Catherine Dibble
(cdibble at umd dot edu)
Impress yourself. Grow as a person. Find those cliffs you fear and try to fly over them. If you fall -- and we all fall -- pick yourself up, learn what happened and try again. Not trying may feel more comfortable than taking risks but that's not LIFE. At best, that's dying with style. So learn a language. Run a marathon. Paint! And go outside the lines, dammit! Ride a bike 100 miles. Just. Don't. Stand. Still. Close the browser, turn off the TV, avoid the car, and get outside. You are the pinnacle of evolution, so go and make that count for something. I'll be cheering for you.
Philip G. Feldman
It is the example of each person's life, much more than his or her words, that speaks with power. Even the smallest action done with a loving appreciation of life can profoundly touch other human beings.
Duane Elgin
Voluntary Simplicity
To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.
William Channing (1780-1842)
Our biggest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love
(cdibble at umd dot edu)