Things that are easy to say....

....are not always easy to hear. A few words, uttered in an unguarded moment, can reverberate in an awkward echo that is never satisfactorily silenced. Fortunately, the opposite is true. There are some speeches that we mull over in our minds for ages, afraid that they will go down badly. Yet when we finally deliver them, they can be surprisingly well received. 

As long as we give due thought about what we are really trying to say, there's no reason why it shouldn't be said in a way that brings about the right result.

All action results from thought, so it is thoughts that matter.  (Sai Baba)

I don't know if you travel a lot....

.....but if you do, you'll probably have noticed that near every great tourist attraction, there will be an artist sitting quietly at an easel. For a fee, this great creative talent will draw you with an elongated nose, an extended forehead, a longer chin or over-emphasized eyes. They will attempt to paint a picture which, whilst it undoubtedly is 'you'... isn't really you. It will lack subtlety. It won't really do you justice. 

We all have such an artist in our mind. It looks at situations and it sums them up unevenly and unfairly.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.  (Carl Jung)

Got your bucket list in front of you....

.....or in the forefront of your mind?  We think we want so many things. We create those lists full of hope, dreams, desires and details. Yet, actually, we don't want anywhere near as much as we think we want. When it really comes down to it, we all of us only ever want one thing. Wisdom.

 

 

 

When we have that, we have everything else we require or, at least, we have the way to it... Which amounts to the same thing.







 

Everyone can be great – because anyone can serve.      (Martin Luther King Jr)

Do you remember organ grinders....

....with their little monkeys on top of the organ?  I very much doubt it.  But think about them for a moment - If an organ grinder is playing a tuneless melody, what's the point in drawing this to the attention of the little monkey who is dancing on the top of the musical instrument? It is, of course, to be hoped that there is no little monkey.

 

 

Gone are the days when street entertainers felt free to abuse animals by having them perform for the public. But then, think about how this barbaric and abusive practice, in itself, got stamped out. The authorities complained to the organ grinders, not the monkeys.

 

It always helps to talk to the right person.

 

 

 

 

Ask me not what I have, but what I am.   (Heinrich Heine)

 

 

 

 

 

People are not....

....always reasonable. Sometimes, they don't realise when they are being unreasonable. Their actions, to them, seem perfectly reasonable! When you try to tell them that they don't seem very reasonable to you, they think that you are the one who is being unreasonable.

 

 

You may have many reasons to do something, and those reasons may make plenty of sense, but it still doesn't mean they are the right reasons.

The people starve because those above them eat too much tax-grain.  That is the only reason why they starve.   (Lao Tzu)

Banged your head against...

....any walls, lately?  Well, if you find that you are banging your head against a brick wall, which of the following options should you choose: a) get a crash helmet?; b) persuade several other people to bang their heads against the wall, too - in the hope that between you all, you can make an impact?; or c) stop doing it? I don't really have to create a questionnaire to get the answer.

 

I know how every reasonable person in this world will reply.  As do we all.

 

 

 

The worst of all evil is to leave the ranks of the living before one dies.   (Seneca)

Winners and losers don't exist....

....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.

 

 

 

Sometimes all a person needs to succeed is just a little support.