Tag: how to live


— “Rise”
Josh Garrels, Love and War and the Sea in Between (2011)

…Though they may surround me like lions
And crush me on those sides
I may fall but I will rise
Not by my might nor by power
Or by the strength of swords
Only through your love, my Lord
All that’s lost will be restored.

“Chasm”, by Michael Whelan

Fantasy painting. A beam of light pours down a sheer stone wall, mottled and stained with age. A shallow, triangular-shaped recess has been cut into this otherwise unbroken wall. A girl in a white robe stands on the edge of this recess, gripping its sloping side, looking down into the chasm.
“Chasm” (2000) by Michael Whelan.

This is a metaphor of life on so many levels.

This image is so evocative; it touches me to my very core. Sometimes I am there in dreaming. Sometimes I am there in reality. Always, that exhilarating, terrifying feeling in my core – in my mind, in my heart, in my bones, in my kidneys.

He says: there is only one way. One way to death, one way to destiny.

She will fall to be lost in the abyss, and she will rise in indomitable flight. She will fly, or walk on air. Of course. Doesn’t it always turn out that way?

Six Rules for a Happy Life

  1. Avoid fried meats, which angry up the blood.
  2. If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
  3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
  4. Go very light on vices such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain’t restful.
  5. Avoid running at all times.
  6. Don’t look back; something might be gaining on you.

— Leroy “Satchel” Paige

Freedom chorus

I’m in love with freedom
I’m in love with wide blue open sky
I’m in love with a life poured forth
From a Servant’s piercèd side
I’m a slave with freedom
I am free, though body they may bind
‘Cause my name is written on the hand
Of the Man who was before there was time.

– “Freedom” (chorus)
Brother Down, To the Black Land (2003)

On Encouragement

Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that you should never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.

– George Burton Adams

Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement – and we will make the goal.

– Robert Collier

One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.

– John O’Donohoe

Never forget that you are one of a kind.

Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.

– R. Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983)