Life is like a road. There are long and short roads; smooth and rocky roads; crooked and straight roads. In our life there are many roads which come our way as we undertake our great journey.

There are roads that lead to fame and fortune on one hand, or isolation and poverty on the other. There are roads to happiness as there are roads to sadness, roads towards victory and jubilation, and roads leading to defeat and disappointment.

Just like any road, there are corners, detours, and crossroads in life. Perhaps the most perplexing road that you could encounter is a crossroad. With four roads to choose from and with limited knowledge on where they would go, which road will you take? What is the guarantee that we would choose the right one along the way? Would you take any road, or just stay where you are: in front of a crossroad? There are no guarantees…

You do not really know where a road will lead you until you take it. There are no guarantees. This is one of the most important things to realize about life. Nobody said that choosing to do the right thing all the time would always lead you to happiness. Loving someone with all your heart does not guarantee that it would be returned. Gaining fame and fortune does not guarantee happiness.

Since life offers no guarantee and you would never know that your decision would be wrong until you have made it, then you might as well take the risk and decide. It is definitely better than keeping yourself in limbo. Although it is true that one wrong turn could get you lost, it could also be that such a turn could be an opportunity for an adventure, moreover open more roads. It is all a matter of perspective.

You have the choice between being a lost traveler or an accidental tourist of life, and ultimately this means having the courage, faith and belief to sometimes just “Go with the Flow”.

I’ve been at a crossroads the past few weeks. Not lost. Just an accidental tourist.

Miss you all like crazy …

xoxoxox

Lilly

I have come to the frightening conclusion…
That I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration,
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides
Whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated,
And a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
If we treat people as they ought to be,
We help them become
What they are capable of becoming.

~ J.W.Goethe ~

Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, grace, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year. You will never be forgotten. Know your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of the evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.

~ T. Chalmers

To seek approval is to have no resting place, no sanctuary.
Like all judgment, approval encourages a constant striving.
It makes us uncertain of who we are and of our true value.
Approval cannot be trusted.
It can be withdrawn at any time no matter what our track record has been.
It is as nourishing of real growth as cotton candy.
Yet many of us spend our lives pursuing it.

~ Rachel Naomi Remen

Photo is “Death by Cotton Candy” by Daniela Edburg

Create & spread peace yourself, today, right from your computer. Please join me in impacting the lives of thousands with just a few clicks of your mouse.

You can literally impact the lives of thousands with just a few clicks of your mouse. Help create a more beautiful and peaceful world working side-by-side with some of the world’s top peace-makers.

For the first time in history you can directly help fix global problems! You won’t wait for governments, or hope the next election will bring leaders who’ll take more positive healing actions.

This powerful combination will deliver you and your family a more meaningful, abundant, and happier life, while creating a more peaceful world for countless others. And while you’ll soon see the effects of your peace-making on your Personal Peace Impact Meter™, your instant and most touching reward is knowing you’re healing lives and giving hope.

On the way to your Personal Peace Impact Meter, you’ll see a page about how the donations, collected by 10 Million Clicks For Peace, are used to assist war refugees recover from the devastating effects of war, and how funds are also used for peace education to prevent future wars and violence to keep our children (and future generations) safe from those tragedies.

You’re under no obligation to donate, but do listen to the audio message and help us send out kind thoughts and prayers to these distressed people. (Building a field of compassion into your daily life is a powerful method for creating peace.)

www.tenmillionclicksforpeace.org

Live in Joy!

Lilly

The “never mind the trouble” things,
The “yes, I understand,”
The interest and encouragement
In everything you’ve planned
It really is the little things,
The friendly word or smile,
That add such happiness to life
And makes it more worth while.

~ by Mary Dawson Hughes ~

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater
and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble,
it’s a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Author – Max Ehrmann (1872 – 1945)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata

Restaurant-style meals for the homeless served with dignity and respect. One of my favorite places to volunteer in Chicago! Located in Uptown on Chicago’s north side, Inspiration Cafe provides restaurant-style meals, case management, support groups, life-skills training, financial assistance and other services to homeless men and women in a therapeutic community that promotes dignity and respect.

Guests of the Cafe have access to the full range of Inspiration Corporation’s programs, including employment training and career services, voice mail, and subsidized housing. Inspiration Cafe’s goal is to help men and women overcome the causes of their homelessness and find stability by securing income and affordable housing.

Inspiration Cafe was founded in 1989 by Lisa Nigro, a Chicago police officer who began searching for a personal response to the homelessness she encountered in Uptown. She began by loading up a red wagon with sandwiches and coffee to distribute to homeless individuals on the streets.

http://inspirationcorp.org/

Most people’s lives are cluttered up with things: material things, things to do, things to think about. Their lives are like the history of humanity, which Winston Churchill defined as “one damn thing after another.” Their minds are filled up with the clutter of thoughts, one thought after another. This is the dimension of object consciousness that is many people’s predominant reality, and that is why their lives are so out of balance. Object consciousness needs to be balanced by space consciousness for sanity to return to our planet and for humanity to fulfill its destiny. The arising of space consciousness is the next stage in the evolution of humanity.

Space consciousness means that in addition to being conscious of things – which always comes down to sense perceptions, thoughts, and emotions – there is an under-current of awareness. Awareness implies that you are not only conscious of things (objects), but you are also conscious of being conscious. If you can sense an alert inner stillness in the background while things happen i the foreground – that’s it! This dimension is there in everyone, but most people are completely unaware of it. Sometimes I point to it by saying, “Can you feel your own Presence?”

Space consciousness represents not only freedom from ego, but also from dependency on the things of this world, from materialism and materiality. it is the spiritual dimension which alone can give transcendent and true meaning to this world.Whenever you are upset about an event, a person, or a situation, the real cause is not the event, person, or situation but a loss of true perspective that only space can provide. You are trapped in object consciousness itself. The words “this too, will pass” when used as a pointer can restore awareness of that dimension to you.

Another pointer to the truth in you is contained in the following statement:

“I am never upset for the reason I think.”

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle