From www.PeaceBecomesMe.com
If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit
After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over. ~Alfred Edward Perlman
Change always comes bearing gifts. ~Price Pritchett
The circumstances of the world are so variable that an irrevocable purpose or opinion is almost synonymous with a foolish one. ~William H. Seward
When you are through changing, you are through. ~Bruce Barton
There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in raveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. ~Washington Irving
They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. ~Confucius
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. ~John Kenneth Galbraith
Stubborness does have its helpful features. You always know what you are going to be thinking tomorrow. ~Glen Beaman
The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble. ~Henry Miller
Growth is the only evidence of life. ~John Henry Newman, Apologia pro vita sua, 1864
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France
Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed. ~Irene Peter
Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them at one's eternal peril. ~Laurens van der Post
Time, which changes people, does not alter the
image we have retained of them. ~Marcel Proust
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change. ~John A. Simone.
Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki
You can avoid having ulcers by adapting to the situation: If you fall in the mud puddle, check your pockets for fish. ~ Unknown
We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. ~Lynn Hall
No two men ever judged alike of the same thing, and it is impossible to find two opinions exactly similar, not only in different men but in the same men at different times. ~Michel Montaigne
People don't change. Only their costumes do. ~Gene Moore
The birds are molting. If only man could molt also — his mind once a year its errors, his heart once a year its useless passions. ~James Allen
All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. ~Ellen Glasgow
If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing. ~Saint Augustine
What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want. ~Mignon McLaughlin
Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott
The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down. ~Jawaharlal Nehru
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson
Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. ~Pauline R. Kezer
A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea. ~John Ciardi
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. ~Harrison Ford
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator. ~Francis Bacon, "On Innovation," Essays, 1597
If you want to truly understand something, try to change it. ~Kurt Lewin
Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly. ~Francis Bacon
It's the most unhappy people who most fear change. ~Mignon McLaughlin
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. ~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl
If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown
Friday, April 27, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
making the most of what you have
Making The Most Of What You Have
On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.
f you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.
By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room.
There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one.
But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.
Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
You could see him modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.
He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said - not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone - "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life - not just for artists but for all of us.
Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.
So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.
This story was so impressive to me that I wanted to share it with all of you!
On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.
f you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.
By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room.
There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one.
But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.
Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
You could see him modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.
He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said - not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone - "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life - not just for artists but for all of us.
Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.
So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.
This story was so impressive to me that I wanted to share it with all of you!
QUOTE FOR 18.4.07
+++++++++++++++++ LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation, kindness and caring - quite often the hard way. And that someone need not be perfect for you to love them.--Pamela Dugdale
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things. --Channing Pollock
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
A possibility was born the day you were born and it will live as long as you live. --Marcus Solero
Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation, kindness and caring - quite often the hard way. And that someone need not be perfect for you to love them.--Pamela Dugdale
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things. --Channing Pollock
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
A possibility was born the day you were born and it will live as long as you live. --Marcus Solero
QUOTE FOR 16.4.07
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence. --George Eliot
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
The Law of Win/Win says, "Let's not do it your way or my way; let's do it the best way.--Greg Anderson
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice. --George Eliot
No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence. --George Eliot
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
The Law of Win/Win says, "Let's not do it your way or my way; let's do it the best way.--Greg Anderson
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice. --George Eliot
quote for 15.4.07
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Love doesn't sit there like a stone, it has to be made; remade all the time, made new. --Ursula K. LeGuin
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. --Winston Churchill
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. --Will Rogers
Love doesn't sit there like a stone, it has to be made; remade all the time, made new. --Ursula K. LeGuin
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. --Winston Churchill
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. --Will Rogers
quote for 15.4.07
POSITIVE THOUGHTS+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly. --Henry David Thoreau
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. --Indira Gandhi
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
An uninspired mind is a handicap we all can do something about. --James R. Ball
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly. --Henry David Thoreau
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. --Indira Gandhi
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
An uninspired mind is a handicap we all can do something about. --James R. Ball
quote for 14.4.07
POSITIVE THOUGHTS+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
To live is like to love--all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct is for it. --Samuel Butler
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible. --Thomas Robert Gaines
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Life's strict rule is this: You get more of what you focus on. Ignoring this, we abandon our healthiest, concentrative energies and court emotional upheaval. --Marsha Sinetar
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
To live is like to love--all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct is for it. --Samuel Butler
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible. --Thomas Robert Gaines
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Life's strict rule is this: You get more of what you focus on. Ignoring this, we abandon our healthiest, concentrative energies and court emotional upheaval. --Marsha Sinetar
quote for 12.4.07
+++++++++++++++++ LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. --William James
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch. --E. M. Forster
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. --Helen
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. --William James
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch. --E. M. Forster
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. --Helen
the dash that matters!!!!!
POSITIVE NEWS WEEKLY++++++++++++++++++++
The DashCopyright 1998 by Linda Ellis
I read of a reverend who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own;the cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love and how we spendour dash.
So think about this long and hard.Are there things you'd liketo change?
For you never know how much time is left. You could be at dash mid-range.
If we could just slow down enoughto consider what's true and realand always try to understand
the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and showappreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respectand more often wear a smile...remembering that this special dashmight only last a little while.
So when your eulogy's being read,with your life's actions to rehash,would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
The DashCopyright 1998 by Linda Ellis
I read of a reverend who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own;the cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love and how we spendour dash.
So think about this long and hard.Are there things you'd liketo change?
For you never know how much time is left. You could be at dash mid-range.
If we could just slow down enoughto consider what's true and realand always try to understand
the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and showappreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respectand more often wear a smile...remembering that this special dashmight only last a little while.
So when your eulogy's being read,with your life's actions to rehash,would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
quote for 10.04.07
POSITIVE THOUGHTS+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. --William James
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch. --E. M. Forster
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. --Helen
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. --William James
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch. --E. M. Forster
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. --Helen
positive thoughts
POSITIVE THOUGHTS+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep. --H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work. --Booker T. Washington
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, thereare still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. --Dale Turner
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep. --H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work. --Booker T. Washington
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, thereare still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. --Dale Turner
positive thoughts
POSITIVE THOUGHTS+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love. --Henri B. Stendhal
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Find a job you like and you add five days to every week. --H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. --Paul Valery
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love. --Henri B. Stendhal
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Find a job you like and you add five days to every week. --H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. --Paul Valery
Friday, April 06, 2007
quote for 030407
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
We judge others by their behavior but ourselves by our intentions.--Stephen Covey
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
If you have the will to win, you have achieved half of your success.--Author Unknown
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Always give hundred percent, and you'll never have to second-guess yourself.--Author Unknown
We judge others by their behavior but ourselves by our intentions.--Stephen Covey
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
If you have the will to win, you have achieved half of your success.--Author Unknown
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Always give hundred percent, and you'll never have to second-guess yourself.--Author Unknown
quote for 040407
All Positive News, All the Time...News You Can Really Use!
++++++++++++++Positive Thoughts++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Love is the free exercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are quite capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other. --M. Scott Peck
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Hard work often leads to success. No work seldom does. --Harvey Mackay
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us. --William James
STAY POSITIVE!
++++++++++++++Positive Thoughts++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Love is the free exercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are quite capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other. --M. Scott Peck
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Hard work often leads to success. No work seldom does. --Harvey Mackay
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us. --William James
STAY POSITIVE!
quote for 050407
+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
90% of love is appreciation. Let thoseyou love know how much you appreciate them... --MRP
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Success comes from two things having a goal and persisting until you achieveit... --MRP
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
If you need inspiration look up into the night sky or into the eyes of another human, you'll see the same thing...eternity. --MRP
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
90% of love is appreciation. Let thoseyou love know how much you appreciate them... --MRP
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Success comes from two things having a goal and persisting until you achieveit... --MRP
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
If you need inspiration look up into the night sky or into the eyes of another human, you'll see the same thing...eternity. --MRP
quote for the day
POSITIVE THOUGHTS+++++++++++++++++
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Be happy in the moment, that's enough.Each moment is all we need, not more.--Mother Teresa
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Every start upon an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances seems sensible and likely to be successful.--Albert Schweitzer
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Be willing to launch in faith, with no guarantees of success. This is the mark of personal greatness.--Brian Tracy
LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Be happy in the moment, that's enough.Each moment is all we need, not more.--Mother Teresa
LEADERSHIP/SUCCESS:
Every start upon an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances seems sensible and likely to be successful.--Albert Schweitzer
MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION:
Be willing to launch in faith, with no guarantees of success. This is the mark of personal greatness.--Brian Tracy
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