And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~ Anais Nin February 17, 2015
For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
~ Alfred D. Souza February 17, 2015
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
~ Pema Chödrön February 17, 2015
At the time, I did what I knew to do, and when I knew better, I did better.
~ Maya Angelou February 17, 2015
We look for happiness in all the wrong places. Like a moth flying into the flame, we destroy ourselves in order to find temporary relief. Because we often find such relief, we continue to reinforce old patterns of suffering and strengthen dysfunctional patterns in the process. ~
~ Pema Chödrön February 17, 2015
Be Ground
Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.
You've been stony for too many years.
Try something different.
Surrender.~ Rumi February 17, 2015
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.~ Rumi February 17, 2015
You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.
~ Chinese Proverb February 17, 2015
The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.
~ Derek Walcott February 17, 2015
"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."
~ Albert Einstein February 17, 2015
Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
~ Henry David Thoreau February 17, 2015