I Shall Not Pass This Way Again

Wise Words of William Penn

31 March 2013

Life

[Life,] ... incident follows incident helter-skelter leading apparently nowhere, but then once in a while there is the suggestion of purpose, meaning, direction, the suggestion of plot, the suggestion that, however clumsily, your life is trying to tell you something, take you somewhere. (Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life, 30 March) 30 March 2013

Lazy Leaders

When leaders become lazy and lose their diligence in doing good for God, they become spiritual sluggards and worthless to the kingdom.

Wise leaders know their time is limited. They know they have no way to retrieve misused or wasted time.
(John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 17 March)
29 March 2013

Narcissism

Narcissism is one of the most common [emotional preoccupations]; to be so worried about image or identity that we can't entertain fresh ideas, or to be so insecure that we stick close to our tightly held opinions and biases. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 51) 28 March 2013

What Is Best

You think you know what is best and what has to be, but life itself, more mysteriously, works in a different direction. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 19) 27 March 2013

Be Aware

Be aware of how present or absent your are ... Monitor what makes you shut down and what makes you open up. When you are aware of yourself, you have more choices and options available. (Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries Face To Face, p. 35) 26 March 2013

What Are You Saying?

I will try to be more objective and not take personally everything that is said or done. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 20 February) 25 March 2013

Honest Words

Honest words match honest intentions. A person has honest intentions when he wants his words to tell somebody what is really on his mind and his heart. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 79) 24 March 2013

I'll Remember That

... nothing on earth make us feel more virtuous than remembered wrongs. 

(Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 106) 

3 March 2013

Emotional Problems

Busy people seldom have time for inhibiting emotional problems. ... the essential message here is that being alive in the present is the most powerful antidote to emotional turmoil or depression ever invented, and the ability to live in the present is essentially an attitudinal skill, which has to be cultivated during the course of your everyday life. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 55) 22 March 2013

Drive For Perfection

The compulsive drive for perfection - an unrealistic idealism - can be a neurotic symptom as difficult to deal with as the compulsion to drink. (after One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 23 December) 21 March 2013

On Being

What did you tell people you were going to do 

or be 

when you grew up? 

Are you being or doing anything that resembles that dream now? 

If so, what? 

If not, why not?

(Laurie Beth Jones, The Path, p. 44)

20 March 2013

Fantasy

Somehow, ... reality is never quite as grand or good as ... fantasy.

(Gail Sheehy, Understanding Men's Passages, p. 28)

19 March 2013

Mindset

When we ... associate with people of a certain mindset, we tend to take on their values and their dreams. (Laurie Beth Jones, The Path, p. 16-17) 18 March 2013

Words

... words not only convey something, but are something; ... words have color, depth, texture of their own, and the power to evoke vastly more than they mean; ... words can be used not merely to make things clear, make things vivid, make things interesting and whatever else, but to make things happen inside the one who reads them or hears them. (Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life, 17 January) 17 March 2013

Darkness and Distress

In times of darkness and distress, there are two temptations:

1. To blame others for our problems, growing bitter and cynical
2. To lapse into self-indulgence as a way to escape the pressures of difficult circumstances.

(Harry and Emily Griffith, This Love We Share, 16 January)
16 March 2013

Being On Purpose

I'm here on purpose.

(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Power Of Intention, p. 19)

15 March 2013

Showing Up

Sometimes the best way to encourage someone is to just show up.

(Karen Barber, Daily Guideposts - 2012, 14 January)

14 March 2013

Self-Discipline

Self-discipline Action Points

1. Develop and follow your priorities.
2. Make a disciplined lifestyle your goal.
3. Challenge your excuses.
4. Remove awards until you finish the job.
5. Stay focused on results.

Never trade what you want at the moment for what you want most.
(John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 12 March)
13 March 2013

Such A Mess

There are some places in your life that are such a mess that you cannot risk someone stepping in and making things any more difficult than they are. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 12 December) 12 March 2013

Until You Know Better

Until you know better, assume a person is innocent of bad motives or intents, and approach him accordingly. (Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries Face To Face, p. 100)

If you want to establish and maintain peaceful relationships with other people, surrender all judgments of who they are and who they are not. If you want your relationships with other people to be healthy and fulfilling, surrender your expectations and set clear boundaries. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today!, 15 December)

Speculating on other people's attitudes and motives is a waste of time and effort. To search out the reasons for your own is a voyage of discovery. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 3 December)

11 March 2013

History Has Shown

World history has shown again and again that it is dangerous for a society to have individuals with too much power. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 93)

People don't automatically buy into a good cause. ... People buy into the leaders first then the leader's vision. (John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 30 January)

To authoritarians, any attempt to change the country is an attempt to destroy it, and a citizen's duty is to obey the authority figures, without ever asking whether they are lying, stealing, trampling on people's rights or otherwise abusing their positions. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 95)

... authoritarians have a very strong resistance to change, and are threatened by any disruption of things as they are accustomed to experiencing them. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 67)

... authoritarians for all their pretensions to mastery, tend inwardly to be chronically depressed and unhappy people, suffering from an almost total lack of real human fulfillment, secretly aware that they are bumbling through life chasing some unknown inhuman thing, being tolerated but never really respected by others, and suffering from blind, inert acceptance of their fates. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 102)

The signs of unholy relationships are quite clear; people become: defensive, fearful, hostile, standoffish, and don't wish to be in your company. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Power of Intention, p. 91)

Wars can be stopped only if people are ready to be persecuted for not participating in them. This is the only way. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 29 December)

If my soldiers started thinking, not a single soldier would remain in my army. (Frederick II in A Calendar Of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy, 29 December)

The bigger the lie, the more eagerly do those who want the lie to be true corrupt their consciousness. ... there was the corrupted consciousness that kept America believing that we were winning the Vietnam War until 45,000 Americans were killed, 300,000 American men and women were wounded, over 150 billion dollars were spent, and a beautiful Asian country was left in smoking ruin. Barbara Tuckman writes in her book, "The March of Folly." "At no time were policy-makers unaware of the hazards, obstacles, and negative developments. American intelligence was adequate, informed observation flowed steadily from the field to the capital." We knew, but we choose not to know. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 73)

• To put the world in order we must first put the nation in order.
• To put the nation in order we must first put the family in order.
• To put the family in order we must first cultivate our personal life.
• And to cultivate our personal life, we must set our hearts right.
• (Confucious, c.550-470 b.c., Chinese Philospher in Pocket Positives)

Those people who are not governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. (William Penn, in The  Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, p. 59)

10 March 2013

The Power Of Guns And Ammunition

The role of police and military in society may be idolized by authoritarians, but the real focus of the authoritarian's devotion is the locus of power that the military represents. Authoritarians worship the power of guns and ammunition, and, in line with their paranoia, they strongly support the right of citizens to arm themselves. As a result, they typically oppose the control of handguns or any kinds of firearms. They support the use of any and all weapons in war. They are first to advocate the use of nuclear weapons ("Singe the treetops" in Vietnam, "Nuke the Ayatollah"), and the first to cry for the increase of military budgets at the expense of domestic or humanistic priorities. They often revel in war stories, whether from books or films or from their own lives, when they may have participated in war as combat troops or in any other way. To the authoritarian, the glorification of war as evidence of a nation's power is more important than denouncing war as evidence of humanity's having reached its lowest possible level in its efforts toward resolving its disputes. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 92-3) 9 March 2013

Issues

... we can be in emotional contact but don't have to react to someone else's issues. (Touchstones, 13 December) 8 March 2013

Breaking News

Television news programming puts a heavy emphasis on bringing the bad and ugly into your home ... It's a constant stream of negativity that invades your living space and attracts more of the same into your life. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Power Of Intention, p. 76) 7 March 2013

Purpose Of Life

The purpose of man's life is not happiness but worthiness.

(Felix Adler, in Touchstones, 17 December)

6 March 2013

Log-Jammed

Never is there a single instance when a lie can be justified. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 29 November)

Only misconceptions need to be supported by elaborate arguments. Truth can always stand alone. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 15 December)

Life is not a search for happiness. Happiness is a by-product of living the right kind of life, of doing the right thing. Do not search for happiness, search for right living and happiness will be your reward. (Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 16 December)

Position and power never shape true character; they only reveal what is already woven in the fabric of ones being. (Les Dahl, The Upper Room Disciplines - 2003, 22 September)

Oliver Ellsworth [Constitutional Convention delegate], warned, "We grow more and more skeptical as we proceed. If we do not decide soon, we shall be unable to come to any decision." (David Jeremiah, Journey, 8 February)

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God, and the Bible." George Washington.
(David Jeremiah, Journey, 8 February)

[Often] ... world rulers and others in authority try to hide their true identity - their true motives and the nature of their intent. (David Jeremiah, Journey, 5 March)

A society ... needs catharsis. It can become log-jammed with ideas that have lost their liveliness. Ideas turn into prejudices, slogans, party lines, and mere opinions. People become conservative in a negative sense: self-protective, deadened and unthinking. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 63)
5 March 2013

Attitude Axioms

Attitude Axioms

1. Our attitude determines our approach to life.
2. Our attitude determines our relationships with people.
3. Our attitude is often the only difference between success and failure.
4. Our attitude at the beginning of a task will affect its outcome more than anything else.
5. Our attitude can turn problems into blessings.
6. Our attitude is not automatically good just because we belong to God.

(John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 4 March)
4 March 2013

Reality Check

Reality has gone bad on us. It is loaded with pain, and hatred, and unfairness, and threats, and finally death. Reality can be so miserable that no one in his or her right mind wants to know about it. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 74) 3 March 2013

What We Need

... have a keen appreciation for the ironies all around you.
... develop a knowing sense of humor that allows you to see through the superficiality in your world and its false virtue.
... notice that things are often the opposite of what they appear to be, and
... use your wits to avoid being led along by naive, one-dimensional interpretations of experience.
(Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 103)

What we need most are men who are willing to be social entrepreneurs -- men who will try out new ... approaches to the crises

• in education, 
• n health care, 
• in race relations, 
• [in levying taxes, creating a budget and running local and federal government], 

social innovators who will find out what governments can do, and then make them do it.
(Peter Drucker in Understanding Men's Passages by Gail Sheehy with addition in square brackets by Richard E. Henthorn, p. 120)
2 March 2013

The Truth

There are some people to whom we cannot tell the truth because they cannot hear the truth. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 81) 1 March 2013