Time to Reflect as the New Year Approaches ` From the Quote of the Week Files December 28, 2015

Time to Reflect as the New Year Approaches

“We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.”

John Dewey

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At the end of each year, I ask myself two questions:

What do I want to create in this New Year? And, perhaps even more importantly, What do I want to let go of?
 
Patricia Digh

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Some other things to think about when reflecting on this past year... 

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Next Week...

The Word of the Year ~ What will your word be for 2016/

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Wishing you a most Beautiful New Year wherever this may find you!

Inspiring Story ~ The American St Nick

The American St Nick

A great story about a small act of kindness that happened 70 years ago that is still remember to this day

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/american-saint-nicolas/

http://www.americanstnick.com/

Christmas Quotes and Random Musings ~ Quote of the Week, December 21, 2015

Christmas Quotes and Random Musings

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” 

Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Favorite Christmas Movie Quote

It's Christmas Eve, it's the one night of the year where we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more...for a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be. It's a miracle, it's really sort of a miracle, because it happens every Christmas Eve...

"You have to do something, you have to take a chance, you do have to get involved. There are people that are having trouble making their miracle happen. There are people who don't have enough to eat, there are people that are cold...you can go out and say "hello" to these people. You can take an old blanket out of the closet and say "here" you can make them a sandwich and say "oh by the way here!" I get it now! If you give, then it can happen...then the miracle can happen to you. It's not just the poor and hungry, it's everybody who's got to have this miracle!! And it can happen tonight for all of you! If you believe in this spirit thing, the miracle will happen and then you'll want it to happen again tomorrow. You won't be one of those (Scrooges) who says Christmas is once a year and it's a fraud...it's not! It can happen every day..you've just got to want that feeling. And if you like it and you want it you'll get greedy for it...you'll want it every day of your life, and it can happen to you. I believe in it now! I believe it's gonna happen to me now, and I'm ready for it. It's great! It's a good feeling..it's better than I've felt in a long time! I'm ready....have a Merry Christmas, everyone."

From the movie "Scrooged" (1988) starring Bill Murray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eObVoC0dOp0

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My all time favorite Christmas Treat 

Gingerbread Cookies ~ (Estonian Style)

For the Recipe...

http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2005/12/estonian-christmas-cookies.html

"Haid joule ja head uut aastat"

(Merry Christmas in Estonian)

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Favorite Christmas Song

White Christmas ~ Bing Crosby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSUT8Inl14

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Favorite Christmas Present

American Flyer Train Set!!

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Favorite Christmas Rock and Roll Song

Christmas Wrapping  ~ The Waitresses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nud2TQNahaU&list=RDnud2TQNahaU#t=29

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Favorite Christmas Message

This Holiday Season…

Mend a quarrel... Seek out a forgotten friend... Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust...Write a love letter... Share some treasure... Give a soft answer... Encourage youth...Manifest your loyalty in word and deed...Keep a promise... Find the time... Forgo a grudge... Forgive an enemy... Listen... Apologize if you were wrong… Try to understand... Flout envy... Examine your demands on others... Think first of someone else... Appreciate... Be kind... Be gentle... Laugh a little, Laugh a little more... Deserve confidence... Take up arms against malice... Decry complacency... Express your gratitude... Welcome a stranger... Gladden the heart of a child... Take pleasure in the beauty and the wonder of earth... Speak of your love... Speak it again... Speak still once again.

Author Unknown

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Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this may find you!

Christmas is Coming; From the Quote of the Week Files; December 14, 2015

"If you were going to make this the best holiday season ever, how would you do it?  It won't happen for most people, because most people won't have that as their #1 intention.  And it's unlikely that you'll have the life-changing holidays that you could have if you don't create a powerful intent."

Debbie Ford

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 “Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.”

Francis C. Farley

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Wishing you a most beautiful Christmas wherever this may find you!

How to live the Good Life; From the Quote of the Week Files; December 7, 2015

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

Marcus Aurelius

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“There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span.”

Ernest Hemingway

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Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this may find you!

Possibilities... From the Quote of the Week Files, November 30, 2015

"The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. Thepossibility is always there."

Monica Baldwin

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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”

Thomas Merton

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Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this may find you!

Thankful; Grateful; From the Quote of the Week Files; November 23, 2015

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"If you just look at all that already exists in your life, all that you already have: unlimited air to breathe, ample lighting to see, music to hear, books to read, stars to dream by, trees to gaze at, floors to dance on, friends to cavort with, enemies to befriend, strangers to meet, woods to walk through, beaches to comb, rocks to scale, rains to cleanse you, rivers to float you, animals to comfort you, you do have to admit, there's more of it than you could ever, ever, ever spend.

But try anyway."

Mike Dooley

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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

"There is always, always, always something to be thankful for."

Anonymous

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Wishing you a most beautiful Thanksgiving wherever this may find you!

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The Soul Knows... From the Quote of the Week Files, November 16, 2015

The Soul Knows...

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“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.” 

John O’Donohue

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“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is 

to silence the mind” 

Caroline Myss 

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Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this made find you!

Be Good with NOW ~ From the Quote of the Week Files; November 9, 2015

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BE GOOD WITH NOW:

Right now, you have life and the time to live it. Fill that time, right now, with your very best attitude, your most sincere gratitude and your most effective actions.

Be good with now, and now will be very good with you. Be amazed and inspired at the value of what is, and that value will be yours to use for good and meaningful purposes.

You don’t have to waste your energy wishing for things to be different. You can do great and wonderful things with what actually, already is.

Be good with now, and see the possibilities. Be good with now, and transform life’s ever-present abundance into real fulfillment.

Replace worry with wonder, and with an eagerness to fully immerse yourself in the unmatched experience of being right where you are. Replace fear with love for the outstanding possibilities that are yours here and now.

Let go of the illusion that happiness is being withheld from you because you don’t have this thing or that. Open your eyes, open your whole being, and allow the immeasurable goodness that is yours to live, right now.

Ralph Marston

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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

“Beginning today, I will create a new future by creating a new me.  No longer will I dwell in a pit of despair, moaning over squandered time and lost opportunity.  I can do nothing about the past.  My future is immediate.  I will grasp it in both hands and carry it with running feet.  When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act!  I seize this moment.  I choose now.” 

Andy Andrews

Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this may find you (Right Now!)

Overflowing with Optimism? ~ From the Quote of the Week Files, November 2, 2015

Is your life...

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???

Perhaps these quotes will help!

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“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” 

Winston Churchill

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Two Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

"Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they could be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life, — if, in short, I am anoptimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing."

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope,”

Helen Keller, from her book, Optimism

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"An optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him."

Zig Zigler

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Wishing you a most BEAUTIFUL Day, wherever this may find you!

Got Respect? ~ From the Quote of the Week Files; October 26, 2015

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Two Quote and Two Songs on the subject of RESPECT!

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"Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy."

Anonymous

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"The way into this new world can be so simple - and so sweet. When you're willing to listen to your own voice and trust yourself enough to follow your heart, you encounter your true power - a power marked by courage and vulnerability. Any moment you offer a whole-hearted 'Yes!' to your own truth, you are infused with the power, self-worth, self-respect, self-esteem and confidence that will give wings to the best year of your life."

 Debbie Ford, The Best Year of Your Life.

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Two Songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oab4ZCfTbOI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

Attachments area

Got Purpose? ~ From the Quote of the Week Files, October 19, 2015

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"Place your hands on your heart. Feel that? This is you. This is your life. There is a purpose to why you are here, right now. Don’t question the cards you are dealt – play with what you’ve got and make the best you can of today. When in doubt; place your hands on your heart. Your purpose is right here. You can never lose it, and it will never leave you."

Rachel Brathen

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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

“The more I thought about myself, the weaker I became. The more I recognized that I was serving a purpose larger than myself, the stronger I became."

Eric Geitens; Former U. S. Navy Seal and founder of The Mission Continues; Commencement Speech; Tufts University 2012

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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

Do you Believe in Magic ~ From the Quote of the Week Files, October 11, 2015

Charles de Lint, Roald Dahl and even John Sebastion believe  in magic. Do you?

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"I do believe in an everyday sort of magic, the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we're alone." 

Charles de Lint

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“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-FnYHPDpk4

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Wishing you a most beautiful and magical day wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week; October 5, 2015

​I attended my college reunion this past weekend and a couple of quotes come to mind!

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"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth."

Robert Southey
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“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it

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the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”

Margaret Barber
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week Files; September 21, 2015

Comparing quotes for this week!  Enjoy!

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"Comparison is the thief of Joy," 

Theodore Roosevelt

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Two Recycled Quotes of the Week Classic...

“Listen. The only time you look in your neighbor’s bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don’t look in your neighbor’s bowl to see if you have as much as them.”

Louis C.K.

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“Nine rules of life: Don't analyze. Don't complain. Don't compare yourself to others. Don't expect things to be done for you. Don't expect perfection in the relative. Look to the knowledge aspect daily. Own the movement. Problems are all in your head. Hold yourself together.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

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Wishing you a most beautiful wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week File; September 14, 2015

British neurologist and best selling author Oliver Sacks passed away on August 30th at age 82. Here are some of his insights upon learning he had terminal cancer...

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On individuality

"When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate — the genetic and neural fate — of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death."

On being truly alive

"Over the last few days, I have been able to see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts. This does not mean I am finished with life. On the contrary, I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight."

On love and gratitude

"I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. "

On living each moment

"It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to me. I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can."

On the joy of life

"Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure."

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​http://www.oliversacks.com/

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Wishing you a most BEAUTIFUL day, wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week Files; September 7, 2015

“For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, and you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.”

Lev Grossman

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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

Go Straight to the Good in Everything

"It is the happy lot of those with good taste. The bee goes straight for the sweetness, and the viper for the bitterness it needs for its poison. So with tastes: some go for the best, others for the worst. There is nothing that doesn't have some good, especially books, where good is imagined. Some people's temperaments are so unfortunate that among a thousand perfections they will find a single defect and censure it and blow it all out of proportion. They are the garbage collectors of the will and the intellect, burdened down with blemishes and defects: punishment for their poor discernment rather than proof of their subtlety. They are unhappy, for they batten on bitterness and graze on imperfections. Others have a happier sort of taste: among a thousand defects they discover some perfection that good luck happened to drop."

Baltasar Gracian

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Wishing you a most BEAUTIFUL day, wherever this may find you!