We must 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 strange or silly. 

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.   (Mark Twain)

I strongly suspect that....

....you have heard this before - Everything happens for a reason.

It is not, though, always easy to see what that reason is. The best way to identify it is to be, or to try to become, a 'reasonable person'. Reasonable people are people who are willing to 'see reason'.

Reason respects this. It will always do what it can to make itself visible to someone who wants to see it!

When you are content to be simply yourself, and don't compare or compete,

everybody will respect you.   (Lao Tzu)

It's got absolutely nothing....

.....to do with what you've got. The world is full of people who allegedly have everything. More often than not, their hearts are empty and their lives are shallow. (It's true.  Show me a materialistic person, and I'll show you a person with no depth.)  There are plenty more people who have next to nothing, yet they are content and full of joy. There will always be something to upset or annoy us. There will always be something to inspire and delight us. Everything boils down to attitude.

If you can see at least one thing to feel very excited about. Focus on that and forget the rest.

Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.   (Ethiopian Proverb)

We all know how hard....

....it is to put our true feelings into words. Most of us just don't bother to try. We feel that it's really rather like using a shoelace to open a tin. Persistence is not going to make the difference. Yet, every so often, we somehow find ourselves able to share those crucial but elusive experiences. We become better able to communicate, to explain, to speak clearly and to listen with sensitivity.

It's at these times when bridges can be built with solid foundations.

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.    (Kahlil Gibran)

A short story.....

.....for the Easter season -

A young boy named Jonathan, who had quite severe learning difficulties, loved going to Sunday School and listening to the passages and the hymns that many know so well.  Unfortunately, although the other children didn’t mock him, neither did they include him in many of the activities.

One week before Easter, the Sunday school assistant gave all of the children plastic eggs and asked them to go home and fill the eggs with something that represented Easter.  The next week all of the children gave their eggs to the assistant, who opened them one by one and they talked about how each thing represented Easter. One had a flower petal, another had a picture of a new born lamb and so on - all representing Spring and new life.

The assistant then came to an empty egg.  Assuming it was Jonathan’s, she put it aside thinking he must not have understood what she asked him to do.  Jonathan became a little agitated and asked. “Why won’t you talk about my egg?”.  She said, “But Jonathan, your egg is empty.”  To which he replied, “So was the tomb”. 

Jonathan became accepted by all the other children that day. 

When it comes....

...to pets, I love feathers as well as fur.  (Not so sure about lizards and the like, though.)  Anyway, you may have noticed that some parrots are fascinating creatures. They can mimic the words and phrases we utter and even, sometimes, use them in context. They have this uncanny way of saying something that makes them sound as if they fully understand what's going on.

But then, there are some people who give a similarly deceptive impression of their power of comprehension.   We talk to them. They talk back. It sounds as if a meaningful exchange has taken place. Often we have to watch for empty words best told to the birds!!

A simple review of history will show that the masses have never been right.

Just look at Noah and the people of his day.     (AW Tozer)

You can argue with....

 ....the past as much as you like. It won't respond. It can't change. It can't even argue back! Happily, though, you don't have to resolve your differences with it. You can remain uncomfortable about anything that has taken place before now. This won't do you any harm as long as you don't carry the dispute forward.

The future doesn't need to be argued with. It needs to be cajoled, coaxed and persuaded. You can talk it into agreeing with you and, through that process, you can turn it into something you like.

When you cling to what you think you know, too tightly, not even the light of truth can get through.

Any fool....

....can go through life just doing what they've always done. Avoid confrontation, shy away from challenge, keep change at bay, stick with the tried and tested, stay in the comfort zone, retreat into old habits and patterns... What's difficult about any of that? 

We didn't come here, to this planet, to wallow in the mud of familiarity. We came here to grow, to learn, to go beyond our boundaries and fill our lives with magic. 

Once you label me, you negate me.  (Soren Kierkegaard)

Even if you win....

....the rat race, you will still be a rat. Success is not the be all and end all of existence. Or, at least, not 'success' in the very materialistic sense of the word. If you are truly happy, you can consider yourself successful. If you are being creative, if you are making a constructive contribution, if you are having a positive impact on someone's life, all these things and more make everything worthwhile.

Still, though, we judge ourselves in terms of goals achieved and expectations met. Apply a different standard.

Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.  (Kahlil Gibran)

Where would we be.....

....without hope or inspiration?  Why do we consistently undervalue these? Instead, we become amazed by the mundane!  It's almost as if the light of true joy is too dazzling to look at, so we turn our eyes towards whatever reflects it least!

How else do we explain our peculiar propensity to feed flames of fear while starving our optimism of oxygen?

The past is your lesson. The present is your gift. The future is your motivation.

The book of tomorrow....

....is in a chest, protected by a Bramah lock. Nobody can write in it. Nothing can permeate its pages. Until it becomes the book of today, tomorrow is a clean sheet. So how can anyone claim to know something about what it holds? Because, and only because, we can detect intention. We can see what some people want to do with their tomorrows and gauge how likely it is that they will try.

Remember, tomorrow is not something you inherit. It is something you create!

Failure and setbacks are ingredients for a great success story.

Have you ever wondered....

....why there are plenty of drama schools, but there are no melodrama schools?   It's because none of us needs to be shown how to create one of these. It comes naturally. We eat, sleep, fulfil physical functions and stir up intense emotional vortices full of angst, passion, fear, desire and despair. Then, we eat and sleep again! Oh, I forgot to add something.....

After the melodrama has been blown up out of all proportion, we worry about why we let this happen. That's also normal!

Everyone dies, but not everyone really lives.

There's a plethora....

.....of shops that sell nothing but accessories. Not clothes, not shoes, just bags, belts, brooches and baubles. Why are they so popular? Because fashion-conscious people understand that you can transform an entire outfit, just by wearing something different with it.

That's definitely a principle worth remembering.   Often, in life, there's no great need for a fundamental overhaul or a radical change. You just need to make a small, subtle, adjustment to an attitude or an expectation  and things start to seem different then.

              

Every day is a new beginning, so treat it that way.

Stay away from what might have been and look at what can be.

We know it is kind....

....to share, so I will share a 'they say.....' moment -  

They say tomorrow never comes. True. But, then, tomorrow never goes away either. It is always on the horizon no matter what you do with today. Does your tomorrow look like a beckoning ray of light or a dark, daunting cloud? Don't answer. Just keep on lifting up one foot after the other and walk on down your path through time.

Reserve judgement on the future. You don't yet know enough about it.

Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility 

into flames of achievement. (Golda Meir)

The world is full of....

....studious academics, accomplished scientists and knowledgeable philosophers. Individually and collectively they apply themselves to the many complex questions that hang over all our heads. They have solutions in all shapes and sizes. So, why are so many of us still unclear?

Because what we seek is not an explanation, a formula or an intellectual answer. It is a simple gesture of love and kindness.

Kindness in words creates confidence.  Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.

Kindness in giving creates love.      (Lao Tzu)

Opinion ought to carry....

 ....a health and safety warning. People just don't stop to think before they pick them up. They don't realise that they are sharp, heavy and capable of doing harm - not just to the person who carries them but also to innocent passers-by. We can't always even just step out of the way of other folk, with other opinions, because our own are proving cumbersome and making us inflexible.

What are your strongest preferences? How important are they really? If you could put one or two down, would it save you a lot of stress?

Your life is your message to the world. Make sure it's inspiring.

Building properly....

I cannot pray....

I cannot pray OUR, if my faith has no room from others and their need.

I cannot pray FATHER, if I do not demonstrate this relationship to God in my daily living.

I cannot pray WHO ART IN HEAVEN, if all my interests and pursuits are in earthly things.

I cannot pray HALLOWED BE THY NAME, if I am not striving, with God’s help to be holy.

I cannot pray THY KINGDOM COME, if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life.

I cannot pray ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN, unless I am truly ready to give myself to God’s service here and now.

I cannot pray GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, without expending honest effort for it; or if I would withhold from my neighbour the bread that I receive.

I cannot pray LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted.

I cannot pray DELIVER US FROM EVIL, if I am not prepared to fight evil with my life and my prayer.

I cannot pray THINE IS THE KINGDOM, if I am unwilling to obey the king.

I cannot pray THINE IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY, if I am seeking power for myself and my own glory first.

I cannot pray FOR EVER AND EVER, if I am too anxious about each day’s affairs.

I cannot pray AMEN, unless I can honestly say “cost what it may, this is my prayer”.

Praying....

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around.  We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.  My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Section.  Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.”  

I looked around in this area and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.  

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.    

The angel then said to me, “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.  Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.”  I noticed again how busy it was there.  There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.    

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station.  To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing.  “This is the Acknowledgment Section,” my angel friend quietly admitted to me.  He seemed embarrassed.  “How is it that there is no work going on here?” I asked.    

 “So sad,” the angel sighed.  “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments or thank yous.”  

 “How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked.    

 “Simple,” the angel answered.  Just say, “Thank you, Lord.”   

 “What blessings should they acknowledge?” I asked.    

 “If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than more than 75% of this world.  If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.”  

 “And if you get this on your own laptop/tablet, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.”  

 “If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.”    

 “If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of  more than 700 million people in the world.”  

“If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.”  

 “If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare.”  

 “If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.......”

Ok, what now?  How can I start?  

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.  

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are…  

It's the beginning of the weekend....

....so it has to be time for a 'they say....' moment, don't you think?  They say that, one way or another, we end up paying a price for everything. They may be right. But that's not the whole story. Our every action earns us a reward. Our every decision leads to a consequence. If we always do our best to do the right thing for the right reason, we will invariably get a result we can be pleased with.

Any price we ever have to pay for this will always seem small by comparison to the sense of satisfaction that we have been blessed with.

Choose carefully because the choices you make today will determine what you have and

what you will be tomorrow.

What can be so frustrating....

...is that life seems to conspire to teach us the same old lessons over and over again.  Like – oh no, here we go again, me and this person, or me and this situation, or me and this set of circumstances, this is going to lead to that.  So long as we think we know where a certain situation is heading, it is likely to head right there.  Judgement based solely on past experiences.  All of this prevents any real self-evolution.  We just go round and round in those ever decreasing circles.  And yet we all look for ways to break those circles.

To do that, means we have to put down what we expect and pick up a willingness to be surprised.

When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge. (Tuli Kupferberg) 

Even as I post this blog....

....the rulebook is being rewritten. The story line is changing. The tale is being told from another perspective. Don't get left behind. Yesterday's priorities are irrelevant today. So are several of yesterday's problems. We are all, though, creatures of habit. We find it easier to carry on doing what we've always done, than to start doing something new.

Catch yourself, the next time you start following an old entrenched habit-pattern.

The future is only ever written in pencil. Until the moment when the ink of tomorrow meets the 

paper of today, there's a chance to change the picture.

It is hard....

....to put someone else's mind at rest whilst your own is in turmoil. Hard, too, to heal another person's wounds while your own ache and weep. Hard, yes. Impossible, no. Life often takes a great deal out of us, but that doesn't mean we haven't still got a lot to give.

So we should give it. Share it.   We should summon the hope and the kindness that resides deep in our hearts, and express it to those around you.

The more we know, the better we forgive.  Those who feel deeply, feel for all living beings.  

(Madame de Stael)

When an artist....

....makes their very first brush stroke on a blank canvas, nobody else can tell what they are intending to paint. It is even possible that the person with the paint brush in their hand may not know. Creative impulses are powerful forces and many of the world's most inventive individuals soon learn that there is more to be gained from taking the odd giant leap of faith than from making a long list of complicated plans. 

The question we should frequently ask ourselves is not, 'where am I?' But, 'where, if I try, can I get to from here?'

Amazement awaits us at every corner   (James Broughton)

Don't people just love....

....to have opinions. Their preferences and prejudices make them feel strangely secure in a world full of uncertainty. They don't much care how well informed those ideas and attitudes are. If something has been read in a paper or seen on TV, it will do as the basis for a passionate belief!   (Tis true, alas.)

Those who prefer to remain open-minded are often dismissed as 'wishy-washy'. Whenever it seems that the truth can't be 'that simple', a willingness to hear both sides of the story is always the best option.

Don't talk, just act. Don't say, just show. Don't promise, just prove.

Have you ever noticed....

....that in some of the more clever novels, you find that the events and characters in one chapter have no relationship to those in another. You read on in a mood of puzzlement. It is almost as if you are looking at two different books. Slowly but surely as the story unfolds, though, the threads come together. You get to see how vital they both are to one another. You begin to feel glad that you stuck with what seemed, at first, like a journey that was getting you nowhere.

  

That analogy can apply to the disparate dramas that occasionally unfold in our lives.

Appreciation can make a day, even change a life.  

Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.    (Margaret Cousins)

Wherever there is love....

....there is hope. Wherever there is hope, there is possibility. That's why it is so important to feel love in your heart for someone or something, even if it feels more tempting for you to close off or to hide behind a psychological barrier. Love leads to inspiration.

Inspiration leads to the discovery of opportunity. Never mind who loves you, or doesn't, or why. Never mind what you feel about what anyone else feels. Just find some love from deep within yourself and let it touch you, soften you and uplift you.

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

It seems that many have....

.....over the years, tried to measure love, but, of course, they never can. It may, just conceivably, be possible to assess the quality of a particular emotion. There is, though, no way you can ever evaluate the quantity of it. Why? Because, if a love is true, it will never run out. The more it is expressed, the more of it there will be. Faith is also famously self-replenishing.

If you need more of something in your life, stop worrying about the possibility of getting less of it.

Every scar has a story. Don't be afraid to tell it.

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. So, a vicious cycle of swagger and supposition keeps us all in far from blissful ignorance.

If you are ever offered a real revelation; don't be too blind to see it.

Don't go through life, grow through life.   (Eric Butterworth)

The history books teach....

....every schoolchild about the people who pushed their luck too far, abused their powers and refused to show mercy to their victims. Yet few and far between those stories are the tales of kindness and compassion, grace and generosity or gentle tenderness. Are such deeds any less heroic or worthy of commemoration? They are so much more important! 

The deeds we perform may not make the news but they could very well make at least one person's life so much the more worth living.

Every new beginning comes from other beginning's end.   (Seneca)

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'.

Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.   

(Rabindranath Tagore)

We all like to feel....

.....as if we don't need anybody. We don't so much mind when others need us. Then, we have choice. We can generously bestow our assistance or decide that, under the circumstances, we feel it appropriate to hold back. The power is ours, and we like it that way. None of us like it as much when the power is in someone else's hands. 

But, just as you would never turn down a genuine, sincere, request from a deserving person, you need have no fear that anyone will reject the applications that life obliges you to make at times.

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  

(William Arthur Ward)

As the years continue....

....to pass by, the more I realise that this world is a crazy place. So, how crazy are we that, even when we can see how crazy it is, we still seek our place within it? We still seek sanity, strive for order and look for something that will make sense of the nonsense. Only one thing though, really makes this world go round and it is not money. It is love. A love that's linked with compassion, sympathy, sensitivity and respect.

That's what we're here to feel, to share and to show. And when we do, all becomes meaningful.

All great achievements require time.   (Maya Angelou)

A serial kliller....

The world can be....

....a cruel place at times. Some people, it seems, delight in being cold and critical, judgemental and disapproving. They show no respect.  They will go out of their way to force others to go out of their way. Negativity, of course, begets negativity. Intolerance begets intolerance.

But friendliness fortunately is just as contagious.

It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow-necked bottles: the less they have in them, 

the more noise they make in pouring it out.

If you walk....

....up to the entrance of a supermarket, you won't satisfy your hunger. You can't illuminate your room just by purchasing a light-bulb.  Until the food is in the stomach or the bulb is in the socket, you don't have a full solution. You may be one step closer to the answer, but you still have a way to go.
Sometimes, when we have nearly done the right thing, we forget to complete the task. Then we wonder why we can see no change.

Take one more step and you may very well see a very big difference.

Sometimes, you have to stop thinking so much and just go where your heart takes you.

The only time to look back....

Society subtly urges us....

....to be decisive. We applaud those who look as if they know what they are doing. Upon those who seem uncertain, we heap, at best, pity and, at worst, derision. It seems there is shame attached to conceding confusion with regard to almost any subject. 

Yet know-it-alls never discover anything because they are too pompous to allow themselves to ask crucial questions. But anything that's bewildering you, is potentially what may be about to teach you the most rewarding lesson.

Enjoy life today, because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is never promised.

It is a civilised world....

....in which we live; or so we are told. We are not primitives. We are not cave dwellers. We are part of a sophisticated society, a refined, elegant culture in which good manners predominate and only the highest values hold sway. 

Well, you have to give credit - it sounds good, doesn't it? (I certainly haven't been bombarded by good manners in recent months.)  And as long as we ignore the things that happen in dark corners under murky shadows, we can uphold this comforting, if questionable, belief. Yet the world is surely, not just what we choose to see it is, but how we choose to make it.

The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, 

not our circumstances.    (Martha Washington)

In our modern....

....materialistic world we often equate 'the best' with 'the most expensive'. Yet, though the best things in life are not always free, they are rarely as costly as some of the more outrageously priced alternatives.

And once we stop measuring value in financial terms and look at human qualities like integrity, loyalty, sympathy and intelligence, we soon realise that these are factors which nobody can ever put a price on yet which all of us can afford to prioritise and covert.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.  

Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.   (Helen Keller)

Your heart wants....

.....one thing; your head wants another. Your head has no intention of letting your heart win the battle. Your heart has no intention of putting up a fight. Why should it when it can just as easily attain its goal through subtlety and subterfuge? Sooner or later, your head will look the other way. The moment it does, your heart will spring into action and ensure that you do or say something irrevocable.

Ultimately, you have no choice other than to follow your deepest feeling.

The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers.  (Deepak Chopra)

Here's a conundrum....

.....for today, and any other day, for that matter.   How can you make sure that you are in the right place at the right time? People have been wrestling with this dilemma for centuries. Books have been written, philosophies have been invented, and entire lives have been dedicated to the pursuit of the perfect answer. 

Here's the definitive solution to this complex conundrum. Write it down. Keep it safe. Pass it on to your grandchildren. The secret is simple. Just make sure that your heart is in the right place. Then the rest of your life will automatically follow suit!

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.

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 the doctrines we choose to cherry-pick. 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 go beyond what you think you believe and pursue a vision with passion, you can really create a big change.

Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.    (Martin Luther)

A line of literature....

.....for today - "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary..." So began one of Edgar Allan Poe's great compositions. Why do we associate Gothic imagery with that moment when the clock strikes midnight? Is it because by that time of night, we literally are weaker, wearier and thus more likely to see spooks? Or is it the changing of the date - the realisation that the clock has now pushed the calendar? 

Be glad of time's onward march in your life, for it can help free you from a past pain.

Instead of wiping away your tears, wipe away the people who made you cry!

Some people believe....

....that other people ought not to be allowed to believe what they believe. You can always tell when someone believes that their belief is the only belief worth believing. Their behaviour becomes unbelievable! In some cultures it is a sign of weakness to be unsure of what you believe in. It is, though, an indication of great strength, wisdom and integrity.

It's very possible that you no longer believe what you used to believe. Let that lack of belief be a relief!

Just because they don’t understand doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path.

According to social convention....

....there are times when it is not appropriate for us to feel happy. We are not, for example, expected to smile if we receive a final demand for a bill that we cannot pay. If we commit a traffic offence and are pulled over by a stern police officer, we are not expected to comment on how wonderful the world is.

If we are not careful, though, we can end up nervously suppressing joy so successfully that we forget to feel it, even when circumstances permit this.

What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now   (Buddha)