#1249 To create many ripples

You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.    ~Oprah Winfrey

It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.  ~ Herman Hesse, Siddhartha

To be ill adjusted to a deranged world is not a breakdown.   ~Jeanette Winterson

We have to heal our wounded world. The chaos, despair, and senseless destruction we see today are a result of the alienation that people feel from each other and their environment.   ~Michael Jackson

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.   ~William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.    ~Mother Teresa

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.   ~Margaret Mead

Quotes about the world

- What sparks a light within you?
- What challenges you about the world?
- How can you go beyond alienation to make a positive contribution?

#1248 More to life

We used to build civilizations. Now we build shopping malls.  ~ Bill Bryson

Once a culture becomes entirely advertising friendly, it seizes to be a culture at all. ~ Mark Crispin Miller

We no longer live life.  We consume it.  ~ Vicki Robin

This is the postmodern desert inhabited by people who are, in effect, consuming themselves in the form of images and abstractions through which their desires, sense of identity, and memories are replicated and then sold back to them as products.  ~ Larry McCaffrey

There must be more to life than having everything.  ~ Maurice Sendak

Quotes about shopping, consumerism

- How would you define civilization?
- To what extent does society revolve around consumer culture?
- What enriches life?

#1247 Intensity clarifies

The world is wide and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.  ~Frances Willard

Ride the energy of your own unique spirit.  ~ |Gabrielle Roth

Momentum?  Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.  ~ Earl Weaver

If you're coasting, you're either losing momentum or else you're headed downhill.  ~ Joan Welsh

Always work hard.  Intensity clarifies. It creates not only momentum, but also the pressure you need to feel either friction, or fulfillment.  ~ Marcus Buckingham

Quotes about momentum

-  What are some good strategies to avoid friction?
-  What is unique about your spirit?
-  How do you maintain focus in your efforts?

#1246 The enlarged horizon

Sometimes in the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Often, to be free means the ability to deal with the realities of one's own situation so as not to be overcome by them.

There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.

A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.

Quotes by Howard Thurman

- What does your heart whisper?
- What encourages you to come alive?
- What is genuine within you?

#1245 Live out loud

May you live every day of your life.    ~Jonathan Swift

The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.    ~Walt Whitman

Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?    ~J. M. Coetzee

If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.   ~Emile Zola

Don't fear death, fear the un-lived life.   ~Natalie Babbitt

Quotes about living life 

- How can you live fully?
- What verse may you contribute?

#1244 Special strength

All right, every day ain't going to be the best day of your life; don't worry about that. If you stick to it, you hold the possibility open that you will have better days.  ~ Wendell Berry

Be like a postage stamp.  Stick to it until you get there.   ~Harvey Mackay

I have found out one thing, and that is, if you have a good idea, if you only stick to it, you will come out all right. ~ Cecil Rhodes

I have found that a smile and a stick will carry you through all right, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is the smile that does the trick.   ~Robert Powell

And it is true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world it is best to hold hands and stick together. ~ Robert Fulghum

Special strength comes from enduring unchangeable circumstances while holding to one's purposes.  ~Katherine Mansfield,

Quotes about stick-to-itiveness, purposefulness


-  How focused are you in making the best of each day?
-  What gives you strength?
-  What are several important purposes for your life?

#1243 That Profound Secret

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.    ~Peter Drucker

Humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle.  ~ G. K. Chesterton

It is the encounters with people that make life worth living.   ~ Guy de Maupasant 

When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.  ~ Stephen R. Covey

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.  ~ Charles Dickens

Quotes about communication

- What was left unsaid in one of your conversations?
- What can you do to help enrich your conversations?

#1242 The highest appreciation

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.

The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.

We celebrate the past to awaken the future.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

Quotes by John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated 50 years ago, Nov. 22, 1962

- What crisis have you confronted?
- What can you do for your country?
- What actions could help to express your gratitude?

#1241 Will always be in demand

Life is just an endless chain of judgements.... The more imperfect our judgement, the less perfect our success.  ~ B.C. Forbes

A man is judged by his deeds, not by his words.  ~ Russian Proverb

I'm not judging people, I'm judging their actions. It's the same type of distinction that I try to apply to myself, to judge, but not be judgmental.   ~ Jeff Melvoin

He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss.    ~ John Locke

Property may be destroyed and money may lose its purchasing power; but, character, health, knowledge and good judgement will always be in demand under all conditions.  ~ Roger Babson

Quotes about judging, judgement

- In hindsight, when did you have imperfect judgement?
- What is the difference between judging and being judgmental?
- How does one cultivate good judgement?  

#1240 Write your own

Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.

People say that if you find water rising up to your ankles, that's the time to do something about it, not when it's around your neck.

Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.

A functioning robust democracy requires a healthy, educated participatory followership, and an educated morally grounded leadership.

When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.

The impatient idealist says: 'Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.' But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.

 If you don't like someone's story, write your own.

 Quotes by Chinua Achebe,  Nigerian novelist

- What are your needs?
- How do you cope with suffering?
- What can the earth teach us?

#1239 The most important aspects

It's an interesting combination: having a great fear of being alone, and having a desperate need for solitude and the solitary experience.  That's always been a tug of war for me.

Normal is not something to aspire to; it's something to get away from.

I  guess I've played a lot of victims, but that's what a lot of the history of women is about.

Love and respect are the most important aspects of parenting and of all relationships.

I want to be inspiring to myself, to my kids, my family, and my friends.

Quotes from Jodie Foster, birthday today, November 19, 1962, now 51

-How much do you need to balance some solitude in your life?
-How do you cultivate your uniqueness?
-What about you may encourage admiration?

#1238 A simple formula

If you do things well, do them better.  Be daring, be first, be different, be just.  ~ Anita Roddick

When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.  ~ Helen Keller

Be what you are.  This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.  ~ Julius Charles Hare

Whatever you are, be a good one.  ~ Abraham Lincoln 

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.  ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Success has a simple formula: do your best and people may like it.  ~ Sam Ewing

Quotes about doing your best

- What do you do well?
- "Be what you are."  What are your strenghts?
- What do people like about you?  How can you nurture your strength(s)?

#1237 Make it a rule

Address things now that could otherwise turn into regrets.  ~ Jane Fonda

Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been."  ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.    ~ Charles Dickens

If only.  Those must be the two saddest words in the world.  ~ Mercedes Lackey

Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.    ~Katherine Mansfield

Quotes about regret

- What should you address now?
- What do you regret?
- How can you go forward with a reasonable degree of optimism?

#1236 Stuff your eyes

Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time; for that's the stuff life is made of.  ~ Benjamin Franklin

Information is pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience.  ~ Clarence Day

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds.   See the world.  It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.  ~ Ray Bradbury

Life is pretty simple.  You do stuff.  Most fails.  Some works.  You do more of what works.  If it works big, others will copy it.  Then you do something else.  The trick is doing the something else.  ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Quotes about stuff

- How much do you love life?
- What wonders have you seen?  Would like to see?
- What 'something else' would you like to do? 

#1235 Ask your heart

In the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.  ~Kahlil Gibran

Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart, one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.    ~Marvin J. Ashton

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.  ~ Confucius

Your vision will become clear only if you can look into your heart.  Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.   ~Carl Jung

Go to your bosom.  Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.   ~ William Shakespeare

Quotes about the heart

- What can you nurture and build this week?
- How much heart do you carry in your relationships?
- What can your heart tell you, if you listen?

#1234 Pay attention

I don't have pet peeves like some people. I have whole kennels of irritation.

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.

Normal is just a cycle on the washing machine.

It you want to be somebody, if you want to go some where, you've got to wake up and pay attention.

I am where I am because I believe in all possibilities.

I'm a big old egotistical baby and that's OK.  I can accept it.

Quotes by Whoopi Goldberg, actress, born this day, November 13, 1955

- What are your pet peeves?
- What little torches of light have you been throwing out?
- What possibilities lie before you?

#1233 The Main Thing

Work lovingly done is the secret of all order and happiness.

I invent nothing.  I rediscover.

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

Patience is also a form of action.

The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.

Quotes by Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (1840-1917), birthday on this day, November 12

- How can you transform your work into loving action?
-What discoveries have you made?
-When were you moved recently?

#1232 Love the world to peace

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, 'Mother, what was war?'   ~Eve Merriam

Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.   ~ Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.   ~ Cynthia Ozick

Let us love the world to peace.   ~Eileen Elias Freeman

Quotes about remembrance, war, and peace

- Why should we remember on November 11?
- What memories do you have with respect to Remembrance Day?
- What do you appreciate?

#1231 Listen to the revelation

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?    ~Albert Camus

Out of clutter find simplicity.  ~ Albert Einstein

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I am fascinated by what is beautiful, strong, healthy, what is living. I seek harmony.  ~ Leni Riefenstahl

I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony.  ~Gustav Flaubert

Quotes about harmony

- How harmonious is your life?
- What causes some dissonance?
- How can you cultivate more harmony?

#1230 What's a heaven for?

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.   ~Salvador Dali

The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.  ~ Maya Angelou

Ambition has but one reward for all: A little power, a little transient fame; A grave to rest in, and a fading name!  ~ William Winter

We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition.  ~ William James

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?  ~ Robert Browning

Quotes about ambition

- What did you want to be when you were a child?
- How ambitious are you today?
- Why does ambition need to be tempered?

#1229 Practice and concentration

Practice makes perfect, so be careful what you practice.  ~William Henry Channing,

The formula for success is simple: practice and concentration then more practice and more concentration.  ~Babe Zaharias

Champions keep playing until they get it right.  ~ Billie Jean King

Talent is only a starting point.  ~ Irving Berlin

Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.  ~ Anton Chekov

Quotes about practice

- What do you practice?
- What additional skill could you consider to master?
- What knowledge could you put into practice?

#1228 Outlive your life

Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.   ~Shanon L. Alder

I had an inheritance from my father,
It was the moon and the sun.
And though I roam all over the world,
The spending of it’s never done.   ~ Ernest Hemingway

Everyone must leave something behind when he dies . . . Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die . . . It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.  ~ Ray Bradbury

We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.    ~David Brower

Outlive your life!  ~ Max Lucado

Quotes about inheritance, legacy

- What have you inherited from your parents?
- What stories do you remember about events in their lives?
- What might people remember about you?

#1227 The only journey

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.  ~ Plutarch

The longest journey of any person is the journey inward.  ~ Dag Hammarskjold

The inward journey is about finding your own fullness, something that no one else can take away.  ~ Deepak Chopra

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.  ~ Aristotle

The only journey is the one within.  ~ Rainer Maria Wilke

In ourselves our safety must be sought.
By our own right hand it must be wrought.  ~ William Wordsworth

Quotes about the inward journey, self discovery 

- Why can the inward journey be so long?
- How can an understanding of self help to shape our lives?
- What positive steps can you take to enhance your life?

#1226 In touch with our inner workings

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

In fact, the truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act; not merely to reflect.

Zen professes itself to be the spirit of Buddhism, but in fact it is the spirit of all religions and philosophies. When Zen is thoroughly understood, absolute peace of mind is attained, and a man lives as he ought to live. What more may we hope?

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded. Therefore, anything that has the semblance of an external authority is rejected by Zen. Absolute faith is placed in a man's own inner being. For whatever authority there is in Zen, all comes from within.  

Quotes by D. T. Suzuki

- How much do you live, move, and act?
- To what extent do you enjoy peace of mind?
- How much faith do you have in yourself?

#1225 Uniquely pottered and purposed

When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?  ~Sydney Harris

Try not to get lost in comparing yourself to others. Discover your gifts and let them shine.   ~ Jane Finch

Comparison is the death of joy.   ~ Mark Twain

Do not compare yourself with anybody. Compare yourself with yourself, for yourself and by yourself. We are all uniquely pottered and purposed by our creator!   ~ Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.   ~ Helen Keller

Quotes about comparing, comparison

- To what extent do you believe that life is hard?
- What are your gifts which may have the potential to shine?
- How well off do you consider yourself to be?

#1224 Scrub them off

Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness.  ~ Marshall McLuhan

Assess before you assume.  ~ Lyle Kwiatkowski

The strength of one's opinion should not exceed their knowledge on the matter.  ~ Eric Hirzel

Euclid taught me that without assumptions there is no proof.  Therefore, in any argument examine the assumptions.  ~ E. T. Bell

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.  ~ Alan Alda

Quotes about assumptions

- What assumptions have outlived their usefulness?
- What assumptions of your own need some scrubbing?
- What light might come in?