accepting others

When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.

― Donald Miller

the spirit is ageless

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows,

let them not be written upon the heart.

The spirit should not grow old.

- James A. Garfield

how to feel blessed all the time

When life is sweet, 

say thank you and celebrate. 

And when life is bitter, 

say thank you 

and grow.

 Shauna Niequist

real strength

I've come to know, 

the better I feel about myself, 

the less I feel the need to show off.

~Indigo Girl

On Clarity

For those who confuse you, 

recognize that their confusion is theirs 

and your clarity is yours.

― Barbara Marciniak,
Family of Light: Pleiadian Tales and Lessons in Living

The poet dreams of the mountain

Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts.
I want to climb some old gray mountains, slowly, taking
The rest of my lifetime to do it, resting often, sleeping
Under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks.

I want to see how many stars are still in the sky
That we have smothered for years now, a century at least.
I want to look back at everything, forgiving it all,
And peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know.

All that urgency! Not what the earth is about!
How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only.
I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts.
In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall.

― Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems

to be like water...

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you.

But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child.

Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.

—Margaret Atwood, from "The Penelopiad."