Mello Ron

Faith that the thing can be done is essential to any great achievement.
–Thomas N. Carter

Knowing Gods gift of inner strength and courage, I move forward with the things that once terrified me.
–Shelly

You could have everything in life and still have nothing or you could seek the Truth.
–unknown

The surface holds only illusions. Search deeper for the truth.
–unknown

Communication is the key to unlocking many doors in life.
–unknown

Change is hard, explaining why it is easier to stay in a negative frame of mind rather than a positive one.
–unknown

God is there when we need him the most. When we are afflicted, when trials are facing us, he is there for us. But what we need to understand is that God is there for us even when there are no trials, or when we are not afflicted. In knowing this truth, we can appeal to God at any time. We need not look to God only in testing times, but in fertile times. We should look to cultivate a relationship with Him in good times, and not just bad.
–unknown

OBSERVANCE
"The older I grow, the more I
listen to people who don’t say
much."– German G. Gladden

"The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating.
The paths are not to be found, but made.

"Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present." — Roger Babson

Faith that the thing can be done is essential to any great achievement.
–Thomas N. Carter

Knowing Gods gift of inner strength and courage, I move forward with the things that once terrified me.
–Shelly

You could have everything in life and still have nothing or you could seek the Truth.
–unknown

The surface holds only illusions. Search deeper for the truth.
–unknown

Communication is the key to unlocking many doors in life.
–unknown

Change is hard, explaining why it is easier to stay in a negative frame of mind rather than a positive one.
–unknown

God is there when we need him the most. When we are afflicted, when trials are facing us, he is there for us. But what we need to understand is that God is there for us even when there are no trials, or when we are not afflicted. In knowing this truth, we can appeal to God at any time. We need not look to God only in testing times, but in fertile times. We should look to cultivate a relationship with Him in good times, and not just bad.
–unknown

OBSERVANCE
"The older I grow, the more I
listen to people who don’t say
much."
– German G. Gladden

"To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity."
–William A. Ward

To remain young while growing old is the highest blessing.
–German Proverb

"Make rest a necessity, not an objective."
–Jim Rohn

"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action."
–Benjamin Disraeli

"The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post."
–L. Thomas Holdcroft

"Once you say you are going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you."
–John F. Kennedy

Friends are the sunshine of life.
–John Hay

Each day provides its own gifts.
–Ruth P. Freedman

WORSHIP
"Our concern is not how to
worship in the catacombs but
how to remain human in the
skyscrapers."
– Abraham Heschel

"We tell ourselves so many lies and half-truths … We listen and are duly impressed by these inner voices that turn into unseen judges that nag at us. We give each of these judges a seat of honor in our minds, all the while hating their guts and their never-ending supply of judgements … We give the judges permission to accompany us on each journey of life, never daring to realize that we can park them, at least momentarily."
– Eloise Ristad

"The Inner Critic makes each of us a child. As we become the child in our relationships, we lose our sense of self. We are no longer self-contained, self-respecting adults. We look to others for validation. Our self-worth is based upon their opinion of us. Thus, everyone around us becomes a mother or a father whose support and approval is desperately needed to protect us from the constant criticism of the Inner Critic." — Hal and Sidra Stone
Acceptance does not mean that I have to agree, I don’t have to approve, I don’t even have to like it. I just have to accept.
–unknown

"I can forgive, but I can not forget" is only another way of saying, "I will not forgive."
Forgiveness ought to be like a cancel note - torn in two and burned up so that it never can be shown against one.
–Henry Ward Beecher

To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.
–William H. Walton

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy.
–Jennie Jerome Churchill

Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.
–Doris Mortman

Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events should happen as they do, and you shall have peace.
–Epicetus

God’s word refreshes our minds; God’s spirit renews our strength.
–unknown

God is all-knowing, righteous, longsuffering, all powerful, and good.” –unknown

PROGRESS
You’ve got to be a fool to want to stop the march of time."
–Pierre Renoir

Walk. Don’t walk.
–Traffic Light

Listen in the silence. Listen and you shall hear God speak.
–Frater Achad

Life is for living, love is for sharing. Don’t let the good things pass you by!
–Sue

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.
–David Russell

What I am is God’s gift to me. What I make of myself is my gift to Him.
–unknown

G I F T = God Is Forever There.
–unknown

"The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles."
–Unknown

Happiness is intrinsic, it’s an internal thing. When you build it into yourself, no external circumstances can take it away. That kind of happiness is a twenty-four-hour thing.
–Leo F. Buscaglia

The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.
–John Ruskin

CULTURE
"The great law of culture: let
each become all that he was
created capable of being."
– Thomas Carlyle

"It is while trying to get everything
straight in my head that I get confused."
– Mary Virginia Micka

"I have never been lost,  but I will admit to being confused for several weeks." 
– Daniel Boone 

Simplicity and greatness go together.
– Monty Cralley

"Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing."
–Jim Rohn

I may not be where I want to be, but Thank God I am not where I used to be.
–unknown

I am at peace today knowing that God is doing for me what I cannot do for myself.
–Ruth Fishel

God, let my hard times be healing times.
–Melody Beattie

Hatred toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart as love to God.
–Dean William Inge

Prayer is the one thing that can make a change in your life. If you will go direct to God in simple, affirmative prayer, you can heal your body, bring peace and harmony into your life, and make well-being a reality.
–Emmet Fox

Don’t quit before the miracle happens.
–unknown

Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Generosity begins with our
recognition of our debt to others.
-Master Hsing Yun,

"Describing the Indescribable"
Native American
"Grandfather says..
.you must not hurt
anybody or do harm to anyone.
You must not fight. Do right always.
It will give you satisfaction in life." 
–Wovoka, PAIUTE 

Love consists in this,
that two solitudes protect
and touch and greet each other.
–Rainer Maria Rilke

Always, success is yours to
define and create.
Choose now to make it happen.
– Ralph Marston

"One must not lose desires.
They are mighty stimulating to creativeness,
to love, and to long life."
–Alexander A. Bogomoletz 

Buddha/Zen Thoughts
As a tree with strong uninjured roots,
though cut down, grows up again,
so, when deep craving is not rooted out
, suffering arises again and again.
-Dhammapada

Native American
"We were taught to believe
that the Great Spirit sees
and hears everything,
and that He never forgets,
that here after He will give
every man a spirit-home
according to his deserts:
If he has been a good man,
he will have a good home;
if he has been a bad man,
he will have a bad home." 
–Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE

Wakonda prevails over all;
air, earth and sky and refers
to something greater than
is within the power of man
to accomplish.
Osage

Get up, get going and give it your best shot.
You’ll find a way to make it work.
– Ralph Marston

"We are none of us infallible —
not even the youngest of us."
–W. H. Thompson 

Truth gives a short answer;
lies go round about.
–German Proverb

People who soar are those who
refuse to sit back, sigh and wish
things would change. They neither
complain of their lot nor passively
dream of some distant ship coming in.
Rather, they visualize in their minds
that they are not quitters; they will
not allow life’s circumstances to push
them down and hold them under.
–Charles Swindoll

An eye for eye only ends up
making the whole world blind.
–Mahatma Gandhi

He that cannot forgive others,
breaks the bridge over which he
himself must pass if he would
ever reach heaven; for everyone has
need to be forgiven.
–George Herbert

Man is a creature whose substance
is faith. What his faith is, he is.
–Bhagavad Gita

"Learn to see in another’s calamity
the ills which you should avoid."
–Publius Syrus

………… that is what learning is.
You suddenly understand something
you’ve understood all your life,
but in a new way.
–Doris Lessing

Ability is what you’re capable of doing… Motivation determines what you do… Attitude determines how well you do it.
–unknown

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of
throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.
–Buddha

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of
getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and
appreciating what we do have.
–Fredrick Koeing

Instead of being aggressive toward a difficulty, be quiet before it,
and notice the new feeling.
–Vernon Howard

"Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance is the death of
knowledge."
–Alfred North Whitehead

"God’s strength behind you, His concern for you, His love within
you, and His arms beneath you are more than sufficient for the job
ahead of you."
–William Arthur Ward

Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbons.
–Ruth Ann Schabacker

"Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and
effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world
outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in
getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness
is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few
drops on yourself."
–Og Mandino

People do not grow old; When they cease to grow, They become old.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help
others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What’s in it for
me?"
–Brian Tracy

God knows what He’s about. If He has you sidelined, out of the
action for a while, He knows what He’s doing. You just stay
faithful–stay flexible–stay available–stay humble.
–Growing Strong In The Seasons Of Life, p.531

EDUCATION
"The university exists only to
find and communicate the
truth."
– Robert Maynard Hutchins

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice
melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to
evaporate.
–Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

Funny thing about kindness. The more it’s used, the more you have of it.
–unknown

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if
you’re alive, it isn’t.
–Richard Bach

Apologizing with words isn’t the same thing as apologizing with
actions.
–Laura J.

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.
–Oliver Goldsmith

"A hundredload of worry will not pay an ounce of debt."
–George Herbert

"Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another."
–Condorcet

"One had to take some action against fear when once it laid hold of
one."
–Rainer Maria Rilke

STYLE
"Style is the man himself."
– Georges Louis Lecher de Buffoon
Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish one’s
growth without destroying one’s roots.
–Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECES

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what God has done.
–unknown

"Whatever you are trying to avoid won’t go away until you confront
it."
–Anonymous

Serenity isn’t freedom from the storm, it is peace within the storm.
–unknown

"We learn the magical lesson that making the most of what we have
turns it into more."
–Codependent No More

Inner peace should not be determined by outward experiences.
–unknown
WORK

"Without work all life goes rotten."
– Albert Camus

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes but in having new eyes.
–Marcel Proust

"The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on
the past."
–André Maurois

"Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself."
–Felix Adler

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching
the egg - not by smashing it."
–Arnold Glasow

"Patience and perseverance at length / Accomplish more than anger
or brute strength."
–Jean de La Fontaine

"Lost time is never found again."
–Benjamin Franklin

Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except
what you’re going to do now and do it.
–William Durant

When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God,
because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own
happiness, and your own duty.
–Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924)

"It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes.
What matters most is getting off. You can not make progress without making decisions."
–Jim Rohn

All that is necessary to make this world a better place to live is to
love….to love as He loved.
–Isadora Duncan

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of
throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned."
–Buddha

Whatever my problem today, I will let God have it. A solution is in the making. I’ll see it just as quickly as I can let go of the problem.
–unknown

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
–Shakespeare

Anything forced into manifestation through
personal will is always "ill got" and has
"ever bad success."
–Florence Scovel Shinn

DECISION
"When you see a snake, never
mind where he came from."
– W. G. Benham

"Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You’re able to benefit from the unique viewpoints of
others, without being crippled by your own judgment."
–Ralph Marston

"Once you face your fear, nothing is ever as hard as you think."
–Olivia Newton-John

A clean conscience makes a soft pillow.
–unknown

A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.
–unknown

All I have to do is make the right choices. I will always know which
they are, when I ask for guidance.
–unknown

I will look to each moment with child-like eyes. I’ll find joy and
contentment.
–unknown

Adventure is not outside a man; it is within.
–David Grayson

REALITY
"Humankind cannot bear very
much reality."
– T. S. Eliot

Don’t worry about what’s ahead. Just go as far as you can go - from
there you can see farther.
–unknown

Life’s most difficult challenges, are our greatest teachers and an
opportunity for growth.
–unknown

Happiness is intrinsic, it’s an internal thing. When you build it into
yourself, no external circumstances can take it away. That kind
of happiness is a twenty-four-hour thing.
–Leo F. Buscaglia

Spirit is at work through me, I am led to do the right and loving thing.
–Shelley

Stay committed to your growth process until you wake up one morning and ask yourself, What is that strange thing I am feeling? Then know what the answer is. The answer is joy.
–Melody Beattie

We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.
–Roderick Thorpe

HAPPINESS
"We are looking in the wrong
places for happiness."
– Robert J. McCracken

"It is never about how good your voice is;
it is only about feeling the urge to sing,
and then having the courage to do it
with the voice you are given."
– Katie in ‘True to Form’ by Elizabeth Berg

"Be an all-out, not a hold-out."
– Norman Vincent Peale

"Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul."
– Henry David Thoreau

"If all the gold in the world were melted down into a solid cube, it would be about the size of an eight room house. If a man got possession of all that gold — billions of dollars worth — he could not buy a friend, character, peace of mind, clear conscience or a sense of eternity."
– Charles F. Bunning

Real love pours itself out upon the object of its affection, without demanding any return.
–Florence Scovel Shinn

Loving another wholly, purely, with no strings attached promises ecstasy, and yet seldom do we dare chance it. Often we want the promise of love in return if we’re to offer it. Our fragile egos are held tentatively intact by the slim gestures and fleeting words of love tossed our way. But when we bargain for love, we don’t find it.
Real love will forever elude us unless we put our own selves aside and unabashedly love the self of someone else. Karen Casey
Today, I will be open to growing in my understanding of my Higher
Power. I will be open to letting go of old, limiting, negative beliefs
about God. No matter how I understand God, I will be grateful that
God understands me.
–Melody Beattie

We are enrolled in a full time, informal school called, "Life." Each day of this school, we have the opportunity to learn lessons. We may like the lessons or hate them, but they are part of the curriculum. The greatest lessons we learn are about love and fear, that every action is either an expression of love, or a call for love. And the great blessing is that every lesson repeats itself until we learn it.
–Mary Manin Morrissey

I have all the time in the world to do God’s Will for me today. I trust that my Higher Power is filling me with all the energy that I need for these 24 hours.
–Ruth Fishel

Those who withhold forgiveness only withhold it from themselves."
–Paul Ferrini

Happiness is an inside job.
–Unknown

Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right?
–Gerald Jampolsky

NEIGHBORS
"The good neighbor looks beyond
the external accidents and
discerns those inner qualities that
make all men human and,
therefore, brothers."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Few is the number of those who think with their own mind and feel
with their own heart.
–Albert Einstein

"I think everybody has to experience a certain amount of pain on the  way to maturity."
–Ruth Casey

"The great mind knows the power of gentleness."
–Robert Browning

God is guiding me in all my thoughts and plans and actions. I have
given up all my struggling and self-defeating messages and have
turned over all my thoughts to the power and energy of goodness and love.  –Ruth Fishel

Today, I will not run from myself, my circumstances, or feelings. I will be open to myself, others, my Higher Power, and life. I will trust that by facing today to the best of my ability, I will acquire the skills I need to face tomorrow.
–Melody Beattie

We do not possess our home, our children, or even our own body. They are only given to us for a short while to treat with care and respect.
–Jack Kornfield

"Two things are hard on the heart - running upstairs and running down people."—Unknown

THOUGHT
"To be able to be caught up in a
world of thought — that is being educated."
– Edith Hamilton

"There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love — the first fluttering of its silken wings — the first rising sound and breath of that wind which is so soon to sweep through the soul, to purify or to destroy."
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition."
– Alexander Smith

"Pray to God, but keep rowing to the shore."
–Russian Proverb

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
–Flora Whittemore

One never knows what each day is going to bring. The important thing is to be open and ready for it.
–Henry Moore

"Pray to God, but keep rowing to the shore."
–Russian Proverb

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
–Flora Whittemore

One never knows what each day is going to bring. The important thing is to be open and ready for it.
–Henry Moore

SELF-LOVE
"To love oneself is the
beginning of a life-long
romance."
– Oscar Wilde

"Lord, make me a channel of thy peace–that where there is hatred, I may bring love–that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness–that where there is discord, I may bring harmony—that where there is error, I may bring truth–that where there is doubt, I may bring faith–that where there is despair, I may bring hope—that where there are shadows, I may bring light–that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted–to understand, than to be
understood–to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen."
–12 & 12, p. 99

SELF-LOVE
"To love oneself is the
beginning of a life-long
romance."
– Oscar Wilde

None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up
from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us.
–Thurgood Marshall

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

"We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
–Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

"Listen or Thy tongue will keep Thee deaf."
–American Indian Proverb

Rather than regretting that I wasted half of my life drinking, I am
just grateful that God has given me the rare opportunity to live two
lives in one lifetime.

MINORITY
"The greatest good of a minority
of our generation may be the
greatest good for the greatest
number of people in the long
run."
– Oliver Wendell Homes, Jr.

Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
–Machiavelli

"I can change. I can live out my imagination instead
of my memory. I can tie myself to my limitless
potential instead of my limiting past."
– Stephen Covey

"Change. It has the power to uplift, to heal,
to stimulate, surprise, open new doors,
bring fresh experience and create excitement in life.
Certainly it is worth the risk."
– Leo Buscaglia

"What helps me to go forward is that I stay receptive. I
feel that anything can happen."
–Anouk Aimee

"No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched."
–George Jean Nathan

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to
go on creating oneself endlessly.
–Herni Bergson

"Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances."
– J. Donald Walters

"A good laugh is sunshine in the house."
– William Makepeace Thackeray

When one knows Thee, then alien there is none,
then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer
that I may never lose the touch of
the one in the play of many.
–Rabindranath Tagore

MIDDLE-AGE
"Middle-age is when you begin
to smile at things that used to
cause you to laugh."
– Anonymous

Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for
that determines our success or failure.
–Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."

"If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase."
–Brian Koslow

"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

"You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water."
–Rabindranath Tagore

DENIAL
"The worst vice of the fanatic is
his sincerity."
– Oscar Wilde

"If you see your path laid out in front of you —
Step one, Step two, Step three — you only
know one thing… it is not your path.
Your path is created in the moment of action.
If you can see it laid out in front of you,
you can be sure it is someone else’s path.
That is why you see it so clearly."
– Joseph Campbell

"To know how to choose a path with
heart is to learn how to follow intuitive feeling."
– Jean Shinoda Bolen

If you don’t like what you’re getting, change what you’re doing.
–Cited in BITS & PIECES

Love grows best when watered daily with kind words.
–Cited in BITS & PIECES

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.
–Mark Twain

"Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make,
something you do, something you are, something you give away."
–Robert Fulghum

"At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us."
–c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 77

"My life’s purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to
possess."
–c. 1990, Daily Reflections, page 89

The coin of health has illness on the other side.  The currency of joy has sorrow on the reverse.  Turn the coin of serenity and there is the stamp of worry.  You always have to take what is underneath and reckon with that too.  Happiness rests on sorrow, life upon death, calm upon turmoil.  Each day has its night. Jacob Rudin

OPEN-MINDEDNESS
"A fanatic is one who can’t
change his mind and won’t
change the subject."
– Winston Churchill

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."
–Kahlil Gibran

Yesterday is a canceled check,
tomorrow is a promissory note,
today is cash in the bank.
Yesterday is history,
Tomorrow’s a mystery,
Live just for today.
Today is a gift that is why they call it the present.
When special feelings come your way,
let them flow into your heart.
When miracles try to find you, don’t hide.
When special people come along,
let them know what a blessing they are.
Let your smiles begin way down, deep inside.
–Collin McCarthy

"I can do nothing to change the past except stop repeating it in the present."
–Courage to Change

PEOPLE-PLEASING
"I cannot give you the formula
for success, but I can give you
the formula for failure, which is
try to please everybody."
– Herbert Bayard Swope
You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face,
And show the world all the love in your heart,
Then people gonna treat you better.
You’re gonna find, yes, you will,
That you’re beautiful as you feel.
–Carole King

If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of
tomorrow, you have no today for which you can be thankful.
–Anonymous

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you
hold well.
–Josh Billings

"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full.
And scratch where it itches."
–Alice Roosevelt Longworth

In each of our lives, for whatever reason, there are times that we are faced with things that just don’t make sense to us. And the more we struggle to understand our hardships, the less any of it makes sense.
I have found that in every challenge and obstacle that we are faced
with there *can* be good that can come from it! While it’s almost
never easy to identify, I assure you that it is there lying dormant just waiting for us to release it! I urge everyone to spend your days looking for positives in your life.
–Josh Hinds from The Inspiration a Day!  April 8, 1998

Whate’er we leave to God, God does and blesses us.
–Henry David Thoreau

SUICIDE
"Often the test of courage is not to die but to live."
– Conte Vittorio Alfieri       

"Bias and impartiality is in the eye of the beholder."
– Lord Barnett