Points to Ponder

True Values

Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men.

        -Albert Einstein

Mahatma Gandhi identified the seven sins in the world as wealth without work, pleasure before conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle.

We must understand spiritual truths and apply them to our modern life. We must draw strength from the
almost forgotten virtues of simplicity, humility, contemplation, and prayer. It requires a dedication beyond science, beyond self, but the rewards are great and it is our only hope.
                                                           -Charles Lindbergh

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

                      -Pearl S. Buck

Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have that you wouldn’t sell for money.
         -Author unknown

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
                  -Martin Luther King Jr.

Life in time remains without meaning if it does not find its meaning in eternity.
     -Nicolas Berdyaew


The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.
                                                                              -William James

Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what
we give.
             -Norman MacEwan


If life be short, then moderate your worldly cares and projects; do not cumber yourselves with too much
provision for a short voyage.
                                                         -Author unknown

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within
the heart.
                   -Helen Keller

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
                                                                         -Albert Schweitzer

Its All Good

Sometimes I think I'm somewhat old fashioned. Not so much in the way I think, but I don't always know the latest "in" jargon. Part of that might be due to the fact that I spent over 20 years of my life living in a country where I did not fully understand the language (Thailand), although I spent a lot of time studying it and doing my best to communicate in Thai. Although I had a lot of friends from Western Europe and the States, I wasn't watching TV from those countries, so I guess I missed out on some of the trends, etc. Not that it bothers me. But sometimes I won't quite understand the slang or some joke from those places. Once again, I don't count it as loss, as I have had (so far..I should say I am having) so many amazing experieces rich in culture from exotic foreign countries and the people from those places, that far outweigh any loss of being in the centre of the latest trends. OK, that's off my chest. Now to share a little inspiration that happened to me the other day.

Its All Good

I think that is the current term for something that I would say: "All things work together for good" (That is a verse from the Bible: Romans 8:28), or the old saying: "Look for the silver lining" (Which refers to the silver lining of a cloud when the sun is behind it, waiting to shine) or, "Keep your eye on the doughnut and not upon the hole!" ..etc. Anyway, the other day I had an experience to remind me to keep my eyes on the good, as its out there if we look for it!

I recently moved. I went from a house with a large private back garden, to a first floor flat with no garden. Well, I guess you can call it "communal gardens" as they say, and there are some really beautiful flowers next to my building and nice green grass and trees with pretty pink buds. But its not the kind of place that I can be alone in. The weather was really nice--warmish and sunshine and I just had to get outside. I was feeling sorry for myself, thinking that if I was back in my old house I could pop out the kitchen door for a 10 minute walk or run around my garden, or sit down for a few minutes and bask in the glorious out doors, or exercise, etc. It was so easy then. Now I would have to put on shoes, brush my hair, lock up my flat and walk down the stairs. Then I would have to decide where to go. Since I might run into people, I would have to be relatively presentable.

I decided to go for it. The call of the outdoors won and I did the 10 minutes of prep required and set off.

A few minutes into my walk I met three young girls enjoying their school break. They were very friendly and greeted me with big smiles and hellos. One girl asked me if I wanted to buy some flowers. I didn't see any so I asked her where they were. She pointed to a patch of buttercups growing nearby. I told her I didn't have any money with me so she told me it was for free. Not wanting to dissapoint them I told them yes, I would like some flowers and she ran off and picked two buttercups which she gave to me.They were so excited that I accepted them. "You are our first customer!", they told me."We are going to sell flowers to everyone that walks this way!" After chatting a few more moments I walked on, truly inspired by the loving innocence and enthusiasm of those young girls. That never would have happened in my private back garden. Now I am realizing that the encounters with the people that I meet on my walks more than make up for the relative inconvenience of not having a private garden. I am so glad that I am "forced" to get out of my own private world to mingle with others. Its all good.