Take Time-- Anonymous

Take time to laugh.
It is the music of the soul.
Take time to think.
It is the source of power.
Take time to play.
It is the source of perpetual youth.
Take time to read.
It is the fountain of wisdom.
Take time to pray.
It is the greatest power on Earth.
Take time to love and be loved.
It is a God-given privilege.
Take time to be friendly.
It is the road to happiness.
Take time to give.
It is too short a day to be selfish.
Take time to work.
It is the price of success.

Childhood Doesn't Wait-...Author Unknown

I was sitting on a bench
while in a nearby mall,
When I noticed a young mother
with two children who were small.

The youngest one was whining,
"Pick me up," I heard him beg
but the mother's face grew angry
as the child clung to her leg.

"Don't hang on to me," she shouted
as she pushed his hands away,
I wish I'd had the courage
to go up to her and say...

"The time will come too quickly
when those little arms that tug,
Won't ask for you to hold them
or won't freely give a hug.

"The day will sneak up subtly
just as it did with me,
When you can't recall the last time
that your child sat on your knee.

"Like those sacred, pre-dawn feedings
when we cherished time alone
Our babies grow and leave behind
those special times we've known.

"So when your child comes to you
with a book that you can share,
Or asks that you would tuck him in
and help him say his prayer...

"When he comes to sit and chat
or would like to take a walk,
Before you answer that you can't
`cause there's no time to talk"
Remember what all parents learn
so many times too late,
That years go by too quickly
and that childhood doesn't wait.

"Take every opportunity,
if one should slip away
Reach hard to get it back again,
don't wait another day."
I watched that mother walk away
her children followed near,
I hope she'll pick them up
before her chances disappear

A Lesson From The Elders (Story)

Grandfather was an elder Cherokee Native American who had a wrinkled, nut brown face and kind dark eyes. His grandson often came in the evening to sit on his knee and ask the many questions that children ask.

One day the grandson came to his grandfather with a look of anger on his face; the child's anger turned to quiet tears. "Come sit, tell me what happened today", grandfather said. "Father and I went to the store today and because I helped him, he bought me a present of a jack-knife. It was small but a good size for me.

Here the boy laid his head against his grandfather's knee and became silent. The grandfather, softly placed his hand on the boy's raven hair and said, "And then what happened?"

Without lifting his head, the boy said, "I went outside to wait for father and to admire my new knife in the sunlight. Some town boys came by and saw me, they got all around me and starting saying bad things. They called me dirty and stupid and said that I should not have such a fine knife. The largest of these boys pushed me back and I fell over one of the other boys. I dropped my knife and one of them snached it up and they all ran away laughing." Here the boy's anger returned, "I hate them. I hate them all."

The elder Cherokee, with eyes that have seen too much, lifted his grandson's face so his eyes looked into the boy's face. Grandfather said, "Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken so much with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feeling many times. It is as if two wolves are inside me…. It is a terrible fight.

One wolf is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. It will only fight when it is right to do so and in the right way. This wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The other wolf is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of a temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. This wolf represents fear, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, lies, false pride and superiority. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me for both of them try to dominate my spirit. This same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person too.The boy looked intently into his grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied…."The one you feed.

Simplify Living-by Cat Le Stevenson

We've been deep-cleaning around the house lately: donating old clothes and getting rid of any extras that have been unused for sometime. In order to create ease with our daily routine, we've been simplifying our home and life.

My husband and I have a lot of random items from previous moves that we've been unable to shake – mainly sentiment that has spared numerous boxes of trinkets from our childhood or souvenirs from our travels.

But we honestly have no use for any of this stuff. They're space-takers – they're extras.

In an effort to simplify our life, we often turn to our material possessions: de-cluttering, donating, and organizing our space to create a sense of calm.

I imagine that one (or more) of the below may be true for each of us:

• We feel the burden of too much stuff.
• We bought a material item for temporary happiness.
• We own big-ticket possessions — the home, the car, or the debt for whatever else — that we spend much of our time and energy working for.

I'm in whole-hearted agreement that the collection of materialism can have a nagging tendency to feel overwhelming at times.

Simplifying, on a life-scale, can seem like a daunting task— but I'm here to offer some good news:

We don't have to reject all consumerism, move to a remote island, or follow a strict Zen routine in order to experience the inner peace that comes with simple living.

We can start now – this very moment – with all the daily extras we carry around with us.

Beyond physical clutter, most of us carry accumulated stuff with us each day – mentally.

Today, we can start getting rid of those extras:

• The constant rushing through errands, conversations, and stop lights in order to get to the next moment – that's extra.
• The questioning of our intuition and straying from our values for temporary fulfillment – that's extra.
• The replaying of our busy, all-consuming to-do list throughout the day – that's extra.
• The long-winded lecture that accompanied the request of our significant other to put the toilet seat down – that's extra.
• The justifying excuse about why we didn't fulfill a commitment – that's extra.
• The woulda-coulda-shoulda self-talk about the interview for a prospective job that happened a few hours ago – that's extra.
• The split attention of back-and-forth text messaging, while playing with our child– that's extra.

• The grasping for external diversions to distract us of what needs to be addressed internally – that's extra.
• The checking of emails sporadically throughout the day, while supposedly focusing on an important deadline – that's extra.
• The saying yes to a commitment, event, project, happy hour, baby shower when our schedule is already overbooked– that's extra.
• The all-consuming plan for the future that robs us of what we are doing now – that's extra.
• The agonizing over the piece of cake we managed to scarf down (oops!) hours earlier in the day – even that is extra.

We crowd our mind with extras each day – harmful self-talks, incessant worrying, attention-comprising multi-tasking, unnecessary busyness – that muffle the simplicity we can be experiencing right now.

If we did not carry the extras of mental clutter…

We could begin to uncover the bliss of inner peace. We could show up, wholly, in everything that we do, deepening our connection to both ourselves and with others because we're fully present with our attention.

Simply Your Life By Simplifying the Mind

The de-cluttering of a home may appear easier to navigate than the inner-world of mental and emotional clutter. But the two are not so different: just as with our physical world, we can begin to organize our inner-environment by creating space.

Here are a few ideas on where to begin:

• Listen to your inner wisdom. What is speaking to you about the lack of clarity at this moment? Observe what is asking for your attention – then proceed to address, accept, forgive, or simply let go to create room for clarity.

• Revisit and reconnect with your values. Discard all the commitments that do not serve your higher intents. Life is too precious to settle for a compromised scheduled; live each day aligned to your purpose.

• Become aware of a recurring fear-based thought that may create clutter, anxiety or an overwhelming feeling– replace it with an empowering affirmation. For example, perhaps you often worry about tight finances. An affirmation to replace a negative thought of not having enough money could be: "I am prosperous, I am secure, and I am surrounded by an abundance of financial opportunity."
• Journal to detoxify on what's going on inside. Allow the release of emotions onto a piece of paper to become a routine cleansing. Self-awareness is a powerful tool for constant clarity. So often we become stuck in a rut of mental exhaustion because we haven't given ourselves the opportunity to release. Stay connected with your emotional and mental well-being by integrating journaling into your daily routine.

• Begin a meditation practice for 20 minutes each day to sweep the mental barriers clean. Meditation is a sanctuary for a busy mind to relax.

• Account for the overdue commitments, bills, and errands by purging them all onto a calendar with due dates. Many tasks only require a small, dedicated amount of time to complete; yet, it's often easy to compound the urgency or difficulty by replaying the list over and over.The intent of putting these to-do's on a calendar is to liberate our attention, and allow us to return to the present.

When we remove all the extras by creating more space…

We will begin to feel the simplicity of living each moment as it is meant to be.

We can freely bask in the awareness of being alive.

We are happier and lighter.

Life is like a Cafetaria

A friend's grandfather came to America from Eastern Europe. After being processed at Ellis Island, he went into a cafetaria in lower Manhattan to get something to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did. Finally, a woman with a tray full of food sat down opposite him and informed him how a cafetaria worked.

"Start out at that end," she said. "Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they'll tell you how much you have to pay."

"I soon learned that's how everything works in America," the grandfather told a friend. "Life's a cafetaria here. You can get anything you want as long as you are willing to pay the price. You can even get success, but you'll never get it if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself."

This is the story of an eagle

The Eagle has the longest life-span of it's species
It can live up to 70 years
But to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision
In it's 40th year its long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food
Its long and sharp beak becomes bent
It's old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, stick to it's chest & make it difficult to fly
Then, the eagle is left with only two options: DIE or go through a painful process of CHANGE which lasts 150 days
The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountain top and sit on it's nest
There the eagle knocks it's beak against a rock until it plucks it out
Then the eagle will wait for a new beak to grow back and then it will pluck out it's talons
When it's new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking it's old-aged feathers
And after 5 months, The eagle takes its famous flight of rebirth and lives for 30 more years
Why is change needed? Many times, in order to survive we have to start a change process. We sometimes need to get rid of old memories, habits and other past traditions. Only freed from past burdens, can we take advantage of the present.

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but
by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us,
but by the attitude we bring to life.
A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive
thoughts, events, and outcomes.
It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.

When it rains, most birds head for shelter; the eagle is the only
bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the cloud.