The soul always knows what to do to heal itself.  The challenge is to silence the mind.  Caroline Myss The biggest obstacle to our healing from emotional wounds, etc is to keep our minds from engaging in that healing.  Our minds are wonderful and helpful when it comes to pretty much everything but healing.  Then our minds turn on us.  They replay the lies that hold us in bondage, they keep the shame we might feel at the front of our efforts, they whisper things to us that keep us in victim mode, they convince us that we are right and "the world" is wrong and against us.  The mind becomes our enemy of sorts when we need to heal. I know this first hand.  I've been there.  I've been in a battle with my mind and my soul. Our souls always know what to do to heal.  They are reliable in leading the way to wholeness.  They point north and lead the way but only if the mind gets out of the way.  And that is a choice each of us have to make when it comes to healing.  Will w

Shame erases hope.   Unknown We are held captive and in an unseen bondage when we allow shame to speak over and into our lives.  Shame is made of a "material" that is hard to break.  And when we apply it to ourselves or to others we are placing a sentence on us or them.  Shame keeps the poverty stricken in poverty, even if their material wealth rebounds.  Shame keeps the abused in victim mode, even if healing has presented itself.  Shame keeps the insecure timid, even if strength has been demonstrated   Shame keeps the young girl with babies from her family, even if they have reached out.  Shame keeps *you* silent, even when it is right that you speak.  Shame keeps *you* believing the lies, even when the truth is so evident.  Hope is the freedom and shame is the bondage.  To choose freedom is to choose hope and we are the only ones who can choose it for ourselves.  Other people may try to hand us hope, demonstrate hope, gift us with hope but only we have the ultimate decisi

We're so focused on getting kids ready for college, but we're not preparing them for life.    Dowdle, Hillari. "Bring Back Home Ec!."  Cooking Light . 2012: n. page. Print. Boy did this quote strike a chord with me the second I read it.  Everything in me resonated a loud "yes!"  We have done, are doing, our kids a great disservice   We have focused too much on intellectual education and neglected life education.  It doesn't matter how much education one has if they cannot perform the basic functions of life such as: laundry, cooking a few simple meals, knowing how to pay bills, cleaning a toilet, just to name a few.  Our kids deserve more and better than handing them the pressure of a 4.0 GPA and all the electronics they want. There's nothing wrong with the 4.0 GPA but if it means they have no idea how to function in the practicals of life then we haven't done them any favors.  There's nothing wrong with electronics per se but if it means o

The past is never where you think you left it.   Katherine Anne Porter Life has a funny way of catching up to us doesn't it?  Those old hurts, people, thoughts, actions, etc that we think we left behind us have a funny way of reappearing at, usually, the most inopportune times.  One thing I have learned about leaving the past behind is it doesn't stay there unless we have gone through the process of closure.  If we can find ways to close out our past in healthy ways then the chance that it won't pop back up at those inopportune times is better and if it does pop up the chance that we respond to it in healthy ways is better as well.  But don't think you have left it beh ind in a p lace it cannot be fo un d or for good. The past can always be found, it is not lost forever.  If we can learn to close out our past in a heal thy way then we won't despise it, fear it, or run from it when i t reappears.  We will instead welcome it and the lessons we learned in it.    S

Where there's life, there's hope.   Terence I've been hovering over this quote for months and months.  I suppose it is time.  :) I found today's quote on a Celestial Seasonings tea bag at work one day and it literally struck me the moment I read it.  What came to my mind immediately was my beloved Kenya and its slums.  I have walked through two of Kenya's worst slums, indeed one of them is the oldest and worst slum in all of East Africa - Mathare Valley .  Before walking through it a friend who had previously done so told me how deplorable the slum was.  All one has to do is look at pictures to see that.  Lifelong residents of Nairobi refuse to go near Mathare, as they may have to drive by it they turn the other way and pretend they don't see it.  Upon finding out that we were willingly and even eagerly going into Mathare and purposely spending time there the local people are confused and frightened.  Mathare is no walk in the park my friends.  This same frie

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.   E.L. Doctorow Ha!  I love this.  It gives me permission to be other people.  *grin*  Writing allows me to express my ideas, thoughts, emotions, etc in ways that are more comfortable to me than verbal expression.  I read a book by Stephen King called "On Writing" and he gave great advice in it for writers.  One thing that he said which has stuck with me is to be true to your characters.  If they have a different lifestyle than mine be true to it.  If they use language I don't be true to that.  Doing this would be what I would consider schizophrenia, for me at least!  :)  If you write, do you see ways in which you are schizophrenic?  

Don't wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.   Unknown Only you have a choice about your moments.  You know which ones I'm talking about.  The ones that are standing on the edge and have the potential to fall forward into greatness or crumble in defeat from fear and hesitations.  Only you have the choice to decide what those moments will look like and become.  There are no perfect moments, each one is presented to us for our choice so it is up to you to make it be what you want.   And moments cannot be repeated.  Oh we may come across moments that look similar or feel similar to the one we crumbled on but the moment that we perhaps let get away from us will never be repeated exactly.  So take advantage of moments presented.  Don't let fear keep you on the edge of greatness crumbled in defeat, fall forward in the moment and see what greatness will come from it.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful...that's what matters to me.   Steve Jobs What lasts beyond our physical life is our acts - of kindness or not - not our stored up treasures.  Even Steve Jobs, one of the richest men, knew this.  Even he knew that in this life it is not our material possessions but our deeds that are remembered long after we are.  All of his wealth didn't matter if he wasn't known for acts of kindness.  We all should have this perspective.  Yes, material possessions are nice but our deeds have a deeper impact.  And it's important to note, I think, that our deeds - good or bad - impact.  And we are remembered for either of them.  People will remember what a jerk we were if we behave badly.  And people will remember what a lovely person we were if we behave kindly.  And if we are a jerk and leave tons of money to "make up for it" I have news for you.

Thanksgiving creates abundance.   Ann Voskamp When we live a grateful life we create abundance.  Nothing may change in circumstances but we suddenly see the abundance that surrounds us.  Get outside of the box of what our world says abundance is.  It is not material possessions. It is relationships.  It is not quantity.  It is quality.  (That applies to relationships as well btw.)  It is not standing on the top rung of the corporate ladder (which frankly is quite wobbly these days anyway).  It is standing on the top rung of living a  life defined by  integrity.  Those are just a few examples that came to mind this morning as I reflect, along with our nation, on thanksgiving.   In your own life how does living thankfully create abundance?  How have you seen thanks-living expand your life?   If you lack abundance in your life you may want to reflect on how you are living - thankfully or not?  It's not too late, it's never too late, to turn it around.  Live thankfully and y

Live Boldly: Live closer to that thing that makes you sing.   Mary Anne Radmacher Part of living a bolder life is to take risks.  To put yourself out there and see what might happen.  Many lessons go along with that but today I want to focus solely on what the quote from Radmacher says to me, and perhaps to you as well. I think that sometimes the thing that makes us sing (in heart, in spirit, etc) doesn't make sense on the practical level (income, etc) so we often place it on the back burner and watch it simmer away down to nothing while we engage in a more practical way of living.  But perhaps that isn't so practical after all.  Our souls can dry up and burn out in the practical applications of life.  But we have to eat, right?  We need to have a roof over our heads, right?  Right and yet... If it (what is "it" for you?) makes you sing then get creative, take it off the back burner of your life and begin to let it boil.  Let it enter into the practical parts of y

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.   Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov The worst kind of liar, perhaps the most pitiful kind of liar, is the one who lies to themselves.  Self-deception is painful.  It's painful for the people who are in the world of the liar and it eventually becomes painful for the liar themselves.  At first the liar is in a bliss of sorts, having convinced themselves of their lie.  But it always catches up to us in some way.  And usually the way is painful.  When we lie so much, so often, so  passionately  the lie becomes truth to us but nobody else.  Everyone in our life can see the lie for what it is.  This is when it becomes painful to be in relationship with a liar.  The liar is so convinced of their "truth" t

The best things in life aren't things.   Art Buchwald Let's all stop for a moment and think. What truly gives you the most pleasure?  What soothes your soul when it is turbulent?  What brings a smile to your face and heart?  What fills you? Did you think of an item?  Or did you think of a person?  Or did you think of something to do or that you've done?  I think, without knowing all the answers, that chances are high that most people think of a person or something they have done or will do.  I think chances are high that it isn't a material possession that is the answer to my query. If I take a moment and look around my home I am grateful for what is in it.  I even really like some of my possessions.  But when it comes right down to it what has soothed me, filled me, or brought me happiness has not been any of those material things that I really like.  It has been a simple cup of tea or coffee and time to be introspective, a chat with a friend who gets my heart, a

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.   Saint Augustine of Hippo If you know me well, or really at all, you know how much I love to read.  And I'm beginning to learn to love to travel.  So I like today's quote because I see it kind of two-fold.   One, the book perspective.  Books hold a world of knowledge, imagination, and pleasure for the reader.  You can travel without leaving your immediate world.  They can and will transport you to places you may never be able to get to.  Books can expand your world of knowledge and broaden your horizon of topics.  If you do not read you won't be as informed as others will be.   Two, the world traveler perspective.  This amazing world holds such beauty and awe.  It holds cultures to be experienced, foods to be tasted, smells to inhale, history to be seen.  Be curious about this world we live in.  Even if you can't afford to go to other cultures study up on them (reading!) by viewing pictures, tasti

The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.    Morrie Schwartz Morrie became famous when an old student of his, Mitch Albom, spent Tuesdays with him near the end of his battle with ALS and then recounted the lessons Morrie shared with him in a book.  Morrie was a pretty smart man, if today's quote was his only one * he would still be smart.  Today's quote is spot on.   Once you learn how to die to your self - your selfishness, your need to be right, your entitlements, your pride, your vanity,  your fears, your insecurities, whatever else of yours that holds you back from living life - then you begin to learn how to live.  An abundant, full, satisfied life begins when we die to our very self.  How is that possible?  Because all the things we have to die to hold us back from really living life.  So once you learn how to die to those things your life will begin.   Morrie's wisdom reminds me of age-old wisdom from the book of John in the Bible.  "

You will never forget what you will not forgive.   Wess Stafford Some of us, okay all of us, need to invite memory loss into our lives.  Read today's quote again and you'll see what I'm saying.  Until we forgive we will not forget and most of us have at least one thing that we need to forgive and forget.  It's weighing us down, holding us back, keeping the pot stirred.  And let's be clear, you may not ever totally forget the thing forgiven but you will forget the pain associated with it, you will forget the anger attached to it, you will forget the betrayal that happened in it.  And that's what we need to forget in order to move on in healthy ways.  But we won't forget those things until we do the hard work of forgiveness.  And forgiveness is hard work.  I'm not pretending it is easy.  But it is necessary.  Forgiveness is necessary to be set free from the bondage of bitterness, anger, and being stagnant as a human. That's right, when we choose for

The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be...because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap!   Mary Anne Radmacher I love the visual this quote from Radmacher (a favorite quote master of mine in case you hadn't noticed) brings up in my mind. In my mind I see myself standing at the edge of a cliff called "You are here" and a mere five or so feet away is the cliff called "Where you want to be" and all I have to do is one giant leap.  Except I've been standing on the edge of cliff "You are here" for a long time, too long really.  I toe it, I've walked along it, I've peered down over the edge of it, I've tested if I have to leap to make it to other side or if I could just stretch myself and make it across, I've even looked around for materials to build a bridge over to the other side.  But there is no way to get over to "Where you want to be" unless I leap. I'm going to have to jump.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.   Mother Teresa Today's quote makes me think of the ripples caused in the water when something hits it. The ripples go on and on.  Just like kind words.  They are one of the easiest things to "throw" at people and have a ripple effect in their lives.  And it seems to me that the ripple effect of kind words also acts as a boomerang, it comes back at us usually. Kind words are easier to speak than unkind ones.  Unkind words take effort to think up and speak out.    What are you "throwing" at others - even if you have differences of opinion, beliefs, etc?  If you "throw" unkind words you might have noticed that they drop down like dead weight and a plunk.  But if you "throw" kind words you will notice the ripple effect that spreads over the surface and depths of the other person's life.  What kind of ripple effect, if any, do you cause in the lives of others?

"Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists." Blaise Pascal I'm interested in the people who are so threatened by having faith in God.  What is it about placing faith in him that threatens them so?  That seems to almost repulse them?  That  prompts  a deep anger toward him and, sometimes, toward people who walk in faith?  Is it the desire to be the "captain of your own boat"?  Is it transference because of how someone treated them at some point in their life?  Is it their intellect that they can't reconcile the unanswered questions with?  Or is it simply they just don't see a reason to believe in anyone but themselves?   I promise I am not passing judgment, I'm simply curious. *   I know, for me, what a life choosing faith has provided.  I sincerely

Be curious, not judgmental.   Walt Whitman {sigh} It seems to me the majority of the human race can't follow today's advice from Whitman. *  Oh that we could...or rather that we would.  What would be different if we simply debated from a place of curiosity rather than judgment and trying to "one up" the other person?  What would be different if we didn't pass judgment on differing opinions but simply satisfied our curiosity about them?  What would be different if we interacted with people different than us, and I'm not just talking about cultural differences and socioeconomic differences, from a place of curiosity not judgment?  What would be different if we didn't allow our satisfied curiosity to lead to judgment but we just let it be?  What would be different if we didn't have a driving need to prove our opinion right and the "other side" wrong?  What would be different if we respected the other person's viewpoint and chose not to

Reading one book is like eating one potato chip. Diane Duane Raise your hand if you have ever eaten just one single potato chip? Yeah, I didn't think so!  I don't know of anyone who can eat just one.  And Diane Duane aptly points out in today's quote that reading is just like that.  Reading is addictive.  But why?  Because it opens up worlds of wonder, expanded worldviews, opportunities for further education, reasons to look forward, pleasure and so many other things.  Unlike potato chips, however, reading doesn't add to your hips!  Haha!   I hope you read.  It doesn't have  to  be as many books as I read per month, just read!  Find the pleasure in it, allow it to challenge you and introduce you to new-to-you ideas, discover new worlds.  Don't know what to read?  Go to a site like goodreads.com and begin cruising around different genres, find one that interests you, jot down some titles and go to the library.  Want to know what I'm inhaling each month

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.     Helen Keller We want things  to  be easy for us and to come easy to us.  But easy is not the way to develop your character.  I don't know of one person whose character has been developed to admirable depths that do so through easy. It has always come through  persevering  through trials and dark seasons.  It is in the dark where we can begin to see clearly.  Our trials act as a refining fire, burning off and away what is not beneficial to our characters.  Change to our character will only come through  the trials and when we allow the trials to do their important work.  Yes, character development is a choice.  We must choose to let it happen.  Resist it and stay immature, shallow, lacking life experience, and stagnant.  Embrace the trials that bring change and you will emerge with depth, life exp

Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is. Saul Bellow Just when we think the ugly can't get any uglier beauty intrudes.  Sometimes in the most blunt of ways and other times in the most graceful of ways.  But beauty is the great intruder into our ugly.  Life includes both beauty and ugly and usually a perfect balance of the two.  Why?  Because without a balance of the two we would topple.   Without the ugly we would live in a utopia like state, forgetting the need of people, forgetting that we can extend beyond ourselves to walk alongside our fellow mankind.  Too much ugly, however, keeps us in a pit of despair.  So we need the beauty.  We need the beauty to balance out all the ugly.   The intruder beauty can manifest in a multitude of ways.  A bright smile in the middle of a trash heap in a third-world country.  A colorful flower popped up out of a famine parched land.  Handing a bag of food items and hygiene items to a homeless person.  A brilliant sunset in the

Happiness is a form of courage.   George Holbrook Jackson Things not going your way?  In a dark season?  Been betrayed?  Feeling lonely? (Do you see what kind of things I'm asking and the place I'm headed?)  I've got a radical idea.  Show yourself, and others, your courageous spirit (you have it in you, you just may not know it) by choosing happiness.  It really is a act of courage to choose happiness in the midst of dark times.  We admire people who can smile and find happiness in the midst of dark circumstances.  We even consider them courageous.  Guess what?  We have the ability to do that too.  Oh sure, maybe our circumstances aren't as dark as say my friends living in Kenyan slums but our reality is our reality and we go through dark times as well.  If my friends can smile and find happiness in the midst of their lives then surely we can too.  When we make the choice, and it is a choice, to insert happiness into our dark times we are like a lion roaring.  Ever he

I'd rather be low profile and high impact than high profile and low impact. Israel Houghton *We* have a mindset issue.  We seem to think that high profile also means high impact but I don't think so.  The ones who have the most impact on their worlds are those who have a lower profile.  Don't believe me?  Think about some people that you admire for having high impact in your life and/or the lives of others.   What was their profile?  Truly?  Do you know how many hidden high impact people we have in our lives right now?  And usually they aren't recognized as high impact until after they aren't with us.  And that's exactly the way it should be if you want to have high impact.  Live a low profile.  Our other problem with thinking about this is we crave to be high profile.  We want attention on us, all eyes *this* way.  We want our ideas to be seen, heard, and followed.  And that is the exact way to have low impact, living high profile.  You may protest and spo

About political parties:  "It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another." George Washington I don't talk politics.  There's a few reasons why but that's not the point of today's quote.  I found today's quote to be interesting.  I read it a few months back on a friends FB page.  And after reading it through several times I can say I agree with Washington.  If you step back from the political party you align yourself with and read today's quote thoroughly you may agree as well.  Or not and that's oka

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.   Mary Anne Radmacher Today's quote kind of goes along with yesterday's .  When we decide to do or say something for someone and it brings light to their day or world, even if just for a moment, then the by-product is we have been lit up as well.  There are numerous studies out there about how helping others is the best way to help ourselves.  Depressed?  Do something for someone else?  Stressed?  Go participate in an outreach of some sort that will help others.  Apathetic/lethargic?  Get out of yourself and light up someones world.  You'll find that your way will become clearer.  Your apathy will shake off and a path will be made known.  Now if you go to light up someones world with the motivation that you will receive benefit as well then expect it to go wrong.  It doesn't work that way.  We must be light bearers to others with pure motives, wanting only to see their world light up.  I just thoug

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.   Proverbs 11:25 You never know when you will be the refreshment in someones day.  Oftentimes it is through something you say or do that you don't think is a big deal but to that person it is for that moment.  And when it happens the "strangest" thing happens to you.  You also become refreshed.  Something happens to our spirits when we put ourselves aside and focus on others.  We become light in the worlds we live in.   Being refreshment to others can happen in so many different ways.  Think outside your box, don't allow yourself to be stifled.  Don't over think it, if you do you won't end being genuine as a person who can refresh others.  Let it happen naturally.  And remember, it usually happens through you without you trying or even being aware that you are doing it.  Also you can't set out to refresh others with expectations attached.  Then it's not refreshment in an

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.   Jerome K Jerome Ha!  This quote makes the list because I pretty much view idling this way.  I don't know if I can blame it on my Type A nature or what but I can't simply just idle a day away and even if I do manage it I'm still reviewing in my head all the things I need to do the minute I determine the idling is done. Sheesh Beth, LET IT GO.  Just rest already will ya? I'm trying, I really am.  But if I decide to watch a movie (idling) I also find something that can be done and needs to be done while watching a movie.  I've been known to chop vegetables, go through junk mail and paper work, fold laundry, etc.  I consider it making good use of time (multi-tasking) but then I'm not idling (resting) I'm just slowing down a bit.  :) I realize I'm not good at resting.  I don't know how to do it, it makes me feel uncomfortable because I know all that needs or can be don

Take time every day to do something silly.   Philips Walker I think today's quote is important to heed for our mental and emotional health.  Not to mention for our relationships. Who wants to be around a sour puss all the time?  Be silly!  Laugh!  Enjoy the simple things life offers!  Be able to let loose and let your guard down for a moment or two.  There are so many silly things, find one and do it. A bestie of mine and I are great at doing silly things together.  About a year ago we decided to create a Facebook page for our imaginary friend, Little Loretta.  We gave her quite the informational page and then we decided to invite our friends to be her friend.  Silly?  Very and it sent us home that night with smiles on our faces and a little lighter in spirit. When was the last time you did something silly?  Has it been awhile?  Do you feel like a sour puss?  Do the people in your life treat you like you are a sour puss?  Do something silly today and turn it around!  It's g

You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.   Proverbs 27:17 I've been thinking about this proverb this week.  When someone confronts you on an issue in your life you can usually tell if they are doing it because they care about you or because they just want to be a  critical  voice in your world.  With the one friend you listen, as hard as it may be to hear.  With the other you take it with a grain of salt and go on your way.   Have you ever heard steel sharpening steel?  It can be a grating noise.  But at the end of the process the steel is sharp and ready for use.  That's also what happens with relationships.  When you have given someone permission to speak into your life you should expect it to sometimes be grating on your dull edges.  But if you can hear what is said and do some honest introspection about it then the hope is you come out of the process sharper and ready for further use.   If someone you know cares about you and desires the best