Category: Quotes

Posted in Daily, Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, Quotes, Work

Penning the Gratitude

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“Develop an attitude of gratitude and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” -Brian Tracy

The other day when I had received a “thank you” note, numerous emotions and thoughts had surfaced in my mind. One of the lost arts of modern living is the art of saying “thank you”. To be very honest, the frequency of my gratitude for favours, gifts and time spent with dear ones has been slowly dwindling. To an extent, we are all caught by the crazy melee of the daily hustle that life throws us in. Yet when we scrutinize and retrospect, we realize that time can be actually made when we really want something to be done.

“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it all into words is all that is necessary.” -Margaret Cousins

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It doesn’t take much to frequently write, text or forward a few lines to dear people that you love them. When there is time, the power of spoken words can balm the soul when tired, weak, drained or listless. We are all masters of our own time. To refer to the fact that we do not have time shows the misplacement of our priorities. It doesn’t take much time, just a few seconds to pen down a few words to our loved ones. It takes few seconds to jot down a few words of gratitude and hope to those who have brightened our day. Take time and write. It will not only please us but also spread the warmth around us as well within us. In these busy times, there are few dear people in our life that we can comfortably lean on and they need to be cherished. Even though we may start off late, infrequently and small, a few worded thoughts of kindness, love and gratitude a day can do wonders to all and can soon turn into a pleasant habit.

“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life and you’ll find that you have more of it.” -Ralph Marston

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Posted in Daily, Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, Quotes, Work

The Hurry of Today

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God made time, but man made haste. ~Irish Proverb

“Take it slowly.” These are the words often heard by those of us who have used crutches or a walker at some point of time in our lives, may be after a fall, fracture, surgery or the like. One of the after-effects of walking with support either crutches or a walker is that we walk slower with every step being a necessary one. If we try to hurry we tend to fall, have sudden pain due to excessive strain or increase our duration with the supports. The hardest part is when we feel we will left behind because of the supports we use to walk. Yet when we introspect we realize that those who support and love us, would make their steps slow, small and easier so that we can keep up with them. This brings to mind what Bruce Failer quoted, “The simplest consequence of walking on crutches is that you walk slower. Every step must be a necessary one. When you hurry, you get where you’re going, but you get there alone. When you go slow, you get where you’re going, but you get there with a community you’ve built along the way.”

Being always in a hurry to get somewhere or do something, we forget how to enjoy the life that the Lord has given us. In the constant pursuit and wait for something new to happen or do, different from what we have today; the question then arises, “When will we be happy today? When will we enjoy the things of today?”

“Just be patient. Let the game come to you. Don’t rush. Be quick, but don’t hurry.” Earl Monroe

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In the haste of hunting, we neglect the fact that what’s here and now, in our hands can disappear so quickly. Time flies to its’ own tune. The present will elude us with we living in a different time frame; between the past and the future, ignoring the present. This habit stems from the fear that we mayn’t be able to achieve anything if we don’t hasten. Contrary to that thought, the beauty of life and our surroundings don’t believe in haste but using time for their own. As Lao Tzu said, ” Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Learning to live in this hour, not constantly dwelling on tomorrow or the day after or about what will happen in a month will make us more fruitful and happy in the day. True we need to envision what the future may entail, but if we look forward with constant anxiety and foreboding, we will forget to live for today. Constantly waiting for something and thinking about the future make us sick, lifeless, worried and dull, besides losing the ability to rejoice and cherish moments of the present.

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Posted in Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Quotes

From the Heart

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Over the centuries as the standards of living have drastically improved and man has progressed in the spheres of science, art and literature; the only commodity that hasn’t been yet controlled is “time”. The fascination with gaining control over time is depicted in the attempts at inventing the time machine, fictional stories of time travel and the scientific conceptualization of time. Yet this is the one thing that man often squanders away, thinking it will be there again and again.

“They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.” Seneca

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During the time we have here, doing what we want from the heart really matters. What the world thinks about doesn’t really come into play as long as we don’t step on someone’s toes, do no harm and live by honest principles. There is no absolute grade to measure the right and the wrong, as it all eventually boils down to perspective. Taking control of our allotted to do one’s heart’s content is what matters to our existence.

Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet. Sarah Louise Delany

If you can warm someone, so warm up.
If you are able to forgive someone, so forgive.
Remember, life consists entirely of people,
Whose planet Earth is in a handful.

If you want to go home, come back.
If you have something to say, so take it and say it.
Look, even the snow just falling down,
Decorates with itself all the backyards of the soul.

If you have someone to stay with, stay forever.
And be true to yourself, as the last of days.
If there is at least one person next to you,
Give in to him everything, you will be stronger in this.

And when there is no strength from bad news,
And when it beats intermittently in the chest …
If you can warm someone, so warm,
If you can forgive someone, so forgive.

V. Yakimov

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Posted in Daily, Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Quotes

Predictions in Advance

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

One of the main features on the daily newspapers are the section titled “Horoscopes”, “Zodiac” or “Star Signs” and the like. As far as archaeological evidence has shown, this practice has been there since the ancient times, from era of the Egyptians and the Greeks. This astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person’s birth has been studied in great detail in order for man to gain a foothold into the course of events yet to happen. Derived from the Greek words of hõra and scopos meaning “time” and “observer”, other commonly used names for the horoscope include natal chart, astrological chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix or chart wheel.

From studies of divination to horoscope traditions of astrology, celestial maps or natal charts have been in frequent use even today. Yet the thought lingers on how much can we really know in advance or whether all this really helps. Do these predictions take us away from our faith or bring us closer to the truth.

“Failure and success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.” E.M. Forester

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No one knows in advance
Who and with whom fate will bring:
Who will be a friend, who will be the enemy,
And who will be familiar, just like that,

Who will make happy, who will betray,
Who will take away, who will give everything,
Who will pity deeds and words,
And who will separate bread and shelter.

With whom you can do everything,
to the simplicity,
And with whom you will not risk it on “you will open your heart to someone,
and you will close the door before someone.

You believe in someone, as in yourself,
you endure someone without loving
With one in sorrow at least where,
With the other, and in the joy of trouble

No one knows in advance,
what we have in this world is waiting for:
Who brilliant success,
whom shame for a grave sin.

All my life luck – one,
pain and suffering – the other.
one – for the truth is an eternal battle,
Others – and a lie by itself.

So we live on earth
Now in virtue, now in evil.
We sin on youth, sometimes,
On circumstances and order.

We’re leading another’s mistakes
And we don’t recognize ours alone,
we’re trying to hurt our friends,
And we’re unforgivable.

We are silent, when it is time to shout,
We shout, where it is necessary to be silent,
we do not value shrines.
And before the gray shiver.

We cherish our own “I”,
Then accusing, then cursing,
We proceed in the eternal vanity,
You look … and we are not the same.

No one knows in advance
What all this will lead to.
And life goes, meanwhile,
Partially or … for good.
– Rus Svyataya

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Posted in Life, Quotes, Reflections, Work

Courage for Today

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“First, in feelings of fear and confidence the mean is bravery (andreia).The excessively fearless person is nameless…while the one who is excessively confident is rash; the one who is excessively afraid and deficient in confidence is cowardly.”-Aristotle  (Source: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics)

The progress and changes that man has seen, witnessed or underwent is the culmination of events that have taken place when one has decided to act on their thinking, feeling and emotions. In the course, choices have to be made between the right and the wrong, to conquer fears and pains to reach the intended goal.

“Courage is about doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared. Have the courage to act instead of react.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

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The decision or the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation can be termed as courage, bravery or valour. Yet true forms of courage can be physical or mental. While the former is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death; moral courage encompasses the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement or personal loss. Add perseverance and patience to courage; then courage becomes fortitude.

“And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech, June 2005

For the world today, courage is needed not just for achieving records, dashing car rides, conquest of mountain peaks, quests to discover new places or attempting new events and the like. While they do require us stepping outside our comfort zone; there are many more instances where we have to put on the cloak of courage knowingly or unknowingly.

“Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself.” N.D. Wilson, Dandelion Fire

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Courage entails the process of acting despite the gnawing fear. Courage helps us to follow our hearts and persevere in the face of adversity. Courage helps us to endure suffering with the hope to renew our struggle for the brighter tomorrow.

“There is no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bear witness that a man has the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.” Frank

Man will need immense courage to follow his dreams, faith and strive hard in the face of constant criticism, opposition and doubts. He will need courage to raise children, stay as family, grow trees and build a house. Today he will need courage to do the simple and necessary things in the right manner than for bright lights, glory and fame.

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” Mary Anne Radmacher

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Posted in Daily, Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Quotes

Warmth Around Us

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“Everyone smiles in the same language,
Happiness knows no frontiers, no age.
No difference that makes us feel apart
if a smile can win even a broken heart.”
Ana Claudia Antunes

The beauty of living lies in the inherent sense of happiness within as well as the balance of our personal nature while interacting with others. In due course, we realize in the dark rainy days there are times when we still feel like the sun is shining. The reality is that the warmth around us is enough to drive off the sudden chill within. What we later realize is that warm people were around and they had given off a part of them to thaw the cold. It’s best to be around them for they are what make the dreary world a much better place to live in.

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When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. Henri Nouwen

To sum up, the warmth around us that drives away the chill of winter can be found in these lines of poetry which I had chanced on, in my social network pages. These words are too beautiful and need to be shared to ward off the sudden cold that engulfs us from time to time.

There are warm people, like the summer sun
Like a gentle breeze, like a sea tide.
They warm to the very bottom,
And their word heals, as a gentle motive.

There are warm people, like native hands,
Like the light from a childhood favorite window.
They will calm down in moments of dashing,
Support and say that they need you.

God bless you, good people!
In response, I send my warmth.
Let your life be filled with light
For bringing goodness into the world.
-Rus Svyataya

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Posted in Daily, Family and Society, Personal Musings, Photography Art, Quotes, Reflections

Finding the Harmony

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“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” Rabindranath Tagore

In the chaotic existence of the days, as we come across many people and numerous interactions, there is one set of people that I admire the most. They are open to all ideas, listen to entire narratives with infinite patience, kind to many but rarely allow others to interfere in their lives. They look for the truth by themselves, gathering their world bit by bit and at times with gentle subtleness, not paying attention to the surprised and condemning views of those around them.

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Albert Einstein

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These kind of people are so rare being many-sided and beautiful. They are open to others, but they will never knock on doors where they are not welcome. They live in harmony with themselves, as their heart tells them. Usually they are considered insane, but these people love life, and she reciprocates them, giving them their best gifts. Harmony is the word that centers around these people.

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.” Thomas Merton

The peacefulness and concurrence with each other cannot be born in a day. For harmony to be attained it needs each one of us to be aware of the expectations and requirements that encompass us as we adapt in our own particular approach to life. To be in concordance with others will happen when we are in agreement with ourselves, living consistent with our most profound feelings of what is genuine and what matters most. The joy of life can be seen exemplified through the quiet power of harmony. When the state of harmony is balanced, one often discovers that life blossoms even through the tired, difficult, bleak and lonely days. All we need to do is find and synchronize the rhythm within to the thoughts, desires and dreams in our mind. Though this may seem difficult, it is never impossible to do so.

“The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one’s life.” Peace Pilgrim

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