June 13, 2011 Thought For The Day

Memories, like olives, are an acquired taste.
__Max Beerbohm

We've all learned to like different things as we've grown; different flavors, different colors, different music. There's no such thing as just naturally liking hockey or jazz; even if we're barely aware of doing so, we had to discipline ourselves to find the pattern of rewards in the game or the music.

It's no accident that the greater the effort we expend on acquiring a new taste, usually the greater the pleasure it gives us. Bridge is more fun than gin rummy; Bach wears better than Mantovani. It's true for other behaviors as well; the more of ourselves we invest, the greater the rewards.

This is nowhere so true as in relationships-the more we put in, the more we receive. A truly high quality of personal relationships is something we all deserve and too few of us get. We may settle for less than we deserve out of doubt or pity or the sneaking feeling that perhaps we don't deserve the best, after all.

The first and most important element is us-our own investment, the honesty and openness we bring to others, and the trust we are willing to bestow. Quality attracts quality; if we have trouble with our relationships, we'd do well to re-evaluate the tastes we've acquired.

I'll look at my part; the only person I'm responsible for is me.

Thought for the day from A Promise Of A New Day

Snowflakes

Snowflakes spill from heaven's hand
Lovely and chaste like smooth white sand.
A veil of wonder laced in light
Falling Gently on a winters night.

Graceful beauty raining down
Giving magic to the lifeless ground.
Each snowflake like a falling star
Smiling beauty that's spun afar.

Till earth is dressed in a robe of white
Unspoken poem the hush of night.

Finding a Little Balance in Life

I just need to say How much I look forward to waking up early in the morning and enjoying a good cup of Kona, stepping out on my balcony in the early morning as I do enjoy the cool crisp air and looking at the beautiful stars. I do look forward to changing the thought for the day on my blogsite every morning in hope that someone does benefit from it.

This morning I was thinking about a quote I read by Alfred Korzybski; "There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking." This statement is so true for me. I was so compulsive and obsessive not only about the things that I believed in but also about the things I didn't believe in. Everything I did was exaggerated. I either raced through life at ten thousand miles an hour or I was in neutral. Absolutely no balance in my life.

Today I am still working on developing balance in my life, more patience and more tolerance. I have discovered that my extremism was a mask by which I hid from life; I did not have to think, consider or ponder-I simply reacted.

Now I know that to believe in everything is to believe nothing; and to doubt everything is not to think. Life is great and it has a variety of options. Today I find myself enjoying the outdoors as much as working on small projects indoor. We are in the myriad of thoughts that life produces. Thank you to everyone who views this blogsite!

May wonderful changes come your way today,
Ava Carter

Experiences

The experiences in this life are composed of many lessons which will ease our personal growth and offer us opportunities necessary to encourage our unique contributions. Not all lessons are easy or pleasurable when we encounter them, but their rewards are great if we choose to learn from them. No lesson is without its reward. The things we need to experience, to learn, to understand, will present themselves again and again until we have attended to them.

William Sullivan said that Life is a battle in which we fall from wounds we receive in running away. We may choose to close our minds, but the lessons will not be put off for long. Another experience will surround us, it will offer the opportunity necessary for the personal growth we're destined to realize.

Tackling a lesson head-on is a decision we make today. We must trust that our lives are unfolding in ways that will evoke our full potential, and that no challenge comes that earlier lessons haven't prepared us for.

Strength - Hope

A little reflection is necessary for me to realize that my most troubling times have been responsible for my greatest growth. Achievements are always accompanied by periods of frustration, occasional loss of direction, even momentary despair because the actual results miss the mark of my hopes. The passage of time makes clear that these actual results benefit me far more than those I hoped for. Today I am a student and my experiences are my teachers. My experience in sobriety has been gained by attending alcoholic anonymous meetings and sharing with other fellow alcoholics. I enjoy a number of other organizations I participate in that are spiritual based. Seeing the results in others who have maintained sobriety by attending a spiritual based group, using a sponsor and taking advantage of a higher power has given me hope. As long as I continue to work a program of recovery, rely on my higher power, and share my experience, strength, and hope with others I will continue my journey of sobriety. Today the hope I have does give me contentment. I pray that I may persist every day in gaining spiritual experience. I do pray to make this a lifetime work.

The Mysterious

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.
____Albert Einstein

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creature, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves.

I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, but it every so tiny of the Reason that minifests itself in nature...