"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."
                                                                    – Linus Pauling

About Linus Pauling

American chemist Linus Pauling is the only person ever awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes. He was born in Portland in 1901. He won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his breakthrough work on hemoglobins and proteins. He also originated the theory that DNA was formed in a double helix. He became a peace activist after studying fallout from nuclear bombs. His influence and work in concert with other scientists led to a test ban treaty and his second Nobel Prize, for Peace, in 1963. He died in 1994.

"Sometimes the best helping hand
  you can get is a good, firm push."

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- Oscar Wilde

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
                                                             – St. Francis of Assisi

About St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology in Catholicism, was born Giovanni "Francesco" Bernardone into a wealthy Italian merchant family in 1181. As a youth, he was known for carousing. After a series of illnesses, one of which occured while a prisoner of war, he had a spiritual awakening. God came to him in a vision and told him to build up his crumbling church. Taking the dream literally, he began rebuilding a local chapel. He took a vow of poverty and began traveling, preaching, and working to help the sick and the poor. A group formed around him, becoming the Franciscan order. He died in 1226.

   In order to live happy, joyous, and free, I had to give up boredom. At first that was not an easy choice to make, but it came out good.
   Even now, however, I occasionally balk at leaving a comfortable rut that I have created. 
   In the morning my left leg goes into my pants first. I brush my teeth with my right hand. My toilet paper unrolls over the top, not from underneath. I go to the grocery the same way every time. My phone answering message has not been changed in more than a year.
   Yesterday I discovered that I always bake potatoes wrapped in tinfoil. When I'm out of tinfoil I don't eat baked potatoes and I go into a funk.   
   None of these on their own are big deals, but I can improve the level of my happiness by changing only one little thing at a time.
   Oh, by the way, this is the first time I posted two entries on my blog on the same day. Ha! The idea still works.
   I can't explain this ... I'm just reporting.
                     Tom           

"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life — learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some."
                                                               – Robert Fulghum

About Robert Fulghum

American author Robert Fulghum is best known for his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, which dominated the New York Times best-seller list for nearly two years. He was born in 1937 in Texas. In his youth he worked at odd jobs, including ditchdigger, ranch hand, and singing cowboy. After a short career at IBM, he became a Unitarian minister. He has written eight best-selling books of essays. His anecdotes of everyday life encapsulate his down-home philosophy. He lives in Seattle, Washington and on the Greek Island of Crete.

"We must dare to think "unthinkable" thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world."
                                                                – James William Fulbright

About James William Fulbright

James William Fulbright, the US senator who represented Arkansas from 1945 to 1975, is memorialized in the Fulbright Prize, the international exchange program he created. He was born in 1905 in Missouri. As a congressman, he sponsored a resolution to form the peace-keeping organization that became the United Nations. As senator, he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee for 15 years. His book The Arrogance of Power critiques the government's involvement in the Vietnam War. He died in 1995.

"If you want something said,
     ask a man.
  If you want something done,
     ask a woman."
                                 -Margaret Thatcher

"Attempt something so large that failure is guaranteed unless God steps in."
                                 --Debra Kloor

I love this one so I'm repeating it from an earlier blog entry:

"Don't carry a grudge. While you're carrying a grudge, the other guy's out dancing."
                                                                 – Buddy Hackett

About Buddy Hackett

Buddy Hackett, the bawdy American comedian known for his high spirits and expressive face, primarily played comic roles in film and television but shined in his dramatic role in the 1979 TV movie Bud and Lou, about Abbott and Costello. He was born Leonard Hacker in Brooklyn in 1924. He made his reputation performing at nightclubs in the "Borscht Belt" of the Catskills resorts before bringing his act to Las Vegas in 1958. His television work includes the sitcom Stanley, which costarred a young Carol Burnett. He died in 2003.

SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES;
      FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.
                                  - Think and Grow Rich
                                           Napoleon Hill

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."
Oprah Winfrey

 

"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter.
              Try again. 
     Fail again. Fail better."

Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes. 
                                                                – Washington Irving

About Washington Irving

Washington Irving, known for such stories as "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," is considered by many the father of the American short story. He was born in New York in 1783. Although he ultimately returned to New York, he lived in Europe for 17 years, working for the US Embassy. His extensive travels through the southern and western United States led to books about his tours. He took many years to recover from the death of his fiancée in 1809 and never married. He died in 1859.

Do you believe this?
"It is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life."
                              Some People Do.

"It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly."
                                                                 – Isaac Asimov

About Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov, the American author known as one of the top writers of science fiction's golden age, penned nearly 500 fiction and nonfiction books, including the Foundation trilogy and I, Robot. Born in 1920 in Russia, he moved to the US with his parents at age three. As a teen, he would read pulp magazines in his parents' candy store and became inspired to write his own stories. His fiction frames interesting ideas in a bare-bones narrative. He died in 1992.

"We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results."
                                                                        – Herman Melville

About Herman Melville

American author Herman Melville is best known for his epic whaling novel, Moby-Dick, which wasn't recognized as a masterpiece until after his death. He was born in New York in 1819. At age 20, he went to sea on a whaling ship. His seafaring adventures included time with cannibals in the Marquesas Islands, the basis for his successful novel Typee. His later, more philosophical, novels were not as well received as his early adventure yarns, and he died in obscurity in 1891.

"Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one is watching."
                                         -Sachiel Page

(Before this one, the famous quote from this ancient major league baseball pitcher was: "Don't Look Back, Something Might Be Gaining On You.")  Satchel Paige

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
- Henry Ford

"There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
                                                                                  Booker T. Washington

About Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington, the influential American educator, was the first African-American to be invited to the White House; he also had tea with Queen Victoria. He was born in slavery in Virginia in 1856. After emancipation, he worked in the salt mines. When he learned of a school that would accept former slaves, he walked much of the 400 miles to get there. He became an outspoken advocate of education and hard work for African-Americans and founded Tuskegee University. He died in 1915.

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be."
- Abraham Maslow

"The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence."
                                                             Bruce Springsteen

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
but their echoes are truly endless."
- Mother Teresa

Another Quote From Mark Twain:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream!"

 

 

Twain

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."
                                                                 – William James

"Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring."
                                                               – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
                                                                        – Mark Twain

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
                                                                 – Eleanor Roosevelt

Countless unseen details usually are the only difference between mediocre and magnificent.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the Master calls a butterfly.

"Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him."
                                                                        – Aldous Huxley

"Gratitude is the open door to abundance."

"The one thing all famous authors, world class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things. Yet still, they began their journeys."
                                                 Mike Dooley
- Mike

"What a fearful object a long-neglected duty gets to be!"
- Chauncey Wright

"Don't let other people tell you what you want."
                                                                                       – Pat Riley

           Where Did The Month Go?

No record better reveals the gap in my January, 2010 life than my blog site. I started the year and then, <puff>, the month was over.

Where did it go?

Two old hernias seized control on my body system and early one morning I found myself riding an ambulance to the emergency room at Boulder Community Hospital.

Thereafter I met numerous dedicated medical people who plied their training and experience to the task of saving my life and restoring my health.

Here's to everyone there, especially Dr. Charlie Jones, the world's greatest general surgeon. His quick and accurate diagnosis, followed at once by his surgery skills, again saved my life. Three cheers!

I had met Dr. Jones five or six years ago with the same life-saving needs, just arising from different causes. 

Correct mention of this 2010 medical event must be made: I remain alive, sober, sane, and useful by the grace of a loving God who often works through people. They are not gods; they just do his bidding.

There were such folks in my life during January 2010. Sure they all weren't great surgeons, but they formed a core team (dare I call them a God Squad?) who helped me carry on.

They were from down the street and from the far-away Czech Republic; from Harvard and from Front Range Community College; from Kenya and from Alaska. They all added something essential to my life and I now have a small part of them in me, with me, always.

Dr. Charlie Jones was the captain, but they all were mates on God's ship.

I pray that you too have a Doctor Charlie in your life. Unless you were born with saint-like spirituality, you might make some human mistakes in your life as I have done in mine. If that occurs, we all need a Charlie Jones and crew to stand by and help give us another chance.

I am grateful to be alive, sober, sane and useful today. When I squeeze out the adjectives, the punctuation, and all the excess verbage, I have left only the loving God who gets all the credit.


                       With Respect & Gratitude,
                                                              Tom
                        http://aronbestsellers.com

"Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead."
                                                                         – Louisa May Alcott

About Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott, the beloved American author, is best known for her semiautobiographical novel, Little Women, which was made into a movie five different times. Born in 1832 near Philadelphia, she grew up in Massachusetts. Her family lived in the genteel poverty depicted in her fiction. She wrote lurid stories anonymously to bring in money but gained fame under her own name with young adult novels, which held readers with their warm characterizations and simple, engaging style. She died in 1888.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther

"If a little dreaming is silly and a waste of time, the remedy for it is not to dream less but to dream more. Dream powerfully!"

"Fall seven times, get up eight. "
                   -- Japanese Proverb 

 Japanese proverb

"Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity."
     -                                                                        --Michael Jackson- Michael Johnson

   I need to remember to be bold. If I'm going to make an error, I'll make it a whopper.
   It takes just about as much apologizing to straighten out a big mistake as it does to take care of a sniveling little thing that might upset some mouthy spectator.

I choose to live my life looking through the windshield, not through the rear view mirror.

After the chess game ends,
 the king and the pawn go 
 into the same box.
                  Italian Proverb

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving."
                                                                        – St. Francis de Sales,
                                                                           a patron saint of writers.

About St. Francis de Sales

St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622), known as the Gentle Saint, was bishop of Geneva. His motto was, "He who preaches with love preaches effectively," and his religious texts, including Introduction to the Devout Life, have resonated with many non-Catholics. Pope Pius IX proclaimed him a patron saint of writers. Some consider him a patron saint of the deaf; he invented a form of sign language to teach a young deaf man how to communicate

 

"Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way."
                                                                           – Booker T. Washington

About Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington, the influential American educator, was the first African-American to be invited to the White House; he also had tea with Queen Victoria. He was born in slavery in Virginia in 1856. After emancipation, he worked in the salt mines. When he learned of a school that would accept former slaves, he walked much of the 400 miles to get there. He became an outspoken advocate of education and hard work for African-Americans and founded Tuskegee University. He died in 1915.

     I am as rich as I think I am!
I can never earn more in the outside
world than I can earn in my own mind.

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
                                                                  – Sir Winston Churchill

About Sir Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill was an extraordinary British prime minister; he laid the groundwork for welfare in England, helped set the boundaries in the Middle East, became a symbol of the resistance against the Nazis in Europe, and was a central force in the Allied victory in World War II. He was born in 1874 near Oxford. He was known for his courage, his stubbornness, and his powerful personality. He was also an accomplished painter and writer. He died in 1965.

"Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told:

'I'm with you kid. Let's go.'"
                                                                 – Maya Angelou

About Maya Angelou

American poet and author Maya Angelou is best known for her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She was born in St. Louis in 1928 and grew up in rural Arkansas. Due to her activism, Martin Luther King asked her to take a leadership position in his organization. In 1993, at President Clinton's request, she wrote and performed a poem at his inauguration. She has also directed films and appeared on television. She teaches at Wake Forest University.

                       ALL MY PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

 

   If I've asked for something in prayer, I must prepare myself to receive the answer. By opening my mind and heart to whatever the answer may be, I remain receptive to spiritual wisdom. I also must be open to any manner that the answer will come to me.
   It may come through a conversation with a friend, an line in a story or even from the lyrics of a song. I may see a sunrise or overhear a thoughtful conversation. When I feel a deep resonance and peace within I know it is the message for me.

 

If you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; ... then you will ... find the knowledge of God.--Proverbs 2:3, 5

THIS HAS PROVEN TO BE TRUE FOR ME, SUCH AS DURING THE LIFE - AND - DEATH MEDICAL JOIRNEY I TRAVELED FROM 2001 to 2008:

"One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."
                                                                           Sigmund Freud

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything"

                                                                               Mark Twain

    THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST DIFFICULT SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE FOR ME TO FOLLOW:
                        Love your enemies
         and pray for those who persecute you.

                               -Matthew 5:44

"The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense."
                                                                                        – Arnold Bennett

 

Popular British novelist Arnold Bennett wrote more than 30 well-received novels, including The Old Wives Tale, the fictional life story of two sisters. He was born in 1867 in Hanley, in the heart of the six Staffordshire towns known as the Potteries. Although he left as an adult, settling in London and then Paris, he set much of his fiction in his birthplace, giving the novels a gritty realist texture. He died in 1931.

"Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, they never get around to do what they want to do."
                                                                        – Kathleen Winsor

(Note: Kathleen Winsor is my kind of writer. Her novel Forever Amber was published during World War II and sold 100,000 copies the first week in spite of our country's preoccupation with defeating the enemies. Maybe that was because her story was considered "racy" - sexy stuff along the lines of D.H. Lawrence. Took courage to write without being limited by the usual standards of correctness, political or religious.)

"If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted on the Sistine floor."

                                                                                               – Neil Simon

"I just kept on doing what everyone starts out doing. The real question is, why did other people stop?" 
                                                                                 William Stafford 

About William Stafford

American poet William Stafford is best known for his first book of poems, Traveling Through the Dark, published when he was 48. Stafford was born in 1914 in Kansas and spent most of his life in Oregon. He was drafted into the army in 1941 but opted out as a registered pacifist. His memoir, Down in My Heart, details the forestry work he did during that period. As a poet, he captured the earthy poignant details of everyday life. Despite his late start, he published 57 volumes of poetry. He died in 1993.

                "Believe that you can do it, under any circumstances. Because if you believe you can, then you really will. That belief just keeps you searching for the answers, then pretty soon you get it." 
                                                                                                – Wally "Famous" Amos

About Wally "Famous" Amos

The name Wally "Famous" Amos is synonymous with chocolate chip cookies. He was born in Florida in 1936 and moved to New York at age 12 to live with his aunt, who baked him cookies. After serving in the Air Force and getting his GED, he went to work at the William Morris Agency, first as a secretary and then as the agency's first black talent agent, wooing clients by sending them homemade cookies. He opened his first store in Los Angeles in 1975. He lives in Hawaii and serves on the Board of Directors of the Read It LOUD! Foundation, an organization that promotes reading aloud to children.

"Take calculated risks. That is 
 quite different from being rash."
                                                    – George S. Patton

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin" - Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 27, 1910, of Albanian descent. At the age of 12 she felt called by God to be a missionary. She became a nun at 21 after three years in a convent in Ireland, and went to teach at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta. She never saw her mother and sister again. She was affected her so deeply by the misery and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls that in 1948 she received permission to leave the convent school and dedicate herself to working among the penniless, destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she started an open-air school for slum children, and her life's work began. In 1950 she started her own order "The Missionaries of Charity", which became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI in 1965.

The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world with the principal task to love and care for those nobody else was prepared to look after. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

                   "I get up. I walk. I fall down.
                    Meanwhile, I keep dancing."
                                                                        –  Rabbi Hillel

 

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." 
                                                                                  Oprah Winfrey

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
                                                                 - George Bernard Shaw

                       Yes-Yes or No-No

   I will confidently say "yes" to a richer, fuller experience of life. I will confidently say "no" to circumstances that do not lead to my highest good.

   With God's guidance, I am assured that whether my word is yes or no, I am taking the right action.

    "Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No.'"
                                                                      --Matthew 5:37

Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble.
                                                                       – Admiral William Halsey

About Admiral William Halsey

American Admiral William "Bull" Halsey Jr. won a Navy Cross during World War I and led the Third Fleet against Japan in World War II. He was born in New Jersey in 1882. After serving on battleships and torpedo craft in World War I, he went back to school at age 52 to become a naval aviator. General MacArthur called Halsey the greatest fighting admiral of World War II. His motto was, "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often." The Japanese signed their surrender on his flagship. He died in 1959.

   When that little voice in my head starts judging me (or others), I have four answers to the voice:

   1. Big Deal!
   2. Who Cares?
   3. So What?
   4. Why Not?

If none of these work, there is one more:
      IDM (it don't matter)

                                           The Four Agreements Companion Book
                                                                               by
                                                                   Don Miguel Ruix
                                      

                 Nothing Fancy
          About The Instructions
                    For My Life

      "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
                               and 
          give thanks in all circumstances."

 

"There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best."
                                                                                  – Doris Lessing

About Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing, the iconoclastic British author who writes both realistic literary novels and humanist science fiction, is best known for her book The Golden Notebook, an experimental novel about a blocked writer who jots down her thoughts in a set of notebooks. She was born in Iran in 1919 to British parents and grew up in Rhodesia. She went through a communist phase but became disenchanted after witnessing the reality in the Soviet Union. She was awarded a Noble Prize in Literature in 2007. She has been married twice and has three children

        I have met my enemy
                    and
                  it is me

                                          My Version Of Pogo Pogh's Wisdom

            http://aronbestsellers.com

   The President has supporters that he probably wishes would just go away.
   Such was the case of a lady in a recent Town Hall meeting. She chose to defend Mr. Obama on the question whether he was constitutionally qualified to be the President.
   "Natural born citizen?" she asked. "That's not right. Why should someone who was born by c-section be disqualified from being the President?"
   GOTTA LOVE 'EM, MR. PRESIDENT
                         

         FAILURE never stopped me.
            FEAR OF FAILURE did.

   "Let there be peace on Earth, 
                       and 
            let it begin with me." 


       http://aronbestsellers.com

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
                                                                             – Lao-Tzu

About Lao-Tzu

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu is believed to have lived in the 4th century B.C. Little is known about him, but it is likely that he wrote the Tao te Ching, the foundation of Taoist philosophy, and engaged Confucius in debate, honing both men's belief systems. His name means either "old master" or the "old child," and one legend says he was born with white hair after spending 80 years in his mother's womb.

   Eighty years? Oh those Chinese are such kidders, right? I haven't met a mother yet who wanted her pregnancy to last more than nine months. Have you?
   Well, I have no standing to criticize any religious belief. Many of my spiritual beliefs are "unrealistic" and supernatural.

              http://aronbestsellers.com

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
                                                            – Thomas A. Edison

                    http://aronbestsellers.com

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people."
                                                                            – Victor Borge

About Victor Borge

Danish pianist Victor Borge was affectionately known as the Clown Prince of Denmark. Born as Børge Rosenbaum in 1909 to musician parents, he began playing piano at age three. After a stint as a classical pianist, he began combining music and jokes. His anti-Nazi jokes landed him on Hitler's enemies list. In 1942, he was named Best New Radio Performer by the American press. His Comedy in Music show on Broadway was the longest running one-man show in the 1950's. He died in 2000.

          http://aronbestsellers.com

              Let's Have A Happy Day!

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come."--
                                     Song of Solomon 2:12

                        http://aronbestsellers.com

"Just don't give up on trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."
                                                          Ella Fitzgerald

               http://aronbestsellers.com

   If you think you are beaten, you are.
   If you think you dare not, you don't.
   If you like to win, but think you can't,
   It is almost certain you won't.

   If you think you'll lose, you're lost.
   For out of the world we find,
   Success begins with a person's will --
   It's all in the state of mind.

   If you think you are outclassed, you are.
   You've got to think high to rise.
   You've got to be sure of yourself before
   You can ever win a prize.

   Life's battles don't always go
   To the strongest or fastest man.
   But soon or late the one who wins
   Is the one WHO THINKS HE CAN.
                                Napoleon Hill
                                             Think and Grow Rich
   
         http://aronbestsellers.com

"A bad habit never disappears miraculously;

     it's an undo-it-yourself project."
                                                                      – Abigail Van Buren

      http://aronbestsellers.com

"All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail."
                                                                             – Dorothea Brande

About Dorothea Brande

Dorothea Brande wrote the quintessential how-to-write book, Becoming a Writer, which was among the first to address every writer's core problem: How to sit down and let the words flow. Her book, published in 1934, remains in print today. She was born in 1893 in Chicago. She worked as an editor on the Chicago Tribune and The American Review and married the latter journal's owner. She also wrote Wake Up and Live, which was adapted into a movie in 1937. She died in 1948.

       http://aronbestsellers.com

  The Mystery Of Sailing Ships      

      One ship goes east
      One ship goes west
By the self same wind that blows,
       But it's the set of the sail
       And not the gale
 That determines where it goes.

             It's My Job To Set The Sail. 
           God Takes Care Of The Wind.

          http://aronbestsellers.com

"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold."
                                                                                             – Leo Tolstoy

About Leo Tolstoy

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, known as Leo Tolstoy, is considered one of the greatest novelists of all time; he wrote 25 books, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He was born on his family's estate in Russia. Although he fought in the Crimean War, he became a pacifist and political radical after a severe midlife crisis. His beliefs greatly influenced Mahatma Gandhi, who became a friend. He died in 1910.

       http://aronbestsellers.com

SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES.
      FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.


           http://aronbestsellers.com

"Give us this day our daily bread."

                                                   Matthew 6:11  

          http://aronbestsellers.com

"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself."
                                                                                                    – Anna Quindlen

             http://aronbestsellers.com

   Today is my 70th Birthday and I am in awe of what a great life God has given me. 
   Happy Birthday to everyone everywhere who has August 18 as their birthday. No matter what the number of years might be, it's a great life.
   My friends at Unity Village Missouri sent me the perfect spiritual message for this happy day. I accept it completely with the joy that it obviously conveys. Here it is -  

 

Today's Daily Word - Tuesday, August 18, 2009

                         Let Go, Let God

   I release, accept, and receive.

   At times I may need to repeat an affirmation several times before it takes hold in mind and heart. For instance, I may have been carrying a heavy burden for days or weeks, and finally I understand: I've been trying to do this all on my own. I stop struggling and affirm: I let go and let God. I repeat this affirmation until I release all to God.

   The One Power and Presence never lets me down. I release any worry or struggle and accept the comfort, inspiration, and abundance of God. I receive all that I need, and more.

   I release, accept, and receive. With ease and grace, the gifts of God flow to me and through me to accomplish good.

"The Noah rule: Predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does."
                                                                                           – Warren Buffett

        

"Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
                                                                      – John Updike

About John Updike

John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize–winning American novelist known for his careful craftsmanship and small-town settings, has published more than 60 books to date. He was born in 1932 in Pennsylvania. As a child he suffered from stammering and was encouraged by his mother to write. After college, he joined The New Yorker as a regular contributor. He is best known for his series of novels about a fictional alter ego, including Rabbit, Run and Rabbit at Rest. He lives in Massachusetts.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
                                                                     –Theodore Seuss Giesel (Dr. Seuss)

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     THE PATRON SAINT OF WRITERS

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time."
–                                                                          St. Francis De Sales

About St. Francis De Sales

St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622), known as the Gentle Saint, was bishop of Geneva. His motto was, "He who preaches with love preaches effectively," and his religious texts, including Introduction to the Devout Life, have resonated with many non-Catholics. Pope Pius IX proclaimed him a patron saint of writers. Some consider him a patron saint of the deaf; he invented a form of sign language to teach a young deaf man how to communicate.

With Respect & Gratitude,
                Tom
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This Was Helpful To Me: 
    http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/

This website/video looks and sounds like simple high school "book learning," but it made clear to me some important things about my good life in the USA.

http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/

   It reduces the emphasis on "Liberals" and "Conservatives." It challenges the myths spread by some TV commentators and debunks the promises made by the gang of "We'll Take Care Of You" politicians.
   In laying out the basics, it serves as a warning to me that our country's system might be quietly changing. Based on other histories of the world, this could become very troublesome.
   I appreciate my friend who sent this to me. It awoke me from my unconcerned, day-to-day existence. I now remember that I have a duty to become more active in my community affairs.

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PEACE BE WITH YOU

              It Is Too Great Of A Day
      To Have Only One Good Thought.
                     Thought #2
                            For
            Tuesday, August 4, 2009:

"I have no right to say or do anything that diminishes a man in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him, but what he thinks of himself. Hurting a man in his dignity is a crime."
                      Antoine de Saint-Exupery as quoted in
                            How to Win Friends & Influence People, 
                                           by Dale Carnegie, p 226


      

               Failure seldom stops me.

              What frequently stops me

                   is the fear of failure.
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