Inner Peace

Letting another's behavior, no matter how petty, disturb our inner peace means we aren't in control of ourselves. (Karen Casey, Keepers Of The Wisdom, 9 August) 31 August 2012

Paying Your Dues

I have paid my dues. I am free to wonder or wander. This day will be as rich and full as I make it. (Karen Casey, Keepers Of The Wisdom, 8 August) 30 August 2012

Opinions

You could choose no worse way to guide your life than to follow the opinions of other people. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 7 August) 29 August 2012

Behavior

As rules go, "you should behave just as other people behave" is among the most dangerous; it almost always results in your behaving badly. (Jean de la Bruyere in A Calendar Of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy, 7 August) 28 August 2012

This And That

... if my recollection serves me, I seem to remember that you have been talking about doing this or that for quite some time now. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 6 August) 27 August 2012

Complacency

Complacency is an enemy, easy to recognize in others but difficult to admit in ourselves.  (One Day At A Time in Al-Anon, 15 July) 26 August 2012

United We Stand

We should always try to find those things which do not separate us from other people but which unite us.  To work against each other, to be angry and turn your back on each other, is to work against nature. (Marcus Aurelius, in A Calendar Of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy, 16 August) 25 August 2012

Attitude Check

I will look for, and appreciate, ... positive and desirable actions, and not concentrate on the negative. I must, in other words, do something constructive about my own attitude. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 12 August) 24 August 2012

Goal

• Keep in mind the goal you are striving for, the good life you are trying to attain.
• Do not let little things divert you from the path.
• Do not be overcome by the small trials and vexations of each day.
• Try to see the purpose and plan to which all is leading.

(Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 23 August)
23 August 2012

Thoughts

Some people live and act according to their own thoughts, and some according to the thoughts of others; this is a crucial distinction between people. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 6 August) 22 August 2012

Watch The Road

Watch the road; 

strengthen your back, 

summon all your strength. 

Nahum 2:1 (NAS) in Daily Guideposts - 2011, 2 August) 

21 August 2012

Improvement

... we cannot go on functioning as we have been, impulsively and automatically, if we hope to improve our lives. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 3 June)

Mr. Dickie's Comment:

Leaders at all levels need to keep this in mind.

20 August 2012

Self-Evaluation

When you are willing to accept responsibility for your choices, the outcome leads you to self-evaluation and self-correction. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 28 June) 19 August 2012

Do Something

When you retire you've got to try to do something or you will be miserable. (Tom Harding in Keepers Of The Wisdom by Karen Casey, 3 June) 18 August 2012

This Way / That Way

Addiction is a disease of amnesia. (Jane Velez Mitchell, Addict Nation, p. 253)

Only those who know their weaknesses can be tolerant of the weaknesses of their neighbors. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 30 July)

If we were to subject every prison inmate to psychiatric scrutiny the category of intermittent rage disorder would begin to look very real indeed. (Ratey & Johnson, Shadow Syndromes, p. 148)

Free will must lead to freedom. (A Course In Miracles, Chapter 3, VI, 11, 3)

How much precious thinking time we waste, fretting over past mistakes and missed opportunities. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 13 April)

Don't let worries about tomorrow rob you of the pleasure of today. (Rick Hamlin in Daily Guideposts - 2010, 10 May)

Trench points out that a witness must satisfy three essential conditions.

1. He must have seen with his own eyes that of which he tells.
2. He must be absolutely honest so that he repeats with accuracy that which he has heard and seen.
3. He must have the ability to tell what he has to say, so that his witness may make its true impression on those who hear.

(William Barclay, The Revelation Of John, Vol. 1, p. 140)
17 August 2012

To Do

I know I need something to do everyday.  It probably doesn't even matter what it is.
(Thelma Elliott, in Keepers Of The Wisdom by Karen Casey, 26 June)
16 August 2012

Workflowy is a neat "To Do" application with a twist.  They state, "Everything is a list."

WorkFlowy has a bunch of powerful features under the hood. We'd like to introduce you to a few of them.

• Completing items. Every item can be a task if you want it to be. Once you've completed a task, hover over the bullet point of the corresponding item and click "Complete" in the menu that pops up. This will strike out the item.
  Your lists can become cluttered with completed items quickly, so we recommend you hide them by clicking on the "Completed: Visible" button in the upper right of the page. There's also nothing sweeter than completing tasks and seeing them disappear before your eyes.
• Search. WorkFlowy lets you navigate through your lists by expanding them and zooming. But sometimes you forget where you put something. Or maybe you want to bring up all the items that contain a specific word. The search feature lets you filter your WorkFlowy account (or whatever list you're currently zoomed to) instantly, as you type. Try it by using the search box at the top of the page.
• Sharing and collaboration. You can share or collaborate on any sublist in your WorkFlowy account. This is a powerful feature that lets you turn any portion of your notes, tasks, lists, etc., into a page that others can view or edit. They'll see your updates (and you'll see theirs) in near-realtime. Click "Share" in the menu that pops up when you hover over a bullet point. Read our blog post on this feature for more info.
• Tagging. Sometimes you want to associate together items that are in different parts of your WorkFlowy tree. Say you have tasks for a trip you're planning in one area and tasks for a project you're working on in another. You want to mark tasks in both areas as being "high priority," and then you want to view only the high priority tasks.

Tailored Life

To expect life to be tailored to our specifications is to invite frustration. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 9 July) 14 August 2012

Compliment

"There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment.  I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me - I always feel they have not said enough." (Mark Twain in Touchstones, 15 July) 14 August 2012

Print Friendly

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to print the pages on my four Google blogs without including the Sidebar information?  Now there is a way, using the free Print Friendly application.

I've installed a Print Friendly button at the bottom of each page that appears on my blogs.  Clicking on the button will display the information without the Sidebar.  From the Print Friendly page you can select whether you want to Print the page or get a PDF of the page.  You can chose to Email the page to yourself or someone else.  You can remove the images.

Here's a link to a short video that will further acquaint you with this very handy tool.  Please note that the video mentions installing Print Friendly, ignore that part.  I've already done the installation.  All you need to do to use the application is click on the "Print Friendly" button at the bottom of each blog posting you want to print.

Print Friendly

I think this is a great addition and hope you will too.

Have fun.
Dick Henthorn
13 August 2012

Important

The more important something is in your life, the more harmful it can be for you in the future if you abuse it.  The misfortunes and woes of people often come from the abuse of the most precious tool of our life: intellect. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 29 July) 13 August 2012

Game Of Life

"You're playing on the court of life.  Hopefully you have come to win!" 
(From a sermon by Dr. Barbara King of Hillsdale Chapel in Atlanta, Georgia.)

The rules of the game of life are quite simple.

• Always tell the truth.
• Never live in fear of anything or anyone.
• Be conscious of what you are thinking so that you can always think positively.
• Do everything that you do for the love of doing it.

(All of the above from Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 12 August)
12 August 2012

Right Way / Wrong Way

I am now willing to forgive myself ... for believing that people who do not agree with me are wrong. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 22 June) 11 August 2012

Peace

Living a long life may not be your goal.  And that's okay.  But living peacefully for whatever amount of time remains is certainly a preference we can relate to. (Karen Casey, Keepers Of The Wisdom, 20 July) 10 August 2012

Good Thoughts

Think good thoughts, and your thoughts will be turned into good actions.  Everything begins in thought.  Guiding your thoughts is one of the keys to self-perfection.  If you suffer misfortunes in your life, look for their cause, not in your actions, but in the thoughts which inspired them, and try to improve those thoughts. If you are inspired by an event in your life, look for its origins in your previous thoughts which caused the event. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 9 August) 9 August 2012

Set Aside

You must often do what you do not want to do, and what you want to do you must sometimes set aside. (Thomas 'A Kempis, The Imitation Of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 49, p. 143) 8 August 2012

Decisions

Regrets for missed opportunities, however, can be erased from our minds by trying to make wiser decisions from now on.  (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 13 April) 7 August 2012

Experimenting

Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life. (Herbert Otto, Touchstones, 29 July) 6 August 2012

Do What You Can

Do what you can and do it attentively, not out of habit or because you feel you must.  (Thomas 'A Kempis, The Imitation Of Christ, Book 4, Chapter 12, p. 184) 5 August 2012

Family Ties

The average parent will go through the full gamut of ups and downs and trials and tribulations.  The key is developing close ties with your children, teaching them to perform and function effectively. (Earl Woods in Chicken Soup For The Father's Soul, p. 196) 4 August 2012

Ego

The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are.  

(A Course In Miracles, Chapter 43, IV, 2, 3, p. 42) 

3 August 2012

Wealth

You should strive for a union between your purpose in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. (Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 1 August)

If Christians would follow the law, there would be no rich and no poor. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 31 July)

We have created a way of life which is contrary to mankind's moral and physical nature, and yet we want to be free while living this kind of life. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 1 August)

A rich person can be insensitive and completely indifferent to the woes of others. (The Talmud, Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 31 July)

A person must completely close his eyes on his morals, that in a Christian society so filled with people in need, there are other people who are so proud to have great wealth. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 31 July)

Wealth reminds me of manure in the field. When it is in a big pile it makes a bad smell.  But when it is distributed everywhere across the field, it makes the soil fertile. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 31 July)

Mr. Dickie
2 August 2012

Inventory

Depending on how you look at it, it's either time for an end of the month inventory or a beginning of the month inventory.

An occasional review of our progress is an encouraging exercise, for it shows us that we are gradually learning how to live in poise and serenity.

At any rate it is a good time to look back over the month just passed to see what progress we've made and what changes have taken place in our lives as a result of practicing our programs.

• Have we given sufficient attention to our program?
• Have we done at least a little reading each day?
• Are our family relationships more serene and happy than they were a month ago?
• Have we renewed a strained friendship; or made good for an injury to someone?
• Did we make an effort to avoid gossip?
• Did we try to learn something new?

Make this a day of review and preparation for the coming month in which you will renew your efforts to progress in your personal development.

If you don't see any improvement in the month which just ended, do not be discouraged.  There are still many things to learn, one of which is, to accept yourself as you are.  Everything good we can bring about must begin with that.

(after One Day At At A Time In Al-Anon, 31 July) 1 August 2012