There’s nothing like a newborn baby to renew your spirit-and to buttress your resolve to make the world a better place.
-Virginia Kelley

There are spaces between our fingers so that another person’s fingers can fill them in.
-Bits and Pieces

No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?
-Lee Iacocca

William McKinley, the 25th U.S. President, once had to choose between two equally qualified men for a key job. He puzzled over the choice until he remembered a long-ago incident.

On a rainy night, McKinley had boarded a crowded streetcar. One of the men he was now considering had also been aboard, though he didn’t see McKinley. Then an old woman carrying a basket of laundry struggled into the car, looking in vain for a seat. The job candidate pretended not to see her and stayed put. McKinley, however, gave up his seat to help her.

Remembering the episode, which he called “this little omission of kindness,” McKinley decided against the man on the streetcar. Our decisions-even the small fleeting ones-tell a lot about us.
-Taken from Bits and Pieces which adapted this from Presidential Anecdotes, Paul F. Boller, Jr.

Anger is the only thing to put off till tomorrow.
-Slovakian Proverb

Years ago, a 10 year old boy approached the counter of a soda shop and climbed on to the stool. “What does an ice cream sundae cost?” he asked the waitress. “Fifty cents,” she answered.

The youngster reached deep in his pockets and pulled out an assortment of change, counting it carefully as the waitress grew impatient. She had “bigger” customers to wait on. “Well, how much would just plain ice cream be?” the boy asked. The waitress responded with noticable irritation in her voice, “Thirty-five cents.”

Again, the boy slowly counted his money. “May I have some plain ice cream in a dish then, please?” He gave the waitress the correct amount, and she brought him the ice cream.

Later, the waitress returned to clear the boy’s dish and when she picked it up, she felt a lump in her throat. There on the counter the boy had left two nickels and five pennies. She realized that he had enough money for the sundae, but sacrificed it so that he could leave her a tip.
-Taken from Bits and Pieces, which adapted the story from Fleming Revell

Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.
-Henry James

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.
-Arthur Rubinstein

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.
-Arthur Rubinstein

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
-Plato

There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you? - Rumi
(Taken from Three Cups of Tea

When your heart speaks, take good notes. - Judith Campbell
(Taken from Three Cups of Tea

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
-Thoreau

Mindfulness teaches us to notice our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations without immediately categorizing them as good or bad. We learn to be more compassionate toward ourselves, responding to our thoughts and feelings as a friend might, rather than as a slave to a master. Rather than be overwhelmed or ruled by our feelings, we become better able to choose how we want to feel and act in difficult situations.
-Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, PhD

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
-Seneca

Beyond living and dreaming there is something more important: waking up.
-Antonio Machado

Share your story of what makes you happy.

A bed fit for two! After much wrestling and playfulness, the two decide to take a nap together. This took some careful negotiations, considering that each like his space.

No bed it too big for Coco Nut. My sister came to visit for the weekend, and once she left, Coco took ownership of the bed. When Coffee Bean jumps on the bed, Coco chases him off. This is now officially Coco’s bed. Anyone wanting to sleep in it wil have tough competion.

Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
-Martin Luther King

I’m in the process of negotiating with a sellers agent to buy an apartment building. The agent is a control freak and answers for the seller, to the point that I’m not certain that the seller even has a voice. I don’t trust him. How do you be kind to someone you don’t trust?

Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.
-Gandhi