The Best Within You!!! Worth Reading!!

Anonymous

wonderful words to live by...
thanks carrie, my darling sister!

csp

{{{Laura}}}}


Into the zone

There is a place where you can focus, where you can be effective, where you can make a solid connection to the best you have to offer. It is not a physical place, but rather a place that you can reach within yourself.
There is a way for you to block out the distractions, to give your full attention to the task at hand. There is a way for you to rise above the noise, confusion and superficial concerns that would otherwise hold you back.

Where is that place, what is that way? It is found by living true to your most deeply held purpose.

It is reached by admitting and allowing the person you really are to drive your thoughts and actions. It is attained by honoring your most treasured dreams, by keeping them at the front of your mind, and by knowing that your life will make them real.

Remind yourself of who you are, of what you have to give, of the vision you can offer to life. That will put you into a zone where your thinking is clear and focused, and your actions bring the results you intend.

Whatever may be happening in the world around you, there is a way for you to get into a zone of positive purpose and heightened effectiveness. Connect to the person you truly are, and you are there.

-- Ralph Marston

Anonymous

Savor each moment of beauty ~
the majestic ~ and the simple

Listen to silence ~
that in itself
renders all words meaningless

Feel the wind in the trees ~
the ebb and flow of the tides ~
wild wings soaring high ~
the timeless rhythms of life ~

Dream of stars shining over head ~
of the mystic kinship
that underlies all life

Keep a sense of wonder ~
and of awe ~
forever.

~ Gwen Frostic ~

Anonymous

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves ...
Don't search for the answers,
which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.

~ rainer maria rilke ~

Anonymous

Fully Alive

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

~ dawna markova ~

Anonymous

Moving On

I am moving on
reaching toward my hopes and dreams
It has taken me far too long
to reach this place, it seems


My fears may try to hold me back
To try and block my way
But with courage and faith in my heart
I will get there come what may


The road will be a long one,
And it may be rocky, too
But when I reach this place in time,
My dreams could all shine through


I am coming nearer to my goals
And my excitement grows
The plans I have made will soon be real
Along with the destiny I chose


Though I have been tossed and turned in life's storms
I will surely see a brighter dawn
I'm no longer held back by my fears
I'm finally....Moving On

~ Alan Murray ~

csp

Thank you Sherry
This is for you sweet lady~

May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortunes
and rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

Your friend ,
Carrie

Anonymous

(((((((((((((((((((((((((Carrie)))))))))))))))))))))))
thank you for being one of the most sincere, honest, deeply caring and compassionate women I have ever had the pleasure to meet!

csp

In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are at its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of people be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved their title.

Do not lose your knowledge that mankind's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads.

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all.

Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it's yours.

Written By: Ayn Rand


hugs,
Carrie

csp

The way forward




Sometimes the world appears to be spinning out of control. Sometimes there seems to be no end to the distressing news.
Sometimes it feels like troubles are being piled on top of troubles. Sometimes it can look as if there could never be a way forward.

And yet, that way forward is always as close as your next thought. For no matter how difficult and discouraging life may have become, with each dawning moment, a new world of positive possibilities opens up to you.

From the darkest depths of despair, hope does indeed grow and take flight. Out of difficult situations, new strategies emerge for creating real value and spreading life's goodness.

Remember that the future does not have to be an extension of the past. For you can act right now to create that future out of the abundance of positive possibilities.

Life always has its challenges, and those challenges are what enable you to bring real value to life. Whatever the circumstance, step boldly forward and choose to move the world positively ahead.

-- Ralph Marston


Hugs,
Carrie

Anonymous

Walk in the rain, jump in mud puddles, collect rocks, rainbows and roses, smell flowers, blow bubbles, stop along the way, build sandcastles, say hello to everyone, go barefoot, go on adventures, act silly, fly kites, have a merry heart, talk with animals, sing in the shower, read childrens' books, take bubble baths, get new sneakers, hold hands and hug and kiss, dance, laugh and cry for the health of it, wonder and wander around, feel happy and precious and innocent, feel scared, feel sad, feel mad, give up worry and guilt and shame, say yes, say no, say the magic words, ask lots of questions, ride bicycles, draw and paint, see things differently, fall down and get up again, look at the sky, watch the sun rise and sun set, watch clouds and name their shapes, watch the moon and stars come out, trust the universe, stay up late, climb trees, daydream, do nothing and do it very well, learn new stuff, be excited about everything, be a clown, enjoy having a body, listen to music, find out how things work, make up new rules, tell stories, save the world, make friends with the other kids on the block, and do anything else that brings more happiness, celebration, health, love, joy, creativity, pleasure, abundance, grace, self-esteem, courage, balance, spontaneity, passion, beauty, peace, relaxation, communication and life energy to...all living beings on this planet.

~Bruce Williamson ~
It's Never Too Late To Have A Happy Childhood, 1987

newvickie

Thanks Sherry...words to live by.
Hugs
Vickie

Anonymous

How do I change?

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labour.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.


~ Og Mandino ~

Anonymous

Someone shared this with me today and I wanted to pass it on.

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay
for their text messaging Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I stink .

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in
marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a
wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and
pedaled him
112
miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back
mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes
taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick
was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him
brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told
him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an
institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes
followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the
engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was
anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was
told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out
a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by
touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to
communicate.
First words? "Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was
paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for
him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker'' who never ran
more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he
tried.

"Then, it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two
weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, "when we were running,
it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' And that sentence changed
Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often
as he could.
He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try
the
1979 Boston Marathon

"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official.

The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a
wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the
massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the
race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made
the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'' How's a guy
who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six
going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick
tried. Well, now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling
15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old
stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy,
don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says.
Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick
with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston
Marathon , in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their
best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the
world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things,
happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a
wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the
Century.''


And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had
a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his
arteries was 95% clogged "If you hadn't been in such great shape,''
one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in
Boston , and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland ,
Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the
country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including
this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really
wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most
like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him
once.''



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg

KariLynn

I love Rick Reily - the guy who wrote that - he has an editorial every week in Sports Illustrated and most make me laugh or cry or both. I take the magazine to read his stuff.

Sandra1957

I saw Rick and Dick on Oprah. They are truly inspirational. That is love at its purest.

Anonymous

When Akiba was on his deathbed, he bemoaned to his rabbi that he felt he was a failure. His rabbi moved closer and asked why, and Akiba confessed that he had not lived a life like Moses. The poor man began to cry, admitting that he feared God's judgment. At this, his rabbi leaned into his ear and whispered gently, "God wil not judge Akiba for not being Moses. God will judge Akiba for not being Akiba."

~ from the Talmud ~

Anonymous

To Believe..


To believe is to know that every day
is a new beginning.
It is to trust that miracles happen,
and dreams really do come true.
To believe is to see angels dancing among the clouds,
To know the wonder of a stardust sky
and the wisdom of the man in the moon.
To believe is to know the value of a nurturing heart,
The innocence of a child's eyes
and the beauty of an aging hand,
for it is through their teachings we learn to love.
To believe is to find the strength
and courage that lies within us.
When it is time to pick up the pieces and begin again.
To believe is to know we are not alone,
That life is a gift and this is our time to cherish it.
To believe is to know that wonderful surprises
are just waiting to happen,
And all our hopes and dreams are within reach.
If only we believe.

~ author unknown ~

Anonymous

Storms

There will be storms, child
There will be storms
And with each tempest
You will seem to stand alone
Against cruel winds

But with time, the rage and fury
Shall subside
And when the sky clears
You will find yourself
Clinging to someone
You would have never known
But for storms

~ Margie DeMerell ~

TheShopMama

Thank you God, for those who allow us to cling to them in the storms!

Anonymous

These Are My Wishes For You



May you find serenity and tranquility
in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding will always be there,
even when you feel most alone.

May a kind word,
a reassuring touch,
and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts
as well as receive them.

May the teachings of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours
are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter
that is more important than its form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value
on the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see beauty and love
in the world around you.

Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard
you may be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.
May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.
Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent
on another's judgment of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.

~ Sandra Sturtz Hauss ~

Anonymous

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

"Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things; through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids ~ all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people."

~ Garrison Keillor ~

"I was driving home from work one day and saw a small truck about half a mile ahead of me swerve and then suddenly flip over onto the side of the road. My stomach instantly knotted up, and as I approached, I saw with growing disbelief at least forty cars speed past without stopping. I too found myself wanting desperately to keep going, to put distance between myself and that smashed truck. But something inside me would not allow me to flee.

Nervous and scared at what I might find, I pulled over and ran to the partially opened door. Inside a young man, bleeding from his head, was trying to climb out. As I leaned in to help him, I saw a woman reaching in from behind me to turn off the engine. Across the cabin, another man was leaning in to help undo the driver's safety belt. Together, we eased the young man out of the car while another woman called an ambulance on her car phone. The four of us stayed and did what we could for the injured man until the ambulance arrived, and as it was driving away, I looked around me and there were almost a dozen anxious faces staring back at me."

Sometimes it's easy to feel that you are the only person out there trying to be kind and considerate, so why should you bother? Garrison Keillor's quote reminds us that we are not alone; that despite what it looks like on television and in the newspaper, despite the evidence to the contrary we seem to see all around us, we are a part of a vast network of well-intentioned people seeking the good and loving well. By believing that, we make it ever more true.

~ from The Practice of Kindness ~

Gus

Sherry and Carrie,

I just want you to know how much your posts on this thread mean to me. I'm a mess today, and I've gotten comfort from the words you have both posted. Thank you for lifting me up -- it is blessing to know both of you!

Love and hugs,
Sue

Anonymous

(((((((((((((((Sue)))))))))))))))
I'm sorry you were a mess yesterday, but if something we've posted here has helped you, then that's a blessing. May today have been a better one for you.



For those who dwell in the world and desire to embrace true virtue, it is necessary to unite themselves together by a holy and sacred friendship. By this means they encourage, assist, and conduct one another to good deeds.

~ St. Francis de Sales ~

Anonymous

::Coming Home::

~ A Woman's Journey To True Self ~

The most courageous thing a person can do
is to live an authentic life.
What is an authentic life?
It is a life lived from your heart,
speaking your truth,
standing in your truth, living in your truth.

The problem with getting to this point of authentic freedom is that for most of us, we have no idea of who we really are.
To get to know who you really are
you must go deep within.
You must be willing to look at all of
your limiting beliefs;
beliefs that tell you that you are bad,
you are not worthy,
you are not capable, and you are not enough,
just to name a few.
We take limiting beliefs on our whole lives.
From early childhood we learn from our parents, grandparents and siblings. Their opinions begin to shape and define us. Then as we grow, our peers and teachers affect us most. Society also plays a tremendous role
in telling us who we are.
It's up to us to know the truth.

When you realize that you are the one who holds the key in releasing these beliefs,
only then can you find freedom.

Freedom comes from within.
It comes from getting to know who you really are,
releasing all limiting beliefs.
And as you release your limiting beliefs
and stand in your truth, your example shines a light for the whole world to see.

Freedom will be yours
when you give yourself permission
to live authentically.

~ Debi.ca ~

Anonymous

Empowerment

Invest in yourself,
laugh and be light hearted.
Choose to relish your
existence in this singular
human body.
Invest in your spirit,
to explore creative expression
which enables deep soulful
connection not only to ourselves,
but to others.
Invest in your soul to accept all
that is to be, open to the vast
possibilities of many destinies.
You have the authority.

~ unknown ~

From wisdom of the crone

csp

What do you want? And what are you actually doing about it?
Whatever things you are actively working toward are the things you truly want. Anything else is what you merely say you want.

As each day unfolds, you use your time, energy, creativity and resources to bring certain things to reality. Those are the things you truly desire.

You can, of course, reconsider, re-prioritize, add to and subtract from what you want. Yet the fact remains that whatever you really want is clearly evidenced by what you commit the whole of yourself to.

And so it is also true that whatever you sincerely want, you will have, you will achieve, you will become. Nothing can stand in your way when you have focused all that you are on a particular set of objectives.

So choose with care those things you truly want. For your life is always making them real.

Hugs,
Carrie

csp

There are times in every life
When we feel frighten, hurt or alone...
But, I believe that these times
When we feel lost
And all around us seems
To be falling apart
Are really bridges of growth.

We struggle and try to recapture
The security of what was,
But, almost in spite of ourselves,
We emerge on the other side
With a new understanding,
A new awareness,
A new strength.

It is almost as though
We must go through the pain
And the struggle
In order to grow
And reach new heights.
--Sue Mitchell


Hugs,
Carrie

momoffour

WOW.... I loved what was written - just beautiful!

csp

"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."
Friedrich Nietzsche

taken from email from:
The Cancer Crusade
web: http://www.thecancercrusade.com


hugs,
Carrie