[(JD)]

<font color="blue">To me, talking too much is a little like painting a picture.
It is frequently what we leave out that makes it the masterpiece.
We don't have to tell everything we think, nor use every color on the palette.
Subtlety makes someone else think, and that is more important.

Our tendency as humans is to think that no one understands unless we spell things out for them.
It is hard to keep our mouths shut when we want to say something so much, usually with a da li s ga na ne hi, (Cherokee)
irony or a degree of sarcasm.
Silence can be as unkind as saying too much,
but in the long run it serves a better purpose in preserving friendships.
There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence,
but it is a person of rare sensitivity who knows when the time is.
Peace.

[TaintedGoth1]

Very wise!

[Dancer_in_the_light]

But what of those who complain of being misunderstood, yet never bother to speak their minds?

[nowheretorun]

this is very nice _Sky... thank you for sharing it... for me, i get a feeling about something that is difficult to describe...

knowing the time is something i've thought often about... not clock time, and i can see that you also must have done some of the same type thinking...

i am truly grateful we can both appreciate that together..

[Danialla]

I agree, again hard to do but something to strive for....

[(JD)]

<font color="blue">Can we change another?
No one can change anyone but himself.
We must wait for others to do the same.

Waiting tests our mettle.
Waiting tests our grit and faith,
and anything else we have on the line.

We activate every nerve in us to move-
to do something---
and then we wait.

If we wait a little longer
with patience and endurance
we will know what to do.

During this waiting period
we can stir up the gifts that are within us,
encourage ourselves to be strong and calm,
to find a calm center midst all the
whirling that surrounds us.

When we wait with u li he li s di (Cherokee) -joy-
it connects us to the right things
puts us in a good place,
the right place to receive.

Joy is not of the emotions,
but of spirit.
It can bubble up and grow
in our weakest moments.

Peace.

[nowheretorun]

[nothemama8]

why would we want to change another persons thoughts and belief, our indiviuality is what makes us so precious, don't know if this is said right but is what I feel

[nowheretorun]

sorry ntm... if talking to me, i must reply.... off topic... sorry for that...

sorry if i misunderstood your post

[TaintedGoth1]

[1oxbowgirl]

Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all
The realities and verities of existence,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of action,
The glory of power----

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomarrow a vision of hope.
Look foward, therefore, to this day.

[Danialla]

Very nice poem oxbow....Thank you

[(JD)]

Everyone is welcomed to share their own personal, encouraging Thought for Today

<font color="blue">

I surmise that great sufferers don't become great skeptics.
The spectator to suffering is who becomes a skeptic.

Can one see the star of hope in the light of day?
No, only in the dark of night is it visible.
Skeptics have not been in that dark night.
The do not see any star, as they watch from a distance too far away.

Helen Keller became blind and deaf in early childhood.
She said that "the world is full of overcoming of troubles."

Joni Eareckson, a young girl paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident,
has inspired millions with her faith that emerged from that tragedy.

Merril Womack sings at churches. He had crashed his plane in
woods and suffered burns over 90% of his body. Most would shake their
fists in anger at God. But Womack sings, O how I love him, how I adore him.

It is the spectators, not the sufferers, who become skeptics.

Allow those who suffer with you to encourage you;
forgive those who are incapable of understanding.

[1oxbowgirl]

The way sometimes seems long and weary. So many people today are weary. The weariness of others must often be shared by me. The weary and the heavy-laden, when they come to me, should be helped to find the rest that I have found. There is only one sure cure for world-weariness and that is turning to spiritual things. In order to help bring about the turning of the weary world to God, I must dare to suffer, dare to be fulled with spiritual peace, in the face of all the weariness of the world.

I pray that I may be a help to discouraged people and that I may have the courage to help bring about what the weary world needs but does not know how to get.

[Lenny]

As long as the focus is on what we don't have we will remain blind to what gifts are within us..

IMHO.

Lenny

[(JD)]

[(JD)]

<font color="purple">

Little things speak to our hearts.
Music.
Fragrances.
Sounds.

Things that are meaningless to others
reach into our souls and do a work that
the obvious cannot touch.

Simple remedies can heal a deep hurt -
a smile.
a happily whistling passerby.
a bird chirping at break of day.

But we have to listen to the voices-
from without.
from within us.
-that can turn away the negative talk
and give us rest.

We don't always believe we have a choice.
But we have more space there to work than we realize.
We can no longer scoff at the power to help ourselves.

We have a bigger hand in it than imagined.
It is our decision whether to get down to business and
be open to help and healing from unlikely sources.

Peace

[Danialla]

Speak kind words and you will hear kind echoes.

[Abby]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
_Sky said:
I surmise that great sufferers don't become great skeptics.
The spectator to suffering is who becomes a skeptic.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

I am a skeptic. And sometimes it is hard to move forward.

[(JD)]

Abby, to be a spectator means sitting by the sidelines and not knowing suffering.
Are you a skeptic to your own suffering? Can I help you move forward somehow?

[Abby]

Yes, i suffer little but complain much. I do not know real suffering and i am a skeptic of the world. There are those that suffer great amounts and still move forward....i suffer little and stay stuck. The only way i can move forward is to stop thinking 'woe be me' and start living. But i am a skeptic.
thanks though sky

[1oxbowgirl]

Make it a daily practice to review your character. Take your character in relation to your daily life, to your dear ones, your friends, your acquaintances and your work. Plan how best each fault can be eradicated or each mistake be corrected. Never be satisfied with a comparison with those around you. Strive toward a better life as your ultimate goal. God can be your helper through weakness to strength, through danger to security, through fear and worry to peace and serenity.

[(JD)]

No one should determine that what they are going through
is any more or less than another.

Suffering is a subjective experience.

What may appear to be a horrendous experience for one,
might not be a big deal for another.

People often suffer according to their level of coping.
It is a strange phenomena, that some attribute to the
Spiritual nature of things.

There is no reason to think that you do not suffer as much
as another.

It does not matter what the issue is, what the event was.
What matters is that you do the best you can with the
circumstance.

It isn't what you go through, it's how you go through it.

[nowheretorun]

thank you Sky

you are so right, and may i add ?

what matters is not the magnitude of the problem, what matters, is that one is affected by it.....

[(JD)]

<font color="blue">Always remember that certain circumstances are not ours to alter.
We can only be examples, not controllers of other people's lives,
other people's children, other people's circumstances.

Some would have us believe we contribute to harsh events by doing nothing.
Some of the deepest caring and doing, some of the best work,
is not physically evident in the beginning.

Help of any kind must be wanted, and recognized before it can do any good.
Too much help where it is not appreciated can make even a good person helpless.

We must be wise in our giving.
We must be particularly wise in what we withhold.