A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.
~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Something to think about…

A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless, when we step away from our obsessing egos, when we let our pure, unfettered desires direct our thoughts and our steps.  Our egos maybe keeping us caged in old behavior, old fears.  Egos struggle for self-preservation; unfortunately, it’s our old, unhealthy self the ego is preserving.

Spiritual growth makes it possible for us to unload our baggage from earlier days, baggage that intrudes on our perception of today’s events, and clears the path so we can move responsibly forward.

Living creatively is living in the thick of the flow, trusting the flow, spontaneously moving with the flow, not controlling the flow.  We are Spirit-full when we let ourselves roll forward, resisting not, doubting not.  And our greatest contributions will be discovered when our ego takes a rest.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

What is to give light must endure burning

What is to give light must endure burning.
~ Dr. Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” was fascinating to me.  Frankl was deported to the Theresienstadt camp in Prague in January, 1942. He had just married Mathilde Grosser one month earlier. He was later sent to Auschwitz camp in Poland. He spent three years at Auschwitz, Dachau, and other concentration camps. By the end of the war, Frankl lost his pregnant wife, his parents, and a brother.

This is a man who suffered greatly, yet he went on to become a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School until his death in 1997. He wrote thirty-two books that have been translated into 26 different languages.

Viktor drew on his own experiences as a survivor of the holocaust to originate the discipline of Logotherapy. Logotherapy is a form of Psychotherapy that stresses the need to find meaning in life even in the most tragic circumstances. When “Man’s Search for Meaning” was published in 1959, Carl Rogers called it “one of the most outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years.”

via http://www.wisdomcommons.org/wisbits/4559-the-story-of-viktor-e-frankl

The moments that take our breath away

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

via Pinterest

Everything that has a beginning has an end

Everything that has a beginning has an end.  Make your peace with that, and all will be well.
~ the Buddha

Colorful doorway

Very artistic!

via Pinterest

Beautiful black and white twins Kian and Remee turn seven

Beautiful black and white twins Kian and Remee turn seven

It can usually be difficult to tell twins apart – but not this pair. These beautiful twins share the same cheeky smile but Kian Hodgson’s skin is dark and she has black hair while her sister Remee is blonde with pale skin.

The twins, who were born within a minute of each other, owe their different appearances to a one in a million combination of their parents’ genes. Their mum Kylee Hodgson and dad Remi Horder both have white mothers and black fathers…

READ MORE: Beautiful black and white twins Kian and Remee turn seven – Parentdish.

The Science of First Impressions

What parts of the brain are involved when we meet someone for the first time?

A few years ago, a team of researchers at New York University led by Daniela Schiller examined the neuroscience of how people form impressions of others. While their brains were being scanned in an fMRI machine, subjects were shown a photograph of a face and read six sentences about that person…

Read more… The Science of First Impressions | Psychology Today.

TGIF, everyone!

Bouquet of Irises | Nadya Stupina

via Russian Artist Nadya Stupina ~ Blog of an Art Admirer.

Beautiful ocean view at night

I would love to be sitting there right now, toes in the sand, listening to the waves, looking up at the stars.  Wow!

Pre-programming in our brains

Try this out!  I was determined that I could prove this wrong, but, lo and behold, my foot changed direction!  Amazing!

Colorful flamingo collage

Live a colorful life!.

Sheepdog in the Tulips

Meet The Two Most Photogenic Sheepdogs You’ll Ever See.

Ladybug Condo

….just live. live with all your BEING.

We all get heavier as we get older

We all get heavier as we get older, because there’s a lot more information in our heads.  So I’m not fat, I’m just really intelligent and my head couldn’t hold any more, so it started filling up the rest of me!  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

What you think about

It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing, that makes you happy or unhappy. It’s what you think about.
~ Dale Carnegie

Bench-press a Buick

They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. At this point, I should be able to bench-press a Buick.

If someone made a movie of your life

If someone made a movie of your life, who would play you?

Click on the title of this post to find the Comments section.  I’d love to see your answers! (Registration is required only so that spammers don’t get through.  Your name and email stays with me!)

A being and a becoming

Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
~ Matthew Arnold

Something to think about…

We must take responsibility for ourselves, for who we become, for how we live each day.  The temptation to blame others may be ever present.  And much of our past adds up to wasted days or years, perhaps, because we did blame someone else for the unhappiness in our lives.

We may have blamed our own parents for not loving us enough.  We may have labeled our husbands the villains.  Other people did affect us.  That’s true.  However, we chose, you and I, to let them control us, overwhelm us, shame us.  We always had other options, but we didn’t choose them.

Today is a new day.  Our options are entirely open.  We are learning who we are and how we want to live our lives.  How exhilarating to know that you and I can take today and put our own special flavor in it.  We can meet our personal needs.  We can, with anticipation, chart our course.  The days of passivity are over, if we choose to move ahead with this day.

Every day is a new beginning.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Focus on the butterfly

Bits, Pieces & Slices of Life.

Leadership from the bottom up

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.
~ John Quincy Adams

Interesting notion, isn’t it? John Quincy Adams was clearly not referring to positive thinking when he said or wrote that idea, but there is so much negative thinking in the world right now, it’s sometimes overwhelming and depressing, and I believe it’s going to take leadership from the bottom up, if there can be such a thing, to change that.

I’m on a mission, of sorts, to change my own thinking, and I’ve been sharing that process with whomever is interested. It’s actually working, for me. In a big way. And judging by the growing number of warm and encouraging emails and messages I’ve been receiving, many of you seem to be finding inspiration here, as well, which pleases me to no end. And those of you who share these images are spreading thoughtful content even further and are probably changing the lives of others in ways you don’t even know.

Individuals, as leaders. Bottom up. A growing army of positive thinkers on a roll.

Cool idea, Mr. Adams.

My thanks, to everyone who’s reading this, for joining me on this journey.

Janet.¸¸.ღ

Family Tree display

It never dawned on me to display familiy pictures this way! What a great idea! I think I might try this over my desk area. I’m not the least bit artistic, so I may have to look for a wallpaper mural type of tree with bare branches to make this work.

Innocence of a child

Next-in-a-series puzzle

(I’m not sure you have to be a genius to get this one.)

via Funny Quotations

The End of Chicken Parmesan As You Know It

Chef John’s Note:  Not only did the recipe taste amazing, it was also better than any traditional chicken Parmesan I had ever made. When you consider it’s lower in fat, takes about 10 minutes to put together, it’s no wonder why this is my new favorite recipe.

Click through for a list of ingredients.

(The instructions for assembling and cooking are in the video.)

Food Wishes Video Recipes: The End of Chicken Parmesan As You Know It.

Janet’s Note:  I’ve never used a video recipe before, but the instructions were so good, and the chef was so calm and likeable, and this recipe is so easy that I’m actually trying it tonight.  I’ll add a note later tonight about how it turns out.

Update:  I’m definitely adding this to the list of “regulars.” Very tasty and incredibly easy!!  A keeper!