PERSEVERANCE

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

Confucius 551-479 BC

ENCOUNTERS

"Do not learn how to react, but how to respond."

The Buddha

TODAY'S CHALLENGE

Have you ever seen Entertainment Tonight and OMG?  (All I can say is omg!) What are these people thinking, living off the illnesses and bad behaviors of famous 'idols' and making a fortune doing it? Last night like road kill, I was paralyzed into another realm, getting caught up in the absurdity of it all. I'm not talking about the Meryl Streeps and Johhny Deps out there, but the Kardashians and some wannabe star who took it up (apparently) with the pregnant one's boyfriend. Then again, I'm ranting... It's exhausting...

I worry about our children who are inundated with the whole no-boundaries thing. Anything goes and shock and awe is not only outdoing itself, it is even expected. As we become more and more numb to viewing, do we then start doing as well?  

I finally dragged myself away and popped in Hyde Park on Hudson, a movie about Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), his wife, his mother, and his distant cousin with whom he had an affair. It was a peek into the life of a man stricken with polio who was our president before and during the time of World War II, and his relationship with the King of England who had a severe problem with stuttering. Ah, and if you haven't seen The King's Speech please, I urge you to see it. You won't be sorry. It is a fantastic movie about the reluctant King of England and his battle with stuttering. These were real people with real personal issues that became true leaders of their day, respected for their strength and for their perseverance.

Anyway, after going from Entertainment Tonight and OMG to Hyde Park on Hudson all I could think of was this quote by FDR's wife Eleanor:

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

Not sure about you, but I am going to try to live up to this challenge by Eleanor. 

LOST TIME

"Not one single moment of life can be regained for millions of gold coins. Therefore, what greater loss is there than time spent fruitlessly?"

Chanakya Pandit (350-283 BC)

WHAT HAPPENS TO LIFE?

Life?

"Life is what happens while you're making other plans."

Author Unknown

I have seen this saying several times, its authorship contributed to various people, from Allen Saunders in the 1950's to John Lennon in the 1980's, as well as various other sources in the 60's and 70's.

The first time I ever saw it was on the tag of my tea bag back in the 1970's when I was just out of college. Regardless of who originated it, it is a powerful statement and caught me quite by surprise. I remember taping it to my telephone at work (where it stayed for years), deciding right then and there that I wanted to be aware as I went through life, not waking up years later and asking, "What happened?"

Even so, it takes effort to maintain an awareness. We are so easily distracted as a species. Friendships, arguments, marriages, misunderstandings, children, illnesses, work; they all get in the way of living! 

I've decided that as long as I am happy I am maintaining some level of awareness and when things are bad or sad, I've lost that awareness. For life is, or should be, happiness. And happiness is harmony. And harmony is the ability to control how interactions with others affects us. We forget that we really are in charge of our own lives. It's your choice.

"Take care of each moment and you take care of all time."

The Buddha (563-483 BC) 

BE LIKE WATER

The best way to live is to be like water,

For water benefits all things and goes against none of them.

It provides for all people and even cleanses those places a man is loath to go.

Live in accordance with the Nature of things.

When giving, be kind.

When speaking, be truthful.

When ruling, be just.

When working, be one-pointed.



When acting, remember - timing is everything.

... Move in harmony with the present moment.

From the Tao Te Ching (~500 BC)

WORDS TO LIVE BY

"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me."

Carol Burnett (1933 - )

Carol Burnett is living proof that you can change your life. Born of alcoholic parents and raised by her grandmother, she stumbled into acting in college while studying to be a writer. With her mother's harsh words still lingering in her ears, "You can always write, no matter what you look like", she took the stage, having to as part of her curriculum - and the audience loved her comedic display.

Said Burnett, "All of a sudden, after so much coldness and emptiness in my life, I knew the sensation of all that warmth wrapping around me. I had always been a quiet, shy, sad sort of girl and then everything changed for me. You spend the rest of your life hoping you'll hear a laugh that great again."

There is no need to be the mold of someone else's ideal. Pay attention to (supposed) coincidence and chance, and move when inspired. 

Make your life be what you want it to be.