Soul Mosaic

“War and peace begin in the hearts of individuals.”

Pema Chodron, from her book, Practicing Peace in Times of War

“Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child.”

The Buddha

“You can never hate somebody if you stand in their shoes.”

Pema Chodron, from her book: Practicing Peace in Times of War

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence.”

Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist and writer, 1818-1895

His suggestions for how to live and love are simple, yet a tall order. Still, they are an ideal to at least head toward and it always feels like a success when I manage to achieve even one on any given day:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not seek so much:
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

I love Maya Angelou. In fact, my only request for a Mother’s Day gift was to get me her new book, A Glorious Celebration. I look at her and see courage, wisdom, grace, intelligence, leadership. I see someone who in her sage years is a mother figure and an example to us all. So today’s gift, a tidbit of Maya’s wisdom on success in life:

“If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

Benjamin Franklin

“A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Courage comes and goes. Hold on for the next supply.”

Thomas Merton