A candle loses none of its light.......

I had the pleasure of taking part in a beautiful wedding ceremony for two good friends on the weekend and as the bride & groom lit that special candle with two smaller candles, I was reminded of the saying "A candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle." meaning that we lose nothing by giving to another person, especially the three things we crave most: happiness, freedom, and love.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
Winston Churchill

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A fire from within

"Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly."
Stephen Covey

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world."
the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

A piece of good news

"The real power behind whatever success I have now was something I found within myself - something that's in all of us, I think, a little piece of God just waiting to be discovered. "
Tina Turner

"Everyone has inside him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" Anne Frank

The key to success

"The key to success is for you to make a habit throughout your life of doing the things you fear."
Vincent Van Gogh

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly"
Robert F Kennedy

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
T.S. Eliot

Take The First Step In Faith

Throughout our lives, we hear people say "I'll believe it when I see it, because seeing is believing" - we hear it so much we accept it as truth, when in fact the opposite is true.

After Walt Disney's death, his brother Roy spoke to a journalist at the opening of Disney World in Florida. The journalist reflected that it was a shame Walt hadn't lived to see the marvellous spectacle. Roy replied: "Walt saw it before any of us - that's why you're seeing it today" Walt Disney had created it in his mind and had faith in his ability to manifest what he imagined.

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe".
St. Augustine

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.”
The Bible (Heb. 11:1.)

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
Martin Luther King Jr.

Build Your Wings On The Way Down

The Harvard Business School defines entrepreneurship as: “The pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control.” - Meaning of course that entrepreneurs don't wait until everything is just right before they pursue opportunity, they take risks - otherwise, they never get to pursue anything at all.

The same could be said for life - unless we're prepared to take chances, we're just observers on the sidelines - we never get to truly live.

"You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."
Annie Dillard

"If you take risks, you may still fail. But if you do not take risks, you will surely fail. The greatest risk of all is to do nothing."
Roberto C. Goizuet

If you wouldn't write it and sign it.....

A friend just sent me an e-mail with a wonderful little prayer in it I wanted to share with you: "Please God, put your arms around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth." It's a prayer I personally wish I would have thought to have said on many occasions.

Another beautiful little quote from an unknown author goes "The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid."

Even Winston Churchill, famous for his witty insult to Bessie Braddock MP ("And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning."), once reflected "By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach."

But probably the best advice comes from the late US newspaper columnist Earl Wilson - "If you wouldn't write it and sign it, don't say it."

Have a wonderful week

We are the sons of our own deeds

In today’s fast-paced world people seem quick to take offense and respond angrily to real or imagined affronts, leading to arguments in the home or work place, or even to road rage. Often we reason that "He (or she) made me so angry". But do other people really have such power
over our feelings?

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”
Viktor Frankl

"In most encounters we can determine the kind of experience we are going to have by how we respond"
Wayne S. Peterson

"Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our own deeds."
Miguel De Cervantes