Catching a Falling star

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,
never let it fade away!
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
save it for a rainy day!

For love may come an tap you on the shoulder,
some starless night!
Just in case you feel you wanna hold her
you'll have a pocketful of starlight!

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,
Never let it fade way!
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,
Save it for a rainy day.

For when your troubles start multiplying,
An' they just might!
It's easy to forget them without trying,
With just a pocketful of starlight.
Music and Lyrics by Lee Pockriss.

I had a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels,
Something good in everything I see
I bvelieve in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream, I have a dream.

I have a dream,  a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream , I have a dream
I'll cross the stream, I have dream.

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I beleive in angels
Something good in everything I see,
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream, I have a dream
I'll cross the stream, I have dream.
Abba

Life Lessons from a 90 year old.

• Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
• When in doubt, just take the next small step.
• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
• Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.  Your family and friends will.  Stay in touch.
• Pay off your credit cards every month.
• You don't have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree.
• Cry with someone.  It's more healing than crying alone.
• It's ok to get angry with God.  He can take it.
• Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
• When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
• Make peace with your past so it won't screw up your present.
• It's ok to let your children see you cry.
• Don't compare your life to others.  You have no idea what their journey is all about.
• If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
• Everything can change in the blink of an eye.  But don't worry, God never blinks.
• Take a couple of deep breaths.  It calms the mind.
• Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
• It's never too late to have a happy childhood.  But the second one is up to you and no-one else.
• When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
• Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.  Don't save it.  Today is special.
• Over prepare, then go with the flow.
• Be eccentric now.  Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
• The most important sex organ is the brain.
• No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
• Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?".
• Always choose life.
• Forgive everyone everything.
• What other people think of you is none of your business.
• God and time heal almost everything.  Give them time.
• However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
• Don't take yourself so seriously.  No one else does.
• Believe in miracles.
• Gold loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
• Don't audit life.  Show up and make the most of it now.
• Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.
• Your children get only one childhood.
• All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
• Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.
• If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
• Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.
• The best is yet to come.
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
• Yield.
• Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Seizing the opportunity.

What good does bitterness offer you?

If, as many others do, you thrash about in the wilderness of anger and disappointment, you will fail to see the opportunities that God will lay in front of you.  Anger and disappointment blind us.  If not that, they distract us.  They make it impossible to keep our eyes open since when we rage, we squint and thus we cannot see all that surrounds us.  If we instead accept what the present moment is offering, if we simply move forward through it doing whatever task is in front of us, we then have the serenity necessary to be an observer.  Observation is our way of recognizing the next thing we are meant to do.

It is not the circumstance of one's life but what one does with the circumstance that is important:  choices, outcomes, and knowledge gained from outcomes.

When you reach a turning point and must choose between bitterness and serenity.  What is it that you intend to do with all of this bitterness, I ask you?  
Elizabeth George: What came before he shot her pg 448

A Prayer for You

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be confident knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones,  and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

Oh, the places you'll go.

Today is your day.  Your mountain is waiting, so....get on your way.

You have brains in your head,
You have feet in your shoes,
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

You're on your own, and you know what you know.
And you're the one who'll decide where you'll go.

Oh, the places you'll go.

The more that you read,
the more things you'll know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.

Sayings

The best is yet to be.

Live well, laugh often, love deeply.

Life is not measured by the number of breathes we take, but by the moments that take our breathe away.

Today is your day.  Your mountain is waiting, so .... get on your way.  Dr Seuss. 

There is music all around us.  All we have to do is listen.

Riding the Wave

Today I have a new vision:
The ocean will be the icon by which I will steer my course.
I will surf its waves, find its ports, ride out its storms.
And most of all, I will cherish its safe harbours.

I will float, peacefully and quietly,
on a sea of calm whenever it presents itself,
storing up energy for days when gales may blow,
or when waters are rough, turbid or unforgiving.

I will be unperturbed by dark and ominous clouds overhead,
for they too, must pass.
I will know that
Change is a constant.

I will remember, each day,
to be thankful for the beauty and vibrancy underneath its waters,
for the hues of colour spread around the world,
and for the life it brings.

I will find solace in tide pools
left to bathe in the sunshine of an outgoing tide,
reflecting a microcosm of the oceans portent.
I will be watchful of high tides, swift currents, and... jellyfish.

I will find happiness in a sibilant shell;
wet, white sand oozing around my toes;
the damp salt spray dancing on a fresh wind,
and the brilliance of a sunset shimmering across the wide horizon.

I am a tiny emblem in the vastness and depths beyond myself.
I am a moment in time
I choose to ride on the crests of waves.

I Carry Your Heart With Me.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it
in my heart) i am never without it
(anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful, you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing, is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life, which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

e e cummings

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant,
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all
aridity and disenchantment, it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labours and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann c.1920.

Tales of the heart

Prologue: Once upon a time, not so very long ago, (see wedding video)
Stood on a hilltop under a bright quilt of shining stars

three wishes on a shooting star:
Remember your roots, remember where you come from
Live well in the present
Look forward to the future.
Messages from the heart:
Tales to help you along your path.

Part One: Looking backward at moments in time
Part Two: Looking forward and beyond

In Some Small Way

There's a tree, standing there
In such an ordinary way
But as I look around,
Everything keeps changing.

There's a leaf on that tree
And it floats into a stream
Like everything, it gets carried away
To the sea.

And if we give a little of our love away
Maybe meet in the middle every night and day
If we could hear just a whistper of what the heart needs to say
It could sure make a difference in some small
In some small way.

In the heart lies the key,
That unlocks your destiny
Look within and we'll find,
Everything we're longing for.

And if we give a little of love away
Maybe meet in the middle every night, every day
If we could hear just a whisper of what the heart needs to say
It could sure make a difference in some small
In some small way.

Oh may you cherish each moment you live
And know all the love that you give will go on, and on and on.

There's a sky, vast and blue
And it lies deep inside of you
Breathe it in, let it out,
Breath it in again.

And if we give a little of love away
Maybe meet in the middle every night, every day,
If we could hear just a whisper of what the heart's trying to say
It could sure make a difference in some smalll
In some small way.

Song by Celine Dion. Lyrics by David Tyson & Richard Page.

A Prayer for my Daughter

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory's wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack - and roof-levelling wind.
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.

Helen being chosen found life flat and dull
And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-legged smith for a man.
It's certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of plenty is undone.

In courtesy I'd have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty's very self, has charm made wise.
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.

May she become a flourishing hidden tree
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there's no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.

An intellectual hatred is the worse,
So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of plenty's horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweeet will is Heaven's will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy Still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all's accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony's a name for the rich born,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

William Butler Yeats

THEMES

Guarantees - There's only one.
The Art of Motivation
Problem-Solving - the heart of the matter.
Expectations: Highs, Lows and then there's Reality.
The beauty of Risk
Change - the inevitability of it all
Perspectives and perceptions and beliefs
Structure, planning and self-discipline
Fragility of Intention and the Power of Action
Adversity - the great role model.
Perfectionism - the devil on your left shoulder
Goals, Quests, Directions and Bucket Lists
Balance - the great uniter
Intuitions and gut feelings.
Knowledge and Know-how
Look, Listen and Learn
Keep it real, keep it going.
Optimism or pessimism and what is real
Patience - the ?th virtue
Procrastination - the ?th evil
Self-knowledge, understanding of self
Potentials and possibilities
Take five: the art of decisiveness and self-debate
Impulsivity vs Spontaneity
Choices: Crossroads and forks in the road.

The ABC's of Life Lessons
A: Adversity - life events that build character, the power of Action
B: Beliefs - created by you based on your vision and attitude to the world, balance
C: Changes that are inevitable, bound up in choices
D: Dreams to be fulfilled
E: Expectations - keep them real
F: Forgiveness
G: Goals are the pistons of life, no gaurantees
H: Happiness - uniquely stated by yourself
I: Inquisitiveness, Investigation, Intuition, Intent
J: Judgement - the pros and cons
K: Knowledge
L: Love with abandon, Laugh with impunity, Learn at every opportunity
M: Motivation is the key to unfolding your dreams and succeeding at goals
N: Nurture compassion and empathy
O: Opportunities to discover, learn from
P: Problem-solving, patience, persistence, perceptions, perspectives, pacing
Q: Quiessence and quiet
R: Relax, remember, reward, rejuvenate, risk
S: Success, Surrender, Socialize
T: Truth, Trust, Try,
U: Understanding
V: Values
W: Wellbeing, wonder
X: marks the spot at the fork of your road
Y: one of the five questions you should always be asking: Why, What, When, Where and Who?
Z: zeal and zest for living

Index

Chapter One Beginnings

Regrets, I've had a few.

Down memory lane - yours, mine and theirs.

Remember when...?

Things other people have said much better than I could ever do

Thoughts about food :Recipes - traditional, grannies best, and new

Food for thought: Kierkegaard, Addison, Emerson, Fromm, Nietzche,

Your father: a heart as big as the universe

Messages from your grandmothers hearts

Listening to your aunts

Contributions from your uncles.

Games, play, and childhood dreams.

Poems that say it all

Songs from the heart

Books to curl up with

Stories that need to be told

Stars to shoot for : goals, quests and bucket lists

Now is the time! (live in the moment)

Thoughts and wishes.

Perspectives and Angles

Life Lessons to Learn and remember.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling