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January 2007 |
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life daily not as a cup to be drained but as a chalice to be
filled with whatsoever things are honest, pure, lovely, and
of good report.
Sidney
Lovett |
Giving
is the secret of a healthy life. . . not necessarily money,
but whatever a person has of encouragement and sympathy and
understanding.
John
D. Rockefeller, Jr. |
I
would be always in the thick of life, threading its mazes,
sharing its strife, yet -- somehow singing!
Roselle
Mercier Montgomery |
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Nowhere and Nothing
(an excerpt)
Benjamin Hoff
"Where are we going?", said Pooh hurrying
after him and wondering whether it was to be an Explore or
a What-shall-I-do-about-you-know-what.
"Nowhere," said Christopher Robin.
So they began going there, and after they had walked a
little way, Christopher Robin said:
"What do you like doing best in the world,
Pooh?"
(And of course, what Pooh liked doing best was going to
Christopher Robin's house and eating, but since we've already
quoted that, we don't think we need to quote it again.)
"I like that too," said Christopher Robin,
"but what i like doing best is Nothing."
"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he
had wondered for a long time.
"Well, it's what people call out at you just as
you're going off to do it, What are you going to do,
Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, Nothing, and then you
go and do it."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh.
"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing
now."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.
"It means just going along, listening to all the
things you can't hear, and not bothering.
Chuang-tse put it this way:
Consciousness wandered North to the land of Dark Waters
and climbed the Unnoticeable Slope, where he met the
Speechless Non-Doer. "I have three questions for
you," Consciousness said. "First, what thoughts
and efforts will lead us to understanding the Tao? Second,
where must we go and what must we do to find peace in the
Tao? Third, from what point must we start and which road
must we follow in order to reach the Tao? Speechless
Non-Doer gave him no answer.
Consciousness traveled South to the land of the Bright
Ocean and climbed the mountain of Certainty, where he met
the Impulsive Speech-Maker. He asked him the same three
questions. "Here are the answers," Impulsive
Speech-Maker replied. But as soon as he started to speak,
he became confused and forgot what he was talking about.
Consciousness returned to the palace and asked the Yellow
Emperor, who told him, "To have no thought and put
forth no effort is the first step towards understanding
the Tao. To go nowhere and do nothing is the first step
towards finding peace in the Tao. To start from no point
and follow no road is the first step towards reaching the
Tao."
What Chuang-tse, Christopher Robin and Pooh are describing
is the Great Secret, the key that unlocks the doors of
wisdom, happiness and truth. What is that magic,
mysterious something? Nothing. To the Taoist, Nothing is
something, and Something-- at least the sort of thing that
many consider to be important-- is really nothing at all.
Our explanation of this will attempt to give some sort of
indication of what the Taoists call T'ai Hsu, the
"Great Nothing".
We will begin with an illustration from the writing of
Chuang-tse:
On his way back from the K'un-lun Mountains, the Yellow
Emperor lost the dark pearl of Tao. He sent Knowledge to
find it, but Knowledge was unable to understand it. He
sent Distant Vision, but Distant Vision was unable to
see it. He sent Eloquence, but Eloquence was unable to
describe it.
Finally, he sent Empty Mind, and Empty Mind came back with
the pearl.
When Eeyore lost his tail, who found it for him? Clever
Rabbit? No. He was busy doing Clever Things. Scholarly
Owl? No. He didn't recognise it when he saw it.
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Through
brilliant and witty dialogue with the beloved
Pooh-bear and his companions, the author of this
smash bestseller explains with ease and aplomb that
rather than being a distant and mysterious concept,
Taoism is as near and practical to us as our morning
breakfast bowl. Romp through the enchanting world of
Winnie-the-Pooh while soaking up invaluable lessons
on simplicity and natural living. |
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We've
been looking for a way to recommend many of the books
and movies that inspire us to live our lives more fully, and
Amazon
finally has provided it. Check out our new bookstore,
which is full
of inspirational and motivational material. We'd also
appreciate any
suggestions you might have of what to stock it with--please
visit
our feedback page
to make recommendations! |
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Living
Life Fully, the e-zine
exists to try to provide for visitors of the world wide web a
place
of growth, peace, inspiration, and encouragement. Our
articles
are presented as thoughts of the authors--by no means do
we
mean to present them as ways that anyone has to live
life. Take
from them what you will, and disagree with
whatever you disagree
with--just know that they'll be here for you
each week. |
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New
Life Resolutions
Joseph J. Mazzella
I
don't make New Year's resolutions anymore. It isn't
because I don't think I can keep them, however. In
fact, I think the greatest thing people can do is to see
the mistakes that they have made in their lives and then
choose to behave differently and overcome them. I
have never believed that we are doomed and predestined to
remain the same just because of our past upbringing and
former way of living. I agree rather with the great
psychologist William James who said: " My first
act of free will shall be to believe in free will."
The
reason I don't make resolutions on New Year's Day is
because I think that no one should have to wait until the
start of a new year to start a new life. Instead I
believe that every day can be a new beginning, a rebirth,
a fresh opportunity to start to live the way you always
wanted to live. Each new day is a glorious gift from
God to enjoy, to cherish, and to love. Each new day
is the start of a fantastic journey in growing, learning,
and becoming. Each new day is another chance to find
joy, to bring joy, and to share joy. Each new day is
one more time that we can help each other, give to the
world, find oneness with God, and be the person that we
always dreamed we could be.
Whatever
your resolutions are then remember that you have every day
of your life to achieve them. Don't give up after a
few days of the new year. Use that glorious free
will of yours to be the person you always wanted to
be. Use that fantastic power of choice to fill your
heart with love, your soul with joy, and your life with
delight. Use that powerful body of yours to do
countless good works that bring happiness to others.
Use that wonderful mind of yours to make this world a
better place with your endless thoughts of love and
joy. Use that loving heart and joyous soul within
you to create the beautiful life God always meant for you
to live. |
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Happy
New You!
Wilferd A. Peterson
The
conventional Happy New Year approach is to think of the
New Year as something that happens outside ourselves.
It is a good luck wish that the New Year, in some magical
way, will bring us our heart's desire. We look to
the New Year to make us happy.
When we
expect happiness to come to us from the outside we are
usually disappointed. Happiness is not guaranteed by
sunny weather, a raise in pay, a new car, a beautiful home
or anything else of a material nature. External
things are often possessed by very unhappy people.
Happiness does not come out of a New Year; it comes out of
men and women. Life does not change when we hang a
new calendar on the wall or when the clock strikes
midnight and a New Year begins. The only way life
will change for us is when we change ourselves.
The
source of happiness is not in events happening outside of
us; the source of happiness is within us. We cannot
control the outside world but we can control our own
thoughts and emotions. All true happiness is an
inner experience.
There is a new phrase to speak to each other as we face
the adventure of a New Year. . . "Happy New
You!"
The way to make the New Year the best year of your life is
to look to yourself, not to the year, for your happiness.
. . .
To realize that happiness does not depend on the birth of
a New Year, but on the birth of a New You.
To know
that the months, weeks, days, hours and minutes of the New
Year are empty until you fill them with happiness.
To face the fact that time is dead until you give it life,
and that your happiness depends on the quality of life you
give it.
Happy New You! |
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Are
you looking for inspirational and motivational reading material?
There are many great books out there that are made to lift you up
and inspire you, and when this ad from Amazon works right, it
shows
you quite a few of the newest and most popular choices! When
it
isn't working right, it gives you a generic Amazon.com ad. . . .
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I
believe talent is like electricity. We don't understand
electricity. We use it.
You can plug into it and light up a lamp, keep a heart pump going,
light a
cathedral, or you can electrocute a person with it.
Electricity will do all that.
It makes no judgment. I think talent is like that. I believe every
person is
born with talent.
Maya Angelou |
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