'All the moments that ever were....

...and ever will be are contained in the essence of this moment that we are living through, right here and now.' Or so it is said. If that's true, you've potentially got access to a lot of amazing information. But how do you get to see it? By seeing past all that's right in front of your nose, noisily demanding so much attention.

Look beyond. Look above. Look within. Look at what could be and look at what you'd like to be... and you could be looking at reaching an all time high.

If you live your life with the regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, 

you will have no today to be thankful for!

There's a staggering number....

....of people who worship the great god Money.  It says much for and about them especially when we know that it can't buy you love. Can't buy you time, either. Or health.

It can, of course, allow you to afford various indulgences that can temporarily create an illusion of all the above. Some things, though, are simply too precious to be valued in financial terms. They are equally available to us all. Reach for what's in your heart right now. Look for your deepest wisdom, your highest compassion, your strongest faith.

These qualities are precious and priceless - and with them you may well bend the rules of time and space.

The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference.  You have it within your means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter.   (Norman Cousins)

Those classic fairy-tales....

....that we grew up with condition us to believe it is possible to have a happy-ever-after. They raise unreasonable expectation that things can get good. Sometimes, very good. Sometimes they can stay good for a long time. But perfection? Well, that's a tricky notion. We aspire to it. We dream of it.

The only time we ever experience it, though, is when we find some way of learning to embrace imperfection. Most people are happy to embrace their own imperfections, yet are intolerant of those they find in others. It can be very challenging to see what's right about what seems so wrong.

There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and 

the day we discover why.      (William Barclay)

Generally, when we lose interest....

....in a subject or a situation, it is not because we have learned all there is to learn about it. It is because we cannot see what else there is to be learned. Er, not quite the same thing, that.

If we have real enthusiasm for something - or someone - we will plough past that point of inertia and then begin to make a whole series of fresh discoveries.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.  (Marcus Aurelius)

Why do wars start....

.... Why do marriages end? What causes conflict? What prevents peace? These, like all big, complicated questions, have simple answers. Problems of this nature invariably have just one cause. Intolerance. It is poisonous stuff. Indeed, intolerance is the only thing on this planet that we have any real right to be intolerant of! But, of course, if we are intolerant of intolerance, we only make it worse.

No matter how justified resentment may feel, forgiveness is the only way forward.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.    (Mahatma Gandhi)

Although there may be times....

.....when it doesn't seem like it; there's no such thing as a conflict that cannot be resolved. It is, though, much easier to attain peace if both parties earnestly desire it. Some people feel that to give way in a tense situation is to show weakness. But, then, to give way to a base emotion can hardly be considered a strength.

Troubled waters need oil pouring on them, not wave-generating machines lowering into them!

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. 

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.)

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, 

but to colour my sunset sky.  (Rabindranath Tagore)

All too often ideas....

.....implant themselves into our heads.  We then let them ferment and believe that things have to be a certain way. When they work out as we want them to, we celebrate. When they don't, we feel disappointed. So deeply attached do we become to these expectations that we cannot bring ourselves to question their importance. We are not interested in any other view of reality. Success equals what we wanted to happen. Failure equals something else.

Sometimes, by avoiding that attitude, we can experience a very pleasing development.

The radical of one century is the conservative of the next.  The radical invents the views.  When s/he has worn them out, the conservative adopts them.  (Mark Twain)

Some arguments aren't worth....

....getting into. We know, before a word is spoken, how they will play out. We can hear our set-piece speech forming in our own head... and it doesn't require much imagination to guess what will be said to us in return.

Conversation that doesn't actually involve listening, absorbing, digesting and allowing for some possibility of change as a result of the exchange is never very worthwhile.

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

When will the world become....

....a better place? When we all start trying a little harder to make it into one! But it won't necessarily be when various political battles have been fought and won - especially if those campaigns have involved anger directed at the forces of government who are trying to control the world in another way. It will be love, compassion, tolerance and understanding that make the difference and bring the only victory worth having.

If you get the opportunity to be part of something truly inspiring, embrace it.

The naked truth is always better than someone's best dressed lie

We all like to feel as if....

....we are 'in the right'. That mood pleases us so much that we will sometimes, inadvertently, take inappropriate steps to promote such a feeling within ourselves. Some people even get to the point where they cannot possibly consider the idea that they may somehow be in the wrong because they would simply find that too upsetting.  (Don't they just.)

Yet being right, is not quite the same thing as feeling right. Sometimes, we have to test a series of assertions and assumptions. That requires an open mind.

Most good things have already been said far too many times and just need to be lived (Shane Claibrone)

If we all want....

....peace and understanding, how come we all spend so much time arguing and failing to comprehend why the other people in our world can be so stupid? Serenity is not something we can buy from a supermarket; it is something we have to develop within ourselves. There are no shops that give out 'tolerance tokens' for us to cash in at times of great need.

We create our own... or we live without it and suffer the stress.

Hate is not the first enemy of love. Fear is. It destroys your ability to trust.

People see what they....

....want to see, and hear what they want to hear.  So, that begs the question - How are they ever persuaded of anything? Well, when you need to make someone see things from your point of view, you first need to find out what their point of view is. Then you have to convince them that, in supporting your idea, they are actually confirming their own.

Now where, you may wonder, does argument enter into any of this? It doesn't! Argument is only for people who actively want to grow further apart.

You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.   
(Ayn Rand)

Take a look at any item of clothing....

....that you have.  My guess is that it'll have a label on it somewhere, carrying the maker's name. Do we see such a stamp on a new born baby?  Trees, leaves, fruits and vegetables all come beautifully to fruition without showing so much as a brand name or a bar code. And where, in nature's great plan for the propagation of every species, is the business model and the profit margin?

Having spent years - most of my adult life, actually - worrying about labels, I've come to realise that life is about appreciating what feels right and natural and worrying less about the rest.

I am weary of people who have an opinion about everything but a heart for nothing.   (Paul Reid)

Two wrongs do not...

....make a right. Nor, despite our occasional moments of self-doubt, do two rights ever make a wrong. Sometimes, we begin to wonder whether there is really any point in being laudable and applaudable. We watch aghast as amoral individuals appear to get clean away with inexcusable outrages.

We see our own noble efforts to be ethical, creating tension and apparently holding us back.  And then we forget that we are merely looking at a snapshot. A freeze-frame from a film.

There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.   (George Sand)

The sayings of Confucius....

.....Wasn't he a loquacious individual?   Here's one of his sayings -  'A person who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make their words good.'   Obviously a great believer in humility.  So, he would have been shocked that many now equate it with humiliation.

We all like to pretend we are perfect. When we are criticized, we persuade ourselves that our accusers are at fault - and that to concede a failing is to show weakness. There's a big difference between being humble and being humbled.

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.  (Kahlil Gibran)

You can't have winners.....

....and losers unless you have some kind of a competition going on. Despite the fact that we are encouraged from an early age, to see life as a race or a battle, our happiness is not dependent on point scoring.



True joy is not linked to the ability to get what you want. It stems from the ability to see that there's more to existence than material success.

What worries you, masters you.    (Locke)

What use is a car without....

....an engine? What use is an engine without something to drive? Even if you combine the two into a stunning automobile, it will serve no purpose unless it has a road to run along and a destination to reach. Even then, it must also have a driver. And the driver must know the way. Many people say that if you want to solve your problems you must break them down into small parts - bite-size chunks. Comfortable components.

Sometimes though you need to piece a picture together; then look at the bigger picture and point the powerful vehicle of your life in the only direction that makes sense.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.  

(Martin Luther King Jnr)

We have wars. We have disasters....

...We have things called tectonic plates which keep shifting and causing havoc.  The centre of our planet is hotter than any of us can imagine.  The ozone layer is damaged.  So, what's so good about this spinning ball of rock!  Then we have to contend with  those that inhabit it.  Can't they be a right bunch of grouchy, tricky, needy, greedy, difficult, cussed characters at any time?

Then again, this Earth is beautiful, nature is majestic and the human race, for all its faults, is awash with truly wonderful people.

Procrastination is not only the thief of time, it is the grave of opportunity.

I have just finished....

....reading The Shack.  It has made me leap for joy.  It has made me weep.  It has stretched me in ways I cannot begin to describe, and for which I am truly thankful.  I could quote so much from it, but this paragraph will do very well -


Part of Jesus' response to 'You're not too fond of religion and institutions?' -

'.....Like I said, I don't create institutions; that's the occupation for those who want to play God.  So, no, I'm not too big on religion, and not very fond of politics or economics either.  And why should I be?  They are the man-made trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about.  What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?'

Experience teaches us....

....that the best rarely occurs. It begins to seem as if we cannot hope for much more than second-best. Always, there will be some kind of compromise to contend with. If we are wise and fortunate we may look back and realise later that it is just as well things didn't turn out the way we had originally hoped. What we thought was bad, was actually good.

That said, sometimes, just sometimes, we do get what we want and it is right.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply 

gives you courage.   (Lao Tzu)

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.

Love does not possess, and neither will it be possessed (Kahlil Gibran)

Why on earth do we....

....insis on measuring age just by the clock or the calendar. There are some children who are wise beyond their years. And there are some nonagenarians who still, given half a chance, bicker like squabbling toddlers. Nor is it ever wise for us to equate wisdom with chronology.  Definitely not. 

No matter how old someone is, they can always make a new discovery that changes everything for the better if only they are willing to keep an open-mind.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.   (Mark Twain)

We don't like to ask....

....each other questions. We feel a little embarrassed about the answers that we may receive and we feel that perhaps, it would be wisest simply to ignore sensitive topics. We may also feel that, in being this polite, we are saving someone from the awkwardness of having to discuss a matter that they find disturbing.

Yet, no genuinely meaningful dialogue can ever occur without some candour and honesty.

People are funny. They spend money they don't have, to buy things they don't need, 

to impress people they don't like.

You just need to flick through....

.... the news channels to see endless examples of the human race at its least humane, interspersed with experts droning dryly on about matters that are immensely emotive and important. When they are not commentating on conflicts, they are telling us about the other seemingly insolvable problems in our world.

Yet what is it that we truly have a shortage of? Just  this: imagination and compassion with understanding. That is all the world needs.

Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.   (Euripides)