Today's Quotation:

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment
that will never be again . . .And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France.

When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel.  You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michaelangelo, a Beethoven. You have
the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up,
can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

You must work - we must all work - to make the world worthy of its children.

Pablo Casals

Today's Meditation:

Did you know that?  You are a marvel!  You are a miraculous creation on a miraculous planet, completely unique and wonderfully crafted.  Do you give yourself credit for that?  Probably not--most of us don't.  But that's what you are, and there's no way to deny that fact.

Even if you don't become a Shakespeare or a Beethoven, you still are a marvel with wonderful potential.  Most people's poetry is in how they live, not what they write.  Most people's symphonies are in their relationships and in the way they help other people to deal with their problems and in how they share their lives with others.  A symphony depends on harmony and cooperation, as does a well crafted life.  If you don't see yourself as a marvel, though, it can be very difficult to give yourself credit for being able to create a symphony of your life, to find the harmony that allows our lives to flow smoothly all through our days, no matter what the outside throws at us.

Many people's misery is a result of the way that they see themselves, the way that other people have told them they are for so long.  What they don't seem to realize is that the other people have a very limited view, a limited way of seeing the world, and when they tell anyone anything about themselves, they're bound to have very incomplete information.

You are a marvel.  Are you able to say "I am a marvel" and believe it?  You must be able to do so if you're to be able to live this life you've been given fully and happily, and if you're to be able to give to the rest of the world pieces of the marvel that you are.  You must believe it, because it's true--you are a marvel.

Questions to ponder:

1.  Why is it so hard for many people to believe that they are marvels?

2.  Why has each of us been given our own unique beauty?

3.  What would life be like if we all believed in our beauty and we were all
able to treat others as if we believed in it?

Coming to appreciate your worth can, in some cases, dramatically improve your circumstances by changing the choices you make and the actions you take.  And as you begin to treat yourself with more respect, other people begin to do the same, since we subconsciously "train" others how to treat us through messages we send through body language, tone of voice, and other subtle cues and behaviors.  Discovering your innate worth and living from that place allows you to make more constructive choices--to choose the higher roads of life.

Dan Millman