The Ingredients of Happiness
“One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain. By the proper use of experience and thought one can draw much from oneself, by determination and patience once can even restore one’s health… so let us live life as it is, and not be ungrateful.”
–George Sand (a.k.a. Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, Baroness Dudevant, French Writer, 1804-1876)
We Are All Being Challenged to Grow
“This new mind awaits us in this next stage of our evolutionary journey. We are being challenged by the forces of history to grow into this mind, to mutate, as it were, in order for our species to survive. Jesus had the new mind, called in him the Christ Mind, as did Buddha and others. It is the mind when it is overshadowed by God, our mind when it has become one with His, when we have touched the heavenly light and been permanently altered by it. This state of enlightenment is the exaltation of our existence, the uplifting of our human consciousness to such a high place that we manifest, at last, as the children of God we truly are.”
–Marianne Williamson (American Author, Unity Church Minister and Lecturer on Spirituality, 1952-)
“The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for Living Your Best Life” (Marianne Williamson)
Finding Your Gifts
“Figuring out our gifts in life is part of our journey to becoming enlightened human beings.”
–Allison DuBois (American Writer and Psychic, 1972-)
The First Step: Self-Mastery
“Begin at once a program of self-mastery. But start modestly, with the little things that bother you. When you call your child, be prepared that she may not respond to you, or if she does, she might not do what you want her to do. Under these circumstances, it doesn’t help your child for you to become agitated. It should not be in her power to cause you any disturbance”
–Epictetus (Phrygian-born Greek Stoic Philosopher, c.A.D.55- c.A.D.135)
Everyone Has a Role to Play
“In the construction of houses, choice of woods is made. Straight un-knotted timber of good appearance is used for the revealed pillars, straight timber with small defects is used for the inner pillars. Timbers of the finest appearance, even if a little weak, is used for the thresholds, lintels, doors, and sliding doors, and so on. Good strong timber, though it be gnarled and knotted, can always be used discreetly in construction.”
–Miyamoto Musashi (a.k.a. Shinmen Takezō, a.k.a. Miyamoto Bennosuke, a.k.a Niten Dōraku, Japanese Samurai, Swordsman and Founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of Swordsmanship and Author of The Book of Five Rings (五輪書 Go Rin No Sho), on Strategy, Tactics, and Philosophy, c.1584-1645)
Developing Fully
“There is no conflict between inner development and contributing to the larger good of humanity; in fact, an individual can develop fully only if he or she takes part in a larger work of this kind.”
–Richard Smoley (American Philosopher, Editor and Writer, 1956-)
Becoming a Worthwhile Person
“If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.”
–Brian Tracy (Canadian-born American Author and Expert on Business and Personal Development, 1944-)
Purity and Clarity
“The richest soil, uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.”
–Plutarch (Greek Biographer and Priest to the Oracle at Delphi, A.D. 46-c.120)
Wise People Shape Themselves
“Irrigators guide water; arrow-makers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; wise people shape themselves.”
–Buddha (a.k.a. “The Awakened”, a.k.a. Siddhartha Gautama, Indian Religious Figure and Founder of Buddhism, c.563 B.C. – c. 483 B.C.)
Your Personal Economy
“There’s not a lot you can do about the national economy but there is a lot you can do about your personal economy.”
Zig Ziglar (American Self-help Author and Speaker, 1926-)
