Life Gets Better

 

 

Every day, life gets better. Because every day adds more

Substance to the outstanding experience of life.

On some days it may seem like your life is falling behind

Instead of getting better. But that's just because you fail

To consider the real value that is always building within

You.

At some point you'll come to appreciate and even treasure

The setbacks and disappointments. For although they are

Painful, they give you the opportunity to grow stronger.

The difficulties are blessings that haven't fully developed.

The joys are well-deserved rewards that encourage you to

Keep moving forward.

No matter how good life has been, it is getting even better.

No matter what challenges may push against you, each moment

Brings more of life's goodness.

Feel that goodness as it accumulates in your experience. And

Live the possibilities that become more rich and meaningful

With each dawning day.

~Ralph Marston~

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Critical Link

 

You are the critical link between
What is possible and what is real.
With your actions, you can bring
 To life the best of what can be.

Life is awash with great and
Wonderful possibilities. Yet
Possibilities alone are not enough.

Someone has to follow those great
 Possibilities, and work at them,
And breathe meaningful life into them.
In your world, that someone is you.

Celebrate your good fortune of
Being connected to life's best
Possibilities. And even as you
Celebrate, get to work doing
What must be done to make
Those possibilities happen.

The possibilities are so valuable
 Precisely because of what you
Can do with them. So by all means,
Do with them what you know you can do.

For it is in choosing your own unique
 Possibilities and making them real,
That you experience true fulfillment.
Get up, get going, and enjoy that
Fulfillment in great abundance.

~Ralph Marston~

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The world is your mirror.

 

The good you find in others, is in you too.
The faults you find in others, are your faults as well.
After all, to recognize something you must know it.

The possibilities you see in others, are possible for you as well.
The beauty you see around you, is your beauty.
The world around you is a reflection, a mirror showing you
the person you are.

To change your world, you must change yourself.
See the best in others, and you will be your best.
Give to others, and you will give to yourself.
Appreciate beauty, and you will be beautiful.
Admire creativity, and you will be creative.

Love, and you will be loved.
Seek to understand, and you will be understood.
Listen, and your voice will be heard.
Teach, and you will learn.

~unknown~

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Keeping Our Minds Supple

 

 

A lot of people feel threatened if they feel they are being asked to question their cherished beliefs or their perception of reality. Yet questioning is what keeps our minds supple and strong. Simply settling on one way of seeing things and refusing to be open to other possibilities makes the mind rigid and generally creates a restrictive and uncomfortable atmosphere. We all know someone who refuses to budge on one or more issues, and we may have our own sacred cows that could use a little prodding. Being open-minded means that we are willing to question everything, including those things we take for granted.

A willingness to question everything, even things we are sure we are right about, can shake us out of complacency and reinvigorate our minds, opening us up to understanding people and perspectives that were alien to us before. This alone is good reason to remain inquisitive, no matter how much experience we have or how old we get. In the Zen tradition, this willingness to question is known as beginner's mind, and it has a way of generating possibilities we couldn't have seen from the point of view of knowing something with certainty. The willingness to question everything doesn't necessarily mean we don't believe in anything at all, and it doesn't mean we have to question every single thing in the world every minute of the day. It just means that we are humble enough to acknowledge how little we actually know about the mysterious universe we call home. 

Nearly every revolutionary change in the history of human progress came about because someone questioned some time-honored belief or tradition and in doing so revealed a new truth, a new way of doing things, or a new standard for ethical and moral behavior. Just so, a commitment to staying open and inquisitive in our own individual lives can lead us to new personal revolutions and truths, truths that we will hopefully, for the sake of our growth, remain open to questioning

Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy ~

sohni_paki@yahoo.com

                   


                   

Being open-minded means that we are willing to question everything, including those things we take for granted.

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A friend is more

 

A friend is more than someone who wipes
Your tears when you are sad.
They are more than the person you call when
Someone makes you incredibly mad.

A true friend does not have to be a person
You spend time with every weekend,
Or even someone who lives
Just around the bend.

A friend can be a person with whom
You shared a single moment,
But you felt like it was just for
You they were sent.

Friendship does not always have to
Build up over years
It, like love, sometimes
Just appears.

So always remember that
Each person you meet
Has the potential to be someone
Especially interesting and neat.

Try not to judge those who
Don't seen your "type,"
Because their personality,
May fit yours just right.

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Working with life

 

There's no sense in blaming the mountain for being too high.
Instead, find a way to climb it.
There is nothing to be gained by blaming your troubles
on the turn of events.

That only makes the troubles worse.

Circumstances are not stacked against you,
unless you imagine them to be.

Instead of blaming life for how it goes, adapt
and respond positively to whatever happens.

The setbacks you encounter are what they are.
Those setbacks have no choice, but you do.

You can choose to let them pull you down.
Or you can choose to let them provide you
with a positive way forward.

Instead of imagining that life is working against you,
 imagine yourself to be working along with life.
And you'll find much more of it going your way.

~Ralph Marston~

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Accept Success

 

Success is not a secret. It is a choice that is made over and over again.
Success is not something that can be denied to you.
It is something that you can always choose to accept.

How do you accept success? You accept success by making the effort instead of making excuses.
You accept success by taking responsibility instead of counting on someone else to do it for you.
You accept success by being truthful with others and, just as importantly, with yourself.

You accept success when things get tough, by being positive and innovative

instead of becoming despondent.

You accept success by being who you are and by contributing what you can,

 rather than pretending to be someone else.

Every day you can choose either to accept success or to just let it pass you by.

With each thought, each word, each action, choose to accept success.

~Ralph Marston

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Enthusiasm

 

When enthusiasm strikes, you know because you

Want to jump up and down and scream with

Happiness. It's a moment when your heart soars

Because you have just felt or done something that

Inspires you deep within.

Enthusiasm is where your body screams with

Excitement and you hear that "Yes !" from deep

Inside. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

Today, no matter what your rational mind says look

And listen for places, events, ideas, people and

Activities that make your heart shout a loud "Yes!"

Next, spend some time deciding how to bring more of

Those into your life.

Make a commitment to yourself to do the things you

Need to do to live a more enthusiastic life. When

You're enthusiastic you look forward to each and

Every day. And, that is what makes life so fun!

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I proclaimI proclaim

 

 

I proclaim that today is a perfect day to claim
Custody of my life; to realize that it's choice,
Not chance that creates fate in life.

I proclaim victory over the circumstances
That have presented themselves in my life
And I will look for a way through,
Under, around or over the mountains
That seem to stand in my way.

I proclaim that this day and every day
Is a blank page - a new chance to accept
What I need to and change what I can.

I proclaim that it is never too late to start over;
To call for a re-do. I can learn the lesson,
Then forgive and forget.

I proclaim that I will own my own power…
Even when it seems hopeless and there is no light
At the end of the tunnel.

I proclaim that I am perfect in my imperfection;
I will strive to quiet my mind
And forgive myself for falling short.

I proclaim that when I am frustrated,
Unfulfilled, distracted or negative
I will become a Master of Change
And select another emotional state. I choose to grow!

I proclaim that when I get to the end of my rope
I will tie a knot and hang on. I realize
If I want the rainbow, I have to put up with the rain.

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Going With the Flow

 

   

"There's a story about a group of Chinese men walking through the woods beside a rushing river.

Suddenly, they spotted the body of an old man bobbing up and down in the roaring rapids.

"Thinking the old man was dead, they ran to the river's edge trying to figure out how they were going to

fish the body out of the water so that it wouldn't be swept out to sea.

Their discussion came to an abrupt halt when the old man, who they had thought

was dead emerged out of the water, dried himself off and started walking away. 

The men ran after the old man and asked, 'How did you survive in that water?

No one could swim in that water without being killed.'

"'It is really easy' the old man replied.

'I just went up when the water went up, and down when the water went down.'"

~Carnelian Sage~

 
We always have a choice in how we will meet life's more difficult moments.

We can either resist and fight what is happening, thereby risking getting sucked in by the turmoil

and drowned in our own misery, or we can ride the current, bobbing along with each wave until

we are carried aloft through the rapids and into the peaceful and quiet stream at its end.

That, after Allis what going with the flow really means.

May you always be willing to ride life's current.
And may you always be aware that you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to me!.

~unknown~

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Value in the Giving

 

   

There have been times
When the kindness of another person
Has changed your life for the better.
And it's easy to see that kindness
Has the power to reach far beyond itself.

In the most difficult of momentskindness heals

and reassures.
Kindness gives comfort and hope
Where there was none before.
Kindness can inspire confidence.
It changes for the better
The perspective of those it touches.

When you seek to make a differencekindness is

a great place to start.
Just the simple desire to give it
Is all you really must have.

So give kindnessfreely
And without hesitation.
Whether you get it back
Does not really even matterfor its true value is in the giving.

Live with kindnessand you'll always see life's
Very best possibilities.
For in kindnessis the heart of who you truly are.

~Ralph Marston~

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