Eclectic quotations accumulating in Hell's Kitchen, NY, USA.

20070131

"There are years that ask questions, and years that answer".
-- Zora Neale Hurston

20070130

"Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life itself reveals again and again the opposite; that letting go is the path to real freedom".
-- Sogyai Rinpoche

20070129

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on."
-- Walter Lippmann

20070128

"I like spending money. I don't like money in the bank. I like
moments."
-- Vic Muniz, in today's New York Times. "Not Ready to Wind Down, by
David Colman.

20070127

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-- John Wooden, the quote on the chalkboard at Giorgio's, this weekend.

20070126

"When you talk about what you want and why you want it, there's usually less resistance within you than when you talk about what you want and how you're going to get it. When you pose questions you don't have answers for, like how, where, when, who, it sets up a contradictory vibration that slows everything down".
-- Abraham

20070125

"Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it's not the end".
-- Anonymous

20070112

"The past has flown away. The coming month and year do not exist. Ours only is the present's tiny point."
-- Mahmud Shabistari

20070111

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line".
-- Oscar Levant

20070110

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do".
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

20070109

"When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it".
-- Bernard Bailey

20070108

"The Optimist's Creed:

Promise Yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheeful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have not time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble."

--
Anonymous

20070107

"Don't wait for success, start ahead without it."
-- Fortune Cookie

20070106

"Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart."
-- Sarah Ban Breathnach

20070105

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

20070104

"This is your year! This is the year when you can take positive control of your mind, make peace with your past, and heal that amazing heart of yours more deeply than ever...

After spending a beautiful week celebrating with friends and loved ones and sharing our New Year's dreams, goals, and plans, I became acutely aware of how we often breed discontentment by wanting this, wishing for that, and desiring things to be different than they are. Although we're conditioned to believe that our checklist of desires is absolutely necessary in order to get what we want, we're often generating dissatisfaction and regret by focusing on what's missing rather than acknowledging and appreciating what we already have.

How many years have you been wishing and wanting your body, your relationships, your career, your future, or your life to be different? How many precious moments would you say you threw away last year wanting something to be different than it was? I must admit, I threw away a few too many myself.

But, my friends, discontentment is a trap that you can escape by seeing it for exactly what it is: a primary addiction and dis-ease of the ego. Here are just a few of the warning signs to help you to identify when you're in its grips:

-One of your relatives or friends calls you on the phone and, even though there were ten things that went great that day, you tell them about the one thing that went wrong.

-You're beating yourself up for not having what you want or not getting where you thought you should be at this point.

-Something opens up for you or comes your way, but it's not enough.

-In order to create what you want, you find yourself racing around, trying to figure things out, manipulating, controlling, scheming, and grasping for any tool or technique that will MAKE IT HAPPEN.

-Your attention is on the past.

-You're no longer at ease and in the flow.

Are you ready to step off the ego's treadmill where the more you want things to be different, the more they remain the same?

The key to freedom is satisfaction. Think of a time when you've felt at ease, peaceful, and "just fine". When accompanied by genuine and heartfelt gratitude, appreciation, and acceptance of what is, satisfaction is an essential key to encoding your consciousness with contentment.

It's a profound paradox, but when you honestly acknowledge and accept that this may be as good as it's going to get, unexpected miracles can occur for you. In those moments when you're with God, you have everything. And beyond any attempts to MAKE things happen, things just open up.

My prayer for you as you start this brand new year is that you choose God's will rather than your own will (more on this next week) and that you are filled with the satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment that are the natural state of your divine self - right here and right now.

Just imagine what will be possible for you from this state of consciousness. It's not that you won't have desires and go after them this year, but you can do it from outside the ego's never-enough paradigm. You won't be ruining this moment for one that may never come. And this momentous internal shift will result in external shifts (and manifestations) that will make your old list of wants pale in comparison!

Take Action Now!

To nurture the mental and emotional state of contentment, ask yourself the following questions each morning for the next 28 days:

What would I need to do today to feel content with my life?

Who would I be?

How would I act?

What boundaries would I set?

What thoughts would I think?"

-- Debbie Ford

20070103

"In the new year, I will live one day at a time. I will make each day one of preparation for better things ahead. I will not dwell on the past or the future, only on the present. I will bury every fear of the future, all thoughts of unkindness and bitterness, all my dislikes, my resentments, my sense of failure, my disappointments in others and in myself, my gloom and my despondency. I will leave all these things buried and go forward, in this new year, into a new life."
-- Scott W., Attitude to Gratitude.

20070102

"When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him."
-- Thomas Szasz

20070101

"New Year's Day is every man's birthday".
-- Charles Lamb