Category Archives: Inspiration Author

Joy! (and more)

Christmas close approaches, and with it a myriad of memories, feelings, and images. 2020 has magnified the importance of the people in our lives, and also our connection to our greater humanity. I started thinking yesterday of words that are most evocative of Christmas for me. The word that tops my list is: JOY

There is definitely a heightened feeling of love and goodwill around me at this time of year. This feeling gives me great joy as people take a little rest from the regular routines, worries, and burdens of every day life. I love to see joy expressed on the faces of people around me.

I think of joy is a life keyword, an evaluator of the world around me. I’m feeling that if our world was better balanced and society fairer, we’d be seeing a lot more joy on an every day basis. This is something for all of us to contemplate for the new year 2021 just ahead. How will we claim and live our joy? And not just our joy, but all of the positive aspects of life that we deserve. These are, after all, our lives. They are precious and they come around only once.

I realize that many people reading this do not celebrate Christmas. But in your own culture, you have celebrations that are sacred, important, beautiful. My partner and I lived in Thailand for some years, and I loved getting to know and taking part in the important traditions there. Loy Krathong (Festival of Light) was my favorite.

So, take a moment to think of your own culture’s sacred traditions and celebrations. What one word is evocative of how you feel as you share those celebrations with family and friends? If you would like to share in the comments, I would love to hear from you.

I send you best wishes for all the joy and blessing your hearts can hold (and more) in 2021.

Be the Light

11 Replies

The battle between the dark and the light: It’s classic. Some of the greatest stories and movies are based on it. There has always been darkness and light in our world, and in fact both sides exist within ourselves. If it didn’t, our souls would have moved on to “bigger and better” things.

Is it my imagination though, that things are feeling just a tad weighted to the dark side at the moment? When I feel discouraged about it, I take solace in this: In every cycle of this classic battle throughout the ages, when a crisis of the dark occurs, humanity digs down deep to find the best parts of itself. Dark collapses and light emerges.

So, let’s keep on keeping on. Every candle makes a difference. That would be you and I, and every other person on the side of the light.

Be the light.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” ~ St. Francis Of Assisi

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato

“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“There’s always going to be bad stuff out there. But here’s the amazing thing — light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can’t stick the dark into the light.” ~ Jodi Picoult

Your Smile, Your Gift

Leave it Richer

2 Replies

“Leave the world richer.” These wise words are just a small snippet of the Eleanor Roosevelt quote below. Reading only the snippet, one might think she meant leave the world having accumulated the maximum financial wealth we can. Service to self. Who can blame us, really? That’s how our society has trained us to think about success.

But no, take a moment to scroll and read the entire quote. Mrs. Roosevelt meant we should aspire to leave this world knowing we contributed something positive to it, that it’s a better place because we visited here for awhile.

Think of the world we would create if we all embraced that thought….

More Inspirational Quotes:

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.”
~ Socrates

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively”
~ Bob Marley

“Don’t Gain The World & Lose Your Soul, Wisdom Is Better Than Silver Or Gold.”
~ Bob Marley

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and a richness to life that nothing else can bring.”
~ Oscar Wilde

“Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.”
~ Anne Frank

Susan L Hart / Author