Wise words

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old. This is something we should all read at least once a week!!!!! 

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Change the way you think.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month..

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. Release your children when they become adults, its their life now

9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay cheque.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.

16. Take a deep breath It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Just because you believe you are right, doesn't mean you are. Keep an open mind.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26.. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. Your job is to love your children, not choose who they should love.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

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

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43.. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield..

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Doing nothing

You will be civilised on the day you can spend a long period doing nothing, learning nothing, and improving nothing, without feeling the slightest amount of guilt -- Nassim Taleb 

Existence

you exist if and only if you are free to do things without a visible objective, with no justification and, above all, outside the dictatorship of someone else's narrative -- nassim taleb 

Meaning

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less." Lewis Carroll

Justification

If I have exhausted the justifications I have reached bedrock, and my spade is turned. Then I am inclined to say: "this is simply what I do." --- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Tolerance

Tolerating something already suggests some disapproval -- Peter cave, how to think like a bat

Fear

I led a long and troubled life,
most of which never happened to me.

— MARK TWAIN

Judging goodness

men always love what is good or what they find good; it is in judging of the good that they go wrong -- Rousseau 

How to deal with insults

DEALING with INSULT

Buddha explained how to handle insult and maintain compassion.


One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. "You have no right teaching others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake."

Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?"

The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, "It would belong to me, because I bought the gift."

The Buddha smiled and said, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself."

"If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy."

The young man listened closely to these wise words of the Buddha. "You are right, o Enlightened One, "he said. "Please teach me the path of love. I wish to become your follower."

The Buddha answered kindly, "Of course. I teach anyone who truly wants to learn. Come with me."

Beautiful Quotes

If you are right then there is no need to get angry
And if you are wrong then you don't have any right to get angry.

Patience with family is love,
Patience with others is respect,
Patience with self is confidence
and
Patience with GOD is faith.

Never Think Hard about PAST,
It brings Tears...
Don't Think more about FUTURE,
It brings Fears...
Live this Moment with a Smile,
It brings Cheers.!!!!

Every test in our life makes us bitter or better,
Every problem comes to make us or break us,
Choice is our whether we become victim or victorious !!!

Search a beautiful heart not a beautiful face.
Beautiful things are not always good
but good things are always beautiful.

Remember me like pressed flower in your Notebook.
It may not be having any fragrance
but will remind you of my existence forever in your life.

Do you know, why God created gaps between fingers?
So that someone who is special to you, comes and fills those gaps by holding your hands forever.

Opportunity

We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without but falsely identified as lying within -- Stephen Jay Gould

谦卑

千里修书只为墙、让他三尺又何妨。万里长城今犹在、不见当年秦始皇。― 张英

Lesson in Life - Anger and Love have no limits;

While a man was polishing his new car,
his 4 yr old son picked up a stone
and scratched lines on the side of the car.

In anger, the man took the child's hand
and hit it many times not realizing
he was using a wrench.

At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers
due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father..... with painful
eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?'

The man was so hurt and speechless;
he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times.

Devastated by his own actions...... sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches;

the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.

The next day that man committed suicide. . .

Anger and Love have no limits;

choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely
life & remember this:

Things are to be used and people are to be loved.

The problem in today's world is
that people are used while things are loved.

Let's try always to keep this thought in mind:

Things are to be used,
People are to be loved.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character;

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Have a good life all my friends . . . .

孟子 尽心章

孟子曰：仁言，不如仁声之入人深也。善政，不如善教之得民也。善政民畏之，善教民爱之；善政得民财，善教得民心。

Top 5 regrets

Top 5 regrets

From a guy who worked for many years in palliative care, he gathered from his care the 5 most common regrets:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

孟子曰：仁言，不如仁声之入人深也。善政，不如善教之得民也。善政民畏之，善教民爱之；善政得民财，善教得民心。

孟子曰：仁言，不如仁声之入人深也。善政，不如善教之得民也。善政民畏之，善教民爱之；善政得民财，善教得民心。

unhappiness

unhappiness

why be unhappy about something if it can be remedied?
and what is the use of being unhappy about something if it cannot be remedied?

Habit

We're all creatures of habit. 

Repeat an action enough times and it becomes habitual — an unconscious behavior.

Here's a worthwhile habit to work on developing: 

Each day, "catch" at least one person doing something good…and praise them. 

Over time, you'll acquire a natural tendency to focus on the good stuff! ~Eric Harvey

在生命中，再无聊的时间，也是限量版

在生命中，再无聊的时间，也是限量版

It's the how, not what

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."

Lena Horne (1917-2010); Singer, actress, civil rights activist

Next act

Think of the poorest person you have ever seen and ask if your next act
will be of any use to him.

   
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

Thich Nhat Hanh’s letter to friends in Japan

Thich Nhat Hanh's letter to friends in Japan 

Plum Village March 13th, 2011 

Dear friends in Japan, 

As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died. 

The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body. 

An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they can feel they are continuing to live in us, more mindfully, more profoundly, more beautifully, tasting evey minute of live available to us, for them. 

Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our brothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. We are praying for you with our heart, our breathe and our daily actions with more compassion, more understanding and mutual interactions in beauty. Thich Nhat Hanh

Compassionate is not enough, you must act

"It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act. There are two aspects to action. One is to overcome the distortions and afflictions of your mind, that is in terms of calming and eventually dispelling anger and so forth. This is action born from compassion.  The other is more social, more public. When there is something that needs to be done in the world to rectify wrongs, if one is really concerned with benefiting others, it is not enough simply to be compassionate. There is no direct benefit in that. With compassion one must be engaged, involved."
--The Dalai Lama

Faith

Subject: Faith

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it." Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective? Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear. The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling. And even more beautiful, is knowing that you are the reason behind it. If you appreciate this message, please share. You may touch someones heart today and forever. Enjoy your week with a heart of gratitude... "Faith is not about everything turning out OK; Faith is about being OK no matter how things turn out."

Power

"The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master , unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty"

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Fame

Don't worry when you are not recognized, 

but strive to be worthy of recognition.

 ----- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865); 16th U.S. President

Words

No man has a prosperity so high or firm, but that two or three words can dishearten it;

and there is no calamity which right words will not begin to redress.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

Information overload

Human can't handle too much info.
Too much info does nothing in improving forecast; but increases confidence level.
With computers, more info does increase forecast accuracy.

Human should stick to approximation as we are good at it. Since we are estimating, just a few important inputs will do the job. And, rough data on the inputs will do.

Intelligent

If a rabbit defined intelligence the way man does, then the most intelligent animal would be a rabbit, followed by the animal most willing to obey the commands of a rabbit. 

- Robert Brault, writer (b. 1938)

Aggression

I've no choice but to take aggressive action as he is interrupting my meditation towards peace abiding --- Confused

Depression

What we called "depression" is often dissatisfaction of what we have or missing some treasures we did not work for -- Mitch Albom, Have a little faith

Belief

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice inside -- Mohandas Gandhi

Action

Faith is Doing.
You are how you act, not what you believe.

Reversal to mean

When everything seem to be against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind. -- Henry Ford When everything seem to be on your side, remember to be humble as waves sometimes smash themselves against hard rocks. -- Heng

Action

Our trouble is not ignorance, but inaction. --- Dale Carnegie

Time

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.

-James M. Barrie, novelist and playwright (1860-1937)