Messages from the Dalai Lama

On 15 June 2007 I was part of a crowd in Sydney Australia who was fortunate to hear the 14th Dalai Lama speak. Although it was pouring rain and there were so many umbrellas it was hard to see the stage, it was an event not to be missed.

The first thing that I noticed when the Dalai Lama came on stage, was that he always appeared to be smiling. His ‘smiling’ cheeks are so well developed that even when he is speaking on serious issues, he appears to be smiling.
He must be a very happy soul.

After a few easy jokes, the Dalai Lama started talking about peace. And his message was simple –

Peace in the world comes from having inner peace.

He expounded on this for quite some time, and was adamant that if we (ie. any one person) want peace in the world, first we must obtain inner peace. If we are not at peace within ourselves, then we will not be able to promote or obtain peace with others.

He then stated his one great goal and wish – a demilitarized world. The Dalai Lama was adamant that globalization means that there is no longer an ‘us’ and ‘them’. Perhaps there never was, but we have drawn those lines in the sand. Regardless, the Dalai Lama explained that with the creation of the ‘European Union’ and other interconnected groups of countries, we simply cannot look at other countries as separate from our own. As such, other people/cultures/religions are not separate from each of us, either. And by hurting, killing and/or fighting with others, we are in fact hurting, killing and/or fighting with ourselves.

So how to achieve this great goal of a demilitarized world? The Dalai Lama suggested that we look to the great leaders of the world (he mentioned Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu) and follow their example. He is fiercely opposed to arms of any kind and presented a very clear message that we must ‘lay down our arms, and open a dialogue’.

Expanding on that, he said that he was a human being first, a Buddha second, and a Tibetan third. That is how he approaches difficult conversations. And he said while difficult conversations are, well, difficult, we need to have them. We must be open to dialogue. To start those difficult conversations, we have to approach people as humans, first, with kindness and understanding regardless of religion, colour, race or country. The message was the same as that in Steven Covey’s book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’: seek first to understand, then to be understood and always go for a win-win solution.

I could easily ramble on for quite some time about the messages from the Dalai Lama on that wet afternoon in Sydney. But the biggest message for me was his first one.

Peace in the world comes from having inner peace.

I wish you inner peace. Tania

Timeless Words from Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It never was between you and them anyway.

PLAYING THE MASTER GAME.... of life

I just came across this very powerful passage from The Master Game, a book written in the 1950’s by Robert S. de Ropp. To really embrace this extraodinarily powerful message, read it out loud !!

Seek, above all, for a game worth playing. Such is the advice of the oracle to modern man. Having found the game, play it with intensity - play as if your life and sanity depend on it. (They do depend on it.) Follow the example of the French existentialists and flourish a banner bearing the word “engagement”.

Though nothing means anything and all roads are marked “no exit”, yet move as if your movements had some purpose. If life does not seem to offer a game worth playing, then invent one. For it must be clear, even to the most clouded intelligence, that any game is better than no game.

But although it is safe to play the Master Game, this has not served to make it popular. It still remains the most demanding and difficult of games and in our society, there are few who play. Contemporary man, hypnotized by the glitter of his own gadgets, has little contact with his inner world, concerns himself with outer, not inner space. But the Master Game is played entirely in the inner world, a vast and complex territory about which men know very little. The aim of the game is true awakening, full development of the powers latent in man.

The game can be played only by people whose observations of themselves and others have led them to a certain conclusion, namely, that man’s ordinary state of consciousness, his so-called waking state, is not the highest level of consciousness of which he is capable. In fact, this state is so far from real awakening that it could appropriately be called a form of somnambulism, a condition of “waking sleep”.

Once a person has reached this conclusion, he is no longer able to sleep comfortably. A new appetite develops within him, the hunger for real awakening, for full consciousness. He realized that he sees, hears, and knows only a tiny fraction of what he could see, hear and know, that he lives in the poorest, shabbiest of rooms in his inner dwelling, and that he could enter other rooms, beautiful and filled with treasures, the windows of which look out on eternity and infinity.

The solitary player lives today in a culture that is more or less totally opposed to the aims he has set himself, that does not recognize the existence of the Master Game, and regards players of this game as queer or slightly mad. The player thus confronts great oppositions from the culture in which he lives and must strive with forces, which tend to bring his game to a halt before it has even started. Only by finding a teacher and becoming part of the group of pupils that that teacher has collected about him can the player find encouragement and support. Otherwise he simply forgets his aim, or wanders off down some side road and loses himself.

Here it is sufficient to say that the Master Game can never be made easy to play. It demands all that a man has, all his feelings, all his thoughts, all his resources—physical and spiritual. If he tries to play it in a half-hearted way or tries to get results by unlawful means, he runs the risk of destroying his own potential. For this reason it is better not to embark on the game at all than to play it half-heartedly.

Mapping My Life

I seem to be reading a bunch of great books these days - including a few that I've been 'meaning to get around to' reading for along time.

In the late '70s to early '80s I remember seeing a book on my parents huge living room bookshelf called 'Passages'. The only reason it stood out to a 10 year old was because the letters of the title were in the colours of the rainbow. Looked pretty ! But once I got it off the shelf, it was all about that adult stuff. Not kid reading and I wasn't interested.

Well, in NZ last year I went into a warehouse book store looking for a book to read on the flight home. 'Lo and behold, I came across 'Hilary's Choice' by Gail Sheehy. Now I've always been interested in Hilary Clinton - at least after she made some tough decisions to stay with Bill when he made some lousy choices. You know what I'm talking about. And although they were the 'boomer' generation when I was in my twenties, her choices still fascinated me.

So I grabbed the book about Hilary, but once I'd read the book I realised this was the author of 'Passages'. At that point I started tracking down a copy of 'Passages', only to realize that it was written in the mid-70s and not really up-to-date when it comes to what we're living right now.

Fortunately, Ms Sheehy has anticipated this and written a host of other books, including Understanding Men's Passages (as it sounds, 1998), New Passages (an updated version of the original, 1995) and The Silent Passage (about menopause, late 90's). I'm in the middle of reading the first two.

So what of New Passages? Well, its really a great read. Not only does it provide a general overview of how life is unfolding for myself and others RIGHT NOW, but its a well written book which provides some interesting, real person stories. Here are some quotes from the book.

On p 14...
We seem to be suspended from our spiritual selves. Vaclav Havel, the philosopher and former president of the Czech Republic remarked on the paradox of our times:

'Experts can explain anything in the objective world to us, yet we understand our own lives less and less. We live in the post-modern world where anything is possible and almost nothing is certain.'

Sheehy goes on to explain...
Awareness and acknowledgement of a higher authority have been shunted into the realm of magic and mysticism. The concept of a Creator or an Earth Mother who anchors us in the universe, not for ourselves alone but as an integral part of some higher self-perpetuating universal order, represents an affront to modern science and technology and gets in the way of arrogant human aspirations. But there must be a reason that we are living so much longer. What are we meant to do with all this leftover life? Surely we are not meant to regress into tribal warfare and cultural genocide.

Haval,'The only real hope of people today is probably a renewal of our certainty that we are rooted in the Earth, and at the same time, the Cosmos. This awareness endows us with the capacity for self-transcendence.'

Then on p. 146, Sheehy is talking about the ‘little death’ during the passage from early adulthood to second adulthood that occurs somewhere in the mid- to late 40’s. She states,

The effort expended in creating and defending that (early adulthood) persona is exhausting. Once we stop being ruled by the need to prove ourselves to the world and begin to relax our vigilance around maintaining our false self – what a relief – we can start stripping down to what is real, not false or copied, to uncover our own authenticity.

On p 161, Sheehy comments on ‘older’ women...
The same strong push toward authenticity appeared in my interviews with contemporary older women. By the time they reached their fifties, most educated women have acquired the skills and self-knowledge to master complex environments and change the conditions around them. The send of ‘being my own person’ is profound. They become increasingly the people they want to be.

p 153
But second adulthood is not about giving up or coasting until it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. It’s about finding new value in life. The secret in the search for meaning is to find your passion and pursue it.

p 169
In order to continue to enjoy life and be productive, it is particularly important at this stage to feel anchored in something. We need to know what is absolutely relevant about our lives. If we don’t know already, this is the time to work at finding out. It will provide a sense of direction and anchor.

And of course, it continues on. So if you're trying to understand where you are in your current 'life cycle' this book may help. After all, the sub-title is 'Mapping your life across time'. And that's just what it delivers, in a very readable and fascinating way. What you would expect from a woman whose mentor is Margaret Mead.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. And if you're keen, 'Understanding Men's Passages' is pretty enlightening, too.

5 People You Meet in Heaven

Just read this great book by Mitch Albom - The Five People You Meet in Heaven - and thought you might like it.

Although its a quick read, it had a really strong impact on me. I've never really thought about what happens when you die. And I've never been too excited about finding out, either ! But this book has a great take on what happens, as well as providing insight into why we're here in the first place.

If you like Paulo Coelho's books (The Fifth Mountain, The Alchemist etc), then you'll enjoy this one,too. Mitch doesn't make you work as hard as Paulo does, but the story is very impactful all the same.

Here are some gems:

'Strangers are just family that you have yet to come to know.'

'Sacrifice is a part of life. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to........ Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.'

'Ain't you supposed to have peace when you die?'
'You have peace when you make it with yourself.'

'People don't die because of loyalty.'
'They don't? Religion? Government? Are we not loyal to such things? Sometimes to the death? Better to be loyal to one another.'

Life Guiding Principles

These were billed as 'Secrets to Success', but I view them more as a guide for everyday life. They seem to re-iterate what I am trying to do in my life, so I've shared them here to inspire you as well ....

1. Pursue life with purpose.
2. Dream big dreams. Achieve them with realistic short-term goals.
3. Every moment counts so focus like a laser beam not a light bulb.
4. Take action now. You can't score if you don't aim and shoot.
5. Develop good habits. Exercise for a strong mind and body.
6. Have the courage to try - and the courage to try again.
7. Cultivate an attitude of success and success will follow.
8. Laugh long and loud. Laughter is brain food and soul food.
9. Live life with passion and bursting desire.
10. Immerse yourself in inspiration to keep your fire burning.

I'm grateful

• I'm grateful for my life
• I'm grateful for opportunities
• I'm grateful for all that I've created so far, and all that I am creating for the future
• I'm grateful for my friends and family and their health and happiness
• And most of all, I'm grateful for being able to share this with you.

Are you grateful for something? Share it here. What you appreciate you will receive more of. Newton's law of reciprocity is always at work. So what you think about effects what comes into your life. Think lots about something, with feeling, and it will appear. Is it a crappy thing? Guess what - it will show up. Is it a good thing? Guess what - THAT will show up. Moral? Think about all the things that you want to have in your life, with strong feelings attached to them... and they will come your way.

Would you rather have everything that you want, or be grateful for everything that you have?

Smile to be Happy

What??? Do you think I've got it backwards?

Should it be 'get happy, and that will make you smile'?

Nuh-uh. I'm convinced - if you smile, you'll be happy. Consider this...

I went for a bike ride the other day and was really happy. It was raining and I was out riding my bike, enjoying the day. Of course, when I'm happy I want to share my happiness with others. So every person I went by, I smiled at. And guess what? They smiled back!

Maybe its hormones, pheromones, whatsits, whoseewhatsits...I don't know. But smiling at people makes them smile back. You can literally make other people happy just by smiling at them.

So what about smiling to make yourself happy? Does it work? I'm convinced.

I figure I'm not going to wait around until I get in the right mood, make the right amount of money, buy the right thing, get the right job, have the right thing happen to me. Heck I may as well wait until a knight in shining armour comes along on a white horse and sweeps me off my feet and plunks me on the back of his horse (never did understand that part - If he was a real gentleman he'd bring another horse, just for me!!) Anyway, I've never actually come across a knight in shining armour on horse...etc. (although I'm willing to be surprised. Bring it on!) Anyway, bottom line is I'm not going to wait around for one to appear. Which is the same as happiness. I prefer certainty. And the only thing for certain is what I can create. So I am dedicated to creating my own happiness... and guess what? Smiling is a a cheap, easy, free way to do that, which ALSO creates happiness for others. What could be better?!

So next time you're in the doldrums - smile. If you can't beat all those smiling happy people into grumpiness, may as well join them, don't you think?

Happy smiling :)

Xinran's story

For eight years, Xinran hosted an innovative call-in talk show for women in China, risking the wrath of the Communist Party. The first of it’s kind, her show Words on the Night Breeze won the trust of Chinese women, who told their stories to the nation for the first time. Here is her story of that time…

In 1989, Xinran changed the way evening radio was presented in China. In Words on the Night Breeze, her own radio show, Xinran discussed daily life in China – and received endless letters from women requesting her help. Discussing personal issues in the media was dangerous, but Xinran persisted regardless, feeling the dire need of her women listeners who were crying out for help. Fascinated and distressed by the stories that she read, Xinran made an official request to read some of the letters she received, during each program.

Six weeks later, Xinran’s request was accepted – on the condition that her readings only took ten minutes. Why such resistance ? Well, in 1983, after 40 years of internal strife, Chinese authorities began to ‘open up’ China. Until that time, the media was strictly controlled by the Communist Party. The only information available to the public was heavily censored and presented in identical monotones. This meant local officials had no power, and all requests were made to the Party. But Xinran persisted with her mission to gain an insight into the lives of everyday Chinese women, and changed the way radio was presented in the process.

The stories that Xinran heard were incredibly heartwrenching. Many stories were recorded on studio phones, by women who could not leave their names, for their personal safety. Xinran was forbidden to broadcast some stories – the truth was considered too dangerous or destructive by the Party. Through her compassion and persistence, Xinran touched the lives of many Chinese women, and was regarded as an inspiration.

One of the stories recorded by Xinran and outlined in her book The Good Women of China, is included below.

One particular woman (who could not state her name), told how women of her time were taught the ‘Three submissions and four virtues’:

• Submission to your father, then your husband, then your son; and
• The virtues of fidelity, physical charm, propriety in speech and action, and diligence in housework.

However, this woman was fortunate to be brought up by parents who had a broader view of society. But they were unable to stop her from joining the Revolution. A few months after she had joined the ranks, her outgoing personality was brought to the attention of Party officials. And on her eighteenth birthday they asked if she would like to join the Party.

She accepted with enthusiasm and was immediately given an unstated ‘mission to fulfill’. Two days later, her unknown ‘mission’ was accomplished, when she was married off to a Party official. This women told her story 40 years after her wedding day, still married to the same official. She cannot leave him for fear of retribution, and has neither love nor respect from her husband or children. Having concluded her story, this women said that she felt lighter as she had been able to speak out without fear.

It was stories such as these, and other cruelties and previously unheard truths, that Xinran's radio show brought out. Her show touched the lives of many women, who had lived in repression for decades and Xinran's radio show was their first and only outlet for their fear and frustration.

But the stories that Xinran heard through her radio show were often not allowed to be published. And her health suffered as a result of the conflict between what she knew and what she was permitted to say. So in 1997, Xinran moved to England to find out what it was like to live in a free society.

An inspired woman, Xinran continues to touch many women’s lives, and has saved more than one. Through her hard work, she has gained a significant public profile and extensive social network. Xinran continues to educate the western world about the mysteries of Chinese women's lives and culture and in doing so, bringing the east into the hearts of western women.

She is also the founder of The Mothers Bridge of Love (MBL), which strives to introduce an authentic China to the West and disseminate information about adopted Chinese children’s lives, and the lives of overseas Chinese in the West to people in China.

Put procrastination on the run

OK, so its not by a woman, but it is on of my Mum's favorite poems, so I've shared it here. You've likely heard a few of the lines, but I think its best to read things as the author intended.

Lose this day loitering, ‘twill be the same story
Tomorrow, and the next more dilatory.

Each day’s indecision brings its own delays
And days are lost lamenting o’er lost days.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Only begin it, and then the mind grows heated.
Begin it, and then, the work will be completed!

by German poet-philosopher, Johann von Goethe

Bumper Stickers to get you chuckling

A friend sent me these when I was feeling a little down. Worked a charm. They make me laugh every time! Please share yours :)

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Horn Broken... Watch For Finger.
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I Have The Body Of A God - Buddha.
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Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult.
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If We Quit Voting, Will They All Go Away?
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He Who Hesitates Not Only Is Lost,
But is Miles From The Next Exit.
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You! Out Of The Gene Pool - Now!
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Stop Lights Timed For 35 mph
Also Are Timed For 70 mph
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Boldly Going Nowhere.
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How Many Roads Must A Man Travel Down Before He
Admits He is Lost?
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Giving 100% is all about attitude

I love this analogy.... and there's some truth in it too!

What does it take to give 100%?

What does it mean to give more than a 100%? Even 103%?

Well, here's a little mathematical formula to help answer these questions…

If the letters of the alphabet

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

were represented as

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26,

then

H-A-R-D--W-O-R-K would be 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96% but

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

however

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

and

look how far A-S-S--K-I-S-S-I-N-G will take you
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude that while hard work and knowledge will get you close, it’s attitude that will produce 100%

And all those people who say they are giving more that 100% ? They just might be full of @#$%^&*()!

A poem for all women

This is a poem given to Hillary Clinton by a New Delhi (India) college woman and read by Hillary in her address to the Rajiv Gandi Foundation in New Delhi, India, 1996.

Send it to the women in your life. It's powerful !

Silence
by Anasuya Sengupta

Too many women in too many countries speak the same language – of silence.

My grandmother was always silent, always aggrieved, only her husband had the cosmic right (or so it was said) to speak and be heard.

They say it is different now, but sometimes I wonder.

When a woman gives her love, as most do, generously, it is accepted.

When a woman shares her thoughts, as some women do, graciously, it is allowed.

When a woman fights for power, as all women would like to, quietly or loudly, it is questioned, and yet, there must be freedom if we are allowed to speak. And yes, there must be power, if we are to be heard.

And when we have both (freedom and power), let us not be misunderstood.

Creating good habits...

Here's a book review that I wrote awhile ago. Then this week I
bought a copy of the book for a guy I work with, so I thought I would post it and maybe this review will inspire you to have a read, too :)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey

Well, 15 million people made great choices - they bought this book before I did! What can I say... The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People just blew me away....

When this book came out in 1989, everyone was reading it - except me. I
studiously ignored it. After all, what was it going to say that I
didn't already know?

Well, almost 20 years later, there was a lot to learn! And it's as valuable as ever.

The subtitles of this book include: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change,
and, Restoring the Character Ethic. Pretty heavy stuff, right? Wrong.
This is an easy to read, thought provoking book that you can refer back
to at anytime.

Essentially, Stephen Covey has created 7 principles to live your life by. They each build on the previous one, allowing creation of a full life which contributes the utmost to society. The habits are:

• Habit 1 - Be Proactive
• Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind
• Habit 3 - Put first things first
• Habit 4 - Think Win/win
• Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood
• Habit 6 - Synergize
• Habit 7 - Sharpen the saw

Of course, Stephen has now come out with a book titled 'The 8th
Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness' which is now on my reading
list. However, if you haven't read this book, I sincerely hope that you
do! It's fantastic and will (hopefully) change your life. It's
certainly got me thinking....

Thank you for this most amazing Day

I'm not religious but this poem really makes me smile. I find it's best read out loud with a huge grin plastered on your face. Or at least, if you aren't smiling when you start, I hope that you'll be grinning when you're done reading....!


i thank you God for most this amazing

I thank you God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(I who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any- lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginably You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e.e. cummings

Cathy Freeman's Story

"I'm just a little black girl who can run fast....."

From humble aboriginal beginnings in small-town Australia to winning the 400 m gold medal in front of her family at the Sydney Olympics, Cathy Freeman is a real inspiration.

While in grade school, Cathy started running track and won races from the very start. She also figured out (as kids do!) that winning races made adults happy and got her out of school classes. So when asked by a councilor what she wanted to do when she ‘grew up’ Cathy said she wanted to win an Olympic gold medal.

Now, many young athletes will say the same thing, but of course, not many achieve their stated goal. Some don’t have the talent, some lose their determination, and some follow other paths. But Cathy didn’t. She had the talent, she had the courage and she had the determination to make it happen – and she did, against many odds.

To start, funding was a perpetual battle. Cathy had to travel great distances (with the associated costs), just to compete as a teen. Getting coaching for any kid was difficult, and meant moving to the ‘big city’. Being aboriginal was a bit more of a challenge. But she rose to the challenge, moved to the city, changed schools, got some better coaching. And thrived on running and her Olympic dream.

An exchange trip to the USA in 1988 and subsequently meeting both Carl Lewis and Florence Griffith-Joyner was a catalyst for Cathy. On her return to Australia and after just 6 months of good coaching, Cathy won a Commonwealth Games gold medal as part of Australia’s 4 x 100 m team. She was on her way to stardom….

In the background, but providing great moral support to their daughter/sister/cousin was Cathy’s incredibly strong mother, supportive step-father, a whole clan of Freeman’s and a sister who eventually passed away from cerebral palsy (CP). It was the passing of Cathy’s sister Anne-Marie, who couldn’t walk or speak due to CP, that fueled part of her running. Cathy’s wins were often attributed to Anne-Marie.

Cathy broke through many barriers during her track career. Not just in her running times on the track, but in her overall achievements. In 1990, Cathy won the Young Australian of the Year award – not an award generally provided to an aboriginal women. In 1992, at age 19, Cathy was the first Australian aboriginal to compete at an Olympic Games (in Barcelona). In 1994, you may remember when Cathy caused an international kerfuffle. She hoisted both the Aboriginal flag and the Australian flag above her head after winning the 400 m Commonwealth Games gold medal in Victoria, BC Canada. And in 1996, she was back at the Olympics, just missing a gold medal to her long-time French rival Marie-Jose Perec – a legend in her own right.

The speed of Cathy’s ascent through the pressure-cooker world of international track and field was nothing short of phenomenal. Her confidence that she could win was one of her greatest strengths, as well as her dedication and determination in reaching her goals. But this all came at a cost, as Cathy’s life off the track was not always easy.

Along the way, Cathy met and almost-married her first sweetheart, who not only coached her, but organized her business dealings as well. This arrangement worked well from their meeting in 1989 through the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 but subsequently broke down. Through the late 1990’s Cathy met and married an American business-man who was involved with Nike, but this relationship eventually ended as well, after her husbands bout with cancer, travel throughout Europe and living back and forth between Australia and the USA.

In 1998, Cathy Freeman broke another barrier. An aboriginal was the world’s fastest 400 m female runner. This foreshadowed what was to come, for in 1999, Cathy Freeman won the 400 m World Championships for a second time and had an Olympic medal in her sights. After putting in all the hard yards and battling through turmoil in her personal and professional relationships, 2000 was Cathy’s year to shine.

In 2000, Cathy became ‘Australia’s’ Cathy Freeman. She carried the flag for Australia’s Olympic Team, lit the Olympic cauldron and, yes, won the gold medal that she had said she would as a teenager, all those years ago. Cathy’s win in her special Nike track suit in front of her family and home crowd in Sydney, Australia, was nothing short of spectacular. For just a moment, Cathy brought Australia, as a country, together. And her win illustrated that the colour of one’s skin or racial background is irrelevant on the world’s stage. Quite an achievement for ‘a little black girl who can run fast…’ And what aninspiration to the rest of us.

You really can achieve your dream, if you dare to dream it and have the courage to pursue it.

Our greatest fear...

This quote (which I believe is written by someone else as part of a poem? Anyone know whether this is correct?)was part of Nelson Mandela's inauguration speech in 1994. When I heard him say these words I got goosebumps all over. They are so powerful! Now I have it up on my wall at work and read it every day.... and it still gives me goosebumps. Enjoy!

"Our greatest 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, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of
God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around
you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are 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're liberated from our own fear, our
presence automatically liberates others."

Wow !!

Be inspired and love what you do

What is the definition of ‘inspiration’? This is a difficult question, as inspiration will always mean different things to different people. Everyone is inspired in unique ways.

So, although the dictionary definition of inspiration may be
'stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity'
ultimately it is up to each of us to determine what inspires us. After all, being inspired is a state of mind. However you will probably agree that you are inspired when

•you have a zest for life
•you make choices that are best for you
•you are living the life you desire

Most successful women admit that they were not blessed with any special talents or abilities that others missed out on. And they admit that being inspired isn’t dependent upon some huge advantage that others don’t have. We all have the ability to be inspired. So the key to inspiration is to determine what inspires us, acknowledge our skills and talents and put them to good use. The hand we are dealt at birth and through life isn’t nearly as important as what we do with it!

Here’s a little blurb that was sent to me recently right along these lines.

If you want to be rich, successful, and great, and you want it all with minimal effort, then your primary focus must be on doing something that meets any one of the following criteria:

* You love doing it.
* It races your blood.
* It challenges your creativity.
* It is absorbing, passion inspiring, and joyful.
* It is so compelling that you would do it even if there were no
money involved.

It's so simple. When you experience any one of the above, it means you are in love with what you do. Once you are in love with what you do, success then unfolds in the following way:

If you love what you are doing, it ceases being work.

The more you love what you are doing, the more you spontaneously
commit to it.

The greater your commitment, the deeper the knowledge you gain.

The deeper the knowledge, the more powerful the knowledge.

The more powerful your knowledge, the easier it is to achieve success, because deep, powerful
knowledge is the key to inspired thinking and finding intelligent
solutions to problems.

And with that deeper knowledge you quickly recognize opportunities
and pounce on the best ones.

But it all starts with loving what you do.

I wish you great inspiration in all that you do.

If you're going to Alice Springs....

If you're going to Alice Springs anytime soon (or later),
I recommend you stop in at the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame that's right downtown. I'm not sure why its in Alice, but strange things happen in the outback.....

If you're NOT going to Alice anytime soon, you
can still take advantage of what they have to offer online at www.pioneerwomen.com.au>

Their site is linked to 40+ women's museums throughout theworld, as well. So you may wish to check out their site before you go travelling and see whether you'll be going through any places that have a women's museum. Always interesting to see what the gals that lived before us did...

Annie's Got A Gun ....

Here's a postcard that relatives in San Diego sent me... It's of Annie Oakley who was the subject of the song 'Annie's Got a Gun' by ?? (I'm terrible at band names). But you know the one - I'd sing the tune here but don't know how to do that (probably a good thing). But I digress...

Annie was apparently a fantastic shot in the days when it wasn't particularly lady-like to, well, be good with a gun. Anyway, in those days - circa 1860 to 1926 - being a good shot would certainly impress the boys. Which Annie sure did.

The postcard says that Annie was nicknamed 'Little Miss Sure Shot' and she travelled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. As people of that era were impressed with a 'sure shot' thousands flocked to see her astounding show.... she even shot the cigarette from the mouth of Kaiser Wilhlm of Germany at one time.

So, there's a mentor woman for ya as well as a neat story and bit of history. Plus now when you hear that song by ??, you'll know who they're talking about:)

A Bottle of Wine (a very cute story!)

For everyone who is married, was married, wish they were married, or wish they weren't married, this is something to smile about the next time you open a bottle of wine….

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.

Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally…

"What's in the bag?" asked the old woman.

Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine; I got it for my husband."

The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said, "Good trade."

Queen of the Palm Pilot - Donna Dubinsky

Despite early and expensive industry failures, Donna Dubinksy gambled that consumers really did want a pocket-sized digital daytimer. She was right. Over 400,000 PalmPilots were sold in its debut year. This is Donna’s success story….

By 1996, Silicon Valley had spent nearly $1 billion trying to develop a handheld computer, and about all there was to show for it was a rather rotten Apple Newton. It seems basic now, but no one had made the logical leap that this organizer was a PC accessory, not a stand-alone PC.

Then along came Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins. Jeff glued together bits of mahogany and cardboard in his garage and transformed them into the first PalmPilot. Donna was excited to go out and sell the idea, even though bigger companies with deeper pockets had already spent about $1 billion developing PDAs like Apple's Newtons. But because of the history of the Apple Newton, the idea wasn't very salable. Basically, people were skeptical, and they just didn't buy it. Plus the timing was bad. The Internet had just taken off, and people were very excited about that, not about the potential of a PDA.

However, from the garage-built PalmPilot to it’s debut, Donna built up Palm Computing and turned the wooden experiment into one of the most successful consumer electronics product launches in history, selling 400,000 units during its 1996 debut.

Dubinsky repeated herself in 1998, when she and Hawkins left Palm Computing to start Handspring Inc. Donna was a brave entrepreneurially minded 47-year-old, ready to start anew. So Donna and Jeff left Palm Computing, took three days off, and then Jeff and Donna got together and said, 'Okay, what next?' And they started creating Handspring Inc.

Donna did the corporate things, like financing, finding office space, and negotiating with 3Com to license the Palm operating system. They were primed, but didn't have a product, so decided to focus on the low end of PDA’s and innovate there. They decided to create something low cost, familiar, but still new. Jeff made a list of the things he wanted the new device to do. Their newly engineered device enabled them to create a product that could become a phone, an MP3 player, a digital camera, and almost anything consumers might want.

Venturing out on their own paid off. By undercutting Palm's prices by as much as 30%, Handspring's Visor gained market share quickly, representing one out of every four personal digital assistants sold after just a year in business. Within 12 months Donna and Jeff were selling a differentiated product and captured 28% of the market with one of the first alternatives to a PalmPilot.

Has Donna’s success to date been solely due to technological advances? Unlikely. As the following interview by a leading business magazine shows, Donna has a very sharp business mind. Her management style obviously appeals to many employees and she has some great strengths that she brings to her business dealings. A Mentor Women indeed.

Interview with Donna Dubinsky

Donna: You have to be nimble. I doubt there's any entrepreneur who's succeeded on her original business plan. Situations change, the dynamic changes, the competitive environment changes, the technologies change.

You have to be able to adapt. You also have to be able to stop things. One of the disciplines I'm most proud of at Handspring is that we kill projects. That is so hard to do when people have invested their time and effort. And they're good projects. But you have to decide, hey, when we started, it made a lot of sense. Today, for whatever reason, it doesn't. We can't keep doing it just because it's got momentum.

To keep your edge, you also have to get everyone who works for you invested and involved. Luckily, building a culture like that is very natural to us. Everything we do is always challenging and asking questions and probing things and trying to understand what the best course of action is.

We do lots of management by walking around. I do these things called Dine With Donna, where I get groups of employees together -- sort of a group of a dozen or so -- and get wonderful information about what the real issues are and what's going on in the company. I also have lunch in the cafe almost every day. It sounds like a stupid little thing, but to me it's one of the most incredibly important things I do. I could go off and have big honcho business lunches, but I sit out in our cafe because I can be with different employees and be accessible. That philosophy of easy access permeates the entire company.

And with success like what she has had, it's easy to see that Donna's management practices and charisma have stood her in good stead.

Joan Bradley - Australian Conservationist Extraordinaire

Using her ecological savvy, Joan Bradley figured out how to restore large tracts of Australian bushland that have been ravaged by introduced species. A conservationist extraordinaire, this is Joan’s story…

The name Joan Bradley is synonymous with bush regeneration in Australia. First publicized in the 1960’s, the ‘Bradley Method’ of bush regeneration is still the most successful way to conserve Australian bush. But to understand Joan’s important contribution to science, you have to know a bit about the Australian bush.

The Australian bush is unique, as it’s located on an island continent, disconnected from the large ‘Gondwana’ landmass for millions of years. As such, the bush has developed in isolation, and many plant species are found only in Australia. These unique plant species support animals that are also unique to the Australian land mass. You don’t find kangaroos anywhere else, do you ??!

Also, the Australian climate is particularly harsh. Strong direct sunlight, vast deserts, both dry and wet rainforest areas, and even areas in the north where the Aborigines recognize six seasons (wet through dry and everything in between). So you can imagine how disruptive introduced plant species would be to the native bushland. They disrupt the delicate ecological balance between native vegetation and animal life, leading to declining native populations.

Unfortunately, Australia has many ‘weed’(non-native) plant species that are rampant, as well an introduced rabbits, foxes, wild cats, toads, goats, camels etc etc. And it’s these introduced species that decimate the native plant (and animal) species as well as change the native habitat so that the native species are unable to survive. To combat this effect, Australians face huge challenges controlling introduced species – particularly weeds. And it was here that Joan made her mark.

In the 1960, when women were not accepted in the scientific field, Joan doggedly experimented with bush regeneration. Using her extensive knowledge of Australian native bush and incredible work ethic, she trialed many methods of regeneration, trying to determine what would work best. Finally, after years of work, Joan developed and published the very successful Bradley Method of bush regeneration. It was Joan’s understanding of ecology, willingness to work hard, and exceptional patience, that were so notable. As restoring degraded areas of bush (forest) is not for the faint at heart. It is a daunting task that often defeats the most dedicated conservationists.

However, Joan figured out that native plants will re-grow after weeds are hand-cleared from small patches of bush. What a lot of hard work you say ! Yes, that is exactly the point. There are no shortcuts to Joan’s method, but….. it works. It works so well, that in 1976 the National Trust in New South Wales, Australia employed Joan to restore large tracts of bushland using her method.

Following Joan’s successes restoring larger tracts of bushland, government agencies and community groups recognized The Bradley Method as the best way to re-grow native bushlands. Their adherence to these principles continues today, proving how successful and well regarded the method has become.

Although Joan contributed immensely to conservational science in Australian, she was very well known for her cheerful and extroverted personality. And as you can well imagine, her motto of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ helped, too !

The mother of Mother's Day - Anna Jarvis

In 1907, long before feminism was even a word, Anna created Mother’s Day in the USA, to celebrate the importance of women and their work inside the home.

On May 10, 1907, the first Mother’s Day celebration was held at Anna Jarvis’s mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, Virginia, USA.

Anna had gained recognition for the day by sheer determination and hard work. At a time when women were not granted equality or power outside the home, Anna wrote innumerable letters to influential people and distributed endless pamphlets to advertise her cause. Her strength of purpose was founded on inspiration by her deceased mother.

Mrs. Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis (Anna’s mother) had helped develop "Mothers Friendship Day" to assist in the healing of the USA after the Civil War. So after the death of her mother, Anna Jarvis dedicated her life to her mother's cause - establishing Mother's Day to "honor mothers, living and dead". At the original 'Mother's Day' ceremony, Anna passed out more than 500 white carnations, one for each mother in the congregation. A white carnation was worn to honor deceased mothers and a red one to honor a living mother. Anna chose the white carnation because to her, it represented the purity of a mother's heart.

With the encouragement and financial support of a Philadelphian philanthropist, the Mother’s Day movement grew. In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to adopt an official Mother's Day, and in 1914 a resolution signed by President Woodrow Wilson established Mother's Day throughout the USA. Despite the success of Mother’s Day celebrations, Anna was very concerned with the increasing commercialization of the day. Her holiday was meant to be a "noble and true" celebration, but Anna felt that it had been exploited for profit. However, the very involvement of Anna Jarvis and other female activists brought the role of mothers and homemakers into the public eye. And women gained positive exposure, acknowledgment, and public admiration.

The resolve and resilience of Anna Jarvis and her mother towards their causes and beliefs are truly inspiring. It is a great irony that the woman who worked so hard for recognition of all women couldn't become a mother herself. But through her work, Anna Jarvis earned the title of the "Mother of Mother's Day". A title as grand as her beautiful cause.

The HEART of Makybe Diva

Makybe Diva
Never heard of her? Maybe a four-legged animal doesn’t belong in these pages. But Makybe Diva is internationally renowned in horse-racing circles for her ‘heart’. She gave her all during her career - and soundly beat the boys in the process. Meet a legend….

On 1 November, 2005, Makybe Diva won the hearts of a nation...and galloped into history. With her ears out sideways and a glazed look in her eye as she dug deeper than she ever had in her life, she won the Melbourne Cup for a record third time in a row. It gave this spectator goose-bumps to see a horse try so hard.

On the first Tuesday of November at around 3pm local time, all of Australia pauses to watch one of the country's greatest sporting events, the Melbourne Cup race - 'the race that stops a nation'. The Melbourne Cup is the peak of the Spring Racing Carnival, held in Melbourne every year since 1861. The Cup is the southern hemispheres’ Kentucky Derby. It has become a date on the international horse-racing calendar too, with horses from Europe and Asia competing. The race attracts 130,000 spectators, and schools and workplaces across the country stop to watch.

In 1895 American author Mark Twain said ‘nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.’

But a bit about the Diva....
Makybe Diva was conceived in Irelend and born in Britain. She was taken to Australia after failing to attract any bids in England. Her new owner, Tony Santic, a South Australian tuna fisherman, asked five of his employees to help name her. They came up with her name by combining the first two letters of each of their first names - Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Dianne and Vanessa. Hence Makybe Diva.

In 2003, Makybe Diva won her first Melbourne Cup, which is a difficult feat for any horse and less likely to be accomplished by a mare than a gelding or stallion.
In 2004, she won national acclaim by winning her second Melbourne Cup and beating the competitive Irish horse Vinnie Roe.

In 2005 despite being the punters' favourite for the Melbourne Cup, many Australians doubted that she would win again. It seemed too much to ask. At seven years old, she would be one of the oldest horses to win the Cup, if indeed she did. And no other horse had ever won the Cup three times in a row.

Adding to Australia’s sceptisicm was the footing of the racecourse. The Flemington Racecourse was wet in 2003 and 2004, and Makybe performed better on softer racecourses. In 2005, if the organisers hadn't made a controversial decision to water the racetrack at the last minute, the course would have been dry.

In 2005, the total prize money offered at the Carnival was AU$5.1 million (approximately £2 million). Over AU$200 million (approximately £79 million) worldwide bets were placed on the races over the four-day event - including an AU$1 million bet on Makybe Diva herself !

But Makybe Diva overcame all the scepticism and questions to win the Melbourne Cup for the third time in a row, an achievement that has never before occurred in the history of the race. All Australia stopped to watch, and the after-race parties went on for days.

Only two other seven-year-old mares have won the race in its entire history - Archer in 1861 and Acrasia in 1904. Makybe Diva is also the first horse since 1890 to win both the Sydney Cup and Melbourne Cup in the same year.

So what makes Makybe Diva so special? In one word, heart. She wins because she gives more than she has. Maykbe Diva has more determination to win than her competitors, and simply runs right by them. What an inspiration.

Inspirational Quotes, and lots of them !

Far away, there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. Louisa May Alcott

Toughness…is not dependent on being crude or cruel. You can be feminine and tough. I love my femininity – as much as I rely on my toughness. What others call tough, I call persistent. Estee Lauder

I believe in life after birth! Maxie Dunham

Your real security is yourself. You know you can do it, and they can’t ever take that away from you. Mae West

Just as you are about to give up, take one step forward and then another… Mandi Upward

Real women don’t have flushes, they have power surges. Sandra Cabot

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Muriel Strode

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Mother Teresa
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. Helen Keller

I believe that there are certain attributes in a woman that give her some advantages over a man. Women are usually more honest, more sensitive to issues and bring a stronger sense of commitment and dedication to what they do. Maybe because they were mothers, and being a mother you have that special attention for the family, for the young, for children. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. Helen Keller

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Marie Curie

Sometimes the poorest woman leaves her children the richest inheritance. Ruth E. Renkel

One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories. Rebecca Falls

You don’t get to choose how you die. Or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live. Now. Joan Baez

We all procrastinate at one time or another. The most unfortunate procrastination of all is to put off being happy. Maureen Mueller

What if we smashed the mirrors and saw our true face? Elsa Gidlow
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose – a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
Mary Shelley

Only she who says she did not choose, is the loser in the end. Adrienne Riche

Life is not the way it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with it makes the difference. Virginia Satir

Without fanaticism, one cannot accomplish anything. Eva Peron

I have a personal motto that I live by, which is feel the fear and do it anyway. If you fail, you get up and you keep trying again. Tamara Mellon

You don't do anybody any favours by being less than you are. Fiona Wood


Compassion, kindness, and concern can be found everywhere in America.
And if we have learned nothing else from this [Sept. 11th] tragedy,
we have learned that our time on earth is short, so there is simply
no time for hate. Sandra Dahl, wife of Jason Dahl, pilot of Flight 93

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw
little torches out to lead people through the dark. Whoopi Goldberg
What you should want from life is an arena big enough to express your talents and gifts. Pleasant Rowland

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single minute before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. Barbara DeAngelis

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by...those who...struggle to make one small difference after another. Ellen Goodman

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
We look at problems happening halfway across the world and we think, 'Well, that's their problem.' But it's not. … When you solve somebody else's problem, you're solving a problem for yourself because our world today is so interconnected. Queen Rania of Jordan

The only real disability in life is losing your mind. Wesla Whitfield

Beauty is something inside of us. If you love yourself and accept yourself, that shows on the outside. Beauty is an act—it's how you carry yourself. Gisele Bundchen

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Bonnie Jean Wasmund

Power is the ability to do good things for others. Brooke Astor

Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you're exactly the same. Audrey Hepburn

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given the chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. Bette Davis

It's not the having, it's the getting. Elizabeth Taylor

Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists, when you can ignore them like wise (wo)men? Nancy Clifford Barney.

When one team member succeeds, the entire team succeeds. Stacey Allison
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single minute before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank Love

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. Barbara DeAngelis

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by...those who...struggle to make one small difference after another. Ellen Goodman

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It never was between you and them anyway. Mother Teresa

Compassion, kindness, and concern can be found everywhere in America. And if we have learned nothing else from this [Sept. 11th] tragedy, we have learned that our time on earth is short, so there is simply no time for hate. Sandra Dahl, wife of Jason Dahl, pilot of Flight 93
When you choose your thoughts, you choose results. Imelda Shanklin

How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance? Sarah Ban Breathnach

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us. Ashley Montagu

Getting what you go after is success; but liking it while you are getting it is happiness. Bertha Damon

To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth…is potentially to have everything… Joan Didion

The older I get, the more I feel almost beautiful… ! Sharon Olds

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and…confidence in ourselves. Marie Curie

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark. Whoopi Goldberg

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels. Faith Whittlesey

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. Katherine Hepburn

I think the key is for women not to set any limits. Martina Navratilova

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt

Thoughts are energy and you can make or break your world by your thinking. Susan Taylor

Just try to do something – just being there, showing up – is how we get braver. Self-esteem is about doing. Joy Browne

Women are like tea bags; put them in hot water and they get stronger! Eleanor Roosevelt

A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. Grace Hopper

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. Hannah More

Ultimately, we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom. Marilyn Ferguson

It ain’t braggin’ if you really done it. Dizzy Dean

A good goal is like a strenuous exercise – it makes you stretch. Mary Kay Ash Power

Power is the ability not to have to please. Elizabeth Janeway

You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at one time. Oprah Winfrey

I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

One kind word can warm three winter months. Japanese Proverb

I am a woman above all else. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Lessons from life - quotes, quotes and more quotes

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. Ambrose Redmoon

A minor moment of triumph does not signify automatic success. Catharine Hartley

It doesn’t happen all at once…You become. It takes a long time. Margery Williams

Leadership is never given on a silver platter, one has to earn it. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

The only journey is the one within. Rainer Maria Rilke

You catch more bees with honey than you do with acid. Estee Lauder

Live the questions now. Rainer Maria Rilke

Moral courage and character go hand in hand….a (wo)man of real character is consistently courageous, being imbued with a basic integrity and a form sense of principle. Martha Boaz

That action is best which provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Francis Hutcheson

1)Be discoverers 2) Be ready helpers 3) Be friend makers The Brownie ‘B’s, Girl Scouts

We never know how high we are, til we are called to rise. And then, if we are true to plan, our stature touches the skies. Emily Dickinson
You are what you do. Anonymous
When you’re blasé you’re finished. *Estee Lauder*

We are free up to the point of choice. Then the choice controls the chooser. Mary Crowley

People waste more time waiting for someone to take charge of their lives than they do in any other pursuit. Gloria Steinham

Ethnicity should enrich us; it should make us a unique people in our diversity and not be used to divide us. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Ellen Parr

Dreams are really attainable, given ruthless perseverance. Catharine Hartley

Success is important only to the extent that it puts one in a position to do more things one likes to do. Sarah Caldwell

Jesus, please teach me to appreciate what I have before time forces me to appreciate what I had. Susan L. Lenzkes

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth, we have spoken it. Whitney Griswold

Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We’re not inherently anything but human. Robin Morgan

Because women's liberation is a movement of the powerless for the powerless, its attraction is not immediately clear to the powerless, who feel they need alliance with the powerful to survive. Rosemary O'Grady

I truly believe that everyone in the world has a use, somewhere, and is going to be good at something. *Estee Lauder*

In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us. Virginia Woolf

Integrity is honesty carried through the fibres of the being and the whole mind, into thought as well as action so that the person is complete in honesty. That kind of integrity I put above all else as an essential to leadership. Pearl S. Buck


Surviving means being born over and over. Erica Jong

Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that truth sometimes comes to the top. Virginia Woolf

The most exhausting thing in my life is being insincere. Ann Morrow Lindbergh

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. Gertrude Stein

Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. Abigail Adams

Life goes so fast, and there is so much to do. But the moments that have enriched my life the most came when I slowed down and connected with the people I care about. Maria Bello

How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance? Sarah Ban Breathnach
No person is your enemy, no person is your friend, every person is your teacher. Florence Scovel Shinn

They sicken of the calm, those who know the storm. Dorothy Parker

My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. Ayn Rand

The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you. Bette Midler

Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that science can’t match. Ingrid Bengis


If success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all. Anna Quindlen

Failure follows the person whose wishbone is where their backbone is. Anonymous

You'll be surprised how much better you feel about the world when you feel better about your self. Wynonna Judd

It's important to do things that scare you to death! Reese Witherspoon

Our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves. Wilhelm von Humboldt

Someone's got to break the glass ceiling, and once it's broken, everybody else comes clamouring up behind. Helen Clark

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. Oprah Winfrey

Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Anonymous

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomal. Margaret Attwood


Our ability to respond positively to setbacks, fuels our creativity and lays the foundation for future successes. Stacey Allison

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. Rachel Carson

When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches and the route is different every time. Xinran

You can bloom wherever you’re planted, if you put enough effort into it. Hilary Rodham Clinton

To undo mistakes is always harder than not to create them originally, but we seldom have foresight. Therefore, we have no choice but to try to correct our past mistakes. Eleanor Roosevelt

Human rights are women’s rights; and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all. Hilary Clinton

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own. Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Kindness is for all times in all situations -- not just when it suits you. Audray Landrum

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. Audrey Hepburn

Fame and fortune does not mean anything if you don't have a happy home. Ava Gardner

Old age is no place for sissies. Bette Davis

Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells. Elizabeth Taylor

There are two basic agents when defining us as human beings – one, sharpness of mind. Two is kindness of heart – hearing and sharing the grief of others. Princess Diana of Wales

As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency. Caroline Kennedy Schlossburg

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. Unknown (If you know whose quote this is, please let me know!)
I broke a lot of rules because I didn’t know the rules. Pleasant Rowland

Only when we accept full responsibility for our lives will we have confidence and courage to risk. Stacey Allison

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others. Audrey Hepburn

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless. Mother Teresa

When we appreciate how much we have, we feel the urge to pare down, get back to basics, and learn what is essential for our happiness. We long to realize what's really important. Sarah Ban Breathnach

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind,
Is all the sad world needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. Helen Keller

A kind word never broke anyone's mouth. Irish Proverb
Our vices are the excesses of our virtues. Pleasant Rowland

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only what you are expecting to give. Katherine Hepburn

Appreciation can make a day - even change a life, Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. Margaret Cousins

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. Marian Wright-Edelman

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Mother Teresa

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day. Sally Koch

You can spend your life looking over your shoulder or you can look ahead. I choose to look ahead Pleasant Rowland

It is difficult to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we genuinely love. Sarah Ban Breathnach

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. Mother Teresa

Women want men, careers, money, children, friends, luxury, comfort, independence, freedom, respect, love and three dollar pantyhose that won’t run. Phyllis Diller

I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves. Mary Wollstonecraft

If I had my life to live again, I’d make the same mistakes only sooner. Tallulah Bankhead

Women will always be dependent until she holds a purse of her own. Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Money can’t buy happiness but it can make you awfully comfortable while you’re being miserable. Clare Boothe Luce

We women don’t care too much about getting our pictures on money, as long as we can get our hands on it. Ivy Baker Priest

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you. Barbara Sher

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. Margaret Thatcher

If you educate a man, you educate a person; if you educate a women, you educate a family. Ruby Manikan

Independence I have long considered the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue. Mary Wollstonecraft

From birth to age 18 a girl needs good parents. From 18 to 35, she needs good looks. From 35 to 55 she needs a good personality. And from 55 on, she needs good cash. Sophie Tucjer