Inspiration Shared By Lady Braids

Inspiration On 2/16/12

We, as a society, are still teaching our young women to love backwards.
The message is boldly promoted on the cover of nearly every women's
magazine. There are tools to find love, tricks to catch it and rules to
keep it. The glowing faces of the toothpick models on the covers hold
the promise of great secrets to be revealed on the pages within.

Romantic love is secondary to real love, not the reverse. When there's
an absence of love within, the void cannot be filled by reaching out
and bringing love to you.

Respecting and honoring the person you see in the mirror, is real love.
Genuine care for the lives of every citizen on the planet, is real love.
Gratitude for the things we receive from the earth and concern for
the environment, is real love.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule: parents who nurture
the spirit of their children and teach them real love. Even more
heartening are the mentors who share their love and wisdom with
children who do not receive that type of nourishment at home.

Not a single one of us is ready for romantic love until we are truly
living in real love. When we love forward, from the inside out, we do
not seek false romance, which is a needy emotion. We seek true
romance, a love that compliments who we are and everything we
want to become.

 -- Living in love and loving life,
     Terri McPherson

Inspiration On 2/13/12

 

When you see geese flying in a "V" formation, you might be interested in
knowing what scientists have discovered about why they fly that way. 

 1. FACT As each bird flaps its wings it creates an uplift for the bird
    immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock
    adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew
    on its own. 

    TRUTH People who share a common direction and sense of community can
    get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling
    on the trust of one another. 

 2. FACT Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the
    drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back
    into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird
    immediately in front. 

    TRUTH There is strength and power and safety in numbers when
    traveling in the same direction with whom we share a common goal. 

 3. FACT When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and
    another goose flies point. 

    TRUTH It pays to take turns doing hard jobs. 

 4. FACT The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up
    their speed. 

    TRUTH We all need to be remembered with active support and praise. 

 5. FACT When a goose gets sick or is wounded and falls out, two geese fall
    out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay
    with him until the crisis resolves, and then they launch out on their
    own or with another formation to catch up with their group. 

    TRUTH We must stand by each other in times of need.

We are fortunate that there are more geese in life than turkeys. Let's remember
to uphold each other in friendship and give each other a big 'HONK" more often.

 -- Author Unknown 

Inspiration On 1/25/12

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its
faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed
forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring
back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we
cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow. With all its
possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor
performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of
clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle
of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those
two awful eternities, Yesterday and Tomorrow, that we break
down. It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened
Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, live but one day at a time.

 -- Author Unknown

Inspiration On 1/12/12

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and
superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation
of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain,
rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to
comfort them and change their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a
difference in the world, so that you will do the things which others
tell you cannot be done.

 -- Author Unknown

Inspiration On 1/11/12

There is a period of life where we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it
becomes either good or sour inside.

For too many of us, feelings of shame, even self-hatred, are paramount.
No one of us has a fully untarnished past. Every man, every woman, even
every child experiences regret over some action. We are not perfect.
Perfection is not expected in the Divine plan. But we are expected to
take our experiences and grow from them, to move beyond the shame
of them, to celebrate what they have taught us.

Each day offers us a fresh start at assimilating all that we have been.
What has gone before enriches who we are now, and through the many
experiences we have survived, we have been prepared to help others, to
smooth the way for another, perhaps, who is searching for a new direction.

We can let go of our shame and know instead that it sweetens the nuggets
of the wisdom we can offer to others. We are alike. We are not without
faults. Our trials help another to smoother sailing.

I will relish the joy at hand. I can share my wisdom.

Painful pasts can brighten someone's future, when openly shared.

 -- Author Unknown 

Inspiration On 1/10/12

Have you noticed that we usually do what we want to do?

On the day following a disaster drill, an employee made this
comment in the Long Beach (California) Veteran's Administration
Hospital. No kidding. The employee said, "We emptied the place in
six minutes and that was pretty good, until quitting time at 4:30
when everybody got out of the building in three minutes."

English thinker and politician John Burns said, "The tragedy of
(most people) is the poverty of their desires." The poverty of
desire may still be the greatest kind of poverty we face
worldwide. Most of us could do, have or even be practically
ANYTHING if we simply wanted it enough.

Consider Robert Louis Stevenson. He conceived the story of Dr.
Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde one night when he couldn't sleep. Though
bedridden with advanced tuberculosis, he wrote the whole book in
three days, rarely pausing. Then, dissatisfied with the first
draft, he tore it up and re-wrote it in three more days! It was
an unbelievable feat -- he set down 64,000 words in six days;
more than 10,000 words a day. Just 1,000 words a day for an
accomplished writer of fiction is considered average.

I've heard it said: "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions
are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a
dream, a vision."

What we will accomplish is limited only by our desire. And
without it, we will forever live in poverty, regardless of how
much we own.

  -- Steve Goodier
      www.lifesupportsystem.com

Inspiration On 1/5/12

Often in life we make no time to listen. Really
listening to our partners or our children requires
us to move away from the human nature of
"what about me".

Listening and understanding other people helps
in our inner journey of self understanding. I have
found that the time spent making other peoples'
dreams spring to life has been the most rewarding
experience for my own personal growth.

Too often we get locked away in the I syndrome.
I did this, I done that, I am important,
I ... ,
I ... ,
I ... ,

We all need to feel important and loved - that is one
our strongest human passions. I find true importance
in listening and helping others. Try some today, you
will be pleasantly rewarded.

 -- © John Ahern

Inspiration On 1/1/12

To leave the old with a burst of song;
To recall the right and forgive the wrong;

To forget the things that bind you fast;
To the vain regrets of the year that's past;

To have the strength to let go your hold
Of the not worth while of the days grown old;

To dare go forth with a purpose true,
To the unknown task of the year that's new;

To help your brother along the road,
To assist with his work and lift his load;

To add your gift to the world's good cheer,
Is to have and to give a Happy New Year.

 -- Author Unknown

Inspiration On 12/30/11

A little boy and his parents were walking down the long and winding Time
Street. They passed many stores along the way each selling unique items.
The first store was Babes 'R us. In the showcase were millions of newborn
babies. Beside it was The Growing Palace and next to that 3T's: The
Terrible Teens.

They also passed many different people who were in very strange places
doing even stranger things. There was a group of men and women who were
fully grown but refused to come out of the 3T's store. One man kept going
around and around in a revolving door and the crowd inside and outside the
business could neither get out nor in. A quarter of the way down Time
Street the little boy saw a man standing over a cross and weeping, "Gertrude,
I can't go on without you". He had a ball and chain on his feet and would not
remove them, even though he had the key and his friends beckoned him to use
it.There was a woman who stood, very still, in the middle of the Street,
looking back down to where the Street began. "I remember. It was so much
better then," she kept on repeating. The little boy marvelled at this but
kept on moving.

As the young man came out of the Let Go to Go Mall with a Degree, an
executive job and a wife he noticed his parents were missing. Racing out to
the Street he saw them entering Death's car which sped off down the street
but he still trod on down the road. Soon the stores disappeared and there
was a great wilderness but still he continued. Until he met a man called
Father Time who strongly embraced him.

"This is my street," he said. "I designed and built it to be of good use but
many abuse it. They always like to stay in the past and not let go, wishing
they were back there. But, that's not what my Street is for. It's for moving
on, persevering, learning from your failures and slowly becoming wiser. You
can not retrieve lost time neither can you make it stand still. It is a One
Way Street filled with great joy and knowledge and success but it is also based
on how you view the world. Do not lose heart my child. Each New Year is a new
beginning for you. Forget the past and look forward to your future."

And the young man trod on.

 -- Author Unknown

Inspiration On 12/15/11

Persons are the gifts of God to me! They are already wrapped, some
beautifully and others less attractively. Some have been mishandled in
the mail; others come "Special Delivery." Some are loosely wrapped;
others very tightly closed.

But the wrapping is *not* the gift, and this is an important realization.
It is so easy to make a mistake in this regard...to judge the contents by
the cover.

Sometimes the gift is opened very easily; sometimes the help of others
is needed. Maybe, it is because they are afraid. It could be that they
were once opened and then discarded... Maybe they have been hurt
before and don't want to be hurt again. They may now feel more like
"things" than human persons.

I am a person; like everyone else I too am a gift. God filled me with
a goodness that is only mine. And yet, sometimes I am afraid to look
inside my wrapping. Maybe I am afraid I would be disappointed, and
maybe I don't trust my own contents. Or, it may be that I have never
really accepted the gift that I am. Every meeting and sharing of
persons is an exchange of gifts.

My gift is me.

Your gift is you.

We are gifts to each other.

 -- Author Unknown