There are four kinds of people in the world: Those who have been caregivers; those who currently are caregivers; those who will be caregivers; and those who will need caregivers.—Roselyn Carter
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. —Leo Buscaglia Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.—Margaret Mead The simple act of caring is heroic. —Edward Albert Caring for our seniors is perhaps the greatest responsibility we have. Those who walked before us have given so much and made possible the life we all enjoy.—John Hoeven A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside. —Denis Waitley Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. From caring comes courage.—Lao Tzu Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. —Anthony J. D’Angelo Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know possible. —Tia Walker We can all make a difference in the lives of others in need, because it is the most simple of gestures that make the most significant of differences. —Miya Yamanouchi No one cares until someone cares; be that one! —Ken Poir
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Quote of the day:
“Honesty pays.” – Author Unknown Think about it: When he was a teenager, Jim worked for a grocer in Hamilton, Missouri. He liked the work and had plans to make a career of it. One night he came home and proudly told his family about his sly employer. The grocer had a practice of mixing low quality coffee with the expensive brand and thus increasing his profit. Jim laughed as he told the story at the supper table. His father didn't see anything funny about the practice. "Tell me," he said, "if the grocer found someone palming off an inferior article on him for the price of the best, do you think he would think they were just being sly, and laugh about it?" Jim could see his father was disappointed in him. "I guess not," he replied. "I guess I just didn't think about it that way." Jim's father instructed him to go to the grocer the next day and collect whatever money was due him and tell the grocer he wouldn't be working for him any longer. Jobs were not plentiful in Hamilton, but Jim's father would rather his son be unemployed than associated with a crooked businessman. J.C. Penny came that close to becoming a grocer. Instead he founded the retail chain that still bears his name. He shares the secret of his success in the title of his autobiography: Fifty Years with the Golden Rule. There are two lessons here: Building character in this crooked world and teaching others to do the same. Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? —Henry David Thoreau
Empathy and social skills are social intelligence, the interpersonal part of emotional intelligence. That’s why they look alike. A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain. —Daniel Goleman Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms. —Sterling K. Brown Empathy is born out of the old biblical injunction “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” —George McGovern We must broaden the definition of who our neighbors are, and extend the boundaries of our interest and empathy. —Wendy Kopp I would go to the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.—Charles Spurgeon The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. —William James Kind words do not cost much … yet they accomplish much. —Blaise Pascal Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. —Leo Buscaglia For one day, try to say as little as possible. Try to keep the focus away from yourself. Where you’re tempted to tell a story, ask a question. Where you’re tempted to say, “Oh, that same thing happened to me...,” ask, “How did that make you feel?” … At the end of the day, make a list of everything that you learned. How much would you have missed if you had spent the time talking about yourself?—Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, from the book The Power of Nice Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.—Zig Ziglar
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.—William Arthur Ward When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. —Willie Nelson Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.—Oprah Winfrey “Thank you” is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. “Thank you” expresses extreme gratitude, humility, and understanding. —Alice Walker Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.—Henri Frederic Amiel There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.—Albert Einstein Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.—Charles Dickens None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy. —Fred De Witt Van Amburgh Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.—Alphonse Karr Quote of the day:
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy Think about it: By Amit Amin, adapted excerpts Do you want more from your life? More happiness? Better health? Deeper relationships? Increased productivity? What if I told you that gratitude can help you in all of those areas? Gratitude makes us healthier. Gratitude can’t cure cancer (neither can positive-thinking), but it can strengthen your physiological functioning. Positive emotion improves health. The details are complicated, but the overall picture is not—if you want to improve your health, improve your mind. This confidence comes from 137 research studies. Gratitude is a positive emotion. It’s no far stretch that some of the benefits (e.g. better coping of conditions like cancer and HIV, faster recovery from certain medical procedures, positive changes in immune system functioning, more positive health behavior, etc.) apply to gratitude as well. In fact, some recent science shows just that—those who engage in gratitude practices have been shown to feel less pain, go to the doctor less often, have lower blood pressure, and be less likely to develop a mental disorder. Gratitude improves your sleep. Gratitude increases sleep quality, reduces the time required to fall asleep, and increases sleep duration. Said differently, gratitude can help with insomnia. The key is what’s on our minds as we’re trying to fall asleep. If it is worries about the kids, or anxiety about work, the level of stress in our body will increase, reducing sleep quality, keeping us awake, and cutting our sleep short. If it’s thinking about a few things we have to be grateful for today, it will induce the relaxation response, knock us out, and keep us that way. Yes—gratitude is a (safe and free) sleep aid. Gratitude makes you more likely to exercise. In one 11-week study of 96 Americans, those who were instructed to keep a weekly gratitude journal exercised 40 minutes more per week than the control group. No other study has yet to replicate these results. It could be because other gratitude studies testing this effect have been much shorter—in the range of one to three weeks, or it could be because this result was a fluke. Once again, time will tell—but it would not surprise me if being grateful for one’s health would increase one’s tendency to want to protect it by exercising more. Gratitude helps us relax. Gratitude and positive emotion in general are among the strongest relaxants known to man. Gratitude is no cure-all, but it is a massively underutilized tool for improving life-satisfaction and happiness. In the hustle of to-do lists and work deadlines, sometimes it’s (too) easy to block out the details of the day, forgetting that each and every day holds precious gifts. From the air we breathe to the friendships we hold close, there is always something to be thankful for. Are you a grateful person? Thankful for the good things—big and small—in your life? "To live a life of gratitude is to open our eyes to the countless ways in which we are supported by the world around us. Such a life provides less space for our suffering because our attention is more balanced.” — Gregg Krech
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” — John Fitzgerald Kennedy “Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson “If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want." — Oscar Wilde “To be content, just think how happy you would be if you lost everything you have right now, and then got it back again!” — Author Unknown “The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for.” — Zig Ziglar “We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” — Frederick Keonig “Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.”— Zig Ziglar “Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away." — Sophocles “People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have.” —Richard Carlson “It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest.” — Greek saying “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beattie "Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.” — The Buddha “A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive." — Pearl Bailey “Give thy mind more to what thou has than to what thou hast not." — Marcus Antonius Who cares who’s right or wrong when the last word is a kind apology? --Richelle E. Goodrich
Apologizing does not always mean that you are wrong and the other person is right. It just means that you value your relationship more than your ego. --Author unknown An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. --Lynn Johnston When an apology is due, give it freely, then follow your apology with action. --Judy Ford Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift. --Margaret Lee Runbeck Quote of the day:
"You won't be happy with more until you're happy with what you've got.” -- Viki King Think about it: Sometimes I wake up and my first thought is I didn’t get enough sleep and it goes on and on until the end of the day. I call this The “Never Enough” Problem Never good enough. Never thin enough. Never clever enough. Never pretty enough. Never rich enough. Never successful enough. We could all fill in the blank of “never __________ enough.” We spend our lives calculating how much we have, how much we want, and how much we don’t have. And we compare this to what everyone else has (or to the visions of perfection we get from the media)—a self-defeating cycle that will always end with the same conclusion: We are lacking. We never have enough. We never are enough. But there is an answer to the “Never Enough” problem: Gratitude. Gratitude is what makes the glass half full. It reminds you that you have enough and that you are enough. I created a Gratitude Jar a couple of months ago. It started as nothing special, just an old-fashioned glass jar with a ribbon tied around the rim. Every day, sometimes several times a day, I write down what I am grateful for and add these “Gratitude Notes” to my jar. And remarkable things have happened. My outlook on life has shifted. I no longer feel like I am inadequate and lacking from the moment I wake up, or berate myself for not getting through my to-do list. I appreciate the food that I have, the time that I have, the people that I have. Appreciating yourself for your strengths AND your imperfections (not in spite of them), allows you to find a sense of belonging and to feel more connected to life. When I have a down day (we all have them!), a quick glance at my Gratitude Jar reminds me that life is full of wonderful things to be grateful for and I have the strength and support to overcome anything. But having gratitude doesn’t just happen! It’s a practice we have to foster every day. You wouldn’t expect a flower to grow without water, and you wouldn’t expect your body to get healthier without nourishing it. So you can’t expect to feel like you have enough and you are enough, without nurturing a gratitude for life and an appreciation of yourself. Sometimes it’s the simple things that make life wonderful. Taking time to appreciate those moments of joy helps you to cherish your life and yourself. The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. — Socrates
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. — Lao Tzu The system of consumerism may seem like an immovable fact of modern life. But it is not. That the system was manufactured suggests that we can reshape those forces to create a healthier, more sustainable system with a more fulfilling goal than “more stuff.” — Rachel Botsman Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter.— Harold Kushner There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. — Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV We all know that if the seasons were the same, there would be no growth. We know that without winter there would be no spring. We know that without frosts there would be no bulbs and without the monsoon there would be no rice harvest. In the same way, we also know that without sorrow there would be no joy. Without pain there would be no healing. I think that’s precisely where the beauty comes in. It comes in through the fruit of the seasons. He has indeed made everything beautiful in its time. — Naomi Reed Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but engrave the good things that happen to you in marble.—Unknown
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. —Khalil Gibran Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility, but through greatness of mind. —Aristotle Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. —Helen Keller The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering.—Ben Okri It is by suffering that human beings become angels. —Victor Hugo Our human compassion binds us the one to the other—not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learned how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future. —Nelson Mandela We should not despair because there is so much suffering, grief, and wrong in the world. instead, we should do what we can to make things right and encourage others to do the same. —Unknown Anywhere I see suffering, that is where I want to be, doing what I can. —Princess Diana Those who have suffered understand suffering, and therefore extend their hand.—Patti Smith |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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