-chosen words whispered in the right ear at the right moment, can prove more influential than a thousand diatribes delivered through a megaphone.

There are many times when it is not energy that we need; it is discrimination. Create some space. Find a little shelter, take a little rest, seek a little peace, gain a little perspective. Once you are sure of what's going on, you will know where those small steps should go.

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will 

help create the fact.    (William James)

Institutions are often required....

.....to spend significant amounts of money on services and facilities. Dutifully, they put out their contracts to tender. Unless budgets are excruciatingly tight, the lowest bidder isn't the automatic winner. Issues of reliability and quality must also be considered. (What I remember as best overall value for money.) But we know that you can't always promise reliability and quality when you are operating on a shoestring. Plus there is such a thing as false economy - some would say we live in one.  'If you buy cheap, you buy twice', is a saying from many years past.

If any deal done isn't fair to all, it won't be fair for any.

All things are only transitory  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

We've had Black Friday....

....recently, and now the post Christmas sales are in full swing.  Shops are doing their best to tempt us. Piled high in every window are special offers. It can seem that we are bombarded by TV ads offering us all we could ever need at prices we won't believe - apparently!  Strangely, though, no store is offering a bargain pack of wisdom. Indeed, you can't even get it at any price!

In this economic climate, we may think we're short of capital but it's understanding that's really in woefully short supply. And we are not even wise enough to realise it is missing!

Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.   (Rousseau)

Without our likes and dislikes.....

...we would soon be swamped by an enormous number of options. All those foods. All those drinks. All those clothes. All those soaps, shampoos, TV channels and social opportunities. How will we know which to accept and which to reject? Our preferences, even our prejudices, represent a lifebelt of seeming certainty in an ocean of overwhelming choice.

Your opinions are very valid, just as everyone else's are.  Sometimes, though,  there can be the odd one that does not help you float, but drags you down. Watch for that.

Habit is the nursery of errors   (Victor Hugo)

We are close to turning....

....the page of another year.  Shall we look forward to a brave new world? A better society? A fairer, kinder, more enlightened future? Or shall we just carry on as normal, carping at and criticising one another?  Applying double standards?  Increasing intolerance? Perpetrating prejudice?

We cannot ever expect to alter the attitudes of others. We can, though, adjust our own.

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbours, and let every new year 

find you a better person.    (Benjamin Franklin) 

 

It isn't New Year yet....

....Does that make it too early to begin a diet, embrace a fresh priority or start a new regime? Are you somehow stuck in the old cycle, rather like a towel trapped in a washing machine that must continue spinning too hard, too fast, for too long? If you really believe that New Year's Day has some special, magical, significance, feel free to wait. 

But if you truly want to change your future, remember that you are not a towel and life is not an uncontrollable engine. Today is as good a day as any to commence.

Don't let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: 

We are never alone.  (Taylor Caldwell)

Christmas Gift Suggestions.....

To your enemy....forgiveness

To an opponent....tolerance 

To a friend....your heart

To a customer....service

To all....charity

To every child....a good example 

To yourself....respect     

      

Often we race around....

.... doing things that do not need to be done. We act before we stop to consider the consequences. We end up expending vast amounts of energy, only to realise later that we must work just as hard to undo whatever we have done. It takes great strength and understanding to do nothing at a time when the whole world seems to think you should be doing something.

The fact remains, though, that you are better off doing a little wisely rather than a lot in the wrong sort of a hurry.

Poverty is the worse form of violence  (Gandhi)

You may have read....

....this before, but at this time of year it's worth revisiting.  (Then again, it's worth revisiting any time of year.)

In the Christmas of 1914 or 1915, during the wanton brutality of the First World War, British and German troops stopped shooting. They went over to each other's trenches and exchanged seasonal gifts. Some even sang carols. I think they even played a game of football.  The next day, they got back into their positions and continued with the carnage - they were ordered to. Stories like this leave us wondering whether to laugh or cry.

There are often situations that are both bitter and sweet, awesome and awful. But through our choices and our actions, we can take what is bad and make it good.

Leaders grasp nettles   (David Ogilvy)

I don't know if you have....

....read Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.  In it, this is the description of our world -  'Earth. Mostly harmless.'  Ummmm, it makes you wonder what a harmful place must be like. We may not pose much of a threat to the other solar systems but we are certainly a danger to ourselves.

The only thing that is arguable, is whether we do more damage through our high ideals or our shocking lack of moral conscience.

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.  (Albert Einstein)

Some people will say or do....

....almost anything if they think that it will gain them more money, more love or more respect. It's all rather sad, to say nothing of counterproductive. Money earned through insincere action is soon wasted on unnecessarily indulgence. Love attained through a false promise is soon lost. Recognition given to an empty gesture is rapidly replaced by criticism.

If there is ever pressure on you to lower a standard or to compromise an important principle, the apparent reward is probably not really worth having.

Surely the principles of Christianity lead to action as well as meditation.  

(William Wilberforce)

Nature does things differently....

....all over the world. Plants, creatures, people, vary from place to place. In essence, we are all much the same but each individual manifestation of that essence, is gloriously unique. To go along with our different personas, we have different tastes, preferences and opinions.

It's not for anyone to say that some of these are better or count for more than others.

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Are people who wear....

....suits more important than those who dress in casual clothes? But if you had to manifest an air of authority to help control a volatile social situation, wouldn't you prefer to be clad in a uniform that conferred a look of power upon you. Even the most free-thinking and unconventional among us find it hard not to be taken in by appearances.

Yet you may miss out on something valuable if you judge anyone by their superficial features and evaluate a situation entirely by the first impression it gives.

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension

 of life opens up.    (Eckhart Tolle)

'Enough,' they say, 'is a banquet.'....

.... 'Go too far,' they also say, 'and you will wish you hadn't gone anywhere at all.' It's a funny old thing. I have been around for a while now, and in all this time I have been keeping a careful eye out, in the hope that one day, I will discover who 'they' are. I want to ask them, 'Why do you say all these things?' 

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, moderation. It's a fine thing and you can't have too much of it! Some limits may need to be respected but feel free to allow in some passion.

Under every stone lurks a politician  (Aristophanes)

As children we are all taught....

....to label and categorise the world around us. What colour is this? Then later come more sophisticated inquiries. How big is that? How much does this cost? What is that truly worth? 

And as adults it seems as if, when we are not judging others, we are judging ourselves. Really, that's bad. Indeed, arguably, the only one thing we are ever within our rights to judge ourselves for, is judging ourselves!

The only way round is through.   (Robert Frost)