Due to popular demand

....and with no expense spared, I bring you a 'they say....' moment -

They say, 'You always hurt the one you love.' If that's true, how should we protect the people we care most about? Do we just stop loving them? Love is a mark of the highest respect, yet it can become the reason why two people fail to respect each other's most basic needs.

It is the ultimate expression of empathy, yet it can sometimes give rise to the most intense experience of isolation.

The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war     (Viaya Lakshmi Pandit)

Are people who wear....

....suits more important than those who dress in casual clothes? (I know some who mistakenly think they are.) Mind you, 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.

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues   (Cicero)

If you take small steps....

....in the right direction, they will 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.

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding  (Khalil Gibran)

Doubt kills....

When people think....

....they have an easy answer, they immediately stop looking for anything else. Never mind how temporary, unsuitable or even counter-productive. An easy answer represents a quick fix and a cheap thrill. These days, there are few philosophers left. There are also very few happy people. Dramas oblige us to think deeply and to seek answers that are not so easy.

In the process, though, they help us to find a greater, more lasting source of happiness.

Some things you miss and some things you lose by keeping your arm outstretched.

Life is full of ideas....

....which really don't make much sense, arrangements that don't work quite as well as they ought to and explanations that sound good until you really start to think. We all know this, but we generally prefer not to dwell on the defects and drawbacks. We find it easier just to pretend that all is more or less fine.

Sometimes, though, we are obliged to confront the inadequacy of a belief, a situation or an assumption. Annoying, maybe -  but definitely not the end of the world.

Blossoms are not fruits.    (Dutch proverb)

When people find themselves.....

.... forced to do a lot of things that they don't want to do, they sometimes use the phrase 'soul destroying' to describe the experience. But whatever a soul is, if indeed anybody knows, surely it is indestructible! Faith, hope, optimism and trust, are probably similarly resilient. 

Even if these qualities are severely suppressed for a great length of time, they spring right back to life the moment they are given the slightest encouragement.

Great hopes make great men.    (Thomas Fuller)