Several Thoughts to Ponder

You must do your best constantly, yet never allow yourself to become involved in whether things work out the way you want.

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How do you relate to people in authority? Depending on your character and upbringing, you may react defensively or meekly to those you perceive to hold more power than you do.

Hierarchical power dissolves in the presence of authentic power. Your true personal power has nothing to do with status. It is determined by how attuned you are to all aspects of yourself and to the needs of others.

In any exchange with a person ‘in power,’ focus your attention on meeting your mutual needs and the relationship will be both equitable and fruitful.

"Compassion, caring, teaching, loving, and sharing your gifts, talents, and abilities are the gateways to power."

-- Jamie Sams

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Loneliness

"When humans find themselves surrounded by nothing but objects, the response is always one of loneliness." -- Brian Swimme

Soul lives through relationship and it is in soul that we find meaning. We can have meaningful relationships with people, animals and other beings, projects, ideas and ideals. How much time do you devote to building relationships with things?

"Loneliness is caused by an alienation from life. It is a loneliness from your real self." -- Maxwell Maltz

"No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence." -- George Eliot

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"Hope is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles." -- Samuel Smiles

"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof." -- Barbara Kingsolver

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* Create a hand made valentine card. Less than 1% of guys do thisand women find it so romantic.
* A soaking hot bubble bath for her in a tub surrounded by candles.Use a kids bath crayon to pen a love note on the wall or lipstick (not her favorite) on the mirror.
* Clear the livingroom and put down a picnic blanket, put out somecheese, crackers, fruit and some bubbly. Add candles and romanticmusic for added effect.
* Take a dozen favorite photos and turn them into a personalized 12 month calendar.
* Write a love note on the back of a jigsaw puzzle, take it apart andwrap it up (or write a love note and cut it up into puzzle pieces)
* Put some rose petals on the ceiling fan blades. Ask your sweetheartto slow dance and then turn on the fan to shower her with petals.
* Use glow in the dark stars to write a loving message on the bedroomceiling
* Use colored chalk to pen a romantic valentine on the driveway foreveryone to see

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Living in harmony

"Peace comes not from the absence of conflict, but from the ability to cope with it." -- Unknown Source

Angeles Arrien says that life will be simple if we follow the four-fold way counselled by indigenous peoples:
1. Show up, being present with all four mental, emotional, physical and spiritual intelligences.
2. Pay attention to what has heart and meaning.
3. Tell the truth without blame or judgment.
4. Be open to outcome, not attached to outcome.

"Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections." -- Katherine Paterson

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Honour yourself

"I’d gone through life believing in the strength and competence of others; never in my own. Now, dazzled, I discovered that my capacities were real. It was like finding a fortune in the lining of an old coat." -- Joan Mills

Take a moment to stop and think about what you give to the people and life around you. Don’t think about what you’re not doing right. Look instead at all you do that is a blessing.

Many of us continually beat ourselves up for not doing or being enough. But imagine for a moment that you are great just as you are. Feel the relief this brings! Now open to the possibility that this is not a daydream. It’s true! Believe it!

"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success."
-- Norman Vincent Peale

"We cannot rise higher than our thought of ourselves." -- Orison Swett Marden

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Do you engage in violence?

"There are three kinds of violence: one, through our deeds; two, through our words; and three, through our thoughts. ... The root of all violence is in the world of thoughts." -- Eknath Easwaran

While there’s plenty of violence in the world, not many of us engage in violent actions. But are we violent at times with the words we speak? How often do we think vicious thoughts?

We may assume our thinking is an internal matter that has no bearing on the quality of life in the world. Perhaps we need to think again.

"The ancestor of every destructive action, every destructive decision, is a negative thought." -- Eknath Easwaran

"We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far." -- Swami Vivekananda

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1. Recognize that opposites generally attract and that it's no accident that you might be together with someonewho is different in certain ways.

Even though it's tough to realize--these differences might help to create the "spark" between two people, especially if they each learn to appreciate these differences. You look at your differences as an opportunity to grow and not to separate and disconnect the two of you. Take the judgment away and don't make each other wrong.

2. Talk and listen to each other about your differences. It is so important that you understand one another and not make one person wrong and one right.

3. Decide what each of you can and want to do to learn from each other. Believe it or not--differences can be a way to come closer together and not continue to separate the two of you if you will begin to make some shifts in the way you approach each other.

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I have learned never to ask questions for which I really don’t want the answer!

Questions like the following are not empowering:
• What’s wrong with me?
• How long could this take?
• What could go wrong?
• How much trouble could it be?
• How hard could it be?

Some empowering questions could be:
• Is there a message for me in this experience?
• What’s the gift in this situation?
• What’s the most loving thing I could do now?
• How can I turn this into a positive experience?
• What would the grandest greatest version of me do now?

It’s valuable to be conscious so we can ask empowering questions.

~ Bonnie Hutchinson

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On self-honesty

"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne

"You cannot fake a relationship and feel right with yourself or anyone else. Changing yourself to fit what you think other people want doesn’t work. Pretending to be someone other than yourself only broadens the distance between the person you are and the one with whom you’re trying to establish closeness." -- Mary Manin Morrissey

"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got." -- Janis Joplin

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