From 'I know this much is true' by Wally Lamb

....I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbeled from the dark woods of my own, and my family's, and my country's past, holding in my hands these truths:

thaat love grows from the rich loam of forgivensess; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidene of God exists in the roundness of things.

This much, at least, I've figured out. I know this much is true.

***********************************************************************************************

 

From 'The art of racing in the rain' by Garth Stein

To live every day as if it has been stolen from death, that is how I like to live. To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life.

To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful,

I am, I am.

That is something to aspire to, When I am a person, that is how I will live my life.

***********************************************************************************************

From 'From the corner of his eyes' by Dean Koontz

Regardless of the severity of a setback, no matter how dreadful the blow you sustained,

you could always discover a bride side if you searched hard enough.

The key to happiness, success, mental health was utterly to ignore the negative, deny its power over you, and find reason to

celebrate every development in life,including the cruelest catastrophe, by discovering the bride side to even the darkest hour.

***********************************************************************************************

From 'From the corner of his eyes' by Dean Koontz

Not one day in anyone's life is....

..so her father taught,

is an uneventful day,
no day without profound meaning,
no matter how dull and boring it might seem,
no matter whether you are a seam stream or a queen,
a shoeshine boy or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or
a Downs-syndrome child.

Because in every day of your life,
there are opportunities to perform little kindness for others,
both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example.

Each smallest act of kindness
- even just words of hope when they are needed,
the remembrance of a birthday,
a compliment that engenders a smile -
reverberates across great distances and spans of time,
affecting lives unknown to the one
whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo,
because kindness is passed on and grows
each time it's passed, until
a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage
years later and far away.

Likewise, each small meanness,
each thoughtless expression of hatred,
each envious and bitter act,
regardless of how petty,
can inspire others,
and is therefore the seed
that ultimately produces evil fruit,
poisoning people whom you never met and never will.

All human lives are so profoundly and intricately entwined -
those dead, those living, those generations yet to come -
that the fate of all is the fate of each,
and the hope of humanity rests in every failure,
we are obliged to strive again for success,
and when faced with the end of one thing,
we must build something new and better in the ashes,
just as from pain and grief,
we must weave hope,
for each of us is a thread critical to the strength
- to the very survival -
of the human tapestry.

Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential
to affect the world that the great days for which we,
in our dissatisfaction,
so often yearn are already with us;
all great days and thrilling possibilities are combined
always in this momentous day.

Or as her father often said, happily mocking his own rhetorical eloquence:
'Brighten the corner where you are, and you will light the world.'

***********************************************************************************************

 

From 'Cygnus book club' William Bloom's feature

What is our life's purpose?

People always trying to work out what they should be doing with their lives.

But the more I look at this idea the more I think that is an illusion. Let me risk a wide sweeping generalisation:

Everyone's life purpose is the same.

Our purpose is to develop our compassion and consciousness, until finally in every single cell, we are completely

and totally loving, awake and of benefit to all living beings.

Full stop.

One hundred percent compassionate and conscious in every fibre of our being.

No buts or ifs.

No waiting until we have found the right career. Being awake and compassionate is THE CAREER!

***********************************************************************************************

From 'Testimony of Light', byHelen Greaves

'Intellect and a trained brain mind are great adjuncts,but they often become barriers to truth and a true expression

of Divine Love.'

***********************************************************************************************

From 'Three Views of Crystal Water', by Katherine Govier.

'The shining of a fine pearl,' James Lowinger once said, 'is a half uncanny thing.' As lustrous, as eerie, as suffused with

moonlight or yellow flame as a pearl might appear in his palm, he would sigh and say, 'Imagine how it must have shone

when it was hidden in the dark cold bottom of the sea!' 'But why would it shine brighter there, Grandfather?' Vera would

ask. It wasn't logical.

'I just fancy they were brighter down there that's all. Where they come from, where they're at home and not afraid.

They can be alone and be true to themselves. There's many an unknown in the study of pearls and in the world in general,

and many an answer that isn't logical, my girl,' he would say. 'They shine best for themselves alone.'

***********************************************************************************************

From 'Way of the peaceful warrior' , by Dan Millman

The WARRIOR lives HERE and NOW
Your sorrow, fear and anger, regret and guilt, your envy and plans and cravings live only in the past, or in the future.....

'I remember being angry in the present'...

'What you mean is you acted angry in a present moment.

Action always happens in the present, because it is an expression of the body. But the mind is like a phantom that lives

only in the past or future.

Its only power over you is to draw your attention out of the present.' ........
A Warrior's life is not about imagined perfection. It is about love. Love is the warrior's sword.

Wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death...

**********************************************************************************************

 

From 'Fear nothing', by Dean Koontz

….is this really a wise strategy for living?

Insisting that most of life isn’t to be taken seriously.

Relentlessly viewing it as a cosmic joke.

Having only four guiding principles:

 

One, do as little harm to others as possible;

Two, be there always for your friends;

Three, be responsible for yourself and ask nothing of others;

Four, grab all the fun you can.

 

Put no stock in the opinions of anyone but those closest to you.

Forget about leaving a mark on the world.

Ignore the great issues of your time

And thereby improve your digestion.

 

Don’t dwell in the past.

Don’t worry about the future.

Live in the moment.

 

Trust in the purpose of your existence

and let meaning come to you

instead of straining to discover it.

 

When life throws a hard punch, roll with it –

but roll with laughter.

Catch the wave, dude.

**********************************************************************************************

Quotes

 

"One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us."

- Michael Cibenko

"Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese." - Billie Burke

" Miracles come from your love...They are synchronistic events that usually occur when you let go of attachment and

trust your inner guidance"  - Sanaya Roman - Creating Money

"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." - Dale Carnegie

 

**********************************************************************************************