HONOUR THY MOTHER

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to
dinner and a movie.
She said, 'I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would Love
to spend some time with you.'

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my Mother, who has been
a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had
made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a
movie. 'What's wrong, are you well,' she asked? My mother is the type of woman who
suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

'I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you,' I responded 'just the two of us.' She thought about it for a moment, and then said, 'I would like that very much.'

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous.
When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous
about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on.
She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary.
She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel's.
'I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were
impressed,' she said, as she got into the car. 'They can't wait to hear
about our meeting.'

We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy.
My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.

After we sat down, I had to read the menu.
Her eyes could only read large print. Half-way through the entrees, I
lifted my eyes and saw Mother sitting there staring at me.
A nostalgic smile was on her lips.

'It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,' she said.
'Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor,' I responded.
During the dinner , we had an agreeable conversation nothing extraordinary
but catching up on recent events of each other's life. We talked so much that
we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, 'I'll go out
with you again, but only if you let me invite you.' I agreed.

'How was your dinner date?' asked my wife when I got home. 'Very nice, much
more so than I could have imagined,' I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so
suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her.
Sometime later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place Mother and I had dined. An attached note said: 'I paid this bill in
advance.
I wasn't sure that I could be there; but, nevertheless, I paid for two plates one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what thatnight meant for me.

'I love you, son'

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: 'I love YOU'
and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve.
Nothing in life is more important than your family.
Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till some 'other' time.

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've
had a baby... somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, 'normal' is
history.

Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the
first... somebody doesn't have two or more children.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and
delivery....somebody never watched her 'baby' get on the bus for the first
day of kindergarten... or on a plane headed for military 'boot camp.'

Somebody said a Mother can stop worrying after her child gets married...
somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a
mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home...
somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell
her...somebody isn't a mother.


This isn't just about being a mother; it's about appreciating the people in
your lives while you have them... no matter who that person is!

Watch out

Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes...
your destiny.

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of
battle'.

Sayings for 2009

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

2. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life.
The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

3. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t think that somehow you should be protected from misfortune that befalls other people.

4.You can’t please everybody. Don’t let criticism worry you.

5.Don’t let your neighbour set your standards. Be yourself.

6.Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.

7.Never borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than real ones.

8.Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish jealousy. Avoid people that make you unhappy.

9.Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about new places.

10.Don’t hold postmortems. Don’t spend your time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don’t be one who never gets over things.

11.Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.

12.Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR-I wish you enough!!

'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations.
'When we said , 'I wish you enough ', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger .
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

TAKE TIME TO LIVE.....

To all my friends and loved ones ,
I WISH YOU ENOUGH



Happy New Year

I wish you enough!
It is said that it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.

Letting go

Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one
foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go.
Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain.
The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life.
What is it you would let go of today?
-Mary Manin Morrissey

Love one another

Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.
—Sai Baba
The cure for pain lies in the pain.
—RUMI

Words of Wisdom

What you are you do not see.
What you see—that you are not.

—Tagore

The Answer

I heard the sea and asked,
"What language is that?"
The sea replied,
"The language of eternal questions."

I saw the sky and asked,
"What holds the answer?"
The sky replied,
"The language of eternal silence."

—Tagore


That which fills the universe
I regard as my body,
And that which directs the universe,
I see as my own nature.
—Chang-Tzu

My Heroine-Lighting candles in her own special fashion!!

Hold your head high my sister, hold it high...because you fought a valiant battle and vacated the battlefield only to save your allies from certain doom.
Yours was an honourable retreat from battle, but not I suspect, from the fight.
It was retreat, not defeat and heres why.
Your very involvement inspired many and created a sense of hope that things could change.
To your credit you faced down your opposition even in the teeth of patently unfair accusations and attacks..
By doing so you heartened your supporters, steeled us for what we may face and showed us how to react in a truly classy fashion.
I truly and verily hope you are with us a long time.
You lit many candles of hope around yourself and this is my tribute to you, your passion, your example.

Every difficulty is a blessing in disguise

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

~Anne Bradstreet

17th Century poet


It is not our difficulties that cause the trouble in our lives but rather our adverse reaction to them.

When we start recognizing every difficulty as a blessing in disguise, changes begin to take place and our lives become remarkably trouble free.

2 more quotes from Khalil Gibran

Out of suffering have emerged the most strongest souls, the most massive characters are seared with scars.


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The deeper sorrows carve into your being......The more joy you can contain!!

We always have the choice."

"We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become
increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us, and make us
kinder.
We always have the choice."

~Dalai Lama

No matter how harsh or painful any circumstance in your life may be right
now, there is a high road and a low road leading from it.
You get to choose which one you'll take.

WORRY

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only saps today of its joy."

- Leo Buscaglia, American author

Worry has never healed a body, solved a problem, brought a love back, or
created a problem-free future.
And no one, at the end of life, has ever said they wished they'd worried
more.
On a day like today, so filled with possibilities, there are an infinite
number of things we can do to make our lives better.
Worry is not one of them.

Look around you. Is it time for a belief change?

"I was in terrible shape till one day I realized a simple thing.
When I believed my own thoughts I suffered. When I didn't believe them I didn't suffer. Everything changed for me that day."

~Byron Katie
Self-help author and creator of "The Work"



On the day you begin believing you are worthy of the best life possible you'll invite it in and it will come.
Until then, your life will simply be a reflection of whatever belief you are embracing at the moment.

EXPERIENCE

"Experience is not what happens to a man, it's what a man does with what happens to him."
~Aldous Huxley
English Novelist

By choosing to find the benefit in every experience, every experience becomes a blessing.

Live your life so that, at the end, you're the one who is smiling and

A young woman went to her mother, told her about her life and how things
were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make
it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It
seemed as though every time one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and
placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the
first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last
she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a
word.

In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots
out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and
placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a
bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."
"Carrots, eggs and coffee," she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did
and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter
to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the
hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the
coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same
adversity, boiling water. Each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. But after being subjected
to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid
interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its
inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the
boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your
door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain
and adversity do I wilt, become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?
Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a break-up, a
financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same, but on the inside, am I bitter and
tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the
very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets
hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when
things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around
you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate
yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you
a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you
strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to
make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best or most of
everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along
their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past;
you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past
failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so that, at the end, you're the one who is smiling and
everyone around you is crying.

Regret is an appalling waste of energy

Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it, it's only good for wallowing in."

~ Katherine Mansfield, British writer, 1888-1923

Mistakes are like ugly seeds that if planted in the dark soil of forgetfulness may eventually sprout and grow into beautiful blessings.
If we insist on taking them out ever so often to examine their ugliness, however, they will never be anything but unattractive and utterly useless.

Friendship

In the sweetness of friendship,
Let there be laughter,
And the sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of the little things,
The heart finds its morning,
And is refreshed!!




Khalil Gibran

Another favourite quote

"The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice": Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi

A favourite quote

"Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right".
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Advice from Wes

You can't get to the future,
By living in the past.