Michael said

It's not our disadvantages or shortcomings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them, and our desire to act as if they did not exist. - Giacomo Leopardi   

So shine forth in all your glorious folly! Someone is going to love you anyway - so you might as well like yourself!   

The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success. - Vauvenargues    

So dream on. It may prove folly, so, if you fail, fail magnificantly.  

 If there be any truer measure of a man than what he does, it must be what he gives. - Robert South  

So give generously and open heartedly because, well, because generosity of spirit oils the wheels.   

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature. - Seneca (4 BC-65 AD)   

So how come I put this quote in? Well, despite thinking that happiness is a trivial pursuit, it is such a lovely state to be in, we should savour every sweet moment, tune into the each harmonious second, stop at the gentle fragrance of it.  Equally, to break away from the trivial, we need to engage with and wallow in the authenticity of feeling and expressing all the emotions: sad, angry, scared as well as happy.    

True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice. - Ben Jonson   

So choose well and see your own worth reflected in the love, eyes and hearts of the people who are proud to call you friend.  Choose well and go well   

Michael

A great poem by John Clare

I am: 

yet what I am none cares or knows,

My friends forsake me like a memory lost;

I am the self-consumer of my woes,

They rise and vanish in oblivious host,

Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;

And yet I am! and live with shadows tossed

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,

Into the living sea of waking dreams,

Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,

But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;

And e'en the dearest--that I loved the best--

Are strange--nay, rather stranger than the rest.

 I long for scenes where man has never trod;

A place where woman never smil'd or wept;

 

There to abide with my creator, God,

And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:

Untroubling and untroubled where I lie;

The grass below--above the vaulted sky.

John Clare

What I found today

How lucky we are

While chatting with an acquaintance I asked casually what time he had to be at his job.

"Five-thirty sharp" said he, smiling.

I whistled.  "That's bright and early, surely?"

He nodded, "It is," he agreed.  "And the world doesn't always look inviting at five o'clock on a winter's morning - and it needn't be so very inviting on some summer mornings, either."

He paused.  Then he added: 

"But you know, Francis, when I find myself getting near to grumbling I think of my brother, lying on his back day and night.  Man, he'd give all he has to get up at three all the year round"

Francis Gay

(I Found this in my treasure of paper)

Time to Laugh - and Keep on

I found this today and sure wish to share it.  

Columbus, undaunted by his mutinous sailors, who threatened to throw him overboard unless he turned back, wrote in his log: "This day we sailed west because it was our course".  Stick to the course you have mapped out for yourself.

Don't let difficulties, big or little, turn you from your purpose.  Meet them firmly, squarely and unafraid by J. C. Roberts

If you want a lot out of life, we must remember that we cannot expect everything to go our way always...

Whenever you feel that you have been knocked down, in other words, whenever things have not gone your way, just laugh and fight back.  "Alfred Tack in "Sell better - Live better".

Quotes and writings

12th August, 2012

Going through the piles and piles of paper and things we have been carrying around with us while we move house, I have come to realize how funny life can be.  Through my limping and plodding to and from the shed to the kitchen and back, I have today experienced much agonizing pain but I am surprised that despite the pain I felt through the day, there was a light-heartedness in the home.  I somehow took things more easily than I would normally.  The day passed with my joking and laughing at everything that happened.  Whether one of my old tattered cartons gave way and all the age-old things packed in it came rolling out, or whether I could not get my precious cup of tea as there was no milk, and much more.

I opened one of the books from the carton and found a small writing by James N. Alexander M.A...  He wrote a article in an old magazine which I have preserved for a long time.  the date of the page is September 1970.  The cost of the magazine is 1'6.  wonder which denomination it is and believe me, the page is one intact piece of paper!..

Ah, and yes, there are many many more...

Parts of what the writing says :

Humour is the spice of life, like a gleam of sunshine on a dull day, refreshing and renewing the spirit.  When added to a cheerful disposition it is an invaluable asset to full and happy living.

A touch of humor makes us kin.  Whether you are addressing a public meeting or simply in company, if you can raise a laugh or cause a smile, you will at once thaw reserve and aloofness and bring people closer to one another.

Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, was chided for his homely humor by those who thought a preacher should always be solemn.  He replied: "I would rather make people laugh for five minutes than sleep for half an hour".

"There is no tonic the equal of laughter, when it is spontaneous and unrestrained.  It seems to permeate every cell of both body and brain.  It relieves nerve tensions, relaxes you physically and emotionally.
James N. Alexander M.A.  Sept. 1970

Why Noise

I have not read of this but I have found that there is a constant blocking effort in my old ears to try and stop the humdrum of living of my fellow-men.

Is it really as simply put and accepted as "Survival"?

I ask.

What is it that we are all rampantly running to source quickly?  More questions come to mind.

Noise has become one of the major reasons for me not to be able to sleep in peace.

For years we believed living away from the city busy life, that we were close to paradise.
Then one day, during my convalescing times of 'resting' at home, I realised that sleep was disturbed almost every minute.  I wondered why when I was so on my own and yet, could not sleep.

For someone who never has difficulty knocking off to dreamland as soon as head touches pillow, I continued to suffer.  What was it that kept me awake, I had wondered.

Then it clicked.  It was the noise.  Yes, Noise... !

The generators from the neighbouring hotels, the huge trucks passing with loads through the highway and the music and merry-makers happy screaming.

It dawned and I have observed for a long long while now.

Why all this noise?

The commuters ruthlessly harping on their horns, people screaming carelessly, loud noisy trucks, generators, airconditioners, water pumps...  and the latest contributor to my agonies of suffering the heartless selfish living of all around me is the toddler from the apartment upstairs.  A little beautiful child who is taught how to scream by the maids.  The maids who come and thump their trash in a trash can which has seen better days, a 3ply piece of wood placed on the it and a huge brick block put on it so that the crows do not disturb their trash until it is taken away by the contracted wheelbarrow man who nevertheless drops parts of it at my doorstep which I have to later cleanup.

Mankind today,  how careless are we despite the accolades, graduation or the 'high' class we purport to maintain.

What a world to live in ...

ymnrk(c)

F O C U S

Imagine seeing your life through the lens of a camera. 

Are you pointing in the right direction? 

Make sure your goals are right. 

Are you in focus? 

If things are not clear, maybe someone can help you focus. 

What else is in the picture? 

Don't make your goal a tiny part of a crowded picture, but don't leave out anything essential to your goal. 

What about light? 

If you can't see your goal, shed some light on the scene. 

OK. Ready?

Set?

Klick!