Tools

I will make myself learn to use a new set of tools:

• tolerance,
• kindness,
• patience,
• courtesy,
• love, and
• humor and a
• firm determination to do what is necessary 

to improve my life.
(One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 17 January)
31 May 2013

Negative Thoughts

... Start to notice how many negative thoughts you have about things, situations, people, (including yourself), and how you feel at the end of the day. (Barbara De Angelis, Ph. D. in An Invitation To God, quoted in For The Love Of God by Shield & Carlson, p. 66) 30 May 2013

It's Enough

Who I am is enough. What I am doing right now is the best I can do - and it is enough. (Sue Bender in For The Love Of God by Shield & Carlson, p. 124) 29 May 2013

High Blood Pressure

A 1990 Cornell University study concluded that jobs combining high responsibility with low autonomy were three times more likely to produce high blood pressure than jobs that either offered some degree of autonomy or lower responsibility levels. (Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., I'd Change My Life If I Had More Time, p. 112-3)

Mr. Dickie's Comment: I personally confirmed this while working at the Library of Congress. It's no fun trying to deliver a project, with a fixed completion date, when you don't have the power to compel people to do the work that only they can accomplish.

May is High Blood Pressure Education Month
28 May 2013

Assembly Line

The assembly line, the many anonymous and low paying jobs, the enormous financial and political power of the elite - these qualities of a stratified society leave the ordinary person feeling frustrated. (Thomas Moore, Dark Knights Of The Soul, p. 193) 27 May 2013

The Brink

Larry King, "I remember 1991 ... and the utter despair I was feeling. I can't understand how a modern society knowing the horrors of war can be on the brink of it again. It makes me angry. If there is a God, then why does he continue to let this happen?"

Rabbi Irwin Katsof, "War is man's doing, not God's."
(Larry King and Rabbi Irwin Katsof in Powerful Prayers, p. 203)
26 May 2013 (Memorial Day Weekend)

Secret Of Happiness

Photo: Jefferson Memorial by Cyndi Henthorn

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. (Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, English Philosopher, Mathematician and Social Reformer, in Pocket Positives, no page numbering) 25 May 2013

Justice, Equality, Tolerance

Are justice, equality, and tolerance ... 

[values] that we pursue or just words that we utter?

Do we need to change .. the priorities of our lives?

(The Upper Room Disciplines - 2008, 11 November)

24 May 2013

Take It Easy

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. (Jerome K. Jerome, 1859-1927, English Playwright & Humorist, in Pocket Positives, no page numbering) 23 May 2013

Find Your Own Way

... those who direct us too exactly based on what has happened to them rob us of surprise and wonder, restrict us by their frames. (Marsha Sinclair in For The Love Of God by Shield & Carlson, p. 162) 22 May 2013

Experience

I long to put the experience of fifty years at once into your young lives, to give you at once the key of that treasure chamber every gem of which has cost me tears and struggles and prayers, but you must work for these inward treasures yourselves. (Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1869, American Author & Abolitionist, in Pocket Positives, no page numbering) 21 May 2013

Stories

Stop making up stories about how perfect your life is.

(Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 20 December)

20 May 2013

I Can't Hear You

We are so used to hearing what we want to hear and remaining deaf to what it would be well for us to hear that it is hard to break the habit. (Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life, 15 February)
19 May 2013

Concerning Marriage

The biggest mistake people make [concerning marriage] is to think that marriage is a rational arrangement rather than an intense attempt to give life form and stability. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 147) 18 May 2013

The Problem With Life

Photo: Neptune Plaza at the Library of Congress

It may seem painful to think and reflect, but bringing your own intelligence to bear on everyday experience can add an essential dimension that gives its own kind of pleasure. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 31)

Spare time happens now, through conscious choices and decisions. ... Remember: we don't find spare time; we create it. (Doreen Virture, Ph.D., I'd Change My Life If I Had More Time, p. 3)

What is important in knowledge is not quantity, but quality. It is important to know what knowledge is significant, what is less so, and what is trivial. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar Of Wisdom, 14 November)

For though we are made especially for the sake of one another, still each of us has his own tasks. Otherwise another's faults would harm me, which God has not willed, in order that my happiness may not depend on another. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (paraphrased))

That is the problem with life. If we are not here, if we are not in the present moment, fully ourselves, we miss everything. (Tich Nhat Hanh in Shield & Carlson, For The Love Of God, p. 154)

We must all band together and treat people as dignified, and any efforts to divide people by class, nations, religions or any boundaries is strongly resisted by those who think in holistic ways. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Skies The Limit, p. 113)

You can tell a lot about which direction your life is heading by looking at the people with whom you've chosen to spend your time and share your ideas. (John C. Maxwell, Leadership, April introduction)
17 May 2013

Approval

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

(Mark Twain in The Power Of Intention by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, p. 133)

16 May 2013

Mission Statement

If only our major corporations, educational and religious institutions, [local and national government agencies], and all people in power could communicate their mission ... succinctly. (Laurie Beth Jones, The Path, p. 4)

******

Yesterday I tested an application called Papyrus. It's an eBook generator. My input was some of the pages about the Atkinson family that are on my genealogy blog. There were some bottom of the page problems which were disappointing.

Mr. Dickie
15 May 2013

This & That

I will not yield to my compulsion to go on talking after I have made my point ... (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 18 December)

It is not men's acts which disturb us - but our reaction to them. Take these away and anger goes. No wrong act of another can bring shame on you. (Marcus Aurelius in One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 15 November)

Needless arguments are a colossal waste of time and energy. (Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., I'd Change My Life If I Had More Time, p. 164)

What appears to be trivial and insignificant may make a person feel that life is worth living. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 31)

Let me not expect easy solutions to my problems. Make me realize that many of my difficulties were created by me, by my own reactions to the happenings in my daily life. I ask only to be guided to a better way. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 6 January)

Breaking News

• Anxiety and fear are what we experience most often in the 21st Century. 
• Wars and rumors of wars never cease. 
• Everything is threatened or already in ruins. 
• Many believe that it's important to own one or more weapons. 
• We have heard so much tragic news that when the news is good we cannot hear it.

(after Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life, 22 April)
13 May 2013

Boundaries

Boundaries prevent us from obligating ourselves to do things we shouldn't be doing in the first place and from being taken advantage of by others. (Harry and Emily Griffith, This Love We Share, 14 April) 12 May 2013

Haves & Have-Nots

... the disparity between the haves and the have-nots becomes greater and greater. (The Upper Room Disciplines - 2008, 16 November) 11 May 2013

Growth

All that I know now is partial and incomplete.

(The One Year Book Of Bible Readings, 14 January)

What, specifically, 

could you do right now to grow in 

knowledge and understanding?

(Harry & Emily Griffith, This Love We Share, 14 January)

Vision

All significant changes and inventions began with a vision...

(Laurie Beth Jones, The Path, p. 71)

9 May 2013

Choices

... how you decide to think is one of your most important choices to make in life.
(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 105)
8 May 2013

74th Birthday

I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy, enthusiasm, and hard work. (Harry S. Truman in The Little Book Of Virtues, 7 May)

******

It's my 74th birthday.

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday messages.

Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way.

There have been many times in recent years 

when 

I doubted this day 

would arrive.

Mr. Dickie

7 May 2013

It's Our Fault

We are responsible for the injustice done to earth through our careless acts of selfishness or misconduct. (The Upper Room Disciplines - 2003, 16 October) 6 May 2013

Goal

All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to do or be. (Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, American Writer and Minister, in Pocket Positives, no page numbering) 5 May 2013

Mission Statement

(Photo - FDR Memorial, Washington, DC by Mr. Dickie)

The personal mission statement of the ... [members of any organization] are the only sure foundation of any larger entity. (Laurie Beth Jones, The Path, p. 69) 4 May 2013

Character

(Photo by Mr. Dickie)

Character does not evolve by chance; it is forged by practical decisions made in mundane circumstances of everyday experiences. (Les Dahl in The Upper Room Disciplines - 2003, 22 September) 3 May 2013

Formal Education

But the sad truth is most likely that most of your formal education was spent learning how to please teachers and administrators. You were seldom if ever encouraged to think for yourself, to write creatively, to draw outside the lines, to attack problems from your own unique perspective. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 207) 2 May 2013

Wit

A little clean honest wit can save you from the heavy seriousness that gives life a tragic tone.
(Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 110) 1 May 2013