Rewards and incentives don't....

....have to be dramatic to be effective. Would you rather see one slight smile flit across the face of someone you feel fond of or watch an entire crowd adopting an expression of false amazement and feigned rapture? Would you rather be given the one thing you most need to complete a collection or just accept a whole stack of relatively random but expensive prizes? 

A small but significant development can be worth more than its weight in platinum.

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.   (Albert Einstein) 

None of us can....

....turn back the clock. Why then, do we all spend so much time living in the past? We can't return to it. We can't even trust that our memory of it is accurate. 

We can't live in the here-and-now when we bind ourselves by our ties to the there-and-then. Yet still, we somehow find it easier to look back than to cast our thoughts too far forward. 

Be motivated by what you can change, not frustrated by what you can't.

The dew of compassion is a tear   (Lord Byron)

Mix equal quantities of....

....flour, sugar and butter. Roll out carefully to line a pie dish. Now take an equal mixture of hopes and dreams. Scatter them across the top, then cover quickly with more pastry before they have a chance to fly away. Bake in the oven of faith and serve hot with the custard of imagination. 

Warning. Be careful who you share this with - it is very potent.  Combine those ingredients in the right way and you should end up with something very sweet and satisfying.

When one teaches, two learn.   (Robert Half)

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 doctrines. 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 now go beyond what you think you believe and pursue a vision with passion, you will really create a big change.

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions   (Sophocles)

Move in any direction you care to.....

....but go there gently. Lose that angry edge. Ignore that sense of urgency. We inhabitants of earth in the 21st Century face more social, material and mental pressure than any other humans who have ever dwelt on this planet. 

We encounter sources of potential stress from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. There's only one way to cope with it all. By refusing to let it get to us. 

What you don't do can be a destructive force.   (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Most people do things....

....the way they have always been done because to do anything else requires courage and concentration. In theory, these qualities are free and abundant. We all have them in our hearts. We can all access them when we need to. 

In practice, well...  Set an example.  Be brave and focused. You may yet prove surprisingly influential. 

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing 

light of your own being.   (Hafiz of Persia)

It is not just the Christian Bible....

....that contains some strong remarks about the wisdom (or otherwise) of judging people. Many ancient tomes and texts express a similar note of caution against this very natural, very human tendency. Of course we all pass judgement on one another. 

Worse still, we do it in an instant, in a heartbeat, in the blink of an eye. What can possibly give us that right? How can such snap conclusions possibly be right? Do as the good book says today. 'Judge not, lest ye be judged.'

Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression 

of an unmet need.    (Marshall Rosenberg)