Never Forget

I've learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did, but people will

never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

Loving Somebody

When we give ourselves over to loving somebody,
it is not just them we are discovering and loving
but who we are and who we will become
when we are with them.

Stephen Mitchell

Elephant in the Dark

Some Hindus have an elephant to show. No one here has ever seen an elephant. They bring it at night to a dark room. One by one, we go in the dark and come out saying how we experience the animal. One of us happens to touch the trunk. "A water-pipe kind ...of creature." Another, the ear. "A very strong, always moving back and forth, fan-animal." Another, the leg. "I find it still, like a column on a temple." Another touches the curved back. "A leathery throne." Another, the cleverest, feels the tusk. "A rounded sword made of porcelain." He's proud of his description. Each of us touches one place and understands the whole in that way. The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark are how the senses explore the reality of the elephant. If each of us held a candle there, and if we went in together, we could see it.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Not Understanding

It is difficult to get a man
to understand something
when his job depends
on not understanding it.

Upton Sinclair

The Dark, Deep Places

The dark, deep places
we often think are barren
and useless are actually
swarming with beauty and mystery,
thick with meaning
and the magnificent ability
to explode the boundaries of
what we once thought possible/impossible.

Mark Morford

What We Do Not Know

The greatest weakness
in contemporary thought
seems to me to reside
in the extravagant reverence
for what we know compared
with what we do not know.

Andre Breton

Not What I Meant

I know you believe you understand
what you think I said,
but I am not sure you realize
that what you heard is not what I meant.

Author Unknown

Slightly Underdone

If it walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck,
send it back.
It's slightly underdone.

Stephen Colbert

Had Enough

We don't know when we've had enough
until we've had too much.

Unknown

Can't Have Everything

You can't have everything.

Where would you put it?

Steven Wright

Power

Never underestimate the power
of underestimating your power.

Mark Morford

Objectivity

There is no such thing as objectivity.
I actually think it is pernicious as a goal.

Molly Ivins

Rediscovered

One needs only to watch
a healthy infant or small child,
forever testing and exploring
and enjoying this,
to know what I have
rediscovered in myself.

Barry Stevens

Get Me Out

No matter who got me
into what I got into,
I am the only person
who can get me out.

Barry Stevens

Balance

If we could learn how to
balance rest against effort,
calmness against strain,
quiet against turmoil,
we would assure ourselves
of joy in living and
psychological health for life.

Josephine Rathbone

Blaming Others

The only person who cannot be helped
is that person who blames others.

Carl Rogers

Helpful Relationship

The relationship which I have found helpful
is characterized by a sort of transparency on my part,
in which my real feelings are evident;
by an acceptance of this other person
as a separate person with value in his own right;
and by a deep empathic understanding which enables me
to see his private world through his eyes.

Carl Rogers

Understanding of Ourselves

Everything that irritates us about others

can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

Carl Jung

Something Wrong

If everyone starts agreeing with you,
you know you must be doing something wrong.

Robert Koster

Religion

Whatever your religion might be,
most of the world disagrees with you.

Mark Morford

Risks

And the day came when the risk
it took to remain tight inside the bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin

Another Groove

If you don't like what you're doing,
you can always pick up your needle
and move to another groove.

Timothy Leary

Operating a Soul

Learning how to operate a soul

figures to take time. 

Timothy Leary

Women

Women who seek
to be equal with men
lack ambition.

Timothy Leary

Think

Think for yourself
and question authority.

Timothy Leary

Universe

The universe is an intelligence test.

Timothy Leary

Youth

You're only as young
as the last time
you changed your mind.

Timothy Leary

Appalling

Woe to him who seeks to
please rather than appall.

Herman Melville

Trust in Human Nature

Trust in human nature is acceptance

of the good-and-bad of it, and

it is hard to trust those who do not admit

their own weaknesses.

Alan Watts

Keep Walking

If you're walking down the right path
and you're willing to keep walking,
eventually you'll make progress.

Barack Obama

Nirvana

Yes, there is a Nirvana;
it is leading your sheep to a green pasture,
and in putting your child to sleep,
and in writing the last line of your poem.

Kahlil Gibran

Understanding

To understand the heart and mind of a person,
look not at what he has already achieved,
but at what he aspires to do.

Kahlil Gibran

A Truth

Say not, 'I have found the truth,'
but rather, 'I have found a truth.'


Kahlil Gibran

Character

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

Kahlil Gibran

Ungrateful to These Teachers

I have learnt silence from the talkative,
toleration from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind;
yet strange, I am ungrateful

to these teachers.

Kahlil Gibran

Truth

God made Truth with many doors to
welcome every believer who knocks on them.

Kahlil Gibran

True Nature

The wit makes fun of other persons;
the satirist makes fun of the world;
the humorist makes fun of himself,
but in so doing, he identifies himself
with people--that is, people everywhere,
not for the purpose of taking them apart,
but simply revealing their true nature.

James Thurber

Like Everybody Else

Why do you have to be a nonconformist
like everybody else?

James Thurber

Disturbed

I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one,
for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough,
he might become disturbed.

James Thurber

Flat on Your Face

You might as well fall flat on your face
as lean over too far backward.

James Thurber

All the Answers

It is better to know
some of the questions
than all of the answers.

James Thurber

Before We Die

All human beings should try to learn before they die
what they are running from, and to, and why.

James Thurber

Bizarre and Inexplicable

There is a theory which states that
if ever anybody discovers exactly
what the Universe is for and why it is here,
it will instantly disappear and be replaced
by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states
that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams

Where I Needed to Be

I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Douglas Adams

Immaturity

You can only be young once.
But you can always be immature.

Dave Barry

Dismal Education

My education was dismal.

I went to a series of schools

for mentally disturbed teachers.

Woody Allen

Good and Bad People

It seemed the world was divided
into good and bad people.
The good ones slept better...
while the bad ones seemed to
enjoy the waking hours much more.

Woody Allen

Metaphysical Cheating

I was thrown out of college for cheating on

the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul

of the boy sitting next to me.

Woody Allen

Mind Over Matter

Age is mind over matter.
If you don't mind,
it doesn't matter.

Satchel Paige

Just Sitting

Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes I just sits.

Satchel Paige

Known to God and Myself Alone

Say nothing of my religion.
It is known to God and myself alone.
Its evidence before the world is
to be sought in my life:
if it has been honest and dutiful to society
the religion which has regulated it
cannot be a bad one.

Thomas Jefferson

Puzzling It Out

To believe in God or in a guiding force
because someone tells you to
is the height of stupidity.
We are given senses to receive
our information within.
With our own eyes we see,
and with our own skin we feel.
With our intelligence,
it is intended that we understand.
But each person must puzzle it out
for himself or herself.

Sophy Burnham

Studying Religions

The more I study religions
the more I am convinced
that man never worshipped
anything but himself.

Sir Richard Francis Burton

Consolation

Those who seek consolation in existing churches
often pay for their peace of mind
with a tacit agreement to ignore a great deal
of what is known about the way the world works.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Humble Admiration

My religion consists of a humble admiration
of the illimitable superior spirit
who reveals himself in the slight details
we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

Albert Einstein

Ignorance

The greater the ignorance
the greater the dogmatism.

Sir William Osler

Learning

I have never met a man so ignorant
that I couldn't learn something from him.

Galileo Galilei

Good Laughs

We are all here for a spell;
get all the good laughs you can.

Will Rogers

Wisdom

It is not hard
to produce wisdom.
What is hard is
to have wisdom
not interrupted.

Unknown

Seeking Connections

Peace is not won by those who
fiercely guard their differences
but by those who with open minds
and hearts seek out connections.

Katherine Paterson

Scream

Sometimes a scream
is better than a thesis.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good Time

If only we'd stop trying to be happy,
we could have a pretty good time.

Edith Wharton

Freedom

To be free of thousands of years
of conditioning does not require time or future.
At this moment you can step out
of the movement of thought.
And allow quite simply an alert presence
to be there.
You're not here any longer
as the carrier of your personal history,
but you're here as an alive field of aware presence.

Eckhart Tolle

One's Own Way

I would not have anyone adopt
my mode of living on my account.
I would have each one be very careful
to find out and pursue his own way.

Henry David Thoreau

The Present

Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery,
but today is a gift.
That is why it is called
the present.

Kung Fu Panda

Discovering Your Self

You can't get there by bus,
only by hard work and risk
and by not quite knowing
what you're doing.
You have to leave
the city of your comfort
and go into the wilderness
of your intuition.
What you'll discover
will be wonderful.
What you'll discover
is yourself.

Alan Alda

First-Rate Version of Yourself

Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

Judy Garland

End of Insanity

That in you which recognizes madness as madness
(even if it is your own) is sanity,
is the arising awareness, is the end of insanity.

Eckhart Tolle

We See Things

We see things
not as they are,
but as we are.

Immanuel Kant

Experience the World

Experience the world
instead of talking about
experiencing the world.

Diego Rodriguez

Calming or Swimming

Sometimes God calms the storm.
At other times, He calms the sailor.
And sometimes He makes us swim.

Unknown

The Way It Is

And that's the way it is.

Walter Cronkite

Less and Less

Less and less,
until things just are
what they are.

Lao-Tze

True Human Being

Of all the trails in this life,
there is one that matters
more than all the others.
It is the trail of
a true human being.

Kicking Bird
(Dances with Wolves)

Searching for the Truth

Don't keep searching for the truth;
Just let go of your opinions.

Chinese sage Seng Ts'an

Transformations

What all myths have to deal with
is transformations of consciousness.
You have been thinking one way,
you now have to think a different way.
Consciousness is transformed either
by the trials themselves or
by illuminating revelations.
Trials and revelations are what it's all about.

Joseph Campbell

The One Less Traveled By

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

My Future

My future starts when
I wake up every morning.
Every day I find something
creative to do with my life.

Miles Davis

Stop the World

STOP THE WORLD,
I WANNA GET ON!!!!

From "The Producers"

Life Is Just a Mirror

Life is just a mirror,
and what you see out there,
you must first see inside of you.

Wally Amos

Walk Through It Yourself

Teachers open the door but
you must walk through it yourself.

Chinese Proverb

We Do Not Grow Absolutely

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically.
We grow sometimes in one dimension,
and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially.
We are relative. We are mature in one realm,
childish in another. The past, present, and future
mingle and pull us backward, forward, or
fix us in the present. We are made up of
layers, cells, constellations.

Anais Nin

Wisdom

Clever people master life;
the wise illuminate it and
create fresh difficulties.

Emil Nolde

Art of Living

The art of living lies less
in eliminating our troubles
than in growing with them.

Unknown

All the Good

No one can do all the good
that the world needs,
but the world needs all the good
that you and I can do.

Lama Surya Das

In a Gentle Way

In a gentle way,
you can shake the world.

Mahatma Gandhi

Exactly as It Does

Learn to wish
that everything
should come to pass
exactly as it does.

Epictetus

Flowers

There are always flowers
for those who want to see them.

Henri Matisse

What to Overlook

The art of being wise is
knowing what to overlook.

William James

In the Midst of Living

My ideas usually come
not at my desk writing
but in the midst of living.

Anais Nin

Truly Present

When truly present,
you are more
in control of situations,
you have more love,
patience, understanding,
and compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Experience

My experience is
what I agree to attend to.

William James

Defining Yourself

When you judge another,
you do not define them,
you define yourself.

Wayne Dyer

You Might Not Get There

You've got to be very careful
if you don't know where you are going,
because you might not get there.

Yogi Berra

Just Watching

You can observe a lot
by just watching.

Yogi Berra

Deep Depth

We have deep depth.

Yogi Berra

You Can't Tell 'em

There are some people who,
if they don't already know,
you can't tell 'em.

Yogi Berra

The Future

The future ain't what it used to be.

Yogi Berra

Theory and Practice

In theory there is no difference
between theory and practice.
In practice there is.

Yogi Berra

Someplace Else

If you don't know where you are going,
you might wind up someplace else.

Yogi Berra

Take It

If you come to
a fork in the road,
take it.

Yogi Berra

Perfect

If the world was perfect,
it wouldn't be.

Yogi Berra

Doing Nothing

To do nothing
is sometimes
a good remedy.

Hippocrates

Moments

If we take care of the moments,
the years will take care of themselves.

Maria Edgeworth

Enjoy Each Step

When you dance, your purpose is not
to get to a certain place on the floor.
It's to enjoy each step along the way.

Wayne Dyer

Jokes

The best ideas come as jokes.
Make your thinking as funny
as possible.

D.M. Ogilvy

Learning to Surf

You can't stop the waves,
but you can learn to surf.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

What Isn't Said

The most important thing in communication
is hearing what isn't being said.

Unknown

Greatest Mistake

The greatest mistake you can make in life
is to be continually fearing you will make one.

Unknown

How You Made Them Feel

People will forget what you did,
people will forget what you said,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.

Unknown

Happy

You cannot be both unhappy
and fully present in the Now.

Eckhart Tolle

Past vs. Present

Nothing ever happened in the past
that can prevent you from being present now;
and if the past cannot prevent you
from being present now,
what power does it have?

Eckhart Tolle

Inner Purpose, Outer Purpose

Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose.
Inner purpose concerns Being and is primary.
Outer purpose concerns doing and it is secondary.
Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that.
You share that purpose with every other person on the planet -
because it is the purpose of humanity.
Your inner purpose is an essential part
of the purpose of the whole, the universe
and its emerging intelligence.
Your outer purpose can change over time.
It varies greatly from person to person.
Finding and living in alignment
with the inner purpose is the foundation
for fulfilling your outer purpose.
It is the basis for true success.
Without that alignment, you can still
achieve certain things through effort, struggle,
determination, and sheer hard work or cunning.
But there is no joy in such endeavor,
and it invariably ends in some form of suffering.

Eckhart Tolle

A More Powerful Question

Instead of asking
"what do I want from life?,"
a more powerful question is,
"what does life want from me?"

Eckhart Tolle

Experience

Life will give you whatever experience
is most helpful for the evolution
of your consciousness.
How do you know this is
the experience you need?
Because this is the experience
you are having at this moment.

Eckhart Tolle

One With Life

Once you have made peace with the present moment,
see what happens, what you can do or choose to do,
or rather what life does through you.
There are three words that convey
the secret of the art of living,
the secret of all success and happiness:
One with Life.
Being one with life is being one with Now.
You then realize that you don't live your life,
but life lives you.
Life is the dancer and you are the dance.

Eckhart Tolle

That Means Now

To end the misery that has
afflicted the human condition
for thousands of years,
you have to start with yourself
and take responsibility
for your inner state
at any given moment.
That means now.

Eckhart Tolle

Others vs. Yourself

For what you do to others,
you do to yourself.

Eckhart Tolle

Worry

Worry pretends to be necessary
but serves no useful purpose.

Eckhart Tolle

Forgiveness, Compassion, Peace

If her past were your past,
her pain your pain,
her level of consciousness
your level of consciousness,
you would think and act
exactly as she does.
With this realization
comes forgiveness, compassion, peace.
The ego doesn’t like to hear this,
because if it cannot be reactive
and righteous anymore,
it will lose strength.

Eckhart Tolle

Relationship

The relationship is here
to make you conscious
instead of happy.

Eckhart Tolle

Letting Go

Sometimes letting go
is an act of
far greater power
than defending
or hanging on.

Eckhart Tolle

Primary Focus of Your Life

Realize deeply that the present moment
is all you ever have. Make the Now
the primary focus of your life.

Eckhart Tolle

Accepting

Accepting means you allow yourself
to feel whatever it is you are feeling
at that moment. It is part of the is-ness
of the NOW. You can't argue with what is.
Well, you can, but if you do, you will suffer.

Eckhart Tolle

Who You Are

Who you are speaks so loudly
I can't hear what you're saying.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Making Peace

We can never obtain peace
in the outer world until
we make peace with ourselves.

Dalai Lama

Kindness and Compassion

Whether one believes in a religion or not,
and whether one believes in rebirth or not,
there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate
kindness and compassion.

Dalai Lama

Temples and Philosophies

There is no need for temples,
no need for complicated philosophies.
My brain and my heart are my temples;
my philosophy is kindness.

Dalai Lama

Ultimate Authority

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason
and critical analysis.

Dalai Lama

Make It Meaningful

Old friends pass away, new friends appear.
It is just like the days.
An old day passes, a new day arrives.
The important thing is to make it meaningful:
a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.

Dalai Lama

Creating Impressions

Sometimes one creates
a dynamic impression
by saying something,
and sometimes one creates
as significant an impression
by remaining silent.

Dalai Lama

My Religion

My religion is very simple.

My religion is kindness.

Dalai Lama

The Best Teacher

In the practice of tolerance,
one's enemy is the best teacher.

Dalai Lama

Do Not Harm

If you can, help others;
if you cannot do that,
at least do not harm them.

Dalai Lama

Change

Change will not come if we wait
for some other person or some other time.
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama

The Key to Failure

I don't know the key to success,
but the key to failure
is trying to please everybody.

Bill Cosby

Follow Your Bliss

Follow your bliss
and the universe
will open doors for you
where there were only walls.

Joseph Campbell

Being Rich

A man is rich in proportion
to the number of things
he can afford to let alone.

Henry David Thoreau

Finding Ourselves

Why are we so full of restraint?
Why do we not give in all directions?
Is it fear of losing ourselves?
Until we do lose ourselves
there is no hope of finding ourselves.

Henry Miller

Friends

When one is trying to do something
beyond his known powers
it is useless to seek
the approval of friends.
Friends are at their best
in moments of defeat.

Henry Miller

Daring

Whatever there be of progress in life
comes not through adaptation
but through daring.

Henry Miller

The Truth

What does it matter how one comes by the truth
so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?

Henry Miller

Mystery

Until we accept the fact that life itself
is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.

Henry Miller

No Salvation

There is no salvation in becoming adapted
to a world which is crazy.

Henry Miller

Order Incarnate

The world is not to be put in order;
the world is order, incarnate.
It is for us to harmonize with this order.

Henry Miller

The Real Leader

The real leader has no need to lead -
he is content to point the way.

Henry Miller

The New

The new always carries with it
the sense of violation, of sacrilege.
What is dead is sacred; what is new,
that is different, is evil, dangerous,
or subversive.

Henry Miller

Close Attention

The moment one gives close attention to any thing,
even a blade of grass,
it becomes a mysterious, awesome,
indescribably magnificent world in itself.

Henry Miller

Security

The man who looks for security,
even in the mind,
is like a man who would chop off his limbs
in order to have artificial ones
which will give him no pain or trouble.

Henry Miller

Perpetuation

The great work must inevitably be obscure,
except to the very few,
to those who like the author himself
are initiated into the mysteries.
Communication then is secondary:
it is perpetuation which is important.
For this only one good reader is necessary.

Henry Miller

To Be Aware

The aim of life is to live,
and to live means to be aware,
joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.

Henry Miller

Tree of Knowledge

Sin, guilt, neurosis;
they are one and the same,
the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Henry Miller

Let Her Rip

Plots and character don't make life.
Life is here and now,
anytime you say the word,
anytime you let her rip.

Henry Miller

Wisdom of the Body

Our own physical body possesses a wisdom
which we who inhabit the body lack.

Henry Miller

Stifling

One of the reasons why so few of us
ever act, instead of react,
is because we are continually
stifling our deepest impulses.

Henry Miller

Our Own Guidance

No man is great enough or wise enough
for any of us to surrender our destiny to.
The only way in which anyone can lead us
is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance.

Henry Miller

The Miraculous

Moralities, ethics, laws, customs, beliefs,
doctrines - these are of trifling import.
All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm.

Henry Miller

Master of Everything

Man has demonstrated that
he is master of everything
except his own nature.

Henry Miller

Postponing Life

Life, as it is called,
is for most of us one long postponement.

Henry Miller

Giving Life Meaning

Life has to be given a meaning
because of the obvious fact
that it has no meaning.

Henry Miller

The Greatest Lesson

In this age, which believes
that there is a short cut to everything,
the greatest lesson to be learned
is that the most difficult way is,
in the long run, the easiest.

Henry Miller

The Voice of Daring

Imagination is the voice of daring.
If there is anything Godlike about God
it is that. He dared to imagine everything.

Henry Miller

One's Destination

One's destination is never a place
but rather a new way of looking at things.

Henry Miller

Peace Through Being

If there is to be any peace
it will come through being,
not having.

Henry Miller

Golden Moments

Every moment is a golden one
for him who has the vision
to recognize it as such.

Henry Miller

Growth

All growth is a leap in the dark,
a spontaneous unpremeditated act
without benefit of experience.

Henry Miller

A Tolerable World

When you make a world tolerable for yourself,
you make a world tolerable for others.

Anais Nin

Blind Adoption

When we blindly adopt a religion,
a political system, a literary dogma,
we become automatons. We cease to grow.

Anais Nin

Laughter

The human race has one really effective weapon,
and that is laughter.

Mark Twain

The Meaning We Each Give to Our Life

There is not one big cosmic meaning for all,
there is only the meaning we each give to our life,
an individual meaning, an individual plot,
like an individual novel, a book for each person.

Anais Nin

What We Are Unable to Say

The role of a writer is not
to say what we all can say,
but what we are unable to say.

Anais Nin

Living Deeply

The personal life deeply lived
always expands into truths beyond itself.

Anais Nin

Worn Out

Living never wore one out so much
as the effort not to live.

Anais Nin

Courage

Life shrinks or expands
in proportion to one's courage.

Anais Nin

A Kind of Death

Life is a process of becoming,

a combination of states we have to go through.

Where people fail is that they wish

to elect a state and remain in it.

This is a kind of death.

Anais Nin

Postponing Death

I postpone death by living,

by suffering, by error, by risking,

by giving, by losing.

Anais Nin

Blossoming

And the day came when the risk
to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk
it took to blossom.

Anais Nin

Light Within

When you possess light within,
you see it externally.

Anaïs Nin

Living in Harmony

He who lives in harmony with himself
lives in harmony with the universe.

Marcus Aurelius

Outer vs. Inner

The outer conditions of a person's life
will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs.

James Allen

A Creative Life

To live a creative life,
we must lose our fear
of being wrong.

Joseph Chilton Pearce

Never Be Alone

If you make friends with yourself
you will never be alone.

Maxwell Maltz

Success

Success in any endeavor
depends on the degree to which
it is an expression
of your true self.

Ralph Marston

Only One Good

There is only one good.
And that is to act according
to the dictates of one's conscience.

Simone de Beauvoir

Helping

Never look down on anybody
unless you're helping him up.

Jesse Jackson

Everyone Will Respect You

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you. Lao Tzu

Still Mind

To the mind that is still,

the whole universe surrenders.

Lao Tzu

See Things in the Seed

To see things in the seed,

that is genius.

Lao Tzu

Realize That You Do Not Understand

To realize that you do not understand

is a virtue;

Not to realize that you do not understand

is a defect.

Lao Tzu

Walk Behind

To lead people,

walk behind them.

Lao Tzu

One Step

The journey of a thousand miles
begins with one step.

Lao Tzu

Great Strength

Silence is a source of great strength.

Lao Tzu

Internal Peace

One can not reflect in streaming water.

Only those who know internal peace

can give it to others.

Lao Tzu

Everything is Accomplished

Nature does not hurry,
yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

Let Things Flow Naturally

Life is a series of natural
and spontaneous changes.
Don't resist them -
that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward
in whatever way they like.

Lao Tzu

Doing One's Duty

It is better to do one's own duty,
however defective it may be,
than to follow the duty of another,
however well one may perform it.
He who does his duty
as his own nature reveals it,
never sins.

Lao Tzu

Nor Do I Serve Any

I do not concern myself
with gods and spirits
either good or evil
nor do I serve any.

Lao Tzu

We Did It Ourselves

A leader is best when

people barely know he exists.

When his work is done,

his aim fulfilled,

they will say:

we did it ourselves.

Lao Tzu

Our Problems

If we all threw our problems
in a pile and saw everyone else's,
we'd grab ours back.

Unknown

Looking Fear in the Face

You gain strength, courage, and confidence
by every experience in which you really stop
to look fear in the face.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Feeling Inferior

Nobody can make you feel inferior
without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Liberation

As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Nelson Mandela

Teaching Our Children

We should teach our children nothing
which they shall ever need to unlearn.

Felix Adler

Going Too Far

Only those who will risk going too far
can possibly find out how far one can go.

T.S. Eliot

Popular vs. Right

Something that is popular
is not always right;
something that is right
is not always popular.

Unknown

Approval

A man cannot be comfortable
without his own approval.

Mark Twain

Nothing Lacking

When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

Lao Tzu

All the Answers

He who knows all the answers
has not yet been asked all the questions.

Unknown

Riches

The greatest good that you can do for another
is not just share your riches,
but reveal to them their own.

Disraeli

Forgiveness vs. Permission

It is better to ask forgiveness
than permission.

Jesuit Saying

Moderation

Moderation in all things. 

Terence, Roman comic dramatist

185 BC - 159 BC

(I would include: "... including moderation.")

The Best Psychiatrist

There is no psychiatrist
in the world
like a puppy
licking your face.

Ben Williams

The One I Would Like to Talk To

The purpose of words
is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped,
the words are forgotten.
Where can I find a man
who has forgotten the words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

Chuang Tzu

They Gradually Pass Away

We cling to our own point of view,
as though everything depended on it.
Yet our opinions have no permanence,
like autumn and winter,
they gradually pass away.

Chuang Tzu

Happiness

Happiness is the absence
of the striving for happiness.

Chuang Tzu

You Cannot Teach

You cannot teach a man anything.
You can only help him find it
within himself.

Galileo

Making Everybody Your Judge

Our dependency makes slaves out of us, especially if this dependency is a dependency of our self-esteem. If you need encouragement, praise, pats on the back from everybody, then you make everybody your judge. Fritz Perls

The Therapeutic Question

In my early professional years,
I was asking the question:
"How can I treat, or cure,
or change this person?"

Now I would phrase the question
in this way:
"How can I provide a relationship
which this person may use
for his own personal growth?"

Carl Rogers

Flower vs. Weed

The only difference

between a flower

and a weed

is a judgment.

Unknown

Great Spirits

Great spirits have
always encountered
violent opposition
from mediocre minds.

Albert Einstein

Walking in Another's Shoes

If you want to walk in another's shoes,
you must take yours off first.

Unknown

Primary Cause of Emotional Problems

The primary cause of emotional problems is
people judging other people.

Frank Gruba-McCallister
(former professor/mentor)

Judging vs. Loving

If you judge people,
you have no time
to love them.

Mother Teresa

Knowing Yourself

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment. Lao Tzu

Don't Be Afraid of Mistakes

Friend, don't be a perfectionist. Perfectionism is a curse and a strain. For you tremble lest you miss the bulls-eye. You are perfect if you let be. Friend, don't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are not sins. Mistakes are ways of doing something different, perhaps creatively new. Friend, don't be sorry for your mistakes. Be glad for them. You had the courage to give something of yourself. It takes years to be centered; it takes more years to understand and be NOW! Fritz Perls

Loving vs. Holding Back

You never lose by loving.
You always lose by holding back.

Barbara D'Angelis

As We Are

We don't see things as they are,
we see them as we are.

Anaïs Nin

Win or Lose

Win as if you were used to it,
lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another Step Forward

I am not discouraged,
because every wrong attempt discarded
is another step forward.

Thomas Edison

Gestalt Prayer

I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.

If not, it can't be helped

Fritz Perls

Anxiety is the Space

Anxiety is the space between the "now" and the "then." Fritz Perls

Come to Your Senses

Lose your mind and

come to your senses.

Fritz Perls

The Essence of the Creative

The very essence of the creative
is its novelty,
and hence we have no standard
by which to judge it.

Carl Rogers

Curious Paradox

The curious paradox is that when

I accept myself just as I am,

then I can change. 

Carl Rogers

Good Enough

What I am is good enough,

if I would only be it openly. 

Carl Rogers

Watching as It Unfolds

People are just as wonderful
as sunsets if I can let them be.
When I look at a sunset,
I don’t find myself saying,
"Soften the orange a bit
on the right hand corner."
I don’t try to control a sunset.
I watch with awe as it unfolds.

Carl Rogers

The Good Life

The good life is a process,
not a state of being.
It is a direction,
not a destination.

Carl Rogers

Who is Educated

The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. Carl Rogers

To Do vs. To Be

When you shorten your to do list,
you lengthen your to be list.

Christine Kloser

Life on a Tightrope

To me it is really is so simple,
that life should be lived on the edge of life.
You have to exercise rebellion.

To refuse to taper yourself to rules;
To refuse your own success;
To refuse to repeat yourself;
To see everyday and every year,
every idea as a true challenger:

And then you're going to live life on a tightrope.

Philippe Petit
"Man on Wire"

Question Marks

It is a healthy thing now and then
to hang a question mark on the things
you have long taken for granted.

Bertrand Russell

Exceptional

The thing that
makes you exceptional,
if you are at all,
is inevitably that
which must also
make you lonely.

Lorraine Hansberry

Life is Waiting

We must let go of the life we have planned,

so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. 

Joseph Campbell

Meaning vs. Being

I don't believe people are looking

for the meaning of life

as much as they are looking

for the experience of being alive.

Joseph Campbell

Slow Down

Slow down. Many of us go too far, too fast ...

Yoga Journal

Two Prayers

I really only have two prayers.
One is "Help me, help me, help me."
The other is "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Anne Lamott

Move

Move more than you think you should,
more than you think is necessary,
and more than you think is safe.

Weems Westfeldt

Caterpillar vs. Butterfly

There is nothing in a caterpillar
that tells you it's going to be
a butterfly.

Buckminster Fuller

The Perfect Love

We waste time looking for the perfect lover,
instead of creating the perfect love.

Tom Robbins

Live the Questions Now

Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, some day far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Without Losing Oneself

The question today is how
to overcome separateness,
achieve union, and so forth,
without losing oneself in the process.
All of us need to be ourselves
and to be loved.

Jordan and Margaret Paul

Limits of Therapy

You can only get as high as your therapist.

Ram Dass