The Other Side of the Lake

Making Mistakes The German philosopher F. Nietzsche once said that it is no use living arguing about everything; it is part of human nature to make a mistake now and again. Yet we all know people who absolutely insist that they are right even down to the smallest details. We ourselves are often included in this category: we don’t allow ourselves to make mistakes. All that we achieve with such an attitude is the fear of moving forward – because certain steps call for new decisions whose results are unknown to us. The fear of making a mistake is the door that locks us up in the castle of mediocrity: if we manage to overcome this fear, we are taking an important step towards our freedom. Love Your Enemy. But Never Forget... The warriors of light always keep their hearts clean of feelings of hatred. When they go to fight, they always remember the words: 'Love your enemies'. But they know that the act of forgiving foes does not force them to accept everything. Warrior...

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield, but to my own strength. Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved, but hope for the patience to win my freedom. Grant that I may not be a coward, feeling Your mercy in my success alone; But let me find the grasp of Your hand in my failure. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

When you are encountered by a suffering, it is not the physical pain that comes with the unexpected loss that, but the mental agony caused by the injustice and the unreasonableness of it all. It is then, that one needs to understand the reality of life, which is that life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning . Even in the gravest situations, the greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life.  They say that there can be three possible sources for meaning: at work, when you are doing something significant, in love when you care for another person, and in courage during difficult times.  Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it. At one point, a person may remain brave, dignified and unselfish, or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and...

Be the kind o f woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says, 'Oh Crap, She's up!' Life is too short to wake up with regrets . So love the pe ople who treat you right, love the one's who don't just because you can. Believe everything h appens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. God never said life would be easy. He just promised it would be worth it. Courtesy, Sarah K

One doesn’t love in order to do what is good or to help or to protect someone. If we act that way, we are perceiving the other as a simple object, and we seeing ourselves as wise and generous persons. This has nothing to do with love. To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God. You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun – and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven’t perceived the moment, that it doesn’t exist – that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention in their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the...

A friend visited me once in Los Angeles. He wanted me to drive him out to see the Pacific Ocean, since he had never seen an ocean before. We got in my car and drove to a bluff overlooking the Pacific on a beautiful sunny day. My friend got out of the car, walked to the edge of the cliff, and stood in silence for a while - hands on his hips, just looking out at the vast expanse of gently rolling waves sparkling in the sunlight for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Finally, he turned and said to me, “John, it’s not as big as I expected.”  As we walked back to my car, I turned for a last look before we drove away. I may be wrong, but the Pacific Ocean seemed unfazed by its failure to meet my friend’s expectations. There is a little practical lesson here on how silly it is to live and die on the expectations of others. The next time you’ve worked hard, done your best, and still find that someone is unhappy with you, remember the Pacific Ocean. It too had failed to meet som...

All human beings are Different . And should do everything possible to continue to be so. Each human being has been granted two courses of action: that of Deed and that of Contemplation . Both lead to the same place. Each human being has been granted two qualities: Power and Gift . Power drives a person to meet his/her destiny, his gift obliges that person to share with others which is good in him/her. A human being must know when to use Power , and when to use Compassion . Each human being has been granted a virtue: the capacity to Choose . For he/she who does not use this virtue, it becomes a curse – and others will always choose for him/her. Each human being has the right to two blessings, which are: the blessing to do Right , and the blessing to Err . In the latter case, there is always a path of learning leading to the right way. Each human being has his own sexual profile, and should Exercise it without guilt – provided he does not oblige others to exercise it with him/...

An extract from a letter that Abraham Lincoln wrote to the Headmaster of the school in which his son was studying. Read on, its pretty inspiring... He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just and are not true. But teach him if you can, the wonder of books.. but also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hillside. In school, teach him it is far more honorable to fall than to cheat. Teach to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him he is wrong. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone getting on the bandwagon. Teach him to listen to all men; but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through. Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad... Teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him to scoff at cynics and to be beware of too much...

At this moment there are 6,470,818,671 people in the world. Some are running scared. Some are coming home. Some tell lies to make it through the day. Others are just not facing the truth. Some are evil men, at war with good. And some are good, struggling with evil. Six billion people in the world, six billion souls. And sometimes... all you need is one. ~ One Tree Hill

Someone who does not run toward the allure of love walks a road where nothing lives. But this dove here senses the love-hawk floating above and waits; and will not be driven or scared to safety. ~ Rumi

The famous Achilles (the great hero of the Trojan War) told his mother about the battle of Troy, and said that he doesn't want to go. She said to him: "If you stay here, you will find peace. You will find a wonderful woman, and you will have sons and daughters, who will have children. And they'll all love you and remember your name. But when your children are dead, and their children after them, your name will be forgotten... If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories in thousands of years! And the world will remember your name. But if you go to Troy, you will never come back... for your glory walks hand-in-hand with your doom. And I shall never see you again." Troy , the movie

An old father is telling his grandson about a fight that is going on inside himself. He said it is between 2 wolves. The evil one that makes me feel: Anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The good one that enables me to enjoy : Joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?" The old father replied, "The one I feed." P.s: Thanks Saira Star for sharing this. Loves it! :)

Something inspiring... read on -------------------------------------------------------------------- As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. "Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, It's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't ...

It is perfectly possible to get what you think you want and be miserable. It's possible too, to never get it but deeply enjoy the process of trying. In this world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting your heart's desire, the other one is getting it. ~ Oscar Wilde

...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903 in Letters to a Young Poet

'Do people think that they will say we have faith and they will be left alone and not tested.' (29:2) 'And Certainly We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits. But give glad tidings to the As-sabirin (the patient ones) who: when afflicted with calamities say, Truly: To Allah we belong and truly to Him we shall return.' ~ Al Baqarah Courtesy: SAK

Remember this movie? I used to watch it over and over and over again...:] I think I might be able to recall all the dialogs! Here are some of the cutest parts of the movie... Hakuna Matata! Can You Feel The Love Tonight... The Hula Song Lion King II - We Are More Than We Are, We Are One!

h To Popeye, Who is always there when it matters for big things, and little ones, Every hour, every moment of every day I will always love you. With all my Heart & Soul, ~ Daniell Steel. The dedication in her book 'Daddy'.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Life and Death Energy and Peace If I stop today it was fun, Even for the terrible mistakes that I have made, and would have unmade if I could Even for the pains that have burned me and scarred my soul, It was worth it... For having been allowed to walk where I've walked, Which was to Hell on Earth, Heaven on Earth, Back again, Into, Under, Far in between, Through it, In it, Over and Above it. Gia Marie Carangi 1960-1986

The gods throw the dice, and they don’t ask whether we want to be in the game or not. They don’t care if when you go, you leave behind a lover, a home, a career, or a dream. The gods don’t care whether you have it all, whether it seems that your every desire can be met through hard work and persistence. The gods don’t want to know about your plans and your hopes. Somewhere they’re throwing the dice - and you are chosen. From then on, winning or losing is only a question of luck. The gods throw the dice, freeing love from its cage. And love can create or destroy - depending on the direction of the wind when it is set free. For the moment, the wind was blowing in his favor. But the wind is as capricious as the gods - and deep inside myself, I had begun to feel some gusts. At last, as if fate wanted to show me that the story of the Other was true - and the universe always conspires to help the dreamer - we found a house to stay in, with a room with separate beds. My first move was to bath...